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: S4W-16834

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 23 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent advice issued by the British Transport Police regarding luggage theft, what its position is on the adequacy of luggage space on trains in Scotland and whether it will make it a condition of the next franchise process that this should be increased.

Question reference: S4W-16276

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on renovating unoccupied farm dwellings that it owns in each year since 1999.

Unfortunately this information is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost by making enquiries with all Government Departments as to how much each area has spent on renovating unoccupied farm dwellings each year since 1999. Accordingly, it is not possible to confirm the amount spent.

I can confirm that there are no unoccupied farm dwellings within the SG Lowland Land Settlement Holdings. There is one unoccupied farm cottage at SG Bull Stud Knocknagael, however there has been no expenditure on renovating this cottage since RPID took over the management of the SG Bull Stud Knocknagael in autumn of 2011.

Question reference: S4W-16268

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the full business case for the bull stud at its farm at Knocknagael.

Question reference: S4W-16277

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many renovated unoccupied farm dwelling houses that it owns have required subsequent renovations due to frost damage since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-16286

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the long-term consequences of the loss of land suitable for food production.

There are a number of different factors influencing the potential for food production in Scotland. This not only includes the area of agricultural land, but also innovation, changing technologies and the impact of climate change. However it relation to the area of agricultural land, statistics highlight that this has remained relatively static in Scotland over the past 20 years at around 6.2m hectares.

The structure of agricultural holdings and businesses changes from year to year to respond to the changing circumstances farmers face. For example, consolidating smaller holdings or reshaping businesses could result in either an increase or a decrease in agricultural area. Although some agricultural land may be replaced (for example by buildings), it does not necessarily equate to a loss of production for the business, particularly if the development improves efficiency or productivity.

There will always be competing pressures on land use. The Land Use Strategy encourages decision-makers to take account of the value of land highly suitable for food production through one of its ten Principles for Sustainable Land Use - Where land is highly suitable for a primary use this value should be recognised in decision making.

Public bodies are expected to have regard for the Principles when making plans and taking significant decisions affecting the use of land. The Strategy also encourages individuals, businesses and organisations who have significant land management responsibilities to have regard to the Principles.

The Scottish Government also previously undertook a Rural Land Use Study which captured the conflicts and complementarities between different rural land uses and objectives. The various reports from the study can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/RLUS.

Question reference: S4W-16278

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 05 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations about its vacant farm dwelling houses.

I can confirm that no central records are held of any recent discussions taking place with either local authorities or housing associations concerning any farm dwelling houses falling within the ownership and control of the Scottish Government. However, I can confirm that notification has been provided to the Highland Council that one of the cottages at the Scottish Government Stud Farm at Knocknagael, Inverness is currently unoccupied for council tax purposes.

Question reference: S4O-02343

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review its arrangements for dealing with civil emergencies.

Question reference: S4W-16468

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with multiple sclerosis there are in each NHS board area in the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S4W-16469

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 12 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many diagnoses of multiple sclerosis there have been in each NHS board area in the Highlands and Islands in each of the last 15 years.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14161 on 2 May 2013. 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.

It is intended that the 2012 data will be published in September 2013 and will be available at: http://www.msr.scot.nhs.uk/Reports/Main.html.

Question reference: S4W-16437

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it requires assurances regarding staffing levels from companies to which it provides funding.

The Scottish Government does require assurances on staffing levels for some major grant schemes, for example Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) and research and development support for large grants (both granted by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise). These job creation assurances are project specific, and for RSA must last for five years from their start date, or three years for a small and medium sized enterprise. Payment for both schemes are made in instalments, typically over several years as job and capital expenditure targets are met.