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-05344

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people under 18 have been placed on Lifelong Restriction Orders since the establishment of the Risk Management Authority, and what proportion of the total number of people placed on such orders in Scotland is under 18.

The Order for Lifelong Restriction (OLR), which is a life sentence, has been available to the High Court of the Justiciary since June 2006. The following table sets out the number of OLR sentences imposed by the court including those for offenders under the age of 18:

Financial Year	OLRs Made by High Court	No. Under 18*	% Under 18*
2006-2007	1	0	0
2007-2008	5	0	0
2008-2009	16	1	6.25
2009-2010	26	0	0
2010-2011	20	1	5
2011-2012	12	0	0
Total	80	2	2.5

Note: *On date of sentencing

Question reference: S4W-05264

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 7 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason section 206 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 has not been fully commenced and when the insertion of section 73D into the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987 will be implemented.

Section 206 of the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 inserts section 73D into the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1985. Section 73D contains a requirement for a Debt Advice and Information Package (DAIP) to be provided to a debtor within 48 hours of an arrestment of a debtor’s goods or bank account.

The provision of the DAIP after an arrestment has taken place would not provide debtors with an opportunity to seek advice prior to enforcement. This may undermine the value of the DAIP. Stakeholders also believe that the short timescale for provision of the DAIP may present practical difficulties for sheriff officers. Therefore, section 73D was specifically excluded when section 206 of the 2007 act was commenced in April 2009.

Officials are considering whether section 73D, as drafted, requires to be amended. Such an amendment would require an opportunity for primary legislation with sufficient scope to include diligence; therefore there are no immediate plans to amend or to commence this section.

Question reference: S4O-00674

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its reasons are for placing independent custody visiting on a statutory footing as part of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Bill.

Question reference: S4O-00606

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to prevent land and property transactions being used for the purpose of laundering money and other criminal activities.

Question reference: S4W-04766

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that (a) it and (b) other public bodies exercise their functions relating to activities such as opencast coal mining and peat extraction in accordance with the requirements of section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S4W-04763

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the carbon impacts of peat removal for opencast coal mining are assessed.

Question reference: S4W-04761

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) lowland raised and (b) upland blanket bog will be used for consented opencast coal mines.

Question reference: S4W-04760

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) lowland raised and (b) upland blanket bog will be used for opencast coal mines that are in the planning system.

Question reference: S4W-04764

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects developers of (a) opencast coal mines on peatlands and (b) peat extraction sites to carry out a carbon emissions assessment and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government does not require developers to carry out carbon emissions assessments on opencast coal or peat extraction sites. The Scottish Government has supported the development of a carbon calculator for use in establishing the carbon savings from wind farm developments on peatlands. The question of “carbon payback” does not apply in the same way to the extraction of coal and peat. Consideration is being given to what further guidance may be required on the assessment of emissions associated with development on deep peat.

Question reference: S4W-04765

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the carbon balance of opencast coal mining, including any carbon losses associated with peatland impacts, are a material consideration when determining planning applications for opencast coal mining and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.