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-15974

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 10 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the accreditation process for installers under the Scottish Community and Household Renewable Initiative and whether it considers that the process could be streamlined by, for example, a reduction in the frequency with which installers are required to reapply for accreditation.

The Scottish Government supports accreditation of microgeneration installers as this provides industry with robust standards and ensures consumer confidence.

Therefore a current condition of domestic grants under the Scottish Community and Householder Renewable Initiative is that installers must meet certain accreditation standards.

However, we want to ensure these standards are fit for purpose and, to this end, are currently exploring a number of options with an industry group representative of the Scottish installer base. This includes proposals for streamlining the installer accreditation process.

Question reference: S3W-15924

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 5 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all air ambulance flights undertaken by coastguard or military helicopters involving patients picked up in Orkney, also detailing the (a) helicopter used, (b) patient pick-up point, (c) flight destination and (d) reason for not using a Scottish Air Ambulance Service contracted aircraft, since the start of 2008.

There have been four occasions where the Scottish Ambulance Service has utilised either the Ministry of Defence or the Coastguard to transport patients in lieu of using a Scottish Ambulance Service resource. This compares to the same number in the same period of last year. In the period from 1 January 2008 to 31 August 2008 the service has undertaken a total of 263 missions from or within Orkney.

The Scottish Ambulance Service have provided the requested information, as set out in the following tables.

Non-Scottish Ambulance Service Resources Used to Transport Patients from/within Orkney “ 1 January 2008 to 31 August 2008

Incident Number	Aircraft	Pick up From	Destination	Reason
704664 (January)	MOD	Kirkwall Airport	Aberdeen Royal Infirmary	No SAS Aircraft unavailable at time of call, MOD provided quickest response.
722351 (March)	Coastguard	Stronsay	Kirkwall Airport	Weather
763869 (August)	Coastguard	Sanday	Raigmore Hospital	Weather
773192 (August)	Coastguard	Sanday	Balfour Hospital	Inverness helicopter on a task, Coastguard were able to provide the quickest response

Activity from/within Orkney Carried Out by All Aircraft

Month	Fixed Wing (SAS)	Helicopter (SAS)	NON SAS	Total
January 2008	25	8	1	34
February 2008	19	4	0	23
March 2008	34	6	1	41
April 2008	32	10	0	42
May 2008	19	8	0	27
June 2008	24	11	0	35
July 2008	30	4	0	34
August 2008	22	3	2	27
Total	205	54	4	263

Question reference: S3W-15304

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the practicalities of setting targets for small and medium-sized enterprises to win public sector business.

We are currently assessing the practicality of setting a target for the percentage of expenditure by the public sector in Scotland with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

We are continuing to develop the Scottish Procurement Information Hub, which provides detailed expenditure and supplier data from a significant number of high-spending public sector organisations in Scotland. Further development of the information hub will allow us to monitor the percentage of expenditure with medium, small and micro businesses and also to monitor average spending trends with SMEs in different sectors.

Data from the information hub shows that in the financial year 2005-06 (the most recent data available), just over 50% of public expenditure was with SMEs.

Question reference: S3W-15302

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce innovation procurement plans to improve innovation capability across government and the sharing of best practice.

We are aware of the proposed content of the innovation procurement plans for UK Government departments which are currently under development by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

We will shortly be publishing a Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook which will set out the fundamental rules, behaviours and standards applicable to public procurement activity in Scotland. The handbook will require all Scottish contracting authorities to consider how they can procure innovative solutions to their requirements. Compliance with the principles in the policy handbook will be mandatory and will be measured and reported on during contracting authorities'' audits.

Question reference: S3W-15303

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish guidance for public procurers on how best to use procurement to drive innovation.

The Scottish Procurement Policy Handbook, which will be published shortly, will recommend that purchasers test the market to determine what solutions are currently or potentially available prior to advertising a contract. It will advise purchasers to take advantage of the more flexible procedures permitted by EU procurement law. It will also provide guidance on the preparation of specifications which are expressed in terms of outputs or outcomes and performance. By describing what is to be achieved rather than specifying how it should be done, the scope for businesses to propose innovative solutions can be maximised.

Purchasers can also access guidance on market engagement and developing output or outcome specifications through the Scottish public procurement toolkit at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/Resources/SPDToolkit.

Question reference: S3W-15301

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to use procurement in the public sector to leverage innovation and skills development in the private sector.

A number of initiatives under the public procurement reform programme impact on innovation and skills development in the private sector.

To enable businesses to gain a better understanding of public sector markets and contracts, we have recently launched a national advertising portal at:

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/.

Businesses will be able to access the portal free of charge and to use it to identify opportunities for proposing innovative solutions to meet public sector requirements.

We have developed a procurement competency framework which identifies the skills and competency levels required by purchasers across the public sector in Scotland. The framework recognises that in order to stimulate innovation, purchasers need to fully understand the market and to express their requirement in terms which allow businesses to propose innovative solutions.

The development of user intelligence groups by the procurement centres of expertise will promote sharing of knowledge between Scottish contracting authorities and a better understanding of the market and what it can offer.

Question reference: S3W-15300

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the role of public procurement in helping to stimulate business innovation.

The Scottish Government recognises the key role that public procurement has in encouraging innovation in business, leading to increased productivity and competitiveness and thereby contributing to sustainable economic growth.

We want to ensure that all public sector procurement activity reflects a growing understanding of market capacity and capabilities and that, where appropriate, requirements are specified in terms which encourage businesses to put forward innovative solutions to meet public sector requirements.

Question reference: S3W-14743

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 31 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when the specific details of the competition for the Saltire Prize will be available and when the competition will open.

Question reference: S3W-14741

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 29 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of legislation introduced to the Parliament of Australia on 18 June 2008 which will establish the world’s first comprehensive framework for carbon dioxide capture and geological storage; what contact it has held with the Australian Government regarding this legislation, and what lessons it considers Scotland might learn from the Australian example.

The Scottish Government is aware of the legislation introduced in Australia regarding carbon capture and storage (CCS). Specifically, under the sister state agreement between Scotland and the Australian state of Victoria, CCS is being considered as a potential area of collaboration and officials have been in contact with Victoria to discuss particular areas of interest.

The Scottish Government is playing a leading role in terms of co-assisting further research on CCS and ensuring that all opportunities are considered, including learning from other countries.

The Scottish Government is currently developing a legislative framework for the offshore storage of carbon dioxide as part of the UK Energy bill. We are currently consulting on this jointly with the UK government. We will also be responsible for implementing the EU directive for carbon storage in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-14650

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether information from the energy performance certificates for new buildings will be incorporated into the Home Energy Efficiency Database and what its position is on the matter.