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-24701

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 12 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that Falkirk Council's proposed reduction in the number of hours in a school day will have an impact on pupil attainment in the Falkirk area.

The statutory responsibility for the provision of adequate and effective education rests with individual local authorities, including the requirement that all schools must be open for 190 days. It is for individual councils to determine the length and structure of the school day.

Falkirk Council’s provisional budget for 2016-17 includes a proposal to reduce the primary school week from 25 hours to 22.5 hours from August 2016, delivering a reduction in teacher costs. The Scottish Government has been consistent in our commitment to maintain teacher numbers as part of our priority to raise attainment.

Question reference: S4O-04138

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council regarding its proposal to reduce the primary school week from 25 to 22.5 hours in 2016-17.

Question reference: S4W-24664

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many unannounced inspections of abattoirs took place in (a) 2012-13 and (b) 2013-14.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) are responsible for food safety and animal welfare rules in abattoirs and they have informed me that under EU law abattoirs are required to have a permanent official veterinary presence to verify continuous compliance with food safety and animal welfare rules. This involves inspection of all animals, carcases and offal by FSA officials to ensure meat is fit for human consumption, which is supported by regular risk based audits of plant procedures. Unannounced inspections therefore have not taken place for this type of food business within these years.

However due to undercover filming inside two FSA approved slaughterhouses in England in 2015, which provided evidence of cruelty and breaches of welfare, the FSA has commissioned unannounced inspections to all slaughterhouses in Great Britain, these commenced on 23 February 2015 and are due to be completed by the end of March 2015.

Question reference: S4W-24700

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4O-04003

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to boost the economy in the Falkirk Council area.

Question reference: S4W-24168

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council and SEStran regarding the Scottish Stations Fund.

Question reference: S4W-23988

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 20 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when the public consultations will take place for the four workstreams for the Better Environmental Regulation Programme.

Extensive stakeholder engagement has been, and continues to be, undertaken on the implementation of the Better Environmental Regulation Programme, which is being done on a phased basis. This has included recent consultations on draft statutory guidance on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) general purpose and the new enforcement framework for SEPA, which closed in August and October 2014 respectively.

I welcome the strong engagement and support received to date from stakeholders on the broad direction of travel and I encourage stakeholders to continue to engage to help shape and fully implement the programme.

SEPA aim to issue a further public consultation on its proposed new charging scheme this spring, with a further, joint Scottish Government-SEPA consultation on proposals for a new integrated authorisation framework to follow later in 2015.

Question reference: S4O-03929

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Creative Scotland regarding long-term funding for the Gaelic arts agency, Pròiseact nan Ealan.

Question reference: S4W-23789

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has contracted out work to Lockheed Martin.

Question reference: S4W-23798

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2015
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 13 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the Committee on Toxicity's investigation of exposure to organophosphates by workers in the agricultural sector.

The Committee on Toxicity (COT), an independent scientific committee that provides advice on matters concerning toxicity of chemicals, published a statement on organophosphates on 13 March 2014. This followed a comprehensive systematic review of peer-reviewed research on exposure to organophosphates that had been published up to September 2013.

In its statement the committee concluded that the current scientific evidence suggests that exposures to cholinesterase inhibiting organophosphates that are insufficient to cause overt acute poisoning do not cause significant long-term neurological toxicity in adults. If toxic effects on the nervous system do occur they are minor and subtle. This review also took account of extensive peer-reviewed journals on exposure to agricultural workers.

Given the comprehensive nature of the review and that no concerns were raised by the COT, the Scottish Government has not had discussions with the UK Government on the committee’s findings.