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-25254

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4T-00988 by Alasdair Allan on 31 March 2015 (Official Report, c. 8), when it was announced that the Global Excellence Initiative to support world leading research in Scotland's universities would be time limited, and by whom.

The previous Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Michael Russell, wrote to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in March 2013 and asked them to consider allocating additional funding (the ‘global excellence initiative’) to help universities maintain and improve their international competitive position. This letter – which is publicly available at:

http://www.sfc.ac.uk/web/FILES/About_the_Council/Letter_of_guidance_re_Global_Excellence2.pdf – recognised that funding may require to be time limited and that decisions on additional investment should be related to what could be afforded within the SFC’s budget.

We fully expect our universities to build on their success and continue to attract funding from a range of sources, not only from the Scottish Funding Council but also from the UK Research Councils, businesses, charities and the EU.

Question reference: S4W-25248

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government in each year since 2007 regarding the future of the Longannet power station.

The Scottish Government has consistently argued throughout the Scottish National Party administration for reform of the UK transmission charging regime introduced by the Labour government in 2005 that unfairly penalises Scottish generators such as Longannet.

Transmission charging and the important role Longannet plays in security of supply were discussed at a meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board chaired by the First Minister on 16 February 2015. The First Minister subsequently exchanged letters with the Prime Minister in February and March 2015 highlighting Scottish Government concerns about Longannet’s future and the need for the Scottish Parliament and government to have oversight of the analysis and subsequent decisions which affect the security of Scotland’s electricity supply.

Under the devolved settlement, governmental and regulatory responsibility and operational control of UK energy market issues rests with the UK Government, Ofgem and National Grid. The actions urgently required on the key factors contributing to the threat of premature closure of Longannet – principally, transmission charges and the design of the UK Capacity Market – are ones that must be taken by the relevant UK authorities rather than the Scottish Government.

A chronology of recent discussions and correspondence led by the myself relating to Longannet is listed in the following table.

Date	Activity
6 October 2014	I wrote to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change requesting urgent talks on Longannet.
7 October 2014	I had a telephone call with Neil Clitheroe (Chief Executive Officer, Scottish Power Retail and Generation) and discussed the future of Longannet. Topical Question S4T-00804: ‘To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking regarding the future of Longannet power station’ was answered by myself in the Scottish Parliament.
22 October 2014	I had a telephone call with Neil Clitheroe and had another discussion on the future of Longannet.
12 November 2014	I co-chaired a meeting of the Thermal Generation and Carbon Capture and Storage Industry Leadership Group. The state of the electricity sector was discussed, focusing on supply margins.
14 November 2014	I wrote to Steve Holliday, the Chief Executive Officer of National Grid, following the publication of the company’s winter outlook report. National Grid was asked to explain how it assesses the role Longannet has to play in ensuring an adequate level of security of supply in Scotland.
26 November 2014	I met with Mike Calviou, Director of Transmission Network Service at National Grid, to discuss the future of Longannet and the emerging findings of National Grid’s system study for Scotland.
21 January 2015	I met with Keith Anderson (Chief Corporate Officer, Scottish Power), Frank Mitchell (Chief Executive Officer, SP Energy Networks) and Neil Clitheroe. Discussions included the future of Longannet.
23 February 2015	I visited Longannet and met with representatives of Scottish Power and the union Prospect.
25 February 2015	I had a telephone call with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and discussed the future of Longannet.
13 March 2015	I had a telephone call with Mike Calviou and sought answers to the many concerns about security of supply in Scotland including Longannet’s future.
19 March 2015	I met with Mike Calviou in London and sought reassurances that National Grid was recognising the full value of Longannet.
26 March 2015	I met with representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, Prospect, GMB, Unite, Unison, ASLEF and RMT at the Scottish Parliament to explore possible actions to avert or mitigate premature closure of Longannet.

Question reference: S4W-25246

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had in each year since 2007 with representatives of the workforce at Longannet power station regarding the future of the facility.

The Scottish Government has regular contact with representatives of Scottish Power at which the company’s existing generation assets and future investment plans are discussed.

Following Scottish Power’s decision to opt-out Longannet from the UK Capacity Market auction in October 2014 – a decision Scottish Power linked explicitly to the UK system of discriminatory transmission charges – both the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism have visited Longannet power station to meet staff, company and union representatives.

Scotland’s energy minister met with the union Prospect on 23 February 2015, on behalf of all the Longannet unions, and on 26 March 2015 he met with a larger union delegation organised by the Scottish Trades Union Congress, which included union officials from Prospect, GMB, Unite, Unison, ASLEF and RMT.

The Scottish Government at ministerial and official level continues to engage with Scottish Power, Fife Council and workforce representatives to explore options to avert the premature closure of Longannet, protect local employment and safeguard the security of Scotland’s electricity supply. The energy minister and Councillor David Ross of Fife Council have agreed to co-chair a meeting focused on Longannet on 20 May 2015 to which workforce representatives will be invited.

Question reference: S4W-25087

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24870 by Derek Mackay MSP on 23 March 2015, what commitments Abellio has made with regard to the delivery of refurbished or new rolling stock as part of the ScotRail franchise, and when those commitments have to be met in order to avoid penalties.

Question reference: S4O-04226

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in rolling out access to local authority flooding datasets that have been developed through the use of Lidar technology.

Question reference: S4T-00988

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions took place between the Scottish Funding Council and the University of Aberdeen before the announcement of a £10.5 million budget reduction and the loss of 150 jobs.

Question reference: S4W-24872

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are penalties in the Abellio ScotRail franchise agreement for late delivery of refurbished or new rolling stock and, if so, what penalties and when and how they can be imposed.

Question reference: S4W-24871

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assurances it has had from Abellio that the refurbished rolling stock due to be in use on routes to Aberdeen and Inverness by the end of 2018 will be delivered on time.

Question reference: S4W-24870

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 23 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Abellio regarding the delivery of refurbished rolling stock for use on the Abellio ScotRail franchise.

Transport Scotland officials have been meeting regularly with the Abellio mobilisation team to discuss many aspects of the new franchise operation.

Abellio is due to have completed all leases for the rolling stock, such as high speed trains for inter-city routes, it requires to operate ScotRail services by the end of this month.

Within the leases detailed refurbishment programmes are being developed and Abellio is obliged to deliver these commitments, as required within the terms of the franchise agreement. Penalties are in place if the deadlines for the refurbishment and introduction of these trains into service are not met, but these are commercially confidential, given the involvement of third parties in this process.

Question reference: S4W-24500

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24285 by Fergus Ewing on 17 February 2015, who represented each of the named organisations at the first meeting of the Energy Jobs Taskforce in Aberdeen on 28 January.

The attendees at the meeting on 28 February 2015 were:

Lena Wilson (Chair)

David Rennie, Scottish Enterprise/Highlands and Islands Enterprise/Scottish Development International

Graeme Dickson, Scottish Government

Damien Yeates, Skills Development Scotland

Martin Fairbairn, Scottish Funding Council

Angela Scott, Aberdeen City Council

Belinda Miller, Aberdeenshire Council

Karin Hoeing, Schlumberger

Grahame Smith, Scottish Trades Union Congress

Jake Molloy, RMT

Willie Wilson, UNITE

Malcolm Webb, Oil and Gas UK

Tim Smith, BP

Donald Taylor, TAQA

Matt Corbin, Aker

Bob Keiller, Wood Group

Sandy Clark, AMEC

Kevin Higgins, Petrofac

Roy MacGregor, Global Energy

Sidney Johnston, Spex Offshore

Bryan Buchan, Scottish Engineering

Andy Samuel, Oil and Gas Authority

Stephen Speed, Department of Energy and Climate Change

Bob Collier, Aberdeen and Grampian Chambers of Commerce

John McDonald, OPITO