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: S4O-04005

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the financial impact on the industry in Scotland, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the oil and gas fiscal regime.

Question reference: S4O-03998

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with its partners about railway timetabling and capacity in the north east.

Question reference: S4O-03954

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils in Aberdeen are being provided with free school meals following its recently introduced policy.

Question reference: S4W-23792

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities have a statutory duty to publish all papers relating to a planning application, in full and on a website that is publicly accessible.

There is a statutory duty on planning authorities under section 36A of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to maintain a list of applications made to them and to publish this on the internet (Regulation 22 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Scotland) Regulations 2013 ).

In respect of each application the details published must include:

The reference number of the application;

The site location;

The name of the applicant and, where an agent is acting for the applicant, the name and address of that agent;

A description of the proposed development; and

The expiry date of the period for representations to be received.

The list of applications must also contain a statement as to how further information may be obtained from the planning authority.

Planning authorities are also required to maintain a register of applications for planning permission (section 36(1) of the Act). The register is to be available for public inspection at an office of the planning authority. The planning authority may make the register available on their website. The information that must be recorded in the register is set out in Schedule 2 of the Development Management Procedure Regulations. The information published in the register is more detailed than the list and includes such items as copies of plans and drawings, decision notices and a report of handling. The report of handling includes, amongst other things; information on representations made by the public and the main issues raised, details of consultation with statutory consultees, any Environmental Impact Assessment or other reports undertaken and details of development plan policies and other material consideration considering in determining the application. The register is in two parts – information on the application on part 1 and then information on the decision (e.g. decision notice, report of handling) on part 2.

Scottish Government guidance on handling planning applications and the publication of the list and register is set out in Planning Circular 3/2013: Development Management Procedures. The Scottish Government has also published guidance, in collaboration with the Information Commissioner’s Office and planning authorities, on publishing planning applications online. When making documents available, the Scottish Government encourages authorities to recognise that publishing information online provides the public with an opportunity to participate in the planning process in a way that is most convenient to them and to promote transparent decision making. The guidance provides ‘good practice’ suggestions and was intended to offer clarification on some of the uncertainties with regard to the publishing information online and complying with data protection principles.

Question reference: S4W-23791

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 20 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on welfare reform mitigation since April 2013 and how much it plans to spend in 2015-16, broken down by type of mitigation.

From April 2013 to 2015-16, the Scottish Government’s current and planned funding will result in an investment of £296 million to mitigate the effects of the UK Government’s welfare reforms.

Details are as follows:

Welfare Reform Mitigation activity	2013-14 (£million)	2014-15 (£million)	2015-16 (£million)	Total from 2013 to 2016 (£million)
Scottish Welfare Fund (£33 million plus admin)	£38	£38	£38	£114
Other Welfare Reform Mitigation*	£7	£8.2	£8.2	£23.4
Council Tax Reduction Scheme	£23	£23	£23	£69
‘Bedroom tax’ – Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP)	£20	£35	£35	£90
Total	£88	£104.2	£104.2	£296.4

*Welfare reform mitigation includes funding for organisations that provide advice and support services to help people affected by welfare reform. This includes funding for Citizens Advice Scotland and continued support for the Making Advice Work grant funding programme and the new Tackling Money Worries grant funding programme administered by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. The funding also supports actions to tackle poverty, particularly child poverty including activity designed to maximise household resources for vulnerable groups, and initiatives with the third sector, local authorities and others impacted by welfare reform.

Question reference: S4W-23793

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what time period the public should have to scrutinise planning applications published on the web.

There is no statutory time period for public scrutiny of planning applications published on the web.

Planning authorities are required to publish on the internet, as part of the list of applications, the date by which representations to the planning application must be received. This date is set by the planning authority and must be not less than 21 days after the date on which notice is sent to the owner, lessee or occupier of premises on any land neighbouring the development. Additionally, where there is a requirement to publish notice of the application in a local newspaper, it must be not less than 14 days from the date of publication.

Scottish Government guidance, set out in Planning Series Circular 3/2013: Development Management Procedures, recommends that planning authorities arrange that planning applications are published online in the list of applications on the same date as notice is sent out and, where required, published in the newspaper, and the time periods for representations in notices and newspapers are aligned.

Question reference: S4W-23794

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it monitors how local authorities deal with planning applications.

The Scottish Government monitors a limited number of applications which it considers are of national and strategic importance.

Scottish Ministers also have a general power to intervene in the determination of a planning application where it appears there may be some matter of genuine national interest at stake. In practice, ministers will exercise this power very sparingly, recognising and respecting the role of authorities in decision making.

The Scottish Government collate and publish statistics on planning authority decision making timescales and also asks authorities to submit an annual planning performance framework setting out details of service provided and a plan for improvement. Ministers also have powers to vary planning application fees for any authority it considers is not performing adequately.

Where a member of the public is concerned about the process by which an application was handled and the decision reached they can submit a complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman for consideration.

Question reference: S4W-23689

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the views of sex workers should be taken into account by the organisations that provide services to support them.

Question reference: S4W-23688

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what role it considers sex worker-led organisations should have in discussions about the (a) development and (b) implementation of its policy toward (i) sex work and (ii) tackling violence against women.

The Scottish Government considers that it is important that those directly affected by a policy, and the organisations which represent them, are given an opportunity to contribute to its development and implementation. Consultation is an essential and important aspect of how the Scottish Government develops policy.

In general, consultation exercises aim to provide opportunities for all those who wish to express their opinions on a proposed area of work to do so in ways which will inform and enhance that work.

Question reference: S4W-23687

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 6 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on pre-exposure prophylaxis being used as a method of HIV prevention.