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-14572

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions Historic Scotland has provided advice to a planning authority on an application for renewal of planning consent that has differed from the advice given on the original application.

Historic Scotland, acting on behalf of Scottish Ministers, considers all planning applications notified to them on their particular merits, bearing in mind the relevant planning policies and the individual circumstances of each case.

In the majority of circumstances planning authorities will be responsible for determining renewal applications. Where appropriate the local authority will notify these applications to Historic Scotland, as they do with other types of planning application, at which point the agency will scrutinise them in the usual manner as set out above. It should be noted that not every application that seeks to renew permission is described as such, for example an application may refer to amending a condition on an earlier permission that specified the time period for works to start rather than stating it is to renew permission.

Historic Scotland does not and, because of the different ways they are described, cannot record planning permission renewals in such a way that they are easily separated from other types of notification. It is, therefore, not possible to provide information on how many renewal applications have been received and how these were handled in the context of the agency’s previous advice. This would mean searching every planning permission notification received (around 1,000 notifications per year) and checking with the local planning authorities concerned that they were indeed renewals. Therefore, the information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S4W-14397

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of reasons given in applications for shotgun and other firearm certificates for each year for which information is available.

Question reference: S4W-14396

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what systems Police Scotland will use to monitor and record shotgun and other firearm licensing.

Shotgun and firearm licensing is an operational matter for the Chief Constable of the Police Service of Scotland. At present, applications and certificates continue to be monitored and recorded using systems developed by the previous eight police forces. These systems remain robust and fit for purpose. I understand that the Police Service of Scotland aims to introduce a single, national firearm licensing system in due course.

Question reference: S4O-02099

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle air pollution in cities.

Question reference: S4O-02067

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how businesses in cities can benefit from being part of a business improvement district.

Question reference: S4O-02004

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making toward meeting its target for modern apprenticeships.

I am delighted to announce that, once again, this Government has not only met, but has surpassed the challenging target we set ourselves to deliver 25,000 Modern Apprenticeship opportunities in each year of the current Parliament.

In fact, in 2012-13 the Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland, has supported 25,691 individuals into apprenticeships across a broad range of sectors and more than 80 job roles.

Question reference: S4W-13579

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what advisory or consultative bodies provide it with advice on issues relating to the financial services industry and what the membership of each body is.

The Financial Services Advisory Board (FiSAB), supported by the Financial Services Implementation Group (FiSIG), provides the Scottish Government with advice on issues relating to the financial services industry.

FiSAB is a partnership between the financial services industry, trade unions, the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and Universities Scotland.

Details of the membership of both FiSAB and FiSIG are published on the Scottish Government website and can be accessed by following these links.

FiSAB: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/finance/meetings/membership

FiSIG: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Business-Industry/finance/fisigmeetings/membership

Question reference: S4W-13260

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when a process will be in place for determining funding allocations to local authorities for flooding projects after 2015 and what organisations it plans to involve in this process.

The Scottish Government is in discussion with COSLA to agree the principles and process for a funding scheme for flooding projects after 2015. The next meeting between COSLA and Scottish Government officials will take place on 3 April 2013.

All funding allocations for the next round of flooding projects are, at present, dependent on decisions taken following the outcome of the UK Government's forthcoming Spending Review.

Question reference: S4O-01697

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeship starts there were in Edinburgh in the most recent year for which information is available and how this compares with 2006-07.

Question reference: S4W-10888

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded undergraduate places it has provided in each year since 1999 and how many it plans to provide in the future.

The number of funded undergraduate places has increased by almost 900 since 2010-11. A further increase is planned for AY 2013-14 but the final number has yet to be confirmed.

Funded undergraduate student places - 1999-2000 to 2012-13

Academic session	Total FTE
2012-13	123,419
2011-12*	117,607
2010-11	122,520
2009-10	122,054
2008-09	121,365
2007-08	119,139
2006-07	115,307
2005-06	111,901
2004-05	111,943
2003-04	108,166
2002-03	108,699
2001-02	96,962
2000-01	96,094
1999-2000	95,541

* In 2011-12 the number of undergraduate places for UK and EU students at Scottish universities was maintained at 2010-11 levels as a result of the universities agreeing to accept “fees only” students. The table shows only those places that were funded by the SFC.