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-11801

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): on 18 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it is doing to publicise the (a) work, (b) meetings and (c) video archive footage of committees and to make it more accessible online to the general public.

All committees have a dedicated webpage, where all meeting papers and reports are published as well as background information and other appropriate content. Committee agendas are published in the Business Bulletin and are also highlighted on the home page of the Parliament’s website. Work is currently underway to review the content of the website to make it more engaging and easier to find. Committee work is promoted on the home page of the website and increasingly other social media channels.

The Parliament has recently launched a Facebook page. We have used this to promote committee inquiries, and to encourage direct interaction with the public by asking for their views on specific matters.

This approach is also being taken on Twitter. With over 10,000 followers the corporate account is an effective means of publicising parliamentary business and widening our reach. There are also currently 5 committees with their own feeds, which are used to provide regular updates about the work of the committee, including links to the website, relevant parliamentary papers and live and archive video feeds.

In addition to the recent work on YouTube outlined in response to S4W-11802, the content has also been organised into “playlists” to make it easier for users to browse the channel. These are broken down by committee to enable visitors to quickly go to the committee of choice and see what videos are available to watch.

The Conveners Group recently endorsed an approach to promoting the work of committees through the media. This includes having tailored media plans for each committee and promoting the committees’ work through news releases, use of embargoes, case studies, video clips and high profile witnesses.

Committees are also supported to undertake fact-finding visits, external meetings and events which are all designed to improve levels of engagement with, and knowledge of, committee work. Other methods of engagement include the use of community outreach sessions and activities in schools and more recently the establishment of a ‘Parliament Day’ initiative which was built around an external committee meeting.

Question reference: S4W-11854

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people in Scotland under 25 are in receipt of housing benefit and how many of them have dependent children.

Question reference: S4O-01651

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Aberdeen City Council to discuss infrastructure investment.

Question reference: S4W-11722

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what fines can be imposed on bus companies in respect of services not running on time.

Question reference: S4W-11724

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has in relation to setting fines for bus companies.

Question reference: S4W-11723

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has in relation to the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-11726

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what leeway the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland gives to bus operators that experience delays due to circumstances outwith their control.

Question reference: S4W-11725

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether running a set number of buses per hour is an allowed alternative to setting timetables.

Yes; it is open to an operator to register “frequent services”. Frequent services are defined at Paragraph 10 of the Schedule to SSI 2001 No. 219, The Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2001, as routes on which “the service interval is 10 minutes or less”. These are further defined in the Traffic Commissioner’s Practice Direction on Standards for Local Bus Services as: “Six or more buses will depart within any period of 60 minutes and the interval between consecutive buses will not exceed 15 minutes”.

Question reference: S4W-11721

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland has issued to bus companies in the last year.

Question reference: S4O-01643

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Aberdeen City Council regarding the proposed third Don crossing.