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: S3W-39198

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-36630 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2010, whether it considers that police officers are not bound by the prohibition in section 3 of the Firearms Act 1968 on making guns without being registered as a firearms dealer.

Question reference: S3W-39199

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-36630 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2010, whether it considers that police officers are not bound by the prohibition in section 24 of the Firearms Act 1968 on the supply of firearms to minors.

Question reference: S3W-39201

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-36630 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2010, whether it considers that police officers are not bound by the prohibition in section 25 of the Firearms Act 1968 on the supply of firearms to anyone who is drunk or insane.

Question reference: S3W-39200

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-36630 by Kenny MacAskill on 21 October 2010, whether it considers that police officers are not bound by the prohibition in section 4 of the Firearms Act 1968 on conversion of weapons.

Question reference: S3W-39197

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its position on the entitlement of chief constables to deploy Taser weapons to frontline officers extends to the other weapons with the same legal classification under section 5 of the Firearms Act 1968.

Question reference: S3W-38942

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase in journeys across the Forth Road Bridge has been since the removal of tolls.

Question reference: S3W-38943

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional CO2 has arisen from the increase in journeys across the Forth Road Bridge since the removal of tolls.

Question reference: S3W-38935

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason local authority employees are excluded from its living wage commitment.

Question reference: S3W-38946

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 February 2011

There is no specific budget for tackling poverty. The majority of the social inclusion budget is for tackling poverty. Information on that is set out below, However, a range of other budgets across Scottish Government, including the Fairer Scotland Fund which allocated £435 million from 2008-11 and funding for policy areas such as early years, housing and health inequalities also contribute to tackling poverty. The budgets of local authorities and other delivery partners provide the main funding. As with Scottish Government spend, impact will be made through a wide range of mainstream as well as dedicated services.

Social Inclusion Budget (Spring Revision)

2007-08 £7.3 Million

2008-09 £6.8 million

2009-10 £6.7 million

2010-11 £5.2 million.

The Social Inclusion budget for 2011-12 in our draft budget is the same as for 2010-11.

Question reference: S3W-38937

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 January 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 February 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to encourage living wage agreements in the private and voluntary sectors.

The Scottish Government is supportive of living wage commitments in the private and voluntary sectors. Our Public Sector Pay Policy for 2011-12 requires organisations covered by the policy to pay their employees a living wage of £7.15 per hour - the current living wage level proposed by the Scottish Living Wage Campaign. However, beyond the levels set by the National Minimum Wage, which is reserved to the UK Government, pay is a matter for organisations, their employees and trade unions.