Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S4W-29059

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 13 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Qatari Government regarding investment in Scotland from the Qatari sovereign wealth fund.

Question reference: S4W-29102

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Pentland on 13 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it considers the reason is that the IT system in parliamentary offices and the system for remote working has been described as "diabolical".

The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body are predominantly dependent upon the utilisation of the public broadband infrastructure in Scotland to facilitate remote working and to connect parliamentary constituency and regional offices with the IT system at Holyrood. Broadband speeds and service vary throughout Scotland and where these prove problematic to effective remote working, the Business IT Office will work with members to establish the best ways of working remotely.

Question reference: S4W-29074

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 11 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Sciencewise in 2015.

The Scottish Government is represented on the Sciencewise Steering Group by an official from the Higher Education and Science Division. Meetings with Sciencewise in 2015 have taken several forms:

A Scottish Government official attended two out of three formal meetings of the Sciencewise Steering Group.

A Scottish Government official attended a Civil Service Live event in Edinburgh with a member of the Sciencewise team to inform attendees about the services that Sciencewise offers.

Scottish Government officials also attended project management meetings and dialogue events organised by Sciencewise and in connection with a Marine Scotland dialogue project, which is being supported by Sciencewise.

Question reference: S4W-29064

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the GlobalScot network.

Question reference: S4O-05222

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 6 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussion the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has had with the Department of Energy and Climate Change in relation to fracking.

Question reference: S4W-29058

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it, or its agencies, has/have had with the renewables industry in relation to attracting funding from Qatar.

Since 2011, Scottish Development International (SDI) has been engaged with a number of organisations in Qatar to promote investment opportunities in the Scottish renewable energy and low carbon technologies sector. The former First Minister visited Qatar in 2011, to help strengthen Scotland's economic and renewable energy links with Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Prior to this visit, SDI consulted with companies in the Scottish renewables sector to help identify potential projects for Qatar based investors.

Between 2012 and 2015, SDI organised a Scottish Pavilion at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, providing the opportunity for Scottish renewables companies to exhibit their latest developments and help attract investment from across the Middle East.

Question reference: S4W-28824

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many undercover police operations Police Scotland and its predecessor forces have signed off in each year from 1999.

Question reference: S4W-28826

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many days undercover officers from the (a) Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad and (b) National Public Order Intelligence Unit have operated in Scotland over the last 25 years.

Question reference: S4W-28827

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many undercover police operations involving the (a) Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad and (b) National Public Order Intelligence Unit monitoring journalists, environmental activists, trade unionists or political activists Police Scotland and its predecessor forces have signed off in each year from 1999.

Question reference: S4W-28823

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the actions of undercover police officers from forces based outside Scotland wishing to operate in Scotland need approval by senior officers in the area in which they wish to operate.

Authorisations made under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) for covert human intelligence sources (including undercover officers) do not need to be approved by senior officers in another police force. Paragraph 3.18 of the RIPA Covert Human Intelligence Sources (CHIS) Code of Practice explains that if an authorising officer considers that conflicts might arise they should, where possible, consult a senior officer within the police force area in which the CHIS is deployed.