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-14898

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the costs of back-filling for the Police Scotland (a) officers and (b) staff deployed at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland will be met in full and, if so, by whom.

Question reference: S4W-14905

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 28 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether Police Scotland and its predecessors has/have bought additional equipment for the G8 summit in Northern Ireland and, if so, what equipment; who sanctioned the purchase; what the cost was, and who the suppliers were.

Question reference: S4W-14927

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priority given to early years development in the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-17, what plans it has to address the reported lack of qualified staff available for Gaelic pre-school education.

Question reference: S4W-14928

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 28 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for the long-term future of the birth to three sector in Gaelic.

The Scottish Government wants to see this sector expand. Bòrd na Gidhlig has established a Gaelic Early Years Strategy Group and the group is expected to provide a report and recommendations later this year. The group has noted the recent early years progress in terms of support for and growth in the Gaelic early years sector and will want to see an expansion of provision and stronger links between Gaelic in the home and Gaelic in early years centres in the years ahead. The Scottish Government will carefully examine the group’s findings and work with Bòrd na Gidhlig to support and develop the birth to three sector.

Question reference: S4O-02138

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what flexibility there is in the curriculum for excellence to reflect evolving situations in society.

Question reference: S4W-14582

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 8 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason arable land at Knocknagael is being sold for housing development rather than agricultural purposes.

Question reference: S4W-14393

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many freedom of information requests regarding its engagement with the Royal Family it has received in each year since 2007 and how many times the information was (a) released without objection, (b) released on review, (c) released following a decision by the Scottish Information Commissioner and (d) not released.

Question reference: S4O-02073

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase the routine use of Gaelic across all its services.

Question reference: S4W-13984

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it has employed at its farm at Knocknagael; how many dwelling houses there have been at the farm; how many dwelling houses it owned at the farm; how many dwelling houses have been owned and occupied by its employees, and what the nature of the occupancy was, in each year since 2007.

We are unable to provide information relating to staff or information relating to the occupation of dwelling houses at Knocknagael and Balrobert. Due to the sensitive nature of the information involved it may be possible to identify individuals, even if the information were grouped by directorate/division, because of the very small numbers. This detail is therefore withheld under paragraph 38 1 (b) (personal information) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act.

There were seven dwellings at Knocknagael and two at Balrobert. One of the dwellings was a small bothy and is now used as a workshop for one of the dwelling houses, another dwelling has been sold to an individual. The remaining cottages and the farmhouse are owned by Scottish Ministers.

Question reference: S4W-13987

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 23 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people it has employed at its farm at Beechwood in Inverness; how many dwelling houses there have been at the farm; how many dwelling houses it owned at the farm; how many dwelling houses have been owned and occupied by its employees, and what the nature of the occupancy was, in each year since 2007.

We are unable to provide information relating to staff or their occupation of dwelling houses at Beechwood. Due to the sensitive nature of the information involved it may be possible to identify individuals, even if the information was grouped by directorate/division, because of the very small numbers. This detail is therefore withheld under paragraph 38 1 (b) (personal information) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act.

There were six dwelling houses at the Beechwood farm. By 2006, two cottages had been converted into one house and this house and another cottage had been sold to individuals. The remaining two cottages and the farmhouse were owned by Scottish Ministers and these were sold to HIE in 2008-2009. Following the sale, the Scottish Government retained the use of one of the cottages until September 2011.