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

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 379 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4O-01299

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it will use the findings of the Report on Proposals and Policies to implement its climate change policy.

Question reference: S4W-09363

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 September 2012

Question reference: S4W-09070

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the decision by Dundee City Council to close Kemback Street Day Centre and its associated Out and About service is a breach of section 26 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 and what evidence it has to support its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government sets national direction of policy on mental health and provides funding to agencies, including NHS boards and local authorities, to support implementation of policy. The management of local actions in implementing national policy and decisions on local spending priorities are the responsibility of relevant local agencies.

Section 26 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 imposes a statutory duty on local authorities to provide services designed to promote the wellbeing and social development for persons who have, or have had, a mental disorder and who are not in hospital.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to work with their partners and regularly review spending decisions to deliver fit for purpose services which respond to local needs. The duty is on the local authority to provide the required services under section 26, and the closure of one particular service would not of itself necessarily be a breach of that section.

Scottish Ministers placed a legal duty on local authorities under the 2003 act to ensure that these services are available to people who need them. They expect public bodies upon whom statutory duties have been placed by an act of the Scottish Parliament to comply with those duties. Failure to comply with a specific duty could leave those bodies open to judicial review.

Question reference: S4W-09071

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance on the long-term place of day centres in social care policy service users can expect following its review of the consultation, The Same as You?.

Question reference: S4W-09067

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Dundee City Council regarding the decision to close Kemback Street Day Centre and its associated Out and About service for vulnerable adults with learning disabilities.

Question reference: S4O-01275

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the bidding criteria for the proposed national football academy.

Question reference: S4W-09068

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it issues to local authorities on how public consultions on proposed changes to service provision should be carried out.

The Scottish Government does not issue specific guidance to local authorities on how public consultations on proposed changes to service provisions should be carried out. Local authorities are subject to a duty to secure best value. The Best Value Statutory Guidance describes a number of characteristics which authorities should be able to demonstrate, one of which is responsiveness and consultation. This includes responsiveness to the needs of communities and citizens, and consultation arrangements which are open, fair and inclusive. The guidance does not prescribe how this should be done - local authorities are autonomous bodies and it is up to them to determine how they manage their day to day business. The guidance is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/04/19166/35250.

The Scottish Government published Right first time: A practical guide for public authorities in Scotland to decision-making and the law in 2010. This is relevant to local authorities as well as other public sector organisations and includes a section on consultation.

Question reference: S4W-08769

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 30 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what provision is made for any deaf athletes participating in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The sports programme for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is determined by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), in consultation with the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee (OC). The OC consulted directly with Commonwealth Games Scotland, Scottish Disability Sport and the sportscotland Institute of Sport as key disability sport stakeholders.

There are no categories within the IPC classification system for athletes with a hearing impairment, therefore, there are no specific events within the Glasgow 2014 sports programme for deaf people. However, deafness would not preclude athlete participation in other appropriate medal events.

There will be 22 fully integrated Para-Sport medal events as part of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, the most ever in the history of the Commonwealth Games, which will provide a unique opportunity for the participation of elite athletes with a disability at 2014 games.

Question reference: S4W-08549

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to hold the event in relation to women's representation as stated in amendment S4M-03289.1.

Question reference: S4W-08656

Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 27 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what average length of time has been taken to process legal aid applications in each year since 2007.

The average length of time taken by the Scottish Legal Aid Board to process the three types of legal aid applications in each year since 2007 is set out in the following tables. The average has been calculated by dividing the total number of processing days by the total number of applications.

The figures for ‘average process days’ represent the time that the board took to take a decision on the application and do not include any time that an application was outwith the Board’s hands awaiting a response to a continuation for further information from the solicitor or the applicant. In addition, “average process days” are working days. The calculation excludes weekends and public holidays.

Table 1 - Criminal Legal Aid Applications

Average Process Days

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

Initial applications in summary cases	2.7	2.1	1.3	1.7	1.2
Sanction for counsel, experts or unusual costs	1.3	3.5	1.1	1.2	1.2
Requests to change solicitor	1.2	1.9	1.7	1.3	1.1
Review of refusal of initial application	1.9	1.9	2.8	1.6	1.4
Application to make an appeal in court	1.6	1.9	1.8	2.0	1.7
Special Urgency	3.5	3.9	1.8	1.0	1.4
Exceptional cases	2.5	2.6	1.9	1.3	1.1
Initial applications in solemn cases (recording started in January 2011)	N/a	N/a	N/a	1.0	1.0

Table 2 - Civil Legal Aid Applications

Average Process Days

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12
Initial applications	12.9	13.0	20.2	13.9	22.8
Sanction for counsel, experts, unusual costs	2.0	2.1	2.6	2.4	2.8
Requests to change solicitor	1.7	2.0	2.4	2.5	2.3
Reviews of refusal of initial application	15.2	10.4	18.8	17.0	22.7
Request to extend the scope (14 days)	16.2	14.5	17.3	16.4	17.7
Request to extend scope (28 days)	N/a	21.0	30.0	31.0	N/a
Special Urgency	0.9	1.1	1.4	1.2	1.1

Table 3- Children’s Legal Aid Applications

Average Process Days

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

Sanction for counsel, experts, unusual costs	1.9	2.0	1.7	1.9	1.4
Requests to change solicitor	1.3	1.5	1.1	2.2	1.3
Applications to make an appeal in court	2.9	2.0	2.2	2.7	2.8
Special Urgency cases	N/A	3.1	1.7	1.0	1.1

Note: Figures for 2007-08 are unavailable.