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-24502

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 when and where the next meeting of the Energy Jobs Taskforce will be held.

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

Question reference: S4W-24571

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which companies have approached the Scottish Energy Advisory Board with concerns about the security of electricity supply in Scotland.

The Scottish Energy Advisory Board does not receive approaches from companies or the general public in the way the question appears to imply. The board formulates a work programme with the co-chairs, Professor Sir Jim McDonald and the First Minister, which on occasion dictates the involvement of external experts by invitation on a topic-by-topic basis.

The board comprises members selected for their personal professional expertise in energy-related matters. Whilst informed by their experience within their individual organisations or companies, quite deliberately, the contributions members make are in a personal capacity.

The Scottish and UK Governments are aware that many companies, academics and representative bodies have expressed long-standing concerns about security of electricity supply within the GB market.

Question reference: S4W-24569

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what advice the Scottish Energy Advisory Board gave the First Minister regarding security of electricity supply at their meeting on 16 February 2015.

At the 16 February 2015 meeting, the board discussed the need to have greater transparency on the evidence underlying National Grid’s assumptions and methodology for assessing risk. National Grid has not provided the data which underlies their modelling nor their modelling scenarios. The board sought a clearer understanding of National Grid’s assessment of risk and their pricing of that risk within their technical analysis and procurement strategy for system services.

National Grid recognised the need for increased transparency of its evidence base. The board concluded an annual ‘capacity statement’ was required for Scotland and this proposal would be followed up with National Grid. Related to this, the board was keen to understand what a ‘tough day’ for Scotland looked like in order to test the robustness of National Grid’s generation and network scenarios. National Grid undertook to provide the information requested by the board.

Question reference: S4W-24568

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the minutes of the meeting between the First Minister and the Scottish Energy Advisory Board on 16 February 2015.

Question reference: S4W-24570

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) on what dates the (i) current and (ii) previous First Minister has met the Scottish Energy Advisory Board since 2011.

The Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) has met on eleven occasions since the start of 2011. It met on the following dates:

16 February 2015

10 July 2014

16 May 2014

30 October 2013

6 March 2013

14 November 2012

23 May 2012

8 February 2012

20 September 2011

7 June 2011

9 February 2011

The current First Minister co-chaired the most recent meeting on 16 February 2015, her first SEAB attendance.

The previous First Minister was in attendance and co-chaired all of the previous SEAB meetings with the exception of the meeting on 16 May 2014.

Question reference: S4W-24665

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-24296 by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 February 2015, whether it has now decided to allocate additional resources to Skills Development Scotland to fund the Adopt an Apprentice scheme in the oil and gas industry and, if so, how much additional funding it will allocate through this scheme and when the funds will be available for Skills Development Scotland to distribute.

As explained in my answers to your previous questions S4W-24296 and S4W-24012 on 28 January 2015, Adopt an Apprentice is demand-led, with the level of uptake determining overall spend on the programme. Should additional funding be required to meet the First Minister’s commitment of 14 January 2015 to provide an enhanced incentive to support apprentices made redundant in the oil and gas sector, this will be managed through existing Skills Development Scotland (SDS) sponsorship arrangements.

SDS are currently accepting application for the enhanced incentive of £5,000, subject to the eligibility criteria as detailed at:

http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/our-services/provider-central/national-training-programmes/modern-apprenticeships/

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S4W-24572

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much its agencies (a) have spent so far and (b) will spend in 2014-15 on fuel, and what estimate it has made for 2015-16.

Question reference: S4O-04104

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to contribute to the proposed City Deal for Aberdeen.

Question reference: S4W-24573

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) its agencies and (b) public sector organisations that make savings on fuel costs because of the falling oil price will be able to retain the money saved at the end of (i) 2014-15 and (ii) 2015-16.