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: S2W-30494

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 17 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28275 by Peter Peacock on 26 September 2006, whether the phrase “essential pre-requisite” refers to a legal requirement, a requirement of Executive policy, or a matter of good practice.

Question reference: S2W-30495

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 17 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to issue guidance to schools on the use of biometric systems such as fingerprinting

Question reference: S2O-11605

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 11 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how the funding scheme to promote household composting will operate in urban areas without gardens.

Question reference: S2W-30507

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 11 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that ministers determining applications under the planning or electricity legislation do not act under an actual or perceived conflict of interest when its departments or agencies have grant-aided work to develop, assess or justify the development proposals under consideration.

Decisions on planning applicationscoming before the Scottish ministers are taken by the planning minister, or a nominee,on an individual basis, rather than by Scottish ministers collectively. In takinga decision the planning minister will have regard to the provisions of the developmentplan and the determination will be made in accordance with the plan unless materialconsiderations indicate otherwise. It is open to the planning minister to considerall matters that are drawn to his attention, provided they are of relevance, inland use planning terms, to the determination of the application.

Other ministers or Executivedepartments or agencies with a particular interest in a proposal, for example throughgrant aided work, should not attempt to influence the decision making process.Ministers may, however, draw the planning minister’s attention to the views of theirelectorate. Paragraphs 6.7 to 6.12 of the Scottish Ministerial Code are ofrelevance as is the guidance contained in paragraph 1.3 of the Guide to CollectiveDecision making.

Scottish ministers have a statutoryduty under the Electricity Act 1989 to consult the relevant planning authoritiesand also Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agencyin relation to the Environmental Impact Assessment regulations. The Deputy Minister for Enterprise adoptsa similar role to that of the planning minister in determining applications madeunder the Electricity Act, having full regardto all the facts relating to the application including any advice offered by bothstatutory and non-statutory consultees.

Question reference: S2W-30081

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 21 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what top six subjects were raised by individual members of the public with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Justice, as measured by volume of written correspondence, in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S2W-30080

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 21 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what top six subjects were raised by individual members of the public with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Communities, as measured by volume of written correspondence, in the last 12 months.

Question reference: S2W-30430

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been armed with Taser guns or other electroshock weapons in the last (a) year and (b) month and on how many occasions, broken down by police force.

Question reference: S2W-30428

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Taser guns or other electro-shock weapons have been bought by police forces in Scotland, broken down by police force.

Question reference: S2W-30429

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on purchasing Taser guns or other electroshock weapons and on training police officers for their use, broken down by police force.

Question reference: S2W-30431

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times it has had meetings with Taser International in the last five years, showing the dates and venues of such meetings.