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-24708

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 17 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to review the legislation regarding intestacy, and how it will consult people who consider that the current law has had a negative impact on them.

<>The Scottish Law Commission (the Commission) reviewed the law of succession and issued a report in 2009: Report on Succession (Scot Law Com No 215). The report made recommendations on a range of succession issues including:

Intestacy (where a person dies without making a will);

Protection against disinheritance;

Protection for cohabitants;

Bonds of caution (a form of indemnity insurance) for executors-dative;

A range of technical issues on jurisdiction, choice of law, wills and survivorship.

The Scottish Government carried out a period of informal pre-consultation dialogue with a number of stakeholders on the report’s key recommendations. Since then the Scottish Government issued a consultation on technical issues relating to succession http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/08/1185 in August 2014. Responses are currently being analysed and will inform the Succession Bill announced in the Programme for Government on 26 November 2014.

That consultation paper made it clear that a second formal and public consultation on the more complex and substantive proposals for reform of succession, including intestacy, will follow later this year. Alongside that exercise, an attitudes survey will be commissioned to replicate an earlier study carried out in 2005 – ‘Attitudes Towards Succession Law: Findings of a Scottish Omnibus Survey’

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/07/18151328/13297

The analysis of both will inform the way forward.

Question reference: S4W-24711

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 16 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the reported long-standing problems at the Deans South housing estate in Livingston; what action it is taking to resolve these matters, and what resources it has offered West Lothian Council to help purchase the remaining properties on the estate.

West Lothian Council, as the strategic housing authority, is responsible for resolving the housing situation in Deans South, Livingston and its offer to buy back any of the owner-occupied properties, at the District Valuer valuation plus £15,000, will continue until August 2015.

The Scottish Government has and continues to offer preferential access to eligible owners to its Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme to assist a move to another property. 37 of the 47 eligible owners have either taken advantage of this scheme, or have agreed for the council to purchase their property. The availability of preferential access for eligible owners to the OMSE scheme is currently available to 31 August 2015.

In the last nine years, Scottish Government funding of over £6.5 million has been spent in the area on funding for owners who purchased through the Open Market Shared Equity scheme; funding for Castle Rock Edinvar Housing Association to develop a site for 56 units to the west of Deans South, and on the acquisition of land and other associated costs.

Question reference: S4W-24710

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 16 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when the Minister for Housing and Welfare last visited the Deans South housing estate in Livingston.

The Minister for Housing and Welfare (and predecessors) has been kept fully briefed on the situation concerning the Deans South housing estate in Livingston and has met with the local MSP, elected representatives and council officials on five occasions over the last five years to discuss. The most recent of these occasions was on 1 May 2014 with Angela Constance MSP. The Minister for Housing and Welfare has not visited the estate.

Question reference: S4O-04112

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which contractors named by the Scottish Information Commissioner as having used the services of The Consulting Association have been awarded public contracts since 20 November 2013.

In relation to Neil Findlay’s question, I can advise that the Scottish Government is not aware of any publication by the Scottish Information Commissioner in relation to the naming of contractors as using the services of The Consulting Association.

We do not hold sufficiently detailed information that would allow us to state definitively that a company identified by the Information Commissioner’s Office is the same legal entity as a company shown in Public Contracts Scotland as having been awarded a contract since 20 November 2013.

Question reference: S4W-24671

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to young farmers who want to (a) rent and (b) purchase their own farm.

The Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) will provide Scotland’s new entrant young farmers with help towards the start-up costs associated with a new farming business.

All costs, including land acquisition, linked to an approved business plan will be eligible for support up to a maximum of 70,000 (£53,000).

The proposals for the SRDP were submitted to the European Commission in mid-2014. It is hoped that approval of the programme in its entirety will be secured by summer 2015. We have already secured approval to open the new entrants start-up scheme for applications to assist applicants nearing the age threshold.

Question reference: S4W-24654

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 9 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the findings of the review into the concerns raised by Dr Jane Hamilton about the perinatal service and its management at St John’s Hospital, Livingston.

Question reference: S4W-24482

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government on which date the contract for the V&A Dundee was (a) awarded and (b) signed.

Question reference: S4W-24335

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many college students in each year since 2007 were aged (a) 18 to 24 and (b) 25 and older, also expressed as a percentage.

The latest available data on students in colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2013-14.

Tables 1 and 2 show the number and percentage of college students aged under 18, 18 to 24 and 25 and over, in each year since 2006-07.

Table 1 - Student Headcount at Scotland's Colleges by age range 2006-07 to 2013-14

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
under 18	93,314	108,692	113,311	103,978	86,751	58,964	53,572	52,342
18 to 24	79,022	80,016	82,511	83,861	81,241	80,913	79,582	80,515
25 and over	191,136	190,393	179,022	159,289	137,784	117,921	105,615	105,384

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Table 2 - Student Headcount at Scotland's Colleges, percentage by age range 2006-07 to 2013-14:

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
under 18	25.7%	28.7%	30.2%	30.0%	28.4%	22.9%	22.4%	22.0%
18 to 24	21.7%	21.1%	22.0%	24.2%	26.6%	31.4%	33.3%	33.8%
25 and over	52.6%	50.2%	47.8%	45.9%	45.1%	45.7%	44.2%	44.2%

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Question reference: S4W-24337

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 19 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what independent evaluation it has commissioned on the changes that it has introduced to the college sector, and whether it will publish the findings.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Education Scotland monitor and evaluate the impact of the Government’s reforms as part of their existing arrangements. Additionally, the SFC has evaluated each college merger, with a full evaluation after two years – with significant input from learners, employers and other key stakeholders.

Latest published data on college performance is positive, showing record rates of successful completion, a 17% increase in full-time funded students since 2006-07 and a 59% increase in the average hours of learning per student over the same period.

Education Scotland published reviews of nine colleges in 2014, eight of which received the highest possible marking. I am also pleased to say that in 2014 nearly all of Education Scotland’s reviews of colleges showed strong evidence of close alignment of provision to employer need and learner progression.

Question reference: S4O-04044

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will hold an inquiry into the policing and convictions of miners arrested in Scotland during the 1984-85 miners' strike.