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: S4O-04898

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake of grants was from the Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund in 2014-15.

Question reference: S4O-04822

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the potential impact on jobs and Scotland's economy of the reported Ministry of Defence plan to reduce the number of Type 26 frigates being built in order to pay for the replacement of Trident.

Question reference: S4O-04781

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the impact on employment in Glasgow of the city council's plans for its City Building subsidiary.

Question reference: S4W-28223

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend coverage of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 to registered social landlords.

I have today (30 October 2015) laid the first report in the Scottish Parliament on the use of the powers to extend coverage of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation to bodies carrying out public functions.

The report notes the strong opinions expressed by tenants, Registered social landlords (RSLs) and others on the issue of whether RSLs should be subject to FOI legislation. Therefore, in order to fully explore the complex issues involved, I intend to formally consult the RSL sector next year with a view to extending coverage of FOI legislation to RSLs – linked to the review of the Scottish Social Housing Charter.

Question reference: S4O-04738

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 November 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the possible impact on its finances of English votes for English laws.

Question reference: S4O-04607

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the impact on public transport users in Glasgow of plans by First Glasgow to reorganise its bus services.

So long as the statutory notice periods and other regulatory requirements are complied with, including those related to punctuality and passenger information, bus services such as those being changed by First Glasgow are a commercial matter between the operator and its customers. Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has powers and funding to secure additional services to meet social needs where this does not happen on a commercial basis.

Question reference: S4W-26746

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 July 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 17 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25214 by John Swinney on 2 April 2015, what changes there have been in respect of the information provided, and what the total salary cost of employing special advisers was in 2014-15.

Special advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

The *total costs of the special adviser team of 14 special advisers employed during the financial year 2014-15 was £952,865.

With the appointment of Katy Bowman on 13 July 2015, there are currently 14 special advisers. The special advisers and their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Role	Appointed
Liz Lloyd	Chief of Staff to the First Minister including the co-ordination of the Special Adviser team Senior Special Adviser on the Constitution Responsible for the First Minister’s Strategic programme in Government Special Adviser for Culture, Europe and External Affairs (temp)	30 January 2012
Noel Dolan	Senior Special Adviser to the First Minister FMQs, Policy Advice to the First Minister	26 May 2011
Stuart Nicolson	Head of Communications Senior Political Spokesperson for the First Minister	26 May 2011
Colin McAllister	Head of Policy and Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister Senior Special Adviser for Finance and for Local Government FMQs, Programme for Government	3 October 2012
Malcolm Fleming	Senior Special Adviser for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism and for Fair Work, Skills and Training	25 July 2011
Campbell Gunn	Deputy Spokesperson for the First Minister and Communications Adviser	8 July 2013
Ross Ingebrigtsen	Deputy Spokesperson for the First Minister and Communications Adviser Strategic communications planning	20 January 2014
Alexander Anderson	Special Adviser for Infrastructure, Investment and the Cities and for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform	8 October 2012
John MacInnes	Political and Media Research Support for First Minister’s Questions Support to Communications Special Advisers	3 June2011
Davie Hutchison	Special Adviser for Health, Wellbeing and Sport FoI Legislation lead	8 June 2011
John McFarlane	Special Adviser for Justice Parliamentary Business including liaison with the Parliamentary Group	26 May 2011
Jeanette Campbell	Special Adviser for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners’ Rights	1 April 2015
Kate Higgins	Special Adviser for Education and Lifelong Learning	1 April 2015
Katy Bowman	Support for First Minister and First Minister’s Private Office Outreach and stakeholder engagement Policy support to Chief of Staff	13 July 2015

The special adviser pay bands and ranges and the number of special advisers within each pay band currently in place are:

Pay Band	Current Pay Range	Number of Special Advisers
1	£39,445 - £52,904	10
2	£51,041 - £67,709	1
3	£65,017 - £83,963	3
3 (premium)	£83,549 - £100,942	0
4	£86,965 - £104,462	0

*Total costs include salary, Earnings-Related National Insurance Contributions and employer pension contributions.

Question reference: S4O-04464

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the proposal that 16 and 17-year-olds and European nationals living in the UK will not be able to vote in the EU referendum.

Question reference: S4O-04418

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement it had in the BAE Systems announcement that it plans to continue work in both the Scotstoun and Govan yards on the Clyde.

Question reference: S4W-25748

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 27 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what legislative consent motions it will lodge in connection with the legislative programme of the UK Government to be announced in the Queen’s Speech on 27 May 2015.

In accordance with the Sewel Convention, the UK Parliament does not legislate with regard to devolved matters in Scotland without the consent of the Scottish Parliament.

The formal consent of the Scottish Parliament is required in relation to all proposals for Westminster primary legislation on devolved matters, including alterations to devolved competence, in accordance with Chapter 9B of Standing Orders.

At present there is only one UK bill announced in the Queen’s Speech which we are certain will give rise to a legislative consent motion (LCM) in the Scottish Parliament, that being for the Scotland Bill. Given the range of prospective legislation announced on 27 May 2015 by the UK Government, it seems likely that other LCMs may be required as the session progresses. Other bills will be assessed as they are brought forward and will be drawn to the attention of the Parliament as they arise, in line with the requirements of Standing Orders.

There may be situations where it is in the interests of Scotland for legislation dealing with devolved matters to be taken forward at Westminster. The Scottish Government will assess such instances on their merits and will work closely and constructively with the UK Government to deliver legislation which best meets Scotland’s needs. The Scottish Government is equally committed to working with the UK Government to pursue opportunities to extend devolved competence.

The Scottish Government will, in due course, lodge memoranda and motions for relevant bills, once they have been introduced in the UK Parliament. It will then be for the Scottish Parliament to determine whether to give or withhold consent.