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-27209

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Scottish Loan Fund has invested in each year since 2012, which companies have received such loans, how much of each loan has been repaid and what monies have been written-off.

Question reference: S4O-04583

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much additional resource it plans to spend on the police control room and service centre in Aberdeen in the current financial year.

Question reference: S4W-26756

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26314 by Fergus Ewing on 13 July 2015, how it responds to the evidence to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee on 3 June 2015 by (a) Kersti Berge of Ofgem that fully socialised electricity transmission charges would add £7 billion a year to the bills of Scottish consumers (Official Report, c. 28) and (b) Mike Calviou of National Grid that fully socialised electricity transmission charges would raise bills by around £10 per customer (Official Report, c. 25).

The Scottish Government welcomes all of the evidence that has been put forward as part of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee’s inquiry into Security of Supply. We welcomed the opportunity to give evidence directly and look forward to considering the main findings of the Committee’s report after the inquiry has concluded. The figures referenced by Ofgem in the Scottish Parliament relate to modelling published in 2011. The Scottish Government provided a detailed response in February 2012 to the Ofgem analysis, which can be found in full here https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/2012/03/scottish-government-transmit-con-resp.pdf. The Scottish Government raised significant concerns with the methodology and the general approach taken by Ofgem to socialised charging, along with a number of organisations including the Crown Estate, Western Isles Council and Orkney Islands Council. We remain concerned today that the locational element of transmission charging, introduced in Scotland in 2005 under the Labour UK Government, looks likely to lead to the premature closure of Longannet, which plays an important role Scotland’s security of supply. The simple fact is that generators in Scotland are not competing on a level playing field with those in the rest of the UK, and indeed the EU, and that should rightly be a matter of concern to us all – particularly given the role that Scottish generation plays in keeping the lights on across the UK.

Question reference: S4W-26759

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26128 by Fergus Ewing on 13 July 2015, whether it will list those onshore wind projects in Scotland that will lose financial support under the planned changes to the Renewables Obligation support scheme, and indicate how much potential electricity generation each represents.

While the onshore wind summit we held recently uncovered serious concern about the planned changes to the subsidy system for onshore wind, the Scottish Government does not hold a definitive list of projects affected by the early closure of the renewables obligation to this sector. We have been made aware of several projects that may be seriously impacted by the UK Government’s decision, but information on these projects has been provided in confidence. We are also concerned that because of UK change in policy and early curtailment of promised support, the response of lenders will be to decline to proceed with finance even for projects which appear to qualify under the proposed rules because they will not be confirmed or be clear until primary legislation is available next year, which of course will be too late.

Question reference: S4W-26758

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26128 by Fergus Ewing on 13 July 2015, how much of the potential 4.3GW of onshore wind developments identified as in planning could be brought to fruition within the Renewables Obligation support scheme before it is closed by accelerating the planning process.

The grace period as described by Amber Rudd in her statement on 18 June 2015 means that no application with a consent dated after the announcement could apply for the Renewables Obligation support scheme, therefore there would be no benefit in accelerating the planning process. However the terms of the legislation are still to be secured and the Department of Energy and Climate Change have asked for industry input into this.

Question reference: S4W-26757

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26125 by Fergus Ewing on 13 July 2015, when it will adopt the recommendations for government action in the document, Solar Energy - A Viable Contributor to Renewables in Scotland, to integrate solar as a core part of the Scottish renewables strategy and to revise the renewable energy road map to 2025 and beyond with specific plans and targets for solar energy.

We are engaging closely with the Solar Trade Association and Scottish Renewables to improve the environment for solar in Scotland and Scottish Government actions such as the current consultation on extending permitted development rights for solar have been welcomed by industry. Solar has always been part of our core Scottish Government renewables policy as part of our wider energy mix, however we are including solar in our renewables routemap in 2015 making our commitment to solar more explicit.

Plans for solar and other renewable technologies beyond 2020 will form part of future policy statements in due course.

Question reference: S4W-26766

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 21 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26127 by Fergus Ewing on 13 July 2015, when it estimates the carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot project will become commercially viable and what plans it has made for the future thermal generation of electricity in the event that CCS does not reach that stage before 2030.

Shell and SSE plan to develop the world’s first full-scale gas carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at Peterhead. The detailed design study for this project has now been completed and planning consent was granted for the onshore elements of the project by Aberdeenshire Council on 18 June 2015. Shell, SSE and the UK Government are expected to make a final investment decision on the project at the end of this year or in early 2016, with the aim of the project being operational in 2018-19.

In his evidence to the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee on 27 May 2015, Stuart Haszeldine (Professor of Carbon Capture at the University of Edinburgh) confirmed the likely timescales for the start of commercial operations at Peterhead. However, he stated that one of key dependences for commercial development remains the willingness of the UK Government to support the technology, highlighting “complete uncertainty about whether it will be allocated any funding from the levy control framework”.

The Caledonia Clean Energy Project, a low-carbon power generation project proposed by Summit Power for Grangemouth, is a second major CCS project proposal for Scotland. The Scottish and UK governments have jointly agreed to provide £4.2 million funding to advance the development of this project. Summit Power aims to achieve commercial operation of this project in the early 2020’s.

The official report of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee on 27 May 2015 can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=9983&i=0&c=0&s=haszeldine

Question reference: S4W-26943

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) civilian staff and (b) police officers the police service has employed to carry out Disclosure Scotland checks in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S4W-26945

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 19 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) civilian staff and (b) police officers Police Scotland employs to carry out Disclosure Scotland checks and where they are based.

Question reference: S4W-26944

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 August 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S4W-26614 and S4W-26615 by John Swinney on 28 July 2015, whether it can confirm that the current standstill period applied to the new contract for the provision of water and waste water services to the public sector will come to an end on 30 September 2015.