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-30636

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether, following Audit Scotland's 2013 report, Renewable energy, it monitors the investment in the economy by the renewable energy industry and, if so, what the value is of that investment.

Scottish Renewables has estimated that Scotland’s renewable energy sector delivered around £1.04 billion of capital investment in 2014. Further information is available on the Scottish Renewables website at the following link: .

Figures published by the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in April 2014 show that since 2010 the renewables industry has announced around £14.2 billion worth of investment in Scotland. Further information is available on the DECC website at the following link:

Question reference: S4W-30635

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much private sector investment there was in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 in projects that received public funding.

Question reference: S4W-30639

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 17 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeship starts there have been in the energy and low-carbon sector in each year since 2011-12 and how many have been completed.

Information on Modern Apprenticeships in the energy and low carbon sector is not held centrally. I will ask the Chief Executive of Skills Development Scotland to write to you with the information requested.

Skills Development Scotland publish quarterly performance information on Modern Apprenticeships, including breakdowns by framework followed and by framework grouping. The most recent statistics for quarter 3 2015-16 (to end December 2015) can be found at:

Question reference: S4W-30216

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what Barnett consequentials there will be as a result of the UK Government’s decision to access the European Union Solidarity Fund.

The UK Government’s decision to access the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) will result in no Barnett consequentials as the EUSF would provide money that would be out of scope of Barnett. Scottish costs were included in the application which the UK Government announced on 25 February 2016 would be submitted to the European Commission. The commission is now considering the application which can take a number of months to be processed.

Question reference: S4W-29294

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish an update of the rate of progress of single farm payments in light of the reports that there have been delays in making these.

Question reference: S4W-29769

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities will be required to pay landfill tax as a result of the clear up following recent flooding incidents and, if so, what estimate it has made of the cost.

The material that local authorities send to landfill will attract landfill tax, including any disposals arising from the recent flooding events. The Scottish Government has provided a £16 million aid package in response to the flooding, principally providing grants to individuals and businesses but also supporting councils with reparation costs, which might include Scottish landfill tax liabilities.

The Scottish Government currently has no estimate on the quantity of waste material produced, and amount that will be landfilled as a result of the recent flooding events. We will be monitoring the situation closely.

Question reference: S4W-29578

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 12 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware that the contents of the Museum of Fire in Edinburgh will be put into storage when it is closed in May 2016 and what its position is on the reported lack of a plan to reopen it in Edinburgh.

Question reference: S4W-29463

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 25 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen McLeod on 10 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the restatement and amendment of the law relating to allotments in Part 9 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, whether local authorities will retain the ability to compulsorily purchase land for the purpose of providing allotments.

Powers for compulsory purchase of land for the provision of allotments are not included within the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and local authorities will not be able to purchase land for allotments compulsorily once Part 9 of this Act has been implemented. Scottish Government officials are reviewing the position on the need and justification for compulsory purchase of land for allotments, using compulsory purchase orders, and this important work is currently underway.

Question reference: S4W-29564

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) discussions it had and (b) agreement was reached with the UK Government before losing the power to close the renewables obligation in respect of electricity generated by onshore wind.

Question reference: S4W-29562

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 29 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it lost the power to close the renewables obligation in respect of electricity generated by onshore wind.

UK Ministers took powers in the Energy Act 2013 to close the renewables obligation across Great Britain to all new capacity. The UK Government lodged an amendment to the Energy Bill with no prior consultation with the Scottish Government or Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government published a letter from the Energy Minister, Mr Ewing, to the former Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, dated 1 November 2013, concerning the closure of the renewables obligation. This can be found at the following link:

The Scottish Government has not made any estimate of how much it would cost electricity consumers in Scotland to maintain the renewables obligation on the basis that we do not have powers to keep the renewables obligation scheme open.