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-13056

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 5 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the number of disabled people who will not receive personal independence payments by 2018, who would otherwise have received disability living allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions has produced forecasts for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) caseload in May 2018 and the counterfactual Disability Living Allowance (DLA) caseload if DLA had remained unchanged. This shows that by 2018, the DLA caseload for the UK would have been around 2,182,000 and the expected PIP caseload to be around 1,575,000. This suggests that 607,000 fewer people in the UK will be in receipt of PIP who would otherwise have received DLA.

Using this forecast on DLA and PIP caseloads and based on an 11 per cent share of the working-age DLA caseload in Scotland, it is estimated that by May 2018 the DLA caseload in Scotland would have been around 240,000, however, following the introduction of PIP the caseload is projected to be 173,000. This suggests around 67,000 fewer individuals in Scotland will be in receipt of PIP than would otherwise have received DLA.

These figures are indicative only and as such, should be treated with caution. The actual PIP caseload in May 2018 may be higher or lower than forecast assumptions.

Question reference: S4F-01200

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2013

To ask the First Minister what impact the reported 30-year high in North Sea oil investment will have on the Scottish economy.

Question reference: S4O-01793

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee regarding its forward work programme.

Question reference: S4W-11802

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): on 18 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what plans it has to make its online video archive more accessible to the general public.

Currently the online video archive on www.scottish.parliament.tv is available 24 hours after each Chamber or committee meeting and we regularly tweet direct links to archive and live video feed. Video currently remains available from the archive site for one calendar month. Each committee has its own section which includes all available archived videos. We are in the process of adding clear links to these from the committee web pages.

In addition since September 2012, all parliamentary videos are added to the Parliament’s YouTube channel. The Parliament’s web team is currently working to improve the channel’s accessibility, and have started to add appropriate descriptions and metadata which will make the specific videos as well as the YouTube channel easier to find. There are clear links back to the Parliament’s website and Parliament.tv on the channel home page in order to improve access to all our parliamentary information. By adding content to YouTube we will be facilitating re-use of our videos both by the Parliament on our other online channels, and by other organisations and networks.

Question reference: S4W-11801

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by David Stewart (on behalf of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body): on 18 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it is doing to publicise the (a) work, (b) meetings and (c) video archive footage of committees and to make it more accessible online to the general public.

All committees have a dedicated webpage, where all meeting papers and reports are published as well as background information and other appropriate content. Committee agendas are published in the Business Bulletin and are also highlighted on the home page of the Parliament’s website. Work is currently underway to review the content of the website to make it more engaging and easier to find. Committee work is promoted on the home page of the website and increasingly other social media channels.

The Parliament has recently launched a Facebook page. We have used this to promote committee inquiries, and to encourage direct interaction with the public by asking for their views on specific matters.

This approach is also being taken on Twitter. With over 10,000 followers the corporate account is an effective means of publicising parliamentary business and widening our reach. There are also currently 5 committees with their own feeds, which are used to provide regular updates about the work of the committee, including links to the website, relevant parliamentary papers and live and archive video feeds.

In addition to the recent work on YouTube outlined in response to S4W-11802, the content has also been organised into “playlists” to make it easier for users to browse the channel. These are broken down by committee to enable visitors to quickly go to the committee of choice and see what videos are available to watch.

The Conveners Group recently endorsed an approach to promoting the work of committees through the media. This includes having tailored media plans for each committee and promoting the committees’ work through news releases, use of embargoes, case studies, video clips and high profile witnesses.

Committees are also supported to undertake fact-finding visits, external meetings and events which are all designed to improve levels of engagement with, and knowledge of, committee work. Other methods of engagement include the use of community outreach sessions and activities in schools and more recently the establishment of a ‘Parliament Day’ initiative which was built around an external committee meeting.

Question reference: S4W-11854

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people in Scotland under 25 are in receipt of housing benefit and how many of them have dependent children.

Question reference: S4O-01651

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Aberdeen City Council to discuss infrastructure investment.

Question reference: S4W-11726

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what leeway the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland gives to bus operators that experience delays due to circumstances outwith their control.

Question reference: S4W-11725

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether running a set number of buses per hour is an allowed alternative to setting timetables.

Yes; it is open to an operator to register “frequent services”. Frequent services are defined at Paragraph 10 of the Schedule to SSI 2001 No. 219, The Public Service Vehicles (Registration of Local Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2001, as routes on which “the service interval is 10 minutes or less”. These are further defined in the Traffic Commissioner’s Practice Direction on Standards for Local Bus Services as: “Six or more buses will depart within any period of 60 minutes and the interval between consecutive buses will not exceed 15 minutes”.

Question reference: S4W-11721

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many fines the Traffic Commissioner for Scotland has issued to bus companies in the last year.