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-23707

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what measures Scotland's National Marine Plan provides to enable the enhancement of the natural marine environment.

General Policy 9 of the National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament stipulates that development and use of the marine environment must protect and, where appropriate, enhance the health of the marine environment. The accompanying policy provides additional detail on how this may be achieved. This reflects the contribution of Marine Protected Areas and includes actions to enhance the status of Priority Marine Features where appropriate. The policy also states that consideration should be given to opportunities to enhance biodiversity and associated ecosystem services, including recovery and/or enhancement of degraded habitats or species populations.

Chapter 12 (Recreation and Tourism) also contains a specific objective and a policy which support enhancement of natural resources and paragraph 11.39 notes the potential opportunities for enhancement in exclusion zones around energy generation infrastructure.

Question reference: S4W-23711

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how Scotland's National Marine Plan will balance conflicting demands on the same sea space.

Paragraph 3.15 of the National Marine Plan as laid before Parliament sets out how the plan provides guidance on resolving potential competition and conflict.

The plan stipulates a set of General Policies which apply to all development and use of the marine environment. General Policy 4 encourages development and activity which enable coexistence with other development, sectors and activities. It also encourages development or use which does not result in areas being unsuitable for future use by others. Where different activities are incompatible or mutually exclusive, it provides criteria by which regional marine plans may select areas for preferential use by specific sectors.

Question reference: S4O-03858

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service regarding the reorganisation of control room facilities.

Question reference: S4W-23462

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government in how many residential properties renewables have been installed in (a) existing and (b) newbuild properties in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

However, partial information can be provided relating to the UK Government’s feed-in-tariff scheme. The following table and shows the cumulative numbers of domestic installations that are receiving a feed-in-tariff for a renewable generation project, as at the end of September 2014. No breakdown is available between (a) existing and (b) new build properties.

Cumulative installations confirmed on the central feed-in-tariff register by local authority, as at end of September 2014¹

Local Authority	Domestic Installations
Aberdeen City	702
Aberdeenshire	3,794
Angus	1,292
Argyll and Bute	1,057
Clackmannanshire	327
Dumfries and Galloway	2,297
Dundee City	448
East Ayrshire	814
East Dunbartonshire	509
East Lothian	683
East Renfrewshire	343
Edinburgh, City of	1,112
Eilean Siar	297
Falkirk	695
Fife	2,894
Glasgow City	1,449
Highland	3,193
Inverclyde	205
Midlothian	398
Moray	1,198
North Ayrshire	818
North Lanarkshire	1,275
Orkney Islands	884
Perth and Kinross	1,769
Renfrewshire	741
Scottish Borders	1,802
Shetland Islands	140
South Ayrshire	850
South Lanarkshire	1,848
Stirling	1,253
West Lancashire	732
West Lothian	1,095
TOTAL	36,914

Source: Department of Energy and Climate Change sub-regional feed-in-tariffs statistics

Notes:

1. Data are sourced from the central feed-in-tariff register maintained by Ofgem as extracted on 3 July 2014. The register is continually being updated and revised, so statistical reports extracted at a later date may not exactly match the totals presented here.

Question reference: S4W-23463

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 15 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many residential properties have been retrofitted for energy efficiency through the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland scheme, broken down by (a) year and (b) local authority.

Question reference: S4O-03803

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of an aging population on pensioners' rights.

Question reference: S4O-03783

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to support local authorities in meeting demand for care home provision.

Question reference: S4W-23144

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 26 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on projections from the National Records of Scotland that, by 2037, a third of all households will be headed by someone aged over 65 and the number of people living alone is set to rise by 51%.

At the annual Scottish Older People's Assembly in the Scottish Parliament on 31 October 2014, the then Cabinet Secretary for Commonwealth Games, Sport, Equalities and Pensioners’ Rights reiterated the Scottish Government's commitment to improving the lives of older people in Scotland, and our recognition that older people make a significant contribution to Scotland and play a crucial role in our society. Age, Home and Community: A Strategy For Housing For Scotland's Older People: 2012-21 (December 2011) is our national strategy for housing for older people, and it sets out a clear vision of enabling older people to live independently at home for as long as they wish to. We also recognise the importance of tackling loneliness and social isolation, and are funding initiatives such as Age Scotland's Silverline (launched in October 2013) to help address this issue. We will continue to work with key partners including COSLA, Age Scotland, the Scottish Older People's Assembly and others, to improve the lives of older people in Scotland in line with demographic developments over the years and decades to come.

Question reference: S4W-23004

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 21 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that sufficient, appropriate owner-occupied housing for older people is constructed.

The Scottish Government provides a framework for planning and housing through Scottish Planning Policy and guidance on undertaking housing need and demand assessments (HNDAs) and developing local housing strategies. This framework supports local authorities, who have strategic responsibility for housing within their areas, to determine the appropriate mix of new housing to be delivered. It is for local authorities to decide the type, tenure, size and location of new housing for their areas, based on the HNDA evidence, including giving full consideration to the needs of older people through their development plan and local housing strategy, in accordance with national guidance.

Furthermore, current Scottish building regulations and supporting guidance mean new homes across all tenures are the most accessible in the UK. Measures introduced in 2007 focus on assisting those with a disability, however these can also benefit older people, enabling them to stay in their homes for longer.

Question reference: S4W-23005

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 21 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to ensure that local authorities prepare policies to support the delivery of appropriate owner-occupied housing for older people and allocate specific sites, as specified in paragraph 132 of the Scottish Planning Policy.

The Scottish Government provides a framework for planning and housing policy, which includes Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) and guidance on housing need and demand assessments (HNDAs) and local housing strategies. This framework supports local authorities, who have strategic responsibility for housing within their areas, to determine the appropriate mix of new housing. It is therefore for local authorities to decide the type, tenure, size and location of new housing for their areas and to ensure that the needs of older people are taken into account though their development plans and local housing strategies in accordance with national guidance.

In its role in commenting on the form and content of development plans, the Scottish Government makes informal comments and/or representations to ensure compliance with national planning policy, including that stated in SPP paragraph 132 as appropriate.

All local authorities use the that requires them to include an assessment of specialist housing provision, which includes giving consideration to the needs of older people. Authorities also estimate what future housing will be required, including for owner-occupation, to meet the needs of all household types, including for older people.