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-15587

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when Scottish Natural Heritage and Marine Scotland will hold a public meeting on Arran to discuss the proposed South Arran Marine Protected Area.

We are developing management options for Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) where scientific advice suggests that some form of management may be necessary to achieve the conservation objectives for each proposed protected feature in each possible MPA. The approach to identifying management options for each activity, including those for impacts of creelers and anglers, will be risk-based, which means options will be presented where there is a risk to the achievement of the conservation objectives.

The management options will be informed by discussion with stakeholders and will be consulted on this summer. If new information becomes available during the consultation, the management options may be revised. We recognise that stakeholders can provide local, practical environmental knowledge and more detailed information on activities, including in relation to intensity, frequency, and methods. This additional information will help us to develop more specific management options, focussed on interactions between features and activities. To better understand this and to raise awareness of the proposal for the South Arran possible MPA, we intend to invite members of the Arran community, and any other interested parties, to attend a joint Marine Scotland and SNH drop in session on MPAs towards the start of the summer consultation. We are in discussions with the Community of Arran Seabed Trust over arrangements for this event on Arran.

In addition there is also a review period every six years to assess the efficacy of the network in achieving its conservation objectives, where the first review would be held in 2018-19.

Question reference: S4W-15589

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether management options for marine protected areas take account of the impacts on non-mobile stakeholder groups such as creelers and anglers.

Question reference: S4W-15588

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 24 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will review the management options for marine protected areas and publish that review.

Question reference: S4W-15292

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 7 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to protect mobile home residents from rogue site operators.

The Scottish Government is taking forward two areas of work that will strengthen the rights of mobile home residents.

The first is to improve the contractual conditions that apply to all residents. The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Scotland) Order 2013, if approved by Parliament, will strengthen the protections residents enjoy, including removal of the requirement for a site owner to approve prospective mobile home purchasers.

The second area of work is strengthening the licensing system for mobile home sites. We have consulted on proposals including a new test to ensure a site owner is a fit and proper person. Our aim is to introduce a Housing Bill, potentially including provisions on this issue, in the autumn.

Question reference: S4O-02235

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on The Range and Magnitude of Alcohol's Harm to Others, which was commissioned by the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education in Australia.

Question reference: S4W-15238

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government to what extent independence would give Scotland the ability to design and implement a tax system best suited to Scotland’s needs.

This government believes that Scotland’s interests will best be served by all decisions affecting Scotland being made in Scotland. Taking full fiscal responsibility would allow this Parliament to legislate for and set all taxes in the interests of stimulating economic growth, supporting the public services of Scotland and building social cohesion. Decisions about what specific taxes to apply in an independent Scotland, and at what level, would be taken by the Scottish Parliament and government of the day.

Question reference: S4F-01442

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 June 2013

To ask the First Minister what impact the UK Government's proposed spending reductions for 2015-16 will have on the Scottish Government's budget.

Question reference: S4W-15293

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the impact on the Scottish economy, what its response is to the recent warning from the International Monetary Fund about growth prospects for the UK economy and that bringing forward infrastructure spending would be a "wise course of action".

The Scottish Government welcomes the International Monetary Fund’s statement on the 22 May 2013, calling on the UK Government to accelerate the infrastructure spending to support the UK's recovery. Capital investment can make an important contribution to the economic recovery, and the Scottish Government has repeatedly called on the UK Government to do more to boost investment. Indeed, recent Scottish Government analysis has estimated that had 2009-10 levels of capital spending been maintained in real terms, this would have boosted investment by £7 billion over the following five years and would have supported approximately 19,000 jobs.

The Scottish Government is using all levers at its disposal to maximise investment and support economic growth in Scotland. Over the three year Scottish spending review period (between 2012-13 and 2014-15) we will support investment of more than £10 billion through the capital budget, revenue-financed investment through the non profit distributing pipeline, regulatory asset base rail enhancements, capital receipts and switching resource to capital. It is essential that the UK Government changes course and adopts a similar approach to supporting economic recovery.

Question reference: S4O-02208

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the State of Nature report and the challenges it contains to prevent further loss of biodiversity.

Question reference: S4W-14879

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 23 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) over and (b) under 18 have received NHS speech and language therapy for stammering in each year since 2010, broken down by NHS board.

Information is not held centrally to enable us to identify the specific issue for which people are referred for speech and language therapy or to distinguish between those under and over 18.

The number of people referred to NHS speech and language therapy services in the period April 2011 – March 2012 is set out in the following table:

NHS Board	Total Attendances
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4,738
NHS Borders	2,661
NHS Fife	12,458
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	14,016
NHS Highland	621
NHS Lanarkshire	15,571
NHS Grampian	2,604
NHS Orkney	157
NHS Lothian	4,293
NHS Tayside	14,852
NHS Western Isles	3,461
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	729
NHS Shetland	364