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-13065

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when a new food body for Scotland will be established.

Question reference: S4T-00260

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on addressing concerns regarding horsemeat in the food chain.

Question reference: S4O-01827

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 21 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on improvements to the Scottish Ambulance Service’s patient transport service.

The Scottish Ambulance Service Patient Transport Service provides a vital service across Scotland. It enables patients who have a medical or mobility need for the support of an ambulance crew to get to and from healthcare facilities for their appointments. In 2011-12 the Patient Transport Service undertook nearly 1.3 million patient journeys.

The Scottish Ambulance Service are taking forward an extensive improvement programme for the Patient Transport Service. The first phase of this work has delivered:

three regional booking centres to co-ordinate requests for ambulance transport;

a single national booking number to facilitate direct patient access;

revised pre-appointment information, developed in partnership with NHS boards, to better support patients to access transport appropriate to their needs;

a clinical needs assessment tool to ensure the service consistently provides transport that is person centred;

mobile data technology across the patient transport fleet, allowing for dynamic real time management of vehicles and improved communication with crews.

The key focus in the next phase of the improvement programme will be on maximising the use of the new technology, ensuring consistency and improvement in the quality of service delivery across the country, and delivering a service that is more demand responsive and more person centred.

Question reference: S4W-12485

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4T-00181 by Paul Wheelhouse on 18 December 2012 (Official Report, c. 14831), which local authorities have made requests for assistance under the Bellwin scheme; at what stage are these representations, and how much each authority has (a) asked for and (b) been granted.

Following the severe weather in December, potential claims for assistance under the Bellwin Scheme were notified to the Scottish Government by Aberdeenshire, Moray, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Highland and Angus councils.

From the date of the emergency incident, local authorities have four months to submit formal interim claims for assistance and eight months to submit final audited claims. On receipt of the interim claim, the Scottish Government will make payment of 90% of eligible expenditure above the Bellwin threshold (0.2% of the council’s total net revenue budget) with the remaining 10% paid on receipt of the final audited claim. At this stage we have not received any interim claims and so do not have any details of the amounts local authorities may claim.

In addition to the December 2012 incidents the Bellwin Scheme was triggered earlier this financial year for various flooding incidents across Scotland. As a result we were notified of potential claims from East Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Scottish Borders and Perth and Kinross councils but to date no eligible claims have been received.

Question reference: S4W-12484

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Barnett consequentials arising from the 2012 Autumn Statement has been allocated to flood risk management.

The total funding allocated to local government by way of capital consequentials arising from the 2012 Autumn Statement is £46.2 million. Local authorities have the lead for flood risk management in their respective areas and the capital consequentials will be distributed between all local authorities according to an agreed formula share. The funding will be spread over two years with £1.3 million allocated for 2012-13 and £44.9 million allocated for 2013-14.

The additional funding will support those capital projects that are ready to be delivered and additional to current local government investment plans.

Question reference: S4W-12019

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) internships and (b) work experience places it has awarded in each year since 1999.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-08723 on 20 August 2012. 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.

The Scottish Government does not run a formal internship programme. We have previously participated in two schemes which could be considered similar to internships in nature. These were:

Between 2002 and 2009 the Scottish Government offered summer diversity placements through an outreach programme with Scottish colleges and universities offering a six week work placement within the organisation - these were funded opportunities. Between 15 and 25 placements were offered each year.

As a government department, we participated in the UK Civil Service Fast Stream Summer Diversity Internship scheme between 2008 and 2011, offering two places per year (eight in total).

Although we don't run a formal scheme, we do offer informal student placements to both graduates and undergraduates in response to approaches from students and colleges/universities seeking opportunities within the Scottish Government, these can be both paid and unpaid placements. Details of these placements are reported in the answer referenced above for the period April 2008 to March 2012.

With regards to work experience opportunities, the Scottish Government offers informal school age work experience placements, details of which are reported in the answer referenced for the period April 2008 to March 2012.

For both categories, data for earlier years are not held centrally. Data for the current year has not yet been collated.

Question reference: S4W-12022

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what Marine Scotland's staff (a) budget and (b) complement has been in each year since its establishment.

Marine Scotland’s planned staff budget and staff complement in each year since its establishment are listed in the following tables:-

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
	£000	£000	£000	£000
Staff Budget	26,683	27,882	28,927	28,328
	2009-10 (1 )	2010-11 ( 2 )	2011-12	2012-13
Staff Complement	725	758	727	698

Notes:

1. The 2009-10 figure is the March 2010 headcount figure. 2009-10 was a year of transition as the resources and functions of predecessor bodies were being integrated throughout the year.

2. In 2010-11 the staff complement was increased temporarily to take account of revised marine crewing arrangements resulting from a restructuring of marine vessel management.

Question reference: S4W-12020

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 25 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much Marine Scotland has spent on (a) staff redundancies, (b) staff costs and (c) research in each year since its establishment.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

WRITTEN ANSWER

25 January 2013

Index Heading: Enterprise & Environment

Claire Baker (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Scottish Labour): To ask the Scottish Government how much Marine Scotland has spent on (a) staff redundancies, (b) staff costs and (c) research in each year since its establishment.

(S4W-12020)

Richard Lochhead: The amount spent by Marine Scotland on staff redundancies, staff costs and research since its establishment are outlined in the following table:-

	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
	£000	£000	£000
Staff Redundancies	0	0	0
Staff Costs	27,381	28,269	27,147
Research	3,582	4,999	4,023

The research figures relate to pure research projects and do not include spend incurred carrying out statutory and regulatory functions and other operational science activities.

In total Marine Scotland spends around £18 million annually on science related activity which includes the operation of two research vessels at a cost of £5 million per annum. In addition significant work has been undertaken enhancing scientific research capacity and capability through large scale capital investment, including the building of a replacement fisheries veterinary aquarium, the Ellis building, at a cost of £15 million.

Question reference: S4W-12152

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in Fife who have been charged with (a) murder and (b) a knife crime have been (i) remanded in custody, (ii) granted bail and (iii) granted bail despite opposition from the Crown Office prosecutors in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4W-11776

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will have completed the 2012 single farm payments to farmers.

As at 19 December, we paid 88% of expected claims, equating to some 16,590 farmers and a total of £382 million by value. In comparison with 2011, this is a 3% improvement in the number of farmers paid. This means some 2,300 claims are still to be processed. My officials are working through these outstanding claims with the aim of paying valid claims as soon as possible. I cannot give a firm date when this work will be completed because that depends on individual circumstances and payment cannot be made until all scheme eligibility checks have been completed. Based on our past experience, however, it is likely to be around March 2013.