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-11267

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 27 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what requirement there is for NHS boards and local authorities to produce joint strategic advocacy plans.

Section 259 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 places a legal duty on local authorities and health boards to work together to ensure that independent advocacy services are available and accessible to those with a mental health disorder.

As a matter of good practice the health board and corresponding local authorities are expected to develop and agree a minimum three-year joint strategic advocacy plan.

In 2010-11 funding was provided to allow health boards to fully assess the need and provision within their area and to build on their advocacy plans. This was in recognition of the potential impact on demand for advocacy services as a result of the Patient Rights (Scotland) Act 2011. From 2011-12 an additional £500,000 is being provided on a recurring basis through an uplift to health board allocations based on the National Resource Allocation formula.

Progress on implementation of the plans is being monitored and health boards have been asked to provide an update report in March 2013.

Question reference: S4O-01540

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether all secondary schools have decided how many subjects pupils will be able to study in S4 and at what stage they will choose these subjects.

Question reference: S4W-10719

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Annex 1 of ‘Your Scotland, Your Referendum': An Analysis of Consultation Responses does not include (a) quantitative analysis and (b) tables for all of the consultation questions.

The approach to the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis is explained in chapter 3 of the analysis report, available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/10/3849/downloads.

The main purpose of the consultation was to gather the range and depth of respondents’ views on the set of issues presented in the consultation paper. It asked open questions and therefore, the analysis was primarily qualitative in nature. To provide context for some key issues, an analysis of the broad weight of opinion was undertaken. In addition, the technical nature of some issues meant that they were less likely to elicit comments that could be quantitatively classified.

Question reference: S4W-10746

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all students receive their support payments in a timely manner.

Question reference: S4W-10747

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has given to the Students Awards Agency for Scotland on acceptable waiting times for students phoning its enquiry lines.

The operational management of SAAS is responsible for balancing processing of applications with customer contact.

The primary customer service commitment is to meet, annually, the SAAS ‘Guarantee Date’. SAAS guarantee to process all applications received by the Guarantee Date, usually 30 June, in time for the start of the student’s course.

This year SAAS received 105,405 applications by the Guarantee Date. All these applications were processed in line with the guarantee.

Question reference: S4W-10749

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how long it expects the Students Awards Agency for Scotland to take to process a claim for living expenses.

The primary customer service commitment is the SAAS ‘Guarantee Date’. The Guarantee Date, introduced in 2010, guarantees to process all applications received by the Guarantee Date in time for the start of a student’s course; the point at which funds are required.

This year SAAS received 105,405 applications by the Guarantee Date. All these applications were processed in line with the guarantee.

The current average waiting time to process an application this session is 25 days

Question reference: S4W-10750

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has given to the Students Awards Agency for Scotland regarding the opening hours of phone lines for students seeking support.

Question reference: S4W-10901

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 02 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many claims for student funding from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland still to be processed as at 1 November 2012 were received (a) before 30 June 2012 and (b) between 30 June and 1 September 2012.

Question reference: S4W-10751

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many students have applied for Students Awards Agency for Scotland funding for each of the last five years.

Question reference: S4W-10748

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions are in place to ensure that students who have not yet received living expenses payments from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland do not incur commercial debts to cover their costs.

Academic session	Number of applications
2007-08	136,727
2008-09	142,677
2009-10	150,366
2010-11	155,364
2011-12	158,534