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-10311

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers considered Aberdeen City Council's proposal for a tax incremental financing pilot project ahead of higher ranked proposals and, if so, on what grounds.

Question reference: S4W-10307

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what score the Scottish Futures Trust gave each tax incremental financing pilot project application.

Question reference: S4W-10306

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Futures Trust used geographic location as part of the assessment criteria for tax incremental financing pilot projects.

Question reference: S4W-10308

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which tax incremental financing applications the Scottish Futures Trust recommended to ministers for selection as pilot projects following the scoring exercise.

Question reference: S4W-09874

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with universities and colleges in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire regarding the creation of an energy skills academy in Aberdeen.

Aberdeen College, Banff and Buchan College, the Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen have indicated an interest in developing energy skills in the north-east through aligning the curriculum they each offer to support the training needs of the Oil and Gas industry through the provision of a one-stop shop. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) are fully supporting of this approach, given the importance of these institutions to that industry.

John McClelland, Chair of the SFC and SDS, and the SFC have held discussions with Robert Gordon University and Aberdeen College recently, and as a result the four institutions in Aberdeen have been invited to submit a more detailed proposal to the SFC and SDS setting out what they consider the future training needs of the industry will be, and the potential impact that this may have in terms of changing or increasing the collective capacity across the four institutions.

In addition my officials are due to meet with representatives from the four institutions in early November, along with the SFC, SDS, Scottish Enterprise and the Energy Technology Partnership to discuss this proposal and alignment of this with development of the Scottish Energy Skills Academy announced in the budget on 20 September.

I also intend to engage with them, and other relevant stakeholders, as plans for the Scottish Energy Skills Academy progress.

Question reference: S4F-00986

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2012

To ask the First Minister what the purpose is of the Scottish Government's proposed changes to criminal legal aid.

Question reference: S4W-10279

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether Disclosure Scotland has set a target date for the completion of all retrospective checks on enhanced disclosure certificates and, if so, what date.

Question reference: S4W-10283

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) plans to recommence publishing monthly performance indicators on the Disclosure Scotland website and (b) has discussed publishing police response times on a monthly basis.

Question reference: S4W-10280

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) Disclosure Scotland or (b) police forces has/have requested additional resources for Force Disclosure Units ahead of the introduction of retrospective checks on enhanced disclosure certificates on 29 October 2012.

Six of the nine relevant police forces have requested and been granted additional funding by Disclosure Scotland ahead of the introduction of retrospective checking.

The following table shows the amount of additional funding provided. The figures show annual costs and will be pro-rata for the financial year 2012-13.

Table

Relevant Police Force	Additional Funding Requested	Additional Funding Granted
Central Scotland Police	Nil	Nil
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary	£14,903	£14,903
Fife Constabulary	£25,847	£25,847
Grampian Police	£39,381	£23,791
Lothian and Borders Police	£146,860	£72,000
Northern Constabulary	Nil	Nil
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency	Nil	Nil
Strathclyde Police	£228,867	£133,980
Tayside Police	£186,000	£55,232
Total	£641,858	£325,753

Question reference: S4W-10282

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has prioritised retrospective checks on enhanced disclosure certificates of staff from certain organisations and, if so, what organisations.

Disclosure Scotland has not prioritised retrospective checking for any organisation. It has worked with major users to put in place monthly maximum allocations of retrospective applications they may submit. The allocations are not inflexible and will be reviewed regularly by Disclosure Scotland in consultation with the organisations.

The decision about which staff and when they should be asked to apply to join the PVG Scheme under retrospective checking has been left to employers and organisations as they are best placed to make that decision.