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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 624 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-03615

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase the resources available to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to carry out sustainable deer management pending the outcome of the SNH deer management review.

The proposed budget for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) for the next financial year will be set out by the Scottish Government when it publishes details of Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2017-18 in December. There are no plans to submit a budget revision to the SNH budget during 2016-17. A report of the review into deer management in Scotland is due to be submitted to Scottish Ministers by the end of this month. Scottish Ministers will consider the report carefully and respond to it in due course.

Question reference: S5W-03617

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much Scottish Natural Heritage has spent on deer management in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-03616

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 27 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been employed by Scottish Natural Heritage to undertake deer management in each of the last five years.

Details of the number of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) staff for whom deer management is the majority of their work is set out in the following table. There are other SNH staff who undertake work on or related to deer management.

Year	Posts (FTE)
2012-13	10
2013-14	7
2014-15	6
2015-16	10
2016-17	12

In addition, other members of staff will undertake aspects of deer management work as part of their wider roles within SNH.

Question reference: S5W-02925

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the average cost of a cancelled or rearranged hospital appointment is.

The specific information requested is not available centrally. However information on the average cost of an outpatient appointment or inpatient or day case admission can be obtain from Scottish Health Service Cost Book which can be found at: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Costs/

It should however be borne in mind that when an appointment is cancelled, this appointment can be offered to another patient.

Question reference: S5W-02926

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 16 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many hospital appointments in NHS Lanarkshire were rearranged due to cancellations to patient transport arranged through the Scottish Ambulance Service in each year since 2013.

Question reference: S5W-02698

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how it will spend the £500 million investment on energy efficiency programmes over the next four years that it announced in the 2016-17 Programme for Government.

Question reference: S5W-02128

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the results of its assessment of whether smaller and rural businesses are able to complete on an even playing field for energy efficient measures.

In 2015, the Scottish Government funded Energy Saving Trust to commission an assessment of the barriers and issues preventing SMEs in rural areas from maximising opportunities from the energy efficiency market. The report can be found here: http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/sites/default/files/reports/EST%20remote%20rural%20and%20island%20supply%20chain%20research%20March%202015.pdf

We have designated the energy efficiency of buildings as a national infrastructure priority – Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP). This will deliver a number of economic benefits including opportunities to create a substantial Scottish market and supply chain for businesses of all sizes and from all parts of the country. There will be consideration of the skills and training required to develop the necessary capacity in the sector as the new SEEP programme is piloted and developed.

The development of SEEP will complement learning already gained from the previous research and from the Scottish Government’s existing programmes of support to SMEs on energy efficiency, such as:

The Energy Saving Trust supply chain support programme. Through ongoing seminars and training events at different locations, and a social media network, this programme provides networking and collaboration opportunities for SMEs on a range of topics that can support their effective participation in the market for energy efficiency and small-scale renewables measures. This has included the development and publication of a procurement guide to help SMEs bid for public sector contracts in the energy efficiency and renewables marketplace. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/businesses-organisations/supply-chain

The Resource Efficient Scotland advice and support service, SME resource efficiency loans, and the Green Business Network, which provide advice, networking and financial support to SMEs to improve their own energy efficiency and install renewables.

The contract for the Scottish Government’s flagship national fuel poverty scheme Warmer Homes Scotland which was awarded to Warmworks Scotland in May 2015. Warmworks have a supply chain of 32 installation contractors made up of:

4 Large firms (250+ employees)

9 medium firms up to 249 employees

19 small firms up to 49 employees

Of the small firms, five are micro business with ten or fewer direct employees. Ten of the 32 installers are based in rural locations, mainly across the islands and the highlands and borders regions.

Our area based fuel poverty schemes provide funding to all of Scotland’s local authorities which in turn provides economic opportunities to smaller and rural business across the country.

Question reference: S5W-02701

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been made to the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund, and how many were approved.

Question reference: S5W-02702

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £14 million for the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund remains unallocated.

Question reference: S5W-02700

Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the pilot projects that have received support from the Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme (SEEP) Pathfinder Fund.

	Total £M*
2012-13	0.904
2013-14	0.607
2014-15	0.917
2015-16	1.231
2016-17	1.139