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-04470

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the extent of land banking by major retailers to be.

Question reference: S4O-00525

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to update or publish a progress report on its climate change delivery plan.

Question reference: S4W-04257

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the anticipated operational end date is for each power station with a generating capacity of over 300 megawatts.

The anticipated operational end dates for conventional power stations in Scotland with a generating capacity over 300 MW are shown in the following table:

Power Station	End Date
Torness - Nuclear	2023
Hunterston B - Nuclear	2016
Cockenzie – Coal	2015
Cockenzie – Gas (consented but not built)	No consent condition limiting lifespan
Longannet - Coal	2020
Peterhead - Gas	2025
Cruachan – Hydro (pump storage)	Continuing operation (no end date applicable)
Foyers Fall–Hydro (pump storage)	Continuing operation (no end date applicable)

Question reference: S4W-04404

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be any changes to the methodology for (a) distributing or (b) deciding the composition of the Research Excellence Grant for universities.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocates the Research Excellence Grant (REG) to Scottish higher education institutions. The SFC has yet to determine how it will allocate REG in academic year 2012-13.

My recent guidance letter to SFC sets out my expectation that research funding will be focussed on world-leading and internationally excellent research to ensure that our research remains internationally competitive. This is consistent with the pre-legislative paper, Putting Learners at the Centre, published in September 2011.

SFC officials have been discussing with Universities Scotland how they plan to change their approach to allocating REG to achieve this. SFC will be announcing their planned allocations for academic year 2012-13 and publishing them on their website here shortly. http://www.sfc.ac.uk/home/home.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-04285

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what data are available on the impact on life expectancy of being a problem drinker.

Question reference: S4W-04471

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-00505

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on a hotel bed levy as considered by the City of Edinburgh Council.

Question reference: S4W-04224

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on ecological concerns about the safety of deepwater oil drilling and the potential impact on the Scottish coast.

Question reference: S4W-04225

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes it envisages by 2017 in Scotland's waste and recycling performance and what legislation will underpin this.

By 2017 we expect to see a positive improvement in Scotland’s waste and recycling performance, driven by the Scottish Government’s zero waste agenda.

The Zero Waste Plan sets out an ambitious agenda for changing how Scotland views and manages its resources and to make Scotland one of the highest performing recycling countries in Europe. To support this aim, the plan includes ambitious targets including a 70% recycling rate for household and all other waste streams by 2025.

The recycling figures released by SEPA on Monday 28 November which showed Scottish local authorities recycled or composted nearly 44% of household waste over the first quarter of 2011 indicate steady headway in achieving this goal.

The next steps of the zero waste agenda are well advanced. We are about to lay before the Scottish Parliament legislation which we believe will provide the necessary statutory framework for achieving the targets. The Zero Waste (Scotland) Regulations will provide a renewed emphasis on source segregation of recyclable materials including food waste, complemented by bans on these important resources going to landfill or incineration.

Work is also progressing on our waste prevention programme which will tap into an estimated 2.3% of our Gross Domestic Product that could be saved by using raw materials more efficiently and cutting waste.

It is vital that we recognise that everything we use and throw away is a resource which has value and we believe that these next steps will assist Scotland in doing this.

Question reference: S4O-00423

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will update guidance on the use of Kielland forceps used in childbirth.