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-23524

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 18 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much tourism revenue has been generated in 2014, also broken down by revenue generated by the (a) Commonwealth Games and (b) Ryder Cup.

Provisional figures for the 12 months, July 2013 to June 2014, show combined domestic and overseas visitor expenditure of £4.6 billion, a 6% increase in the same period in 2012-13 (£4.3 billion). The Scottish Government does not provide data for periods shorter than a year due to the small sample sizes.

In terms of the positive impact of the Commonwealth Games, the XX Commonwealth Games Visitor Impact Study: Interim Report

(http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0046/00463511.pdf) stated that day visitors to the Games spent a total of £66 million, and overnight visitors a total of £216 million.

The economic impact of the 2014 Ryder Cup is being evaluated post-event by independent researchers at the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University. The economic impact study will estimate the event’s overall economic impact and capture the impacts on tourism, among other impacts.

Question reference: S4W-23521

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the average saving has been for band D households since the introduction of the council tax freeze.

Question reference: S4W-23523

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many new businesses have been established in 2014.

New business start-ups are measured using new business VAT/PAYE registration figures. The latest figures available are for 2013. In 2013, there were 21,540 new business start-ups in Scotland. Note that these figures do not include business start-ups which are below the VAT/PAYE threshold.

These figures are taken from the Office for National Statistics Business Demography 2013 publication. Figures for 2014 are due to be published in November 2015.

Question reference: S4O-03824

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government to what extent small businesses in Aberdeen have benefitted from the small business bonus scheme.

Question reference: S4O-03816

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with pension fund administrators regarding investment opportunities to support capital infrastructure projects.

Question reference: S4W-23396

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) deadline it has set for local authorities to set autism strategies and (b) information it holds on how many (i) draft and (ii) completed autism strategies have been developed.

The deadline set by the Scottish Government was March 2014. The autism coordination team – based within the University of Strathclyde and funded under the autism strategy – are supporting local authorities to further develop and implement their local autism strategies.

All local autism action plans and strategies (completed and draft) are published on the Scottish Strategy for Autism website at: http://www.autismstrategyscotland.org.uk

Question reference: S4W-23399

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a progress report on the implementation of the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

Question reference: S4W-23398

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how groups and organisations can bid for support from the Scottish Strategy for Autism.

A broad range of local and national third sector organisations, local authorities and NHS health boards were invited to bid for funding from the autism programme fund from financial year 2011-12 to present. The opportunities are promoted via existing autism service networks, voluntary and third sector networks as well as statutory organisation relevant networks.

A further invitation for additional funding has just been issued (November 2014). Existing autism projects have been asked to consider how they can upscale and increase activity in current projects and services, the aim being to increase local activity and make a bigger impact on local services that deliver outcomes for people with autism in the financial year 2014-15.

Question reference: S4F-02423

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 November 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the RCN report on mental health services.

Question reference: S4W-22813

Asked by: Mark McDonald, MSP for Aberdeen Donside, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 October 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the roll-out of superfast broadband by BT will ensure that communities in Aberdeen City are fully able to access superfast broadband.

We are on track to deliver our commitment that 85% of premises across Scotland have access to fibre broadband by the end of 2015. Using over £280 million of public sector funding and £125 million of private sector funding across two projects, we intend to provide fibre broadband access to over 750,000 premises across Scotland. This significant investment will deliver the 2015 target and, by the end of 2017, 95% of premises in Scotland will have access to fibre infrastructure.

It is estimated that the programme will increase coverage to the communities of Aberdeen City from 72% (provided by the private sector) to over 96% when the programme is complete.

The following exchange areas of Aberdeen City have already been announced to receive investment from the programme, and more will follow as the programme continues:

Aberdeen Denburn

Aberdeen Kincorth

Aberdeen Lochnagar

Aberdeen West

Aberdeen Bieldside

Aberdeen Bucksburn

Aberdeen Dyce

Aberdeen Kingswells

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