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-17592

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the first and second review tiers are for applications to the Scottish Welfare Fund.

Question reference: S4F-01642

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2013

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to deal with the reported underrepresentation of women on the boards and senior management teams of public bodies.

Question reference: S4W-17582

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4F-01561 by Alex Salmond on 19 September 2013 (Official Report, c. 22684), what estimate it has made of how much (a) first and (b) second class stamps would cost if an independent Scotland renationalised the Royal Mail.

We will ensure that postal service provision meets the needs of the people of Scotland in terms of a fair price and quality of service. This could be supported by the regulation of stamp prices by an independent regulator. Currently the regulator only influences the prices of a second class stamp. We are concerned by comments from the chief executive of the Royal Mail, immediately following its privatisation, which implied that the price of stamps may increase.

Question reference: S4W-17576

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17153 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, who was consulted prior to the publication of the statement in April.

In April the Scottish Government published its thinking on how race equality should look over the next three years. The approach states “that towards the end of 2013 we will commence work with stakeholders to develop the approach to be taken and we will publish the refreshed statement in Spring 2014”.

A copy of our approach can be found under the heading Statement of Race Equality Refresh at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18934/historyofstatement.

Question reference: S4W-17587

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government from what budget the £20 million to mitigate the impact of the so-called bedroom tax in 2013-14 was taken and how many people it will help.

The £20 million is comprised of £10 million from underspend within the fuel poverty budget (available due to delays with UK energy schemes) together with £10 million which is being made available from a combination of further savings from enterprise bodies and demand led budgets.

This money will enable local authorities to add to their own provisions to increase their budgets for discretionary housing payments (DHPs) within the legal limit set by the UK Government. Scottish councils now have up to £35 million to allocate to DHPs in 2013-14 and will enable thousands more tenants to receive financial assistance.

It is not possible to predict the exact number of people this will help due to the different circumstances of each application and the demand led nature of DHPs.

Question reference: S4W-17586

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how the £20 million to mitigate the impact of the so-called bedroom tax in 2013-14 will be allocated, broken down by local authority.

The breakdown of the £20 million is contained in the following table:

Local Authority	Amount (£)
Aberdeen	444,174
Aberdeenshire	883,262
Angus	614,019
Argyll and Bute	550,390
Clackmannanshire	264,794
Dumfries and Galloway	977,596
Dundee	501,166
East Ayrshire	254,766
East Dunbartonshire	160,250
East Lothian	203,724
East Renfrewshire	123,577
Edinburgh	2,124,473
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	159,461
Falkirk	266,868
Fife	800,381
Glasgow	3,553,117
Highland	1,465,777
Inverclyde	227,449
Midlothian	236,818
Moray	374,539
North Ayrshire	460,059
North Lanarkshire	697,402
Orkney	95,568
Perth and Kinross	777,525
Renfrewshire	396,992
Scottish Borders	669,031
Shetland	107,593
South Ayrshire	389,269
South Lanarkshire	731,422
Stirling	594,445
West Dunbartonshire	515,964
West Lothian	378,129
Total	20,000,000

Question reference: S4W-17580

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17155 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, what the reason is for the preference for a statement rather than a strategy for individual protected equality characteristics.

Although the Scottish Government does not currently have any strategies for individual protected equality characteristics, there are a number of strategic approaches under development around various specific characteristics, e.g. Violence Against Women Strategy.

The Scottish Government has committed to refreshing the 2008-11 Race Equality Statement. However, our approach to any long term work is always informed through consultation with key stakeholders and communities. The contents and form will be drawn out through the consultation process when discussions take place and areas for development are identified.

Question reference: S4W-17588

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what funds local authorities have set aside to top up discretionary housing payments and how many people this will help.

Question reference: S4W-17577

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 18 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17153 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, how it will consult communities and stakeholders to inform the statement to be published in Spring 2014.

Officials will shortly be conducting one-to-one meetings with their intermediary bodies (Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS), Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO), Scottish Interfaith Council (SIFC) and the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC)), to help form a project plan for the most appropriate way to consult with communities and stakeholders. They will also discuss which organisations and community groups would be best placed to consult in the formulation of the statement.

Question reference: S4W-17590

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 14 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17281 by Margaret Burgess on 27 September 2013, when it commissioned the study, who is carrying it out and when the findings will be published.