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-18020

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, if same-sex marriage was introduced, what its position is on whether it would be appropriate for public sector employees who oppose it to have their employer question them on their commitment to equality and diversity.

Public sector employees are entitled to have their own personal beliefs on same sex marriage and the Government would consider it inappropriate for public sector employers to question employees on their commitment to equality and diversity based solely on their belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

The Government fully appreciates that some public sector employees will be opposed to same sex marriage but will still approach their work in a professional and non-judgemental manner, respecting the diversity of service users.

Question reference: S4W-18022

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, if same-sex marriage was introduced, what its position is on whether (a) people, (b) churches and (c) other organisations that oppose it should be entitled to (i) hire publicly-owned facilities and (ii) provide services in partnership with public bodies.

The Government discussed the point about religious bodies against same sex marriage being denied the use of public premises in the second consultation on same sex marriage, at paragraphs 62 to 65 of Annex A:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/9433/272398.

The Government considers that any local authority (or other public body) which refused to let premises to any organisation or person on the basis of their religious beliefs risks a successful claim of discrimination.

Local authorities and public bodies are subject to the Equality Act 2010 and, as such, are directly prohibited from discriminating against an organisation or person because of their religious belief. In addition, the Human Rights Act 1998 makes it unlawful for public authorities to breach the European Convention of Human Rights which includes the right to freedom of religion.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010) requires local authorities and other public bodies to have due regard to various matters including fostering good relations between people who share protected characteristics and those who do not. However, relying on the Public Sector Equality Duty would not allow a local authority or public body to act unlawfully and discriminate against an organisation or person.

The Government also considers that there should be no discrimination against any organisation or person who is opposed to same sex marriage from providing services in partnership with public bodies, as long as the service is provided to all eligible persons. Any service provided through public money has to be available to all.

Question reference: S4W-18023

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, if same-sex marriage was introduced, what its position is on whether it would be appropriate for (a) prospective and (b) current foster carers who oppose it to have their suitability to provide such care questioned; whether it considers that it would be appropriate to ask them their views on the matter, and under what circumstances it considers that opposition to it would make a person unsuitable to provide foster care.

The key issue in relation to fostering is the welfare of the child. It would not be appropriate for prospective and current foster carers who oppose same sex marriage to have their suitability to foster children questioned just because of opposition to same sex marriage. Persons opposed to same sex marriage who are seeking to foster children must, like anybody else, demonstrate their suitability to foster children from a wide variety of backgrounds. It may be appropriate in some cases to ask persons seeking to foster how they would deal with cases such as a young person who is uncertain about his or her sexuality or a young person who is being bullied in school about their sexual orientation. If a person is unable to provide satisfactory answers to these types of questions, they may not be suitable to provide foster care. However, opposition to same sex marriage is not by itself sufficient to make a person unsuitable to provide foster care.

Question reference: S4W-18019

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to install next-generation superfast broadband in Highland and eastern Perthshire.

The Scottish Government and its partners are investing over £280 million in our Step Change programme which, alongside commercial deployment, will deliver next generation broadband access to 95% of premises in Scotland by 2017-18.

The programme, which includes an investment from Perth and Kinross Council, will deliver significant improvements to the Perth and Kinross local authority area, with coverage of at least 90% of premises expected. Without this investment, coverage of only 41% would have been achieved commercially.

On 28 October 2013, we published a map indicating high-level deployment phasing for the programme, available at:

http://www.digitalscotland.org/media/16354/ros_171013.pdf.

Question reference: S4F-01654

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland's finding that the level of grants paid to university students from the poorest backgrounds has fallen by 3%.

Question reference: S4W-17661

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, how it will ensure that wind turbine applications currently in the planning process are refused planning permission if they are without an OFGEM licence or exemption from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Matters concerning OFGEM licences or exemptions relate to the interpretation of electricity legislation in the Court of Session’s decision in the Viking wind farm judicial review. The decision does not concern applications for planning permission made under planning legislation and to how the planning system operates.

Consequently, the Scottish Government considers that it is not appropriate to refuse planning permission for wind turbine applications without OFGEM licences or exemptions.

Question reference: S4W-17667

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to receive notification from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of its response to the Pub Companies and Tenants consultation.

Question reference: S4W-17660

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it will issue to local authority planning departments dealing with wind turbine applications from developers without an OFGEM electricity generation licence or an exemption from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Question reference: S4W-17452

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on clarifying the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 in relation to charges made while granting a tenancy.

The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 states that it is an offence to require payment of any premium (in addition to rent and a refundable deposit of no more than two months’ rent), as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy.

As many tenants were being charged a range of additional fees in order to access privately rented accommodation, section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011, which came into force on the 30 November 2012, clarified the law by amending the definition of a premium in the 1984 Act, to make clear that a premium means “any fine, sum or pecuniary consideration, other than rent, and includes any service or administration fee or charge”.

Question reference: S4O-02440

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what help it provides for people who have had a stroke.

NHSScotland has made great progress in improving outcomes for people with stroke:

Over the last ten years mortality rates for stroke have reduced by over 41%.

Between 2010 and 2011 mortality rates dropped by 5.7%

Our Better Heart Disease and Stroke Action Plan, backed by over £1 million of funding each year, contains actions aimed at ensuring people with stroke get access to effective, safe and person-centred care, as quickly as possible.

Full implementation will help ensure we maintain momentum and continue to improve the quality of care and support available to people with stroke.