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-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-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-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-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-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-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.

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-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: 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.