Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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-12634

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has commissioned of (a) changes in the number of planning staff employed by local authorities and (b) what skills shortages exist.

The new Planning Performance Frameworks have been designed to give local authorities the opportunity to provide information on their organisational structure and the level of staff within that structure. As these were the first ever Planning Performance Frameworks, the level of information provided by each authority varies greatly. However, we will work with Heads of Planning Scotland (HoPS) to refine the requirements for the next round of frameworks to enable more accurate analysis.

Similarly, the frameworks allow authorities the opportunity to identify the skill sets available to them within their organisation and what measures have been introduced to encourage a culture of continuous improvement. It is useful to have a record of this information and the Scottish Government has committed a further £20,000 this year to HoPS to help further develop skills. Since 2006, the Scottish Government has invested over £2.7 million in local authority skills development through the Planning Development Programme. However, it is ultimately the responsibility of each authority to ensure that they possess the skills necessary to carry out their planning duties effectively and efficiently.

Question reference: S4W-12585

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish information on public sector bodies' performance against planning targets.

The Scottish Government will be publishing a Scotland-wide report that will provide a summary of information collated from the annual performance reports by each planning authority and key agency. It is expected that each organisation will make their own annual report available on the web.

The Scottish Government publishes statistics on a quarterly basis that sets out the performance of planning authorities on different types of planning applications. This information guides authorities who benchmark against other comparable authorities and helps to focus attempts to improve efficiency. These statistics are not formally recognised as planning targets.

Question reference: S4W-12638

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on carbon emissions of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requirement for new developments to comply with (a) increased CO2 emission reductions and (b) the provision of on-site renewables, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) type of development.

Question reference: S4W-12636

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by (a) local authority and (b) purpose of the allocation of £673,000 to planning departments for 2013-14 and whether the impact will be monitored.

Question reference: S4W-12637

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring is being carried out of the implementation of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 with regard to planning decisions.

The Scottish Government has reported to the Scottish Parliament annually since 2011 on the operation of Section 72 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as required by and within the terms of Section 73 of the Act. This year’s report will be laid before the Scottish Parliament by 1 April. Previous year’s reports have the following laying numbers: SG/2011/21 and SG2012/38.

The Scottish Government does not monitor implementation of sections 70 and 71 of the Act as the Orders that conferred permitted development rights on domestic air source heat pumps, domestic wind turbines and non-domestic microgeneration installations removed those classes of development from the planning application process.

Question reference: S4W-12527

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will reconvene the expert panel that it set up in 2007 to recommend measures to improve the energy performance of houses and buildings and what its (a) remit and (b) timetable will be.

Question reference: S4W-12389

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 4 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether any criminal liability will automatically pass from the existing boards to the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Provision to this effect has been included in the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2013, which was laid in draft in the UK Parliament on 22 January 2013 by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Scotland Office, in exercise of powers conferred by the Scotland Act 1998.

Paragraph 12 of Schedule 3 of the Order states that any criminal offence committed before the relevant day by a relevant authority within the meaning of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 is, on and after that day, to be regarded for all purposes as if it had been committed by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and criminal proceedings may be instituted or continued against the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service accordingly. Equivalent transitional provision is made for offences committed by any of the current police bodies or chief constables.

This transitional provision has been included in this draft Scotland Act Order to avoid any doubt that it applies to offences under reserved legislation, which includes in particular the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Question reference: S4O-01773

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects NHS Lothian to achieve NHS Scotland Resource Allocation parity.

Question reference: S4W-12452

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will produce advice for local authorities and other public sector bodies on incorporating a living wage requirement into procurement contracts.

The Scottish Government issued a Scottish Procurement Policy Note in August 2012 which provided advice to Scottish local authorities and other public sector bodies on the potential to encourage contractors to pay their employees a living wage through procurement processes. This note is also available on the Scottish Government website:

As part of our public consultation on the Procurement Reform Bill we sought views from stakeholders on the impact and implications of encouraging the living wage through procurement which are currently under consideration. We have published an analysis of the responses:

Question reference: S4O-01762

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it will decide on how much support it will provide for the concessionary travel scheme.