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-13506

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 15 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, if the University Marine Biological Station Millport closes, where its work will be relocated and whether it will remain in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-13504

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 15 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to the Scottish Association for Marine Science in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S4W-13499

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has available due to capital underspend and whether it will consider using some of this money to keep the University Marine Biological Station Millport open.

Question reference: S4O-01947

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to help tenants and social landlords affected by the so-called bedroom tax.

Question reference: S4W-13186

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology it uses to measure the progress of its high-speed broadband uptake targets.

Take-up of communication services in Scotland, including broadband, is measured annually by Ofcom, through their Communications Market Report. In addition, the Scottish Government has national indicators covering high-speed broadband availability and use of the internet:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Performance/scotPerforms/indicator/digital

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Performance/scotPerforms/indicator/internet.

Question reference: S4W-13180

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage broadband providers to supply services to rural areas.

Through our Step Change 2015 programme, the Scottish Government will put in place infrastructure capable of delivering next generation broadband to those areas where the market will currently not go. This infrastructure will be entirely open access, enabling any internet service provider to supply services to rural areas. We are also looking to encourage the growth of Community Internet Service Providers through our Community Broadband Scotland initiative.

Question reference: S4W-13194

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet the target in Scotland's Digital Future - Infrastructure Action Plan that "infrastructure...will have the capacity to deliver speeds of 40 - 80Mbps for between 85% to 90% of premises, with a significant uplift in speeds for those where delivery of 40 - 80Mbps is not possible at this stage, including those areas where there is currently no level of service speeds of 40 - 80Mbps for between 85% to 90% of premises."

Question reference: S4W-13182

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage the roll-out of superfast broadband in rural areas.

The focus of the Scottish Government’s Step Change 2015 Programme is to address the digital divide by extending the infrastructure needed to deliver next generation broadband to those areas where the market will currently not go. These areas will be predominantly rural.

We have also established Community Broadband Scotland which will support community-led broadband projects in rural areas, with a particular focus on those that may not have next generation broadband delivered by Step Change.

Question reference: S4W-13181

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on subsidies for the expansion of rural broadband in each of the last five years.

The Scottish Government is committed to expanding broadband to rural areas. Over the last five years, we have spent £2.947 million on the Broadband Reach Programme, which delivered satellite broadband to rural communities. In addition, over £135,000 has been spent on rural broadband projects in 2012-13 through the LEADER programme.

We have allocated more than £240 million of public sector funding to our Step Change 2015 Programme, which will extend next generation broadband infrastructure into rural areas. In addition, £50.65 million has been identified, subject to the successful conclusion of the ongoing procurement process, by fourteen local authorities for additional investment in their own areas.

Question reference: S4W-13183

Asked by: Margaret McDougall, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will meet the target in Scotland's Digital Future - Infrastructure Action Plan that "the rate of broadband take-up by people in Scotland should be at or above the UK average by 2013, and should be highest among the UK nations by 2015" and what the current uptake rate is, expressed as a percentage.

Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2012, shows broadband up take in Scotland is 68% on par with Wales (68%) and Northern Ireland (69%). The UK average currently stands at 76%.

Broadband take – up in Scotland increased by seven percentage points from 2011 to 2012 compared to the UK increased take up of two percentage points over the same year. SG are currently working on a range of initiatives which will further stimulate demand for broadband and increase overall digital participation rates.