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-08186

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 2 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many bus punctuality improvement partnerships are in operation and what assessment of their impact is being undertaken.

Question reference: S4W-08139

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07040 by Keith Brown on 11 May 2012, how many of the vessels will need to be replaced in the next (a) six and (b) 12 years and what the estimated cost of a new vessel is in each case.

Question reference: S4W-08138

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07040 by Keith Brown on 11 May 2012, which ferry routes are served by the six vessels leased by the public sector from the private sector and what the (a) leasing, (b) maintenance and (c) other costs have been in each year of each contract.

The ferry routes served by vessels leased or chartered by the public sector from the private sector are as follows:

Northlink Ferries Ltd

The MV Hjaltland and the MV Hrossey operate between Aberdeen and Kirkwall / Lerwick, with the MV Hamnavoe operating between Stromness and Scrabster.

The MV Helliar and the MV Hildasay are freight-only vessels and operate between Aberdeen, Lerwick and Kirkwall.

CalMac Ferries Ltd

The MV Muirneag operates a freight service between Stornoway and Ullapool.

In terms of costs:-

(a) The costs of leasing or chartering these vessels are covered by confidentiality agreements between their owners and the ferry operators.

(b) The following table sets out the maintenance costs of MV Hrossey, MV Hjaltland and MV Hamnavoe since the current contract with Northlink Ferries Ltd commenced in October 2006.

��	��	��	��	��
Vessel Maintenance	Hrossey	Hjaltland	Hamnavoe	Total
July - June (£000)	��	��	��	��
2006-07	445	505	373	1,323
2007-08	398	524	354	1,276
2008-09	407	545	262	1,214
2009-10	574	548	520	1,642
2010-11	687	873	289	1,849

Notes:

The twelve month information runs from July to June.

The information relates to vessel maintenance costs. It does not include any overhaul costs.

MV Helliar, MV Hildasay and MV Muirneag are chartered and the owners are responsible for maintenance costs.

(c) The following table sets out the other costs of MV Hrossey, MV Hjaltland and MV Hamnavoe since the current contract with Northlink Ferries Ltd commenced in October 2006.

Annual Overhaul Refit/Dry Dock costs	Hrossey	Hjaltland	Hamnavoe	Total
July - June (£000)	��	��	��	��
2006-07	148	174	151	473
2007-08	70	73	218	361
2008-09	640	673	62	1,375
2009-10	272	266	281	819
2010-11	309	392	74	775

Notes:

The 12 month information runs from July to June.

The information relates to costs arising from the annual overhaul period.

MV Helliar, MV Hildasay and MV Muirneag are chartered and the owners are responsible for overhaul costs.

Question reference: S4O-01215

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what it is doing to promote the availability in the building of beer brewed in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-07618

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-07396 by Alex Neil on 30 May 2012, when it will provide a substantive response.

Question reference: S4O-01127

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Renewable Energy Investment Fund will be open for bids from community bodies.

Question reference: S4W-07396

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 30 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what value of public contracts it has awarded to (a) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (b) Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, (c) Ernst & Young and (d) KPMG in each year from 1999-00.

Question reference: S4W-07230

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have been (a) contacted, (b) offered free insulation and (c) given free insulation under the (i) Home Insulation Scheme and (ii) Universal Home Insulation Scheme since the scheme was introduced.

The Home Insulation Scheme which ran in 2009-10 and 2010-11 offered free loft top-up insulation and access to virgin loft insulation or cavity wall insulation through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) scheme. In some cases the measures available through CERT would be free to the householder and in others there would have been a client contribution to pay. Of the 7,444 loft and cavity wall insulation measures installed information is not held on how many were provided free. The information shown is therefore restricted to the loft top-up measures which are known to have been provided free to every household.

Households Contacted	Households Offered Free Insulation	Households Given Free Insulation
393,942	21,576	21,576

The scheme also generated 45,600 referrals for measures under the Energy Assistance Package.

An overview of Home Insulation Scheme activity is provided at the Energy Saving Trust website.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Take-action/Grants-and-offers/Home-Energy-Scotland/Free-and-discounted-insulation/Overview-of-Home-Insulation-Scheme-activity#All%20HIS%20phases.

Data on the Universal Home Insulation Scheme will be published shortly.

Question reference: S4W-07228

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will (a) receive and (b) publish the interim report of the Fuel Poverty Forum.

Question reference: S4W-07232

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will lay before the Parliament a report on energy-efficient discount schemes, as required under section 66 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.