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: S4O-01631

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 December 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors and reviews the cost to the NHS of prescriptions issued by GP surgeries.

Question reference: S4O-01560

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to develop cooperative businesses.

Question reference: S4O-01502

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when the Scottish Catholic Archives will be made available to genealogy centres in Kilmarnock and Glasgow in addition to the Edinburgh centre.

Question reference: S4O-01495

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will review the performance of IT systems in constituency offices.

Question reference: S4O-01480

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports students with dyslexia, particularly in written examinations.

Question reference: S4O-01417

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to encourage more undergraduates to study computer science and software engineering.

Question reference: S4W-10391

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 24 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will respond to HM Chief Inspector of Fire and Rescue Authorities' report of the inquiry on the 2008 Galston mine incident.

I have today published a response to the Inquiry, which will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 54234) and is also being published on the Scottish Government website. I would like to thank Mr Torrie and his team again for their work on the inquiry.

Ministers instructed this Inquiry under section 44 of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 to ensure lessons are learned from the tragic death of Mrs Hume. We are encouraged by progress made to date by the fire and rescue services acting on those lessons, and will further take account of Mr Torrie’s recommendations when formulating the new Fire and Rescue Framework. We are confident that the new single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will be able to provide more equitable access to specialist resources, as well as consistent training and application of guidance, across the whole of Scotland.

Our sympathies remain with Mrs Hume’s family and friends at this time.

Question reference: S4O-01340

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its strategy is for the roll-out of 4G mobile services.

Question reference: S4O-01279

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage new business start-ups in Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley.

Question reference: S4W-08363

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits are delivered to communities in Ayrshire by the developers of renewable energy schemes.

The Scottish Government does not hold details of individual community benefit arrangements. However, in April we established a public register to encourage transparency and consistency of community benefits being offered across Scotland.

The public register of community benefits has been designed to accommodate all scales of development – from single farm-based turbines upwards and will help communities negotiate with developers and better understand what other communities are receiving. The live, interactive database will be made available at from 18 July 2012.