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: S5W-27080

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be on wild salmon and the wider marine environment of 73,000 farmed salmon escaping from the Mowi fish farming site off Colonsay in January 2020.

The Scottish Government was disappointed by the reported escape of farmed salmon at a Mowi Scotland site near Colonsay in January 2020. We are clear that the containment of farmed fish in Scotland is of crucial importance in minimising the potential impact of aquaculture on the marine environment.

The main risk posed by escaped farmed salmon is introgression with wild salmon, a species in decline across the North Atlantic, though there are other important considerations such as disruption of the local ecosystem and competition with wild salmonids.

Through the Technical Standard for Scottish Finfish Aquaculture and the considerations of the Salmon Interactions Working Group, we are reviewing the regulation around containment in order to better mitigate the risk from farmed fish escapes.

Question reference: S5O-03945

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action is being taken to address reported staffing shortages in prisons.

Question reference: S5O-03842

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of public authorities not taking the necessary action to clear waste from the M90 Commerce Park at Lathalmond near Dunfermline, what action it can take to address local residents' environmental concerns.

Question reference: S5O-03776

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-26033

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether adequate regulations and safeguards are in place to ensure that the public are protected when buying pre-paid funeral plans.

The Scottish Government believes that the regulation of the pre-paid funeral plan market should be strengthened. As a reserved matter, we have urged the UK Government to take action to ensure there is sufficient protection in place for people taking out funeral plans.

We are therefore pleased that HM Treasury has recently consulted on amendments to the legislative framework which would bring all funeral plan providers within the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA). We will continue to call on the UK Government to take action in this area.

Question reference: S5W-26163

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 November 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the Business Improvement District (BID) model is sustainable for supporting and regenerating town centres into the future.

Question reference: S5O-03667

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 10 October 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the current regulatory framework for insolvency practitioners is effective.

Question reference: S5O-03577

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether trade union access and the promotion of collective bargaining, as set out in the Fair Work First principles, are conditions for companies receiving government financial support, including grants from enterprise agencies.

Question reference: S5W-25132

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 17 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of traffic levels on both approaches to the Queensferry Crossing; what its response is to reports of frequent queues, and what action it can take to alleviate these.

Transport Scotland is undertaking an evaluation of the Forth Replacement Crossing Project, in line with our published guidance for major infrastructure projects. This will compare conditions including traffic flows, one year after motorway regulations came into force in February 2018, with forecasts made during project design and development. We anticipate that the evaluation report of the first year will be completed in early 2020. Further evaluations will be undertaken at 3 and 5 years.

Some of the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) that assists with the new controlled motorway stretching from the M90 Junction 3 to Newbridge is still in its infancy and will improve journey time reliability as more of the system goes live. This includes the ramp metering at both Ferrytoll and Queensferry junctions, which should assist the traffic flow on the mainline and decrease delays caused by joining traffic during peak periods. This ramp metering will hold traffic on the slip road joining the Queensferry Crossing section of the M90 to allow the mainline flow to take priority. This should link in to the traffic lights at the exit slip to the new Queensferry roundabout, discouraging drivers from using the slips as a rat-run. The ITS will also vary the mandatory speed limits across this section of the network depending on traffic volume, which again should assist with flows.

Question reference: S5T-01751

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to Fife Council to deal with the impact on pupils of the fire at Woodmill High School.