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: S5W-20791

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish what its position in on building companies signing off their own building warrants.

Kevin Stewart : The Building (Scotland) Act 2003 sets out that the verifier is responsible for granting a building warrant. The thirty two local authorities in Scotland are appointed by Scottish Ministers as the verifiers of the building standards system for their own geographical area.

When a building warrant is required, it must be granted by the local authority before work can start. The local authority must have accepted a completion certificate before a new building can be occupied. Building companies do not sign off building warrants.

Question reference: S5W-20792

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 9 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review legislation on building warrants.

The Scottish Government has no plans to review the legislative process for the requirement of a building warrant.

Following the outcomes of the public consultation on “Building Standards Compliance and Fire Safety – a consultation on making Scotland’s buildings safer for people” that ran from July to September last year, the Scottish Government has plans to amend the Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 and guidance.

Question reference: S5W-20258

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 6 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many high court trials in each year since 2008 have been subject to an extension of (a) at least 140 days to 12 months and (b) over 12 months due to a lack of court accommodation.

Question reference: S5F-02819

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2018

To ask the First Minister whether the same funding that was provided last year to tackle rough sleeping, as part of the recommendations of the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, will be provided this year.

Question reference: S5O-02574

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information sheriffs are given regarding the availability of secure unit places when disposing of a case involving a young offender.

Question reference: S5W-19127

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in each local authority area have (a) applied for and (b) received support for (i) loft, (ii) cavity wall, (iii) room in roof, (iv) solid wall and (v) other forms of insulation from area-based energy-efficiency schemes in each of the last 10 years.

The Scottish Government only holds information about the area-based energy efficiency schemes that it has funded since 2008.

Copies of the detailed information requested for the HEEPS Area Based scheme and Warmer Homes Scotland have been lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. Number 60121).

We do not hold complete information about the number of households that may have applied for these schemes. Eligibility usually reflects the areas targeted for project delivery by local authorities as part of their Area Based Schemes, as well as individual households circumstances and ability to self-fund improvements.

We do not hold detailed information about the number of households benefitting from each of the five insulation measures identified. Local authorities provide returns about the number of measures provided under the scheme, some households benefit from more than one of these measures. Due to the accrual financing of our Area Based Scheme with local authorities the 2017/18 report is not yet available.

The number of households applying for a loan through the HEEPS Area Based scheme is published on the Energy Saving Trust website. This information is not available for each of these measures by individual local authority.

Information about the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) and the Universal Home Insulation Scheme (UHIS), as well as other data for a variety of Scottish Government grant schemes, is available from the Energy Saving Trust website.

The data can be found under the Download Reports and Statistics about our activities, specifically the Home Energy programmes Detailed Report 2009/13. A link to this data will be included with the information lodged with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S5W-19128

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 9 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in each local authority area have (a) applied for and (b) received support from the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) in each of the last 10 years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19127 on 9 November 2018. This summarises the information that is available for the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland (HEEPS) at local authority level.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-19129

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many households in each local authority area have (a) applied for and (b) received support for (i) a new boiler or heating replacement system, (ii) solar panels, (iii) air source heat pumps and (iv) biomass energy systems in each of the last 10 years.

The detailed information requested is currently being collated. The information has to be drawn from a number of different sources from various schemes over the ten-year period, including from data held by the Scottish Government’s contracted scheme administrator. Current and historical databases are being analysed and combined, and this includes a process of removing duplication followed by careful checking for accuracy.

I will write to the member as soon as the information is available and a copy will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib number 60132).

Question reference: S5W-18671

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many high court trials in each year since 2008 started in excess of the 140-day target from full committal, broken down by the average length of delay.

Question reference: S5W-18865

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) median and (b) mean total household income has been of applicants to the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme in each quarter since 2016.

Information on the incomes of households purchasing homes through the Help to Buy (Scotland) Scheme is based on sales ‘log form’ information returned by participating households. Data on the median and mean household incomes is published in the latest Help to Buy (Scotland) Monitoring: characteristics of households report 2016-17 by quarter since the scheme began. The report can be found at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/help-to-buy-scotland-monitoring-characteristics-of-households-report-2016-2017/ .