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: S4F-00755

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to address the disparity in the suicide rate in Scotland compared with the rest of the UK.

Question reference: S4O-01101

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in taking forward proposals to extend the council tax exemption to include articulating students and those moving directly from an undergraduate to a postgraduate course.

Question reference: S4W-07311

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it (a) gives and (b) will give community councils following the winding up of the Association of Scottish Community Councils.

Since 2007 the Scottish Government has worked in partnership with COSLA and the Association of Scottish Community Councils to develop and produce a package of measures to raise the profile, effectiveness, and support of Community Councils throughout Scotland. This included:

A Model Scheme of Establishment of Community Councils;

A Model Code of Conduct for Community Councillors;

Good Practice Guidance for use by both local authorities and Community Councils; and

Five Community Council pilot projects looking at budget management; asset management; and Community Council elections.

Currently, a short life working group is considering how best to build the resilience and capacity of Community Councils, in order to strengthen their role and relevance as voices for their communities. The group is due to report its recommendations later this summer and these proposals will provide a platform for wider discussion and engagement on the future development of Scotland’s Community Councils.

The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting Community Councils to make a full and active contribution to the communities that they represent. Future Scottish Government support will be shaped by the working group’s proposals and wider discussions with others who share this aspiration.

Question reference: S4O-01085

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that access to postgraduate qualifications is based on ability to learn rather than ability to pay.

Question reference: S4O-01025

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits will be seen in Edinburgh from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Question reference: S4W-06932

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 9 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of school leavers has gone into positive destinations in each year for which information is available, broken down by highest Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level passed.

The requested information on the percentage of school leavers in a positive destination by year and Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level is provided in the following table. Information on individual school leaver destinations by qualification level is only available from 2007-08 onwards.

Table 1. Percentage of school leavers in a positive initial destination by highest SCQF level at which one or more passes were achieved, 2007-08 to 2010-11:

	No passes at SCQF 3 or better	SCQF 3	SCQF 4	SCQF 5	SCQF 6	SCQF 7
2007-08	50.7	53.2	75.3	87.5	94.4	97.5
2008-09	46.8	54.0	74.1	85.6	93.5	96.9
2009-10	50.9	54.2	74.1	86.4	94.0	97.3
2010-11¹	55.1	59.0	77.4	87.6	94.9	97.6

Note: 1. 2010-11 data based on pre- appeal examination data and on full school leavers cohort. Other years based on post appeal data and only leavers who were not excluded from the follow-up survey.

Question reference: S4W-06821

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-06436 by Derek MacKay on 19 April 2012, how much additional support was requested by the City of Edinburgh Council for flood prevention; when these requests were made, and what funding was made available.

An application from the City of Edinburgh Council was made on 23 December 2011 seeking £39.5 million additional grant for the Water of Leith Flood Prevention Scheme.

The Scottish Government wrote to the Council on 16 February 2012 explaining that the agreement between COSLA and the Scottish ministers on the change to the distribution methodology for the period 2012-15 was to allocate the flooding component to new, large flooding projects only. Therefore the application from City of Edinburgh Council was turned down on the grounds that the Council had already received funding for the Water of Leith Scheme as part of the 2008 Local Government Settlement, and would continue to do so until 2014.

Question reference: S4W-06808

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers home reports to have on supply and demand in the housing market.

The interim review of the home report found that there was no evidence in the data to suggest that the introduction of the home report in 2008 either caused a reduction in sales or weakened the market recovery.

Recent housing market statistics also show that house sales in Scotland have been following the same trend as in England and Wales, despite the fact that the Home Information Packs (HIPs) in England and Wales were suspended in May 2010.

This shows that it is wider UK factors, such as weak economic conditions and restrictions on mortgage lending, and not home reports, that are reducing activity in the housing market.

Question reference: S4W-06807

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the effectiveness of home reports, in light of these being discontinued in England and Wales.

Home reports in Scotland are completely different from Home Information Packs (HIPs), which were suspended in England and Wales. HIPs were introduced to provide a range of legal and other documents. They did not contain a survey and were widely criticised for not containing any useful information in terms of informing a decision to buy or not.

The Scottish Government carried out an interim review of home reports, based on their first year of operation. The review found that over 60% of buyers found the house condition information in the home report useful in aiding the decision to buy a property, and that the home report had encouraged around a third of sellers to make repairs to their property.

Prior to home reports, over 90% of home buyers relied on a Mortgage Valuation report which contained little or no information on property condition. The Scottish Government believes that the benefits of home reports remain valid, particularly in encouraging buyers to make confident decisions in a difficult market.

Question reference: S4W-06872

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on its proposed changes to the prison visiting committee system.

In the recent parliamentary debate on visiting committees it was recognised that an independent prisoner advocacy service would contribute to better offender outcomes, which the Scottish Government is committed to deliver. The debate did however raise concerns about the future independent monitoring of prisons.

The Scottish Government accepts that monitoring is required and has committed to address this and will come forward shortly with proposals.