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: S4O-04443

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the impact of the proposed Scotland Bill on NHS funding.

Question reference: S4W-24865

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) businesses and (b) people have submitted online planning applications via the ePlanning Scotland website in each year since 2009, broken down by local authority, and what the average saving was.

Anyone who registers on the portal can set their account as either a ‘professional’ or a ‘general public’ user. The reason for this initial distinction is to customise their experience. As regular users of the portal professionals benefit from additional functionality made available to them. The general public are assisted with easy to use forms and guidance. The Scottish Government does not however retain information on the breakdown of applications submitted through the ePlanning portal by types of user, whether they be professionals, businesses or the general public.

The average saving per applicant is based on several factors associated with producing a traditional paper based application. This includes savings to be made from costs associated with printing technical drawings, design statements, visualisations etc. as well as the packaging and postage costs. Other savings are generated by the efficiencies the portal provides, freeing up the applicants time to work on other activities. None of these savings have a bearing on which planning authority is processing the application or who the applicant is; an average is applied across all applications.

Question reference: S4O-04164

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the content of the report, Severe Poverty in Scotland, in relation to severe or extreme poverty among children.

Question reference: S4O-04135

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what value it places on early years education.

Question reference: S4W-24743

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Keith Brown on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made by the Scottish Veterans’ Commissioner since his appointment in August 2014.

The Commissioner, Eric Fraser, spent an initial period meeting with and listening to key interests involved in delivering support to the veterans’ community in Scotland. These included local authorities, health boards, service delivery organisations, ex-service charities and, crucially, individual veterans.

Drawing on these wide ranging discussions and information gathering, the Commissioner has now produced a strategy and workplan for 2015 that he is publishing today and available to view at: http://scotland.gov.uk/About/public-bodies/veterans-commissioner/Publications. The Commissioner has set out a testing and ambitious programme but I believe it is achievable and will lead both to new and improved support and opportunities for veterans. The Commissioner will prioritise his 2015 work on housing and employability issues impacting on veterans.

He will also examine the findings and recommendations contained within the 2014 report from Lord Ashcroft entitled Veterans transition Review, commissioned by the Prime Minister, in order to advise Scottish Ministers on how best they can be addressed and implemented in Scotland in respect of our devolved responsibilities. A copy of the strategy and workplan will be available in SPICe.

The Commissioner will be happy to engage at the earliest opportunity on his strategy and workplan with MSPs and other interests and, as a first step, will attend a ‘Meet The Commissioner’ Scottish Parliamentary reception on 1 April 2015 hosted by the Chairman of the Cross Party Group on Armed Forces Veterans.

Question reference: S4W-24005

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 15 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when the report of the Scottish Public Inquiry into Hepatitis C/HIV will be published.

Question reference: S4O-03854

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how the length of custodial sentences for handling an offensive weapon has changed during the last 10 years.

Question reference: S4O-03759

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to the voluntary sector.

The Scottish Government Draft Budget 2015-16 will enable us to continue to significantly invest in the third sector as a key social partner, maintaining funding of £24.5 million towards direct support of the third sector. This only represents our direct third sector budget – areas across the Scottish Government contribute funding to the third sector. We have not previously produced an amalgamated figure, but work is being finalised on tracking total Scottish Government third sector spending. We have also begun a discussion with the sector about what approach might be taken going forward, to secure a buoyant and sustainable third sector.

Question reference: S4O-03658

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the weather defences following the launch of the Ready for Winter campaign.

Question reference: S4W-22722

Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 October 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Alex Neil on 6 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the report of the Vale of Leven Hospital inquiry will be published.