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: S3W-10739

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost has been of processing freedom of information requests to the Parliament in each month since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

The enclosed table sets out the cost of replying to freedom of information requests based on the time recorded by Freedom of Information Action Officers and Decision Takers who have prepared replies to FOI requests up until 6 March 2008. The time recorded does not include input by staff in SPICe (The Information Centre), the Directorate of Legal Services or the Media Relations Office because input in these areas is overarching and not necessarily specific to individual requests. The cost has been calculated at £35.39 per hour, the current hourly rate of a grade 5 member of staff.

Year	Month	Total (£)
2005	1	14,242
	2	10,033
	3	4,569
	4	3,617
	5	3,979
	6	13,246
	7	11,530
	8	4,192
	9	3,302
	10	10,291
	11	7,660
	12	2,219
2005 Total		88,880
2006	1	2,714
	2	5,124
	3	13,514
	4	2,571
	5	8,977
	6	2,155
	7	3,976
	8	1,991
	9	3,744
	10	1,977
	11	6,358
	12	3,319
2006 Total		56,420
2007	1	3,929
	2	8,005
	3	4,645
	4	4,749
	5	2,715
	6	2,216
	7	4,358
	8	1,690
	9	1,501
	10	1,483
	11	1,280
	12	416
2007 Total		36,986
2008	1	655
	2	1,232
	3	9
2008 Total		1,895
Grand Total		184,181

Question reference: S3W-10738

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many freedom of information requests were made to the Parliament by (a) members of the public, (b) MSPs, (c) parliamentary researchers and (d) journalists in each year since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

	Requests from Members of the Public	Requests from MSPs	Requests from Parliamentary Researchers	Requests from Journalists
2005
January	22	0	0	18
February	17	1	0	10
March	18	3	0	4
April	4	0	1	7
May	10	2	0	9
June	10	0	2	17
July	7	2	1	10
August	1	1	1	7
September	7	2	0	9
October	12	0	1	20
November	13	0	1	12
December	9	0	0	9
Total	140	11	7	132
2006
January	3	0	0	7
February	7	1	0	7
March	10	0	3	29
April	9	0	0	9
May	14	0	0	4
June	7	0	0	14
July	5	0	0	7
August	12	0	0	4
September	4	1	2	3
October	1	0	0	6
November	12	4	2	10
December	7	0	1	6
Total	91	6	8	107
2007
January	10	0	1	23
February	15	0	0	71
March	6	4	3	114
April	7	4	0	19
May	4	0	0	30
June	4	1	0	10
July	11	2	2	20
August	1	0	0	19
September	6	1	0	7
October	8	0	0	11
November	3	1	0	11
December	3	0	0	2
Total	78	13	6	337
January	3	0		4
February	12	1	1	53
March	1	0	1	5
Total	16	1	2	62
Grand Total	325	31	23	638

Question reference: S3W-10742

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on which occasions it has had to employ additional staff to deal with freedom of information requests to the Parliament since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and what total costs arose from such action.

Question reference: S3W-11029

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which minister would have determined any appeal by the developers of Aviemore resort hotels against a decision by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to reject the master plan and any related planning applications

Where an application for planning permission has been made to the planning authority and has been refused, approved with conditions, or the authority has failed to make a decision on the application within the set period, the applicant may appeal to Scottish ministers. Appeals are handled by inquiry reporters in the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals.

In most cases the inquiry reporter will prepare and issue the decision letter on behalf of Scottish ministers. In a small number of cases, however, the reporter will not issue the decision but will send a report with a recommendation to Scottish ministers. The decision on the appeal would be taken by the Planning Minister, Stewart Stevenson. If the Planning Minister were debarred from the decision-making process, e.g. by having a constituency interest or by having publicly expressed a view about the case, then another minister would make the decision on his behalf.

Question reference: S3W-11030

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons were for the First Minister circulating a briefing note commissioned by the Minister for Community Safety, and prepared by building consultants on behalf of the developer of Aviemore resort hotels, to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change and the Minister for Environment.

Question reference: S3W-11040

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether standard operating practices and procedures were applied by the First Minister’s private office in relation to correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald’s company and enclosures of further correspondence between Mr Macdonald’s company and the planning authorities, the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Highland Council, concerning the Aviemore resort hotels planning application as received by email from the First Minister’s constituency office manager on 9 and 13 November 2007.

Question reference: S3W-11031

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive why a briefing note, commissioned by the Minister for Community Safety and prepared by building consultants on behalf of the developer of Aviemore resort hotels, was sent to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency by the Scottish Government and who issued the instructions to do so.

Question reference: S3W-11032

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Environment Protection Agency is obliged under its statutory duties, or in guidance issued to it, to have regard to the economic interests of developers in making statutory determinations, beyond any general encouragement or guidance to act efficiently and expeditiously in conducting its affairs and dealing with planning applications.

SEPA has a general duty under section 32 of the Environment Act 1995 to have regard to the economic needs of any area when formulating proposals relating to any of the agency''s statutory functions. SEPA is also required to adhere to statutory guidance on Sustainable Development which requires the agency to ensure its actions do not unnecessarily constrain economic development, and to enforce high environmental standards whilst having regard to economic considerations.

When responding to planning consultations, SEPA takes into account sustainable development considerations including, if relevant, the financial and employment imperatives involved. The statutory guidance on Sustainable Development also makes clear that SEPA''s involvement in development planning is crucial in helping planning authorities to protect communities from inappropriate development and degradation of their local environment.

SEPA, like other public bodies, needs to be aligned with, and prioritise, the strategic objectives of the Scottish Government which include Wealthier as well as Safer and Greener.

Any question about how SEPA carried out its functions in relation to an individual case should be directed to its chief executive.

Question reference: S3W-11038

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald and an enclosure of correspondence between HBOS and Highland Council intimating the prospective closure of the Macdonald hotel company and the complete resort operation, as received by email from the First Minister’s constituency office manager on 29 October 2007, was produced in hard copy and given to either the First Minister or his advisers by the First Minister’s private office.

Question reference: S3W-11039

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald and an enclosure of correspondence between HBOS and Highland Council intimating the prospective closure of the Macdonald hotel company and the complete resort operation, as received by email from the First Minister's constituency office manager on 29 October 2007, were placed in the ministerial correspondence system.