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-20988

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to stop online auction sites allowing the sale of illegal, toxic pesticides and what representations it has made to the UK Government on this matter.

It is an offence under UK pesticide legislation to sell online pesticides that do not have a valid UK authorisation or permit. Scottish Ministers, the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities enforce this requirement in Scotland.

Inspectors have a range of tools at their disposal to secure compliance with the law and to ensure a proportionate response to criminal offences. For example, inspectors may offer sellers of pesticides information and advice, both face to face and in writing.

The inspector may also warn the pesticide seller that they are failing to comply with the law, and where appropriate may serve formal notices to require improvement or prohibit activities. Additionally, where there is sufficient evidence, and it is in the public interest to do so, those found supplying or using an unauthorised product may be prosecuted.

Question reference: S4O-03210

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made toward ensuring that speech and language therapy are available in Gaelic medium schools.

Question reference: S4W-20681

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent action it has taken to encourage NHS boards to ensure that GPs reduce unnecessary waste of prescribed drugs.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of reducing medicines wastage and all NHS boards have strategies in place to help improve the quality, clinical and cost effectiveness of prescribing. These include GP and pharmacist medicines reviews and reviews of repeat prescribing supported by local and national publicity campaigns.

The “Let’s Talk Medicine” campaign, which commenced 22 April 2014, is aimed at getting the public to think differently about the medicines prescribed to them by empowering and encouraging them to, for example, discuss with their GP the medicines they are taking, why they are taking them and whether they still need to take them; take more personal ownership for their medicines and health; be more thoughtful when ordering repeat prescriptions; and avoid medicines ‘stockpiling’.

Through the national prescribing programme, significant progress is being made in the development of the Scottish Therapeutics Utility. This computer software will assist general practices to identify areas of potential medicines waste within their repeat prescribing systems. The software is currently being piloted in four NHS boards, with rollout to all health board areas by the end of 2014 into 2015.

Question reference: S4W-20987

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2014
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to help develop a vaccine for squirrel pox virus.

Further to a ministerial meeting in May 2013 with MSPs from the South of Scotland and relevant stakeholders, it was agreed that it was vital to ensure that the work of the Moredun Research Institute to develop a vaccine to protect red squirrels from squirrel pox virus was able to continue until an application by the Moredun to secure funding through the EU Life + programme has been completed. In order to help fill the funding gap, the Scottish Government is providing a total of £40,000 over the next two years. I also wrote on 31 May 2013, to my counterparts in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and have secured additional commitments that, when taken together with the sum committed from the Scottish Government, amount to 50% of the budget required to continue trialling the vaccine over the next two years. The Red Squirrel Survival Trust has offered to fund the remaining balance in order to ensure the work is undertaken.

This research will enable development work on a squirrel pox virus vaccine to make further progress and it is to be hoped, will lead to the solution to one of the most serious threats to the long term survival of the much loved, red squirrel throughout the British Isles.

Question reference: S4W-20664

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how long it has taken each local authority in the Forth Valley region to process a building warrant completion certificate application in each of the last five years; how many applications each has processed during that period; how many have taken (a) up to and (b) more than two months to process, and how these figures compare with the Scottish average.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. From 2005, local authorities’ verification performance has been measured under a balanced scorecard framework. This required them to have in place a customer charter that included measurable performance targets.

Building on the previous approach, a revised performance framework for local authority verifiers was introduced in May 2012. The objectives include improving processing times, driving consistency, and enhancing the customer experience. The Scottish Government intends to publish a report in the early summer on the first full reporting year (April 2013 to March 2014) of the performance framework.

Local authority balanced scorecards from 2006-7 to 2012-13 can be viewed at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Building/Building-standards/publications/publa.

Question reference: S4W-20665

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how long it has taken on average for each local authority in the Forth Valley region to process a building warrant application in each of the last five years; how many applications each has processed during that period; how many have taken (a) up to and (b) more than two months to process, and how these figures compare with the Scottish average.

Question reference: S4W-20680

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 2 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) housing association and (b) local authority new build homes were completed in the Falkirk Council area in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012 and (iii) 2013, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

The following table shows the number of housing association and local authority new build homes completed in Falkirk Council area in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Information on the parliamentary constituency in which these homes are located is not held centrally.

	2011	2012	2013	Total
Housing association	82	28	10	120
Local authority	60	24	36	120

Note: Recent figures may be revised when future quarterly statistics releases are published.

Source: Scottish Government Housing Statistics for Scotland quarterly update, March 2014

Question reference: S4W-20679

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 2 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the Falkirk Council area have received support from the Open Market Shared Equity Scheme since 2011, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Question reference: S4O-03196

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will approve the Falkirk Council Development Plan Scheme 2014.

Question reference: S4W-20457

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-01065 by Fergus Ewing on 31 May 2012 (Official Report, c. 9627), what subsequent discussions it has had with the partners of NorthConnect regarding the proposed interconnector between Scotland and Norway, and what impact the decision by SSE to pull out of the project will have on its deliverability.

Increased interconnection is one of the aims of the Scottish Government’s electricity generation policy. Since the withdrawal of SSE in March 2013, the Scottish Government has had regular discussions with the remaining partners of NorthConnect and will continue to work with the project team. The consortium remains fully committed to the project, recently included in the European Commission’s projects of common interest list.