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-02171

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had since March 2013 with the 2 Sisters Food Group regarding the future of Vion Cambuslang.

Question reference: S4W-14607

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 16 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to tackle child obesity in the Rutherglen constituency.

The Government Obesity strategy “Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland: A Route Map Towards Healthy Weight” sets out our long term commitment to tackling overweight and obesity. For Children this includes action on diet, physical activity and behaviour change which involves the parents and carers as well as the children themselves.

Locally the Government has supported the health board to undertake child healthy weight interventions and enabled organisations to increase opportunities for children to get involved in sport and physical activity through active schools but also through funding from Cashback for Communities. Further opportunities for physical activity, has also been provided by a number of improvements to the local cycle network. The Healthy Living Award and the Scottish Grocers Federation Healthy Living Programmes both supported by the Government are increasing the opportunities for local people to access healthy food.

Nationally, the Government continues to develop preventative measures including the Maternal and Infant Nutritional Framework for Action, which looks at the nutrition of mothers before and during pregnancy, supports and promotes the benefits of breastfeeding and the importance of a healthy diet throughout early childhood. This is further supported by the National Parenting Strategy, which acknowledges that supporting parents is key to achieving a change in children’s nutrition.

Question reference: S4W-14611

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 14 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce health inequalities in the Rutherglen constituency.

The Scottish Government is committed through its strategy Equally Well to reducing those avoidable inequalities in health that exist across Scotland.

Within the Rutherglen constituency area, the Government is involved in a range of initiatives with a number of organisations that help to provide necessary local support that enable individuals to make informed choices, to support a healthier lifestyle. Examples include Keep Well, the Healthy Living Award, Cashback for Communities and Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland’s Partnership Drug Initiative.

The Government is also taking steps to highlight the importance of health inequalities and the expectation that they will be tackled at a local level. Health inequalities have therefore been made one of the key national priorities for new Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs) where the aim should be to achieve transformational, not incremental performance improvement. SOAs encourage partners to develop a shared understanding of their area’s needs and develop local solutions for local priorities.

At the root of health inequalities are income inequalities and the Government is active in supporting people on low incomes through initiatives such as restoring the UK Government cut in Council Tax Benefit and wider activities as part of the social wage such as free prescriptions, free nursery places and free personal care for the elderly. We are concerned that these commitments are being undermined by the UK Government’s cuts which also risk undermining the long term approach we are taking to tackling the causes of poverty, through early intervention and prevention and we condemn the actions taken on Welfare taken by the UK Government and would seek that these decisions are taken by the Scottish Parliament to better protect the people of Rutherglen and Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-02125

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to combat antisocial behaviour.

Question reference: S4O-02080

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it oversees the application process for community pharmacies.

Question reference: S4O-02056

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-02031

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-01997

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the objectives are of the ongoing college merger process.

Question reference: S4W-12793

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people its agencies employ on zero-hours contracts, broken down by agency.

Question reference: S4W-12653

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether adjudications by the Pensions Ombudsman in relation to police pension commutation will apply equally in Scotland and the rest of the UK.