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-16017

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with other EU member states regarding the UK Government's proposal to ease restrictions on the cultivation of genetically modified crops.

Question reference: S4W-16019

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 15 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to ensure that Scotland remains a GM-free zone.

Question reference: S4W-15298

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4T-00377 by Kenny MacAskill on 28 May 2013 (Official Report, c. 20315), what recent communications it has had with the UK Government regarding extraordinary rendition and whether Aberdeen, Inverness and Wick airports have been used by the US Central Intelligence Agency for this purpose.

As I indicated in response to Patrick Harvie’s question on 28 May, there has been no communication with the UK Government regarding extraordinary rendition flights using airports in Scotland. The Scottish Government remains strongly opposed to illegal rendition flights.

The Crown has made clear how strongly it would view the matter and the Lord Advocate indicated on 5 June 2013 that he has asked Police Scotland to consider the information provided by the Rendition Project undertaken by researchers from Kent and Kingston Universities.

The police and the Crown can act only if information is passed on, and if anyone has any evidence of lawbreaking of this sort, they should come forward with it and help justice to be done.

Question reference: S4W-15297

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 7 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many episodes of treatment have been carried out at the neurosurgery unit of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and how many included at least one operative procedure, in each year since 2008.

The information requested is not held centrally in the format requested.

It is not possible to identify all neurosurgical activity occurring in specific hospital units through centrally collected hospital admission records. It is, however, possible to identify activity occurring within the consultant specialty of neurosurgery by hospital. This information is provided in the following table.

Number of hospital stays involving the consultant specialty of Neurosurgery at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and the number of procedures performed, Financial years 2008 to 2012

Years	Hospital stays	No. of stays involving at least one procedure
2008	1,243	1,097
2009	1,355	1,173
2010	1,223	1,094
2011	1,104	963
2012	1,073	933

Source: ISD Scotland.

Ref: IR2013-00898.

Question reference: S4W-14727

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much the council tax freeze has saved the average band D household in each local authority area.

Over the six year period the council tax freeze will have been in place (2008-14), the average Band D household in Scotland will have benefited from cumulative savings of almost £690. The following table sets out how much the average Band D household within each local authority area will have saved.

Local Authority Area	Average Band D saving from the council tax freeze (£) (2008-09 to 2012-14)*
Aberdeen City	717
Aberdeenshire	693
Angus	656
Argyll and Bute	675
Clackmannanshire	697
Dumfries and Galloway	632
Dundee City	735
East Ayrshire	731
East Dunbartonshire	688
East Lothian	670
East Renfrewshire	656
Edinburgh, City of	679
Eilean Siar	625
Falkirk	656
Fife	671
Glasgow City	720
Highland	693
Inverclyde	725
Midlothian	742
Moray	694
North Ayrshire	687
North Lanarkshire	682
Orkney	636
Perth and Kinross	687
Renfrewshire	702
Scottish Borders	651
Shetland Islands	649
South Ayrshire	690
South Lanarkshire	671
Stirling	706
West Dunbartonshire	712
West Lothian	693

Note: *Derived from CTAXBASE and CTAS statistical returns and

assume 3.0% growth in council tax each year.

Figures show effects on bills – the figures do not take account of council tax benefit.

Question reference: S4O-02105

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 May 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with Aberdeen City Council about cultural issues.

Question reference: S4W-13746

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the financial value is of non-EU students to Scotland’s universities.

Scottish higher education institutions received an overall income of £337 million from non-EU student course fees in 2011-12. This figure represents 11.8% of the total income of Scottish HEIs in that year (Higher Education Statistics Agency).

This income does not include other sources of income from non-EU students, such as accommodation fees or the course fees of non-EU students studying at a Scottish HEI campus located outside Scotland, for which the Scottish Government does not hold data.

Question reference: S4W-13745

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what impact recent changes to international student visas have had on Scotland’s universities.

The impact of the negative message that the UK Government’s student visa policies send to other countries is a significant concern for the Higher Education Sector (HEI). There is evidence that student numbers from countries which normally send high numbers of students to Scotland have decreased in recent years, which may reflect the changes to student visa rules implemented since 2010.

Higher Education Statistics Agency statistics show that the number of students from India in Scottish HEIs decreased from 3290 in 2010-11 to 2445 in 2011-12 – a reduction of 25.8%; and the number of students from Pakistan in Scottish HEIs decreased from 860 in 2010-11 to 645 in 2011-12 – a reduction of 24.9%. However, largely due to an increase in students from China, the overall non-EU student numbers at Scottish HEIs has increased from 27,880 in 2010-11 to 28,500 in
2011-12.

Question reference: S4W-13748

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications are for the education sector of a significant decrease in the number of non-EU students.

International students bring a variety of benefits to the education sector. A reduction in international students would impact on an important source of funding for Scotland’s Universities. Equally important however is the potential reduction in cultural diversity which enriches the intellectual environment for all students and encourages a global perspective and increased mobility among Scottish students and graduates. The international standing of our universities also reflects the ability to attract world-class researchers and staff from all parts of the international community. And finally, as international students are not eligible to take up Scottish Government funded university places, there is of course no impact on the places available to Scottish-domiciled and EU students.

Question reference: S4W-13744

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2013

The total numbers of non-EU undergraduate and postgraduate entrants to Scottish universities were:

(a) 15,730 in 2010-11

(b) 16,085 in 2011-12

In 2010-11 there were 12,680 Scottish-domiciled students studying at UK universities outwith Scotland, while 214,315 Scottish-domiciled students studied at Scottish universities. In 2011-12 there were 12,050 Scottish-domiciled students studying at UK universities outwith Scotland, compared to 205,130 Scots who studied within Scotland.

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Note: all numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.