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-14649

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 what steps it intends to take to raise public awareness about the requirement for an energy performance certificate at point of rental or sale of a property from January 2009.

Question reference: S3W-14652

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 how it defines a “public building” in complying with the EU directive on the energy performance of buildings.

Question reference: S3W-14742

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Centre for Carbon Storage study into potential carbon storage sites will be completed.

Question reference: S3W-14651

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 17 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether copies of energy performance certificates will be available from the Land Registry and what its position is on the matter.

Copies of Energy Performance Certificates will not be available from Registers of Scotland, which is responsible for maintaining and administering the Land Register. The EU Directive that introduced Energy Performance Certificates does not require registration of that Certificate in the Land Register. The Land Register is a map-based register of title to land that contains information on ownership of land and related property rights and title conditions affecting the land. An Energy Performance Certificate does not affect the ownership of, or other legal rights, in the property to which it relates.

Question reference: S3W-14328

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many farmers and crofters have submitted statements of intent to make applications for funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme in the last year, broken down by SGRPID office area, and how many of the applications have so far received red light and amber light responses.

We are not able to identify the number of applicants to the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities element of the SRDP who are farmers or crofters. The scheme is also open to a range of other land managers, rural businesses and community groups.

As at 30 June, 1,026 SoIs had been submitted, of which 232 had been awarded an amber rating and 258 awarded a red rating.

Applications can be submitted to any of the local offices of SGRPID, Scottish Natural Heritage or the Forestry Commission in Scotland. These cases are allocated to one of 11 Regions. The regional boundaries are shown on the SRDP website.

The breakdown of applications submitted by region is as follows:

Northern Isles – 64

Highland – 143

Grampian – 368

Outer Hebrides – 31

Tayside – 94

Forth – 78

Borders – 137

Ayrshire – 43

Clyde Valley – 19

Argyll – 47

Dumfries and Galloway – 96.

Question reference: S3W-14329

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 July 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether farmers and crofters who have submitted statements of intent to make applications for funding under the Scottish Rural Development Programme in the last year, and received a red light response, are provided with (a) detailed reasons for such a response, (b) guidelines that they can follow to submit amended statements and (c) encouragement to submit amended statements.

All applicants (farmers, crofter, foresters, other land managers, rural businesses or rural community groups) who submit a Statement of Intent to the Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities element of the Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) will receive feedback from their allocated Case officer. This feedback will include a red or amber rating and, where the rating is red, the reasons for awarding a red rating. These reasons will normally relate to the elements of the submitted Statement of Intent which do not accord with the published guidance.

The guidelines for submitting amended Statements of Intent are provided in the published guidance. Where there are straightforward aspects that need to be changed or added, Case officers will include this in the feedback, or they may direct applicants back to the relevant areas of the guidance for more detailed clarification of the requirements.

Rural Priorities is a competitive fund which is designed to deliver specific economic, environmental and social benefits for the people of Scotland. Applicants are given feedback on how well their proposed project fits with the agreed priorities for their area, on any potential negative impacts of the project and on the availability of funding.

A red rating is an alert, indicating that more work is needed to improve an applicant’s likelihood of success. This alert also prevents applicants from the unnecessary expense and effort of drawing up plans that are unlikely to be funded.

Where applicants are willing and able to undertake such work as required to deal with the issues highlighted in the case officer’s feedback, they are welcome to amend and resubmit their SoI as often as they wish. However, given the work involved, and the fact that funding cannot be guaranteed at this stage, it must be for the applicant to decide, on the basis of the feedback received, whether they wish to do so.

Question reference: S3O-03894

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking in partnership with local authorities to address mental health problems.

Our partnership approach to improving the mental health and wellbeing of the people of Scotland is focussed on health promotion, prevention, recovery and ensuring quality, integrated mental health services are available for all who need them.

We are working with all partners to deliver that ambition.

Progress will be achieved through delivery of the specific HEAT targets and other commitments for mental health. I also expect the mental health priority to be reflected in single outcome agreements.

I expect these to be agreed with all 32 local authorities by the end of this month.

Question reference: S3W-14125

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 19 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many crofters submitted applications to the Crofting Counties Agricultural Grants Scheme in 2006 before the deadline of 31 December 2006 without having in place the necessary economic status test documentation and, of this number, how many were (a) rejected because of the lack of such documentation and (b) accepted because they had been informed by the Crofters Commission that relevant alternative income information could be submitted in place of the missing documentation and had submitted such alternative information.

Question reference: S3W-14018

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects a contractor for the replacement Forth crossing to be appointed.

Question reference: S3W-14013

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it received on the use of patriotic bonds to fund the replacement Forth crossing.