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: S5W-09558

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the evidence given by Derek Mackay to the Finance and Constitution Committee on 8 February 2017 (Official Report, c. 1), what its underspend was for 2016-17, and what estimate it has made for 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-09252

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many welders have been employed in constructing the new Queensferry Crossing in each year of its construction.

Question reference: S5W-09253

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the adjoining road surfaces connecting the Queensferry Crossing both south and north of the bridge were completed in time for the bridge’s original opening date.

Question reference: S5W-09251

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Queensferry Crossing remains on schedule to open to the public between mid-July and the end of August 2017.

Question reference: S5O-01027

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the Barclay review of non-domestic rates to publish its recommendations.

Question reference: S5O-00926

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has been a 62% reduction in the target number of primary postgraduate diploma in education places between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Question reference: S5W-08147

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the electricity generated in Scotland has been exported to the rest of the UK in each of the last four years, and how much this raised.

In 2012, net electricity exports represented 25% of total electricity generated in Scotland. In 2013 this figure was 28%, in 2014 it was 24% and in 2015 it was 29%.

Information on the value of net Scottish electricity exports is not held by the Scottish Government. This information is not publically available as it related to undisclosed trading agreements between buyers and sellers of electricity.

Question reference: S5W-08146

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how much and (b) what percentage of the electricity generated in Scotland is from its nuclear power stations.

Question reference: S5W-07550

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many woodland creation schemes of (a) up to two, (b) two to five, (c) six to 10, (d) 11 to 20, (e) 21 to 50, (f) 51 to 100, (g) 101 to 200 and (h) over 200 hectares have been approved in each year since 2008, also broken down by total area of woodland in each category.

Since 2008, there have been 2,388 woodland creation schemes approved covering a total area of 43,502 hectares. The number and area of woodland in each size category are shown in the Tables 1 and 2.

Approvals under the new SRDP Forestry Grant Scheme only began in November 2015, and as a result the area approved for 2016 was less than in previous years. Because of the long lead in time for woodland creation projects, recent improvements to the forestry grant scheme and the ongoing work to streamline the approval process are likely to impact from 2018 onwards.

Table 1 – Number of woodland creation schemes by size categories and year

Year

<2ha

2-5ha

5-10 ha

10-20ha

20-50 ha

50-100 ha

100-200 ha

>200 ha

Total

2008

2009

191

2010

134

137

396

2011

115

181

452

2012

109

371

2013

278

2014

355

2015

137

2016

208

Total

637

702

320

259

237

126

2388

Note:Data not available to show breakdown by size class separately for 2008 and 2009

Table 2 – Area in hectares (ha) of woodland creation schemes by size categories and year

Year

<2ha

2-5ha

5-10 ha

10-20ha

20-50 ha

50-100 ha

100-200 ha

>200 ha

Total

2008

2009

61.91

113.69

159.97

259.23

281.59

74.12

344.32

963.57

1334

924.4

2010

127.06

382.13

327.75

388.93

1013.17

600.76

1638.11

200.6

4678.51

2011

114.64

487.84

306.59

641.21

718.86

1515.43

2291.56

1206.67

7282.8

2012

103.85

321.66

455.86

439.42

1194.68

1779.56

1689.74

850.52

6835.29

2013

64.63

257.31

220.33

343.18

925.89

1435.09

2155.6

1234.31

6636.34

2014

83.77

211.65

381.07

923.72

1679.62

1655.07

1302.39

1449.68

7686.97

2015

26.04

73.37

158.77

288.23

853.61

749.36

772.66

1312.88

4234.92

2016

41.08

187.18

281.43

348.39

1024.30

1015.33

449.08

542.01

3888.80

Total

622.98

2034.83

2291.77

3632.31

7691.72

8824.72

10643.46

7760.24

43502.03

Note:Data not available to show breakdown by size class separately for 2008 and 2009

Question reference: S5O-00837

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what currency an independent Scotland would use.