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-05337

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 8 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of (a) adults and (b) children have blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D below the minimum level of 25 nanomoles per litre.

Question reference: S4W-05148

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much new money it has allocated to the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund, as referred to on page 38 of the Scottish Spending Review 2011 and Draft Budget 2012-13, and what period the money will cover.

Question reference: S4W-05150

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund has already been allocated and how much remains available.

The Scottish Government contribution to the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund is £50 million over the Parliamentary term. Of that £50 million, £12m has been allocated. This comprises £1.5 million per year over the next three years to establish a Communities and Families Fund. £1 million per year over the next three years to support free play opportunities and quality play spaces; and £1.5 million per year over the next three years for additional early learning, childcare and parental support for looked after two year olds.

Question reference: S4W-05151

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the remainder of the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund total of £270 million will come from existing NHS and local authority budgets and whether the successive year allocations of £20, £45 and £50 million referred to on page 59 of the Scottish Spending Review 2011 and Draft Budget 2012-13 will come from this £270 million.

Question reference: S4W-05149

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 3 February 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the additional money for the Early Years and Early Intervention Change Fund is in addition to the Sure Start Fund referred to on page viii of the Scottish Spending Review 2011 and Draft Budget 2012-13 and how much, over what period, has been allocated to the Sure Start Fund.

Question reference: S4W-04832

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-04235 by John Swinney on 7 December 2011, for what reason no record of relocation of jobs is held centrally; whether information is held centrally on the relocation of public bodies, and, if so, how many have been relocated since January 2008 and to where.

Question reference: S4W-04951

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances consideration of need could be excluded from the remit of a public local inquiry into a proposed project where the primary project consent is not a planning consent.

Question reference: S4W-04948

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how changes in policy since the publication of the National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 will be considered at any public inquiry associated with the decision-making process for applications for new electricity generation stations that are also national developments.

Question reference: S4W-04952

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the need for a project listed in the National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 can be established where the primary consent for a project is made under legislation that is reserved and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4W-04949

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether inclusion of a project as a national development in the National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 establishes the need for that development where the primary project consent required is not a planning consent and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Section 3A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 makes provision for ministers to designate certain developments as “national developments” in the National Planning Framework. If the National Planning Framework contains such a designation, it must contain a statement by Scottish Ministers of their reasons for considering that there is a need for the development in question. Section 25 of the 1997 act makes provision as to how such statements are to be applied when determining a planning application. In relation to other consent procedures there is no similar statutory provision, however, ministers’ reasons for considering that there is a need for a development should be given equivalent status in reaching a decision.