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-26774

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 20 July 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Pentland on 31 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S4W-25996 by John Pentland on 17 June 2015, when it expects the Fund Trustees will provide an answer.

Question reference: S4W-26288

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 16 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many sailings on (a) Clyde and Hebrides and (b) Northern Isles ferry routes have been cancelled since 17 February 2014.

Since 17 February 2014 until 24 June 2015 there were 6078 cancelled sailings on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes, out of 183,369 scheduled sailings and 9 on the Northern Isles Ferry Service routes, out of 1001 scheduled sailings. The vast majority of the cancelled sailings on the Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Service routes, and all of the cancelled sailings on the Northern Isles Ferry Service routes, were weather related.

Question reference: S4W-26287

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 July 2015

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to start the procurement exercise for the 2018-24 Northern Isles ferry services contract, and whether it will take steps to ensure that the services are returned to the public sector.

The current Northern Isles contract is due to come to an end in April 2018. In line with commitments given in the Empowering Scotland’s Island Communities prospectus in June 2014, we have already begun to engage with key partners to scope out the way forward for the next contract. We will continue to engage with these partners in reaching conclusions about the details of the next contract.

Question reference: S4W-25994

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25752 by Fergus Ewing on 5 June 2015, by what date the decision will be announced and, in light of the report being received in June 2013, what the reason is for the delay in making this.

The consideration that officials and ministers have been required to give to the Allt Duine proposal, the associated environmental impact assessment and the public inquiry report has been complex and meant that we were not able to facilitate a decision before the change to Scottish Planning Poilcy in June 2014, at which point we had to consult further.

Now that further consultation is complete Scottish Ministers will be in a position to make a decision shortly.

Question reference: S4W-25893

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22018 by John Swinney on 23 July 2014, what assessment it has made of the (a) accuracy and (b) completeness of (i) its entries and (ii) the entries of other bodies in the electronic Property Information and Mapping Service (e-PIMS).

The Scottish Government updates its own data through a notification system when changes occur to fulfil its responsibility to the Cabinet Office for the accuracy and comprehensiveness of its data.

The Scottish Government is only one of a number of participating bodies in the e-PIMS, and therefore has only partial access to the detailed records of other public bodies. It is the responsibility of these bodies to assure the Cabinet Office of the accuracy and comprehensiveness of its own data in e-PIMS and e-PIMS Lite.

Question reference: S4O-04492

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the educational impact of schools built under PFI and PPP.

Question reference: S4W-25996

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Monday, 08 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Pentland on 17 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will follow the example of Falkirk Council and invest some of the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme funds in Hearthstone Investments’ Housing Fund for Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-25894

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-23164 by Richard Lochhead on 27 November 2014, whether it will provide an update on the progress of the land register and whether it expects to meet its target of registering all public land within five years.

The Keeper of the Registers of Scotland has undertaken a substantial amount of activity to support the completion of the land register by 2024 and to have all public land voluntary registered by 2019 since Scottish Ministers’ announcement in May 2014. This has included undertaking a public consultation on the approach to the task, the report and analysis on which was published in February 2015. The consultation had 24 respondents from the public sector who were broadly supportive of our approach to completion. One of the key requests from public bodies was to reduce the cost of registration, and in direct response we will be reducing our fees by 25% for voluntary registration from 30 June 2015.

The keeper has appointed a stakeholder engagement manager to work exclusively with the public sector to assist them in understanding the voluntary registration process. All public sector bodies have been contacted to make them aware of this commitment and we are confident that awareness of their responsibilities is high. A number of public bodies who have large land holdings have already submitted voluntary registration applications, for example the Forestry Commission, Transport Scotland, Scottish Water and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The keeper has already begun to pilot her new power of keeper-induced registration, with the National Trust for Scotland’s Georgian House in Edinburgh being the first to be registered. The keeper intends to undertake further public consultation on this later in 2015.

We remain optimistic that we can meet this challenging target.

Question reference: S4W-25905

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether the bus grant scheme model can be replicated for the rail freight industry.

Question reference: S4W-25904

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what account it took of the extent to which increasing the speed limit of HGVs to 50 mph on the A9 may have provided a competitive advantage for the road haulage industry over the rail freight industry.

The rationale behind the trial speed limit of 50 mph for HGVs on the A9 is to reduce the speed differential between the slowest moving vehicles and the wider traffic stream, so improving the operational performance of the A9.

The mode of transport chosen for moving freight is a decision for the freight service provider and the customer and will be driven by a range of operational and commercial factors.