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-13633

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-01815 by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 February 2013, whether it will publish its calculations of the extra income collected following the “apparent delay in settling business rates appeal cases” (Official Report, c. 16757).

Question reference: S4W-13632

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S4O-01815 by Nicola Sturgeon on 20 February 2013, what progress it has made on agreeing the new targets for 2012-13 for the business rates incentivisation scheme (Official Report, c. 16757).

The Scottish Government is actively working jointly with COSLA and local government to review the Business Rates Incentivisation Scheme (BRIS) targets for 2012-13 taking into account the latest business rates returns, which show that appeals losses are likely to be lower than expected.

Appeals losses are likely to have been delayed due to a significant court action that was concluded during 2012-13 and are therefore likely to be higher than expected in 2013-14. This change in estimated business rates income has not been as a consequence of local authority efforts to increase economic activity and therefore should not trigger any retention of additional income. Agreed revisions to the BRIS targets will be published in due course.

Question reference: S4O-01935

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will launch its consultation on the use and administration of the resource that it will receive as a result of the UK Government's decision to close the Independent Living Fund in 2015.

Question reference: S4W-13387

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that patients in Scotland with metastatic malignant melanoma have access to newly developed treatments available elsewhere in the UK.

Scotland has its own robust and transparent appraisal process for newly licensed medicines through the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and Healthcare Improvement Scotland. The processes of these bodies are independent from the Scottish Government.

The Access to New Medicines Review is currently examining every aspect of the processes for introducing new medicines within the NHS in Scotland to assess their effectiveness and to identify what further improvements can be made. The outcomes of the current review of Access to New Medicines will be published in the Spring.

Question reference: S4W-13388

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it can confirm that the drug, ipilimumab, has been made available to patients with metastatic malignant melanoma in every country that has completed its regulatory review of the new treatment.

Question reference: S4W-13389

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 01 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether patients have accessed new treatments for metastatic malignant melanoma by means of the individual patient treatment request system.

Question reference: S4W-13294

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, following publication of First Report - Macroeconomic Framework, what further reports the Fiscal Commission Working Group will publish and when.

The Fiscal Commission Working Group published its first report on 11th February 2013. The Working Group will continue its work to oversee the development of a robust macroeconomic and fiscal framework.

The introduction from the chair of the Working Group states that, “going forward we will be advising on how Scotland can learn from the best examples of other countries and the latest research in areas such as efficient tax collection, regulation and economic policy.”

Updates on the ongoing work of the group are available on the Fiscal Commission Working Group webpage:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/Council-Economic-Advisers/FCWG

Question reference: S4W-13248

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether everyone in Scotland directly affected by the Independent Living Fund will be invited to take part in its consultation on how the fund will operate when it is devolved in 2015.

Question reference: S4W-13250

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether people in receipt of payment from the Independent Living Fund who are under 60 will continue to receive payments automatically if they are over 60 when the fund is devolved in 2015.

Question reference: S4W-13247

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will increase payments from the Independent Living Fund in line with inflation when the fund is devolved in 2015.