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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S4O-02041

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is providing to cattle and sheep farmers in light of reported difficulties in these sectors.

Question reference: S4O-01962

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made towards introducing Wi-Fi on all Caledonian MacBrayne ferries that serve the Inner and Outer Hebrides.

Question reference: S4W-13578

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement revisions to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Question reference: S4W-13577

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on reform of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

A Tri-partite group comprising of representatives from the Convention Of Scottish Local Authorities, the trades unions and the Scottish Government was convened in October 2012 and is supporting negotiations to reform the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Negotiations on scheme design are scheduled to complete by August 2013 when the focus will then shift to scheme governance and development of Scottish scheme regulations.

Question reference: S4W-13123

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Falkirk Council regarding the closure of the Birkhill Fireclay Mine.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions with Falkirk Council regarding their decision, as owners, to close the Birkhill Fireclay Mine.

Historic Scotland had frequent contact with Falkirk Council regarding the designation of the site. Following Historic Scotland’s decision not to either list or schedule the site, Historic Scotland liaised further with the Falkirk Community Trust (as the charitable company set up by Falkirk Council to deliver culture, library, recreation and sport services on its behalf), the National Museums of Scotland as well as the National Mining Museum of Scotland to suggest that a feasibility study could be undertaken to explore future options for the site.

Question reference: S4W-12829

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to provide a Gaelic language version of the independence referendum ballot paper.

The Scottish Government does not plan to provide a Gaelic language version of the ballot paper for the independence referendum.

As part of the question assessment process, the Electoral Commission tested the proposed question with voters who speak Gaelic as a first language. The Commission found that these participants could understand the question easily and experienced no difficulties in completing the ballot paper. The Commission’s report is published at:

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/153691/Referendum-on-independence-for-Scotland-our-advice-on-referendum-question.pdf)

Voter information will be available in other languages, including Gaelic, on request. Counting officers may also choose to display a translation of the ballot paper at polling stations if they consider this appropriate. This is standard practice for all elections.

Question reference: S4O-01771

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how NHS boards ensure that GPs reduce the unnecessary waste of prescribed drugs.

Question reference: S4W-11931

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 29 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent progress has been made in encouraging local authority pension funds to invest in affordable and social housing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-09429 on 20 September 2012, the Scottish Government has continued in discussion with a range of parties interested in providing pension fund and institutional investment for housing in Scotland.

This includes Falkirk Council, who recently advised that they are in a position to discuss how their interest in applying their pension funds for housing might be supported. Scottish Government officials are scheduled to meet with Falkirk next month.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-12239

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made regarding the introduction of the Scottish Welfare Fund.

We are working in partnership with colleagues in COSLA, and local authority representatives on the development of the Scottish Welfare Fund. We have set up a Design and Implementation Group (DIG), in partnership with COSLA, and involving local authority representatives, to oversee the development and introduction of the Scottish Welfare Fund. The DIG meets regularly to discuss all aspects of implementation and good progress is being made.

Notes from DIG meetings, and details of ongoing developments of the Scottish Welfare Fund are available on our website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/socialfund.

Question reference: S4W-12240

Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 24 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what will qualify as emergency help under the proposed Scottish Welfare Fund.