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-09638

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what effects it considers the consumption of soft water has on health.

The Scottish Government maintains an open position on the health effects of water softness.

There is no regulatory standard for the hardness of drinking water in Scotland. The Scottish standards for drinking water are derived from the European Drinking Water Directive, which in turn are based upon World Health Organization guidelines. The WHO considers that water hardness is not of health concern at the levels found in drinking water, and the Scottish Government considers this to be the authoritative guidance on the matter.

Question reference: S4W-09495

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what schemes Creative Scotland runs to fund start-up for-profit businesses; how much has been awarded to how many recipients in previous years for which information is available; how much the recipients secured in match funding from other sources and whether it will provide a breakdown of the sources by (a) type of organisation and (b) amount provided.

Question reference: S4W-09481

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how the tuition fee grant for part-time students of Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework courses for 2013-14 will be distributed.

From academic year 2013-14, Scottish domiciled students studying a higher education part-time course with a personal income of less than £25,000 can receive full support for the relevant proportion of the full-time tuition fee. In order to qualify, students should be studying a higher education course, Professional Development Award or Continuing Professional Development at levels 7-10 of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) and complete between 30 and 119 SCQF credits per year. They must also commence studying at a Scottish Institution. The tuition fee for full-time intensity courses at private institutions is capped.

Question reference: S4W-09349

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities on the provision of public toilets, disabled facilities and child changing spaces.

The provision of public toilets, facilities for disabled people and child changing spaces is a matter for local authorities, and the Scottish Government does not issue guidance regarding their provision.

However, the Scottish Government funds local Access Panels through the Scottish Disability Equality Forum, to work with local councils to address issues of access for disabled people to places where goods, services or facilities are provided.

Additionally, building standards require owners of certain buildings, to which the public have access, to provide sanitary facilities, including accessible facilities suitable for use by disabled people and baby changing facilities, when the buildings are being constructed, altered or converted. Such buildings include large shops, public entertainment and assembly buildings, restaurants, cafes and public houses.

Question reference: S4W-09476

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs there are in the computer games development sector and what the gross value added of the sector is.

Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2010 published on 29 August 2012 are based on data from the Annual Business Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics.

The two most relevant domains, audio/visual and digital industries, include a range of relevant Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes under the categories computer games and software/electronic publishing. These codes report a total contribution of over £1 billion GVA and 19,300 jobs.

The Scottish Government recognises that there may be overlap between these two domains and that the industry is keen to have a fairer representation of the number of jobs it secures. In light of this, we are working with our partners, and industry representatives, including TIGA whose recent research suggests that there may be around 600 jobs in Scotland’s computer games sector. It is our intention to widen the SABS framework to enable the measuring and monitoring of individual sub-sectors more closely. This will help to capture those businesses which may not be captured within the statistics due to standard accounting practices.

Question reference: S4W-09475

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will restate its support for the computer games development sector in light of the report, Economic Contribution Study: An Approach to the Economic Assessment of the Arts & Creative Industries in Scotland: Final Report.

Scotland is known the world over as a creative and innovative nation, with our computer games industry undoubtedly one of our global success stories. Indeed, the computer games, software and electronic publishing was worth over £1 billion to the Scottish economy in 2010 – a third of the value of our creative industries.

That is why the Scottish Government is working with a range of partners to ensure appropriate support is in place for our creative industries, to make the most of the talent, infrastructure and cutting-edge skills that Scotland has to offer in this fast-growing and competitive market.

We are aware of the need for more detailed and robust information about the value of the computer games sector to the Scottish economy. This is something we are currently working on, in collaboration with agency and industry partners including TIGA.

Question reference: S4W-09385

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 18 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 applies to fees charged on termination of a tenancy.

At the current time, the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 makes it an offence to charge or receive any premium or require the making of any loan in addition to rent and a refundable deposit (not exceeding two months’ rent), as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy.

Section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 will amend the definition in the 1984 act to clarify that a premium includes any fine or other sum and any other pecuniary consideration, in addition to rent, and includes any service or administration fee or charge. The intention of this clarification of existing law is to make it clear that landlords and letting agents acting on their behalf should only charge tenants rent and a refundable deposit. The Scottish Government intends to commence the provisions contained within section 32 to come into effect on Monday 30 November 2012.

Landlords, their agents, tenants or prospective tenants should seek independent legal advice if they have queries about the application of the new provisions in Section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011.

Question reference: S4O-01277

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how the Procurement Reform Bill will incorporate and advance the principles of sustainability.

Question reference: S4W-09350

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the provision of public toilet facilities, disabled facilities and child changing spaces in railway stations is included in (a) the rail franchise or (b) other regulations.

ScotRail was obligated through the franchise to install or improve toilet facilities. This has delivered new toilets at 24 stations and existing facilities were refurbished at five stations since 2004. All of these are wheelchair accessible and contain child change facilities. These were focussed on a number of larger, busier stations.

Train companies must comply with the Equality Act 2010, which incorporates the former Disability Discrimination Act (1995, amended 2005 to include public transport). The legislation requires train companies to make reasonable adjustments to services and facilities to ensure disabled people can access the services and facilities without being discriminated against.

Question reference: S4O-01228

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on NUS Scotland's report, Unlocking Scotland’s Potential.