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-24699

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent comment from Friends of the Earth Scotland that "underground coal gasification is the most experimental and frightening method of unconventional gas extraction".

Question reference: S4W-24697

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports of serious groundwater contamination and large carbon emissions being associated with underground coal gasification.

Question reference: S4W-24698

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the moratorium on fracking does not include underground coal gasification.

Question reference: S4W-24696

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 27 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on extending the moratorium on fracking to include underground coal gasification.

Question reference: S4W-25191

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide substantive answers to questions S4W-24696, S4W-24697, S4W-24698 and S4W-24699 regarding its position on underground coal gasification, which received holding answers on 13 March 2015.

Question reference: S4W-25192

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will extend the moratorium on fracking to include underground coal gasification.

Question reference: S4W-27734

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many 16 to 24-year-olds have (a) been employed on zero-hours contracts, (b) been registered as self-employed, (c) registered as sole traders and (d) registered a limited company in (i) Dunfermline and (ii) Fife, in each year since 2007.

(a) Official estimates for the number of employees on zero-hour contracts come from the Labour Force Survey. Estimates for 16 to 24 year olds at local authority area level on zero-hours contracts are not available as the sample sizes for this group are too small.

(b) Official estimates for the number of 16 to 24 year olds who were self-employed come from the Annual Population Survey. Estimates for the number of 16 to 24 year olds who were self-employed in both Dunfermline and Fife are not available as the sample sizes for this group are too small.

(c) and (d) The official source for statistics on sole traders and limited companies in Scotland is the Businesses in Scotland publication. These figures, ultimately sourced from the Office for National Statistics Inter-Departmental Business Register, cannot be broken down by the age of the business owner.

Question reference: S4W-27737

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much financial assistance it has provided to people aged 16 to 24 in (a) Dunfermline and (b) Fife who have started businesses and what average (i) grant or (ii) loan it awarded, in each year since 2007.

The information requested is not held centrally nor available in the format asked and could only be collated from the range of public sector organisations funded through the Scottish Government and through local authorities providing start up support to young people at disproportionate cost.

The Scottish Government, through Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council, supports a range of start-up provision for young people, provided through, for example, the Scottish Institute for Enterprise – helping a range of academic institutions in Scotland to offer business advisor provision to students. The Scottish Government also contributes to the Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust, helping them to support aspiring young entrepreneurs aged up to 30 to access loans (up to £7,500) and grants (up to £1,000) made available through the Prince’s Trust Scotland Enterprise programme.

The Scottish EDGE fund includes a Youth EDGE award where up to £10,000 of funding per business can be achieved by young people in the 18-30 age group.

In Fife, Fife Council, which is responsible for delivering start up support locally, including through Business Gateway Fife, advises it has helped 780 businesses start-up in Fife in 2014-15, 131 of which were young person-led businesses and of those 31 were started in Dunfermline.

Question reference: S4W-27725

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in the constituency of Dunfermline are in receipt of the small business bonus scheme.

Question reference: S4F-02973

Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 September 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the recent report by Action for Children that one in every six foster children in Scotland moves homes two or more times a year.