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-15255

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what statutory consultation exercises Transport Scotland is required to undertake when awarding (a) new contracts, (b) contract extensions and (c) temporary contracts to incumbent franchisees of rail passenger services.

Question reference: S4W-15254

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) regulations and (b) directives Transport Scotland is legally required to comply with when awarding (i) contract extensions and (ii) temporary contracts to incumbent franchisees of rail passenger services.

Question reference: S4O-02162

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to assess the health implications of waste incineration.

Question reference: S4W-14345

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it costs school pupils to apply for college and university courses through UCAS.

Question reference: S4W-14347

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the charge for school pupils to apply for college and university courses through UCAS last increased and whether it will increase in the future.

Question reference: S4W-14346

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how the charge for school pupils to apply for college or university courses through UCAS impacts on poorer students and families.

Question reference: S4O-01677

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-01617

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 13 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it can give to North Lanarkshire Council to avoid reductions in jobs, services and amenities.

Despite the UK Government’s cuts to the Scottish Budget, this government has provided all councils including North Lanarkshire with fair finance settlements to provide services and amenities for their communities and will continue to do so in 2013-14.

Additionally since 2007 North Lanarkshire has benefitted from £17.5 million in Regional Selective Assistance which has created 2,673 new jobs and safeguarded 1,119, as well as receiving assistance from various funding streams put in place to support Youth Employment including; Opportunities for All, the Third Sector Challenge Fund and European Structural Funds.

Question reference: S4W-11505

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will give to the 62 people at Comet’s delivery hub in Coatbridge who have lost their jobs and whether it can provide assurances that efforts are being made to secure the jobs at the Comet store in Coatbridge.

The Scottish Government, through Skills Development Scotland, coordinates local response teams under the Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) initiative to provide tailored help and support for people facing redundancy.

On 2 November 2012, three partners in Deloitte LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators to manage the affairs, business and property of Comet Group Ltd.

Subsequently, the local PACE representative contacted the Comet Home Delivery Service Centre in Coatbridge to offer PACE support and it was agreed the PACE representative would visit the site on 12 November to provide PACE Guides for distribution to the affected employees.

On 19 November 2012 62 employees were made redundant and six were retained, four of whom were due to leave on 2 December 2012 with the remaining two due to leave on 5 December 2012.

On 22 November 2012, for employees facing redundancy in the Coatbridge Comet store, the PACE representative offered PACE support to the store manager who asked the PACE representative to return on 26 November 2012 to provide PACE Guides which were distributed to the employees who were made redundant when the store closed for business on 25 November 2012.

The offer to provide PACE support on site for Comet employees was made but this was not accepted. It is a matter for employers or administrators, to accept the offer of PACE support and we will therefore continue our work to improve further our links with employers and insolvency practitioners.

Question reference: S4W-11360

Asked by: Elaine Smith, MSP for Coatbridge and Chryston, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, given the potential impact on costs and employment to Scotland-based companies supplying the oil and gas sector, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the emergency incident in the North Sea on 22 October 2012 in which a Super Puma helicopter was forced to ditch.