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-18577

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) members of the Yes Scotland campaign and (b) SNP party officials met officials involved in the development of the white paper on Scottish independence during its development.

Scotland’s Future is a Scottish Government publication developed and drafted by civil servants under the direction of ministers. A meeting between special advisers, SNP officials and government officials leading work on the white paper took place on 12 August 2013 to ensure that the respective roles of government and party in publicity relating to the paper were understood by all concerned and that a clear and appropriate division was maintained between governmental and campaigning activity.

Question reference: S4W-18578

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 10 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it took to prevent the politicisation of officials during the development of the white paper on Scottish independence.

<>Officials developed Scotland’s Future as part of their normal duties in support of Scottish Ministers in line with the Civil Service Code. This code of conduct, and guidance for civil servants on political activity, is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/Directorates/Services-Groups/HR/HR/policies-guidance/conduct.

Specific elections guidance and referendum advice for civil servants has also been produced. This is available at

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Elections/guidance/ElectionsGuidanceCS.

Question reference: S4W-19219

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 31 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland on the closure of police stations.

The police in Scotland operate independently of ministers and any decisions on the future of police stations would be an operational matter for Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority.

The Scottish Government support the overarching aim of visible policing and the deployment of police resources in the most effective way to keep communities safe, principles which I know the chief constable shares.

The recent review of public counter provision undertaken by Police Scotland is not about closing police stations. Operational policing continues to be delivered from stations. For the majority of stations, there will be little or no change to opening hours, in fact, some stations could even see their opening hours extended.

Question reference: S4W-19220

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of police stations needed to provide effective policing.

Question reference: S4W-19226

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many calls the national confidential reporting system for police employees has received each year.

Question reference: S4F-01859

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2014

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with local authorities regarding the provision of primary school places.

Question reference: S4W-19215

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 27 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-18988 by Alasdair Allan on 13 January 2014, for what reason there has been a 61% increase in the number of people in this category since 2011.

Prior to 2010, only pupils with co-ordinated support plans (CSPs), individual educational programmes (IEPs) or who were attending a special school were recorded as having additional support needs. However, in 2010 this was extended to include anyone receiving additional support, regardless of whether it was under a formal plan. This led to a large increase in the number of pupils recorded with additional support needs since 2010. This would mean that ‘Other’ now applies to all pupils who are attending primary and secondary schools and are receiving support whereas previously this element would only apply to special schools who were providing support which was not recorded in an IEP or CSP.

There is a continuing trend of increased identification and recording of pupils with additional support needs. It is expected that this trend will continue over the coming years as we continue to work to improve the statistical collection.

Question reference: S4W-19241

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it expects that, if Scotland becomes independent, British citizens born in Scotland but living in the rest of the UK will retain British citizenship.

Question reference: S4O-02850

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address reported increases in emergency admissions for people over 75.

Question reference: S4O-02816

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing a national confidential alert line for Police Scotland employees.