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-19900

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 21 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the Governance for Railway Investment Projects (GRIP) stage 3 report on the Aberdeen to Inverness rail improvement project will be published on Transport Scotland's website.

Question reference: S4W-19532

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland has been advised not to enforce road traffic legislation with regard to nuclear warhead convoys.

Question reference: S4W-19530

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland is advised of nuclear warhead convoys.

Question reference: S4W-19533

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether (a) it and (b) its agencies have been involved in discussions about routes taken by nuclear warhead convoys.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not discuss the routes taken by nuclear warhead convoys with the Scottish Government. Police Scotland are the only agency in Scotland who are notified by the MoD in advance of any convoy being routed through their area, and their response to those is an operational matter for Police Scotland. Police Scotland may also advise the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service of any nuclear weapons convoy which could move into the vicinity of a fire service operation.

Question reference: S4W-19534

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 24 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it last reviewed emergency planning arrangements relating to nuclear warhead convoys.

The Scottish Government works with all relevant emergency responders to ensure arrangements are in place, and keeps its arrangements under continual review and refines these when lessons are identified following exercises or real emergencies.

The Scottish Government also liaises with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) in updating and developing the publically available document, Local Authority and Emergency Services Information (LAESI). This document sets outs the arrangements for responding to accidents involving nuclear warhead convoys, and is reviewed on a regular basis. The latest edition (January 2013) is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/82776/LAESI_9.pdf

Question reference: S4W-19531

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 31 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 20 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether any dispensation to break speed limits by vehicles in nuclear warhead convoys has been granted by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Question reference: S4W-19627

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4W-19262

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it was consulted by the UK Government regarding the document, Adapting To Change: UK policy towards the Arctic, and whether an independent Scotland would support the Arctic being given UN protectorate status.

The Scottish Government has no central record of having been consulted by the UK Government regarding the document “Adapting to Change: UK policy towards the Arctic”.

As set out on page 228 of the Scottish Government’s “Scotland’s Future” document, the Scottish Government recognises it has key shared interests with its geographical neighbours in the North Atlantic, such as Iceland and Norway, and a common interest in the Arctic and the High North. The government has also stated that it would participate in a range of international organisations, including the United Nations, to promote global issues of importance to the Scottish people. Following independence, specific foreign policy decisions relating to Scotland’s position on the Arctic would, however, be for the government of the day to decide.

Question reference: S4W-19260

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government about how the work of GCHQ impacts on people and communities in Scotland and whether GCHQ has gathered information in Scotland using the surveillance system, Dishfire.

National security is reserved to the UK Parliament and the operations of GCHQ are a matter for the UK Government. As the First Minister indicated in answer to question S4F-01457 on 13 June 2013, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice wrote to the Foreign Secretary on 11 June 2013 regarding his statement on the information leaked by Edward Snowden. The letter and Mr Burt’s response have been lodged with SPICe (Bib Number 55086). These are the only recent communications the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding the impact the work of GCHQ has on people and communities in Scotland.

The answer to the First Ministers oral question is available on the Parliaments website, the official report can be viewed at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28862.aspx?r=8770.

Question reference: S4W-19264

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 20 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it issues to local authorities regarding developments near sites of historic interest.

Historic Scotland, as the Scottish Government’s heritage agency, takes the lead role in providing advice and guidance to planning authorities, developers and others on the potential impacts of development on the historic environment. In offering advice, Historic Scotland recognises that the historic environment is a fragile and irreplaceable resource, but also a dynamic one.

There are three specific areas of the planning system in which Historic Scotland is involved:

1. Development planning

Historic Scotland works with planning authorities during the preparation of local development plans to ensure that the historic environment is considered in a positive way. Historic Scotland also works with planning authorities on development plan delivery initiatives, such as the preparation of supplementary guidance, masterplans and development briefs.

2. Development management

Historic Scotland is a statutory consultee for planning applications for works affecting A-listed buildings and scheduled monuments and their settings as well as inventory battlefields or inventory garden and designed landscapes. Where an application is accompanied by an Environmental Impact Assessment, Historic Scotland is also consulted.

In providing views on planning applications Historic Scotland considers various issues, including how the development might affect the appreciation of the site in its wider context. In doing so, Historic Scotland seeks to help decision makers establish a clear understanding of heritage assets so that any impacts can be sensitively managed. Historic Scotland also welcomes early engagement so potential impacts can be identified and addressed at an early stage.

3. Guidance

Historic Scotland also publishes a series of managing change guidance notes which are intended to be used by planning authorities and other interested parties in the development management process. These guidance notes seek to explain how to apply the policies contained in the Scottish Historic Environment Policy and The Scottish Planning Policy. These can be accessed at:

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/heritage/policy/managingchange.htm. There is a guidance note on setting.

Historic Scotland, together with Architecture and Place and Architecture and Design Scotland, has also produced the volume ‘New Design in Historic Settings’. This aims to set out the means by which we can raise the standard of new design in historic settings and the advice is aimed at designers, developers, local authorities, community groups and other important stakeholders. It can be accessed here at: http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/heritage/policy/newdesigninhistoricsettings.htm.

Encompassing the natural and built environment more widely, ‘Creating Places is the Scottish Government’s policy statement on architecture and place. Its website is an important element of the policy and it is designed to be a resource for everyone with an interest in the built and natural environment, and includes guidance on culture and heritage. It can be accessed at: http://www.creatingplacesscotland.org/.