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-10404

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made contact with foreign governments regarding assistance that can be provided to foreign nationals affected by the closure of Hall's meat processing plant.

The Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, wrote to the Consul General of Poland on 27 August 2012 to advise him that, through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative, we would do everything possible to support employees of Hall’s, with specific reference to the number of Polish workers employed there.

Representatives from our PACE initiative, led by Skills Development Scotland and comprising key partners including the Department of Work and Pensions, have been onsite five days per week since 24 August 2012 and have delivered 92 presentations to around 800 employees.

All employees have had access to information and guidance. For employees who are made redundant, the Department of Work and Pensions will be handling all individual claims via the Jobcentre Plus centre in Livingston to assess eligibility for support in line with UK Government legislation. Additional DWP staff will be made available to help process claims and appointments will be issued to employees in advance.

Question reference: S4W-10400

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what infrastructure projects in West Lothian it will support to help boost employment.

An overview of the infrastructure projects which the Scottish Government is currently supporting in the West Lothian area is included in the following table.

Project/Investment	Details
Forth Replacement Crossing	This major project which is currently in construction will bring both direct and indirect benefits to West Lothian through investment and access to opportunities.
Edinburgh to Glasgow Rail Improvements	This major project which is currently being prepared will bring both direct and indirect benefits to West Lothian through investment and access to opportunities.
West Calder High School	In September 2012 the refurbishment of West Calder High School was announced as part of the third and final phase of the £1.25 billion ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future Programme’. This is the second school in West Lothian to be taken forward as part of this investment programme (the first one - Pumpherston and Uphall Station Community Primary School - opened earlier this year).
Blackburn Partnership Centre	This community project is currently being explored for delivery through the hub initiative by way of the South East Territory.
Affordable Housing Provision	In the period 2012-13 to 2014-15, the Scottish Government has set aside almost £10 million for a range of affordable housing provision in West Lothian.

Question reference: S4W-10196

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 31 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to take forward the recommendations of the One Planet Schools Working Group.

Question reference: S4W-10116

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings (a) ministers and (b) officials have scheduled with private ferry companies and what the topics for discussion will be.

Question reference: S4W-10066

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the assertion made in Grasping the Thistle: How Scotland Must React to the Three Key Challenges of the Twenty First Century that (a) "profound differences in the economies of Scotland and England and the unsustainability of the prevailing UK monetary policy and currency mean an independent Scotland should have its own currency", (b) “public spending, which was once the oil that lubricated Scottish governance, has steadily become more viscous with every increasing dose, and has slowed the nations development to a standstill", (c) "the problems of Scotland’s NHS are but one symptom of a much wider disease – the disease of oversized government", (d) "Barnett, far from starving Scotland to death, as is often asserted, is actually fattening us to the point of dangerous obesity….. and that it may be the UK is actually killing us with kindness”, (e) "the Tories' problem is that their unionist ideology is overcoming their free market common sense", (f) the private sector in Scotland should be encouraged "to compete with the established NHS hospitals, clinics and other services”, (g) NHS management should be encouraged "to buy out existing NHS facilities and services under favourable terms and join the private sector"; (h) Scotland should “develop a voucher scheme for the NHS", (i) Scotland should "introduce compulsory health insurance", (j) “universality, as presently practised, robs the poor of resources which would be best in their hands...takes away from those who most need help and who most deserve support and rewards those who need neither...is unjust and indefensible", (k) Scotland should "develop a voucher scheme for schooling", (l) Scotland should be “freezing and cutting government expenditures, including the freezing of recruitment by government and quangos”, (m) Scotland should boost business growth "by reducing corporate and personal taxation", (n) government efficiency would be improved "by exposure to the free market economy”, (o) Scotland should facilitate "the transfer of civil servants to the private sector"; what its position is on the book's concept of a "new Union", and what it considers the economic impact would be of the book's suggestion that income tax rates should be reduced by 25%.

Question reference: S4W-10115

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that any contractual provision for sub-contracting Clyde and Hebrides ferry services from 2016 does not lead to the unbundling of (a) profitable or (b) unprofitable routes.

Once work begins on the preparation of tender documents for the procurement of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, Transport Scotland will consider whether bidders can be encouraged to include small, community operators in their tender, possibly as sub-contractors. All of the ferry services supported by the Scottish Government require public subsidy to sustain them because none are currently profitable.

Question reference: S4W-10114

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what definition of (a) unbundling and (b) sub-contracting it uses in relation to the provision of domestic ferry services.

Question reference: S4W-10072

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether a Scotland separate from the rest of the UK would keep (a) inheritance tax, (b) capital gains tax, (c) air passenger duty and (d) the aggregates levy.

This government believes that Scotland’s interests will best be served by all decisions affecting Scotland being made in Scotland. We therefore support taking full fiscal responsibility which would allow this Parliament to legislate for and set all taxes in the interests of stimulating economic growth, supporting the public services of Scotland and building social cohesion. Decisions about what taxes to apply in an independent Scotland, and at what level, would therefore be taken by the Scottish Parliament and government of the day.

Question reference: S4T-00071

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to the West Lothian area following the announcement of the closure of the Hall’s meat processing plant.

Question reference: S4W-09487

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it will use the findings of the James Hutton Institute's research into how people feel about local wind energy developments.