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-24826

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 24 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities regarding the granting of indoor sports entertainment licences and the inspection of establishments that have these.

Question reference: S4W-24862

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona McLeod on 20 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer question S4W-24689 by Fiona McLeod on 11 March 2015, whether it will provide details of the "publicly available information" and the funding model agreed with COSLA, and how it used this information to calculate the £880 million figure.

The publicly available information relates to the Local Financial Return 2013-14 expenditure release of 24 February 2015 which sets out the baseline annual revenue spend by local government of £320 million on the 475 hours policy, i.e. prior to commencement of the Act’s provisions on early learning and childcare. The additional costs associated with the early learning and childcare provisions in the Act were set out in the original and supplementary financial memoranda, for both the stage 1 and stage 2 early learning and childcare provisions, to the financial year 2019-20.

This model was then adapted to scale up to 1,140 hours per year – 30 hours per week for 38 weeks – to give a total of £881 million total annual revenue spend.

Question reference: S4O-04177

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assurance it can give to the officers currently employed in the British Transport Police in Scotland that their jobs will be retained under Police Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-24762

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 16 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many damp homes have been recorded by each local authority in each year since 1999.

The Scottish House Condition Survey collects statistical data on rising or penetrating damp in Scottish homes. This can cover anything from a small damp patch or area of condensation on a single wall in one room to prevalence throughout a dwelling, so does not indicate a serious housing quality issue in all cases. Information by local authority area is published in three year data sets back to 2003. This is available online at:

Question reference: S4W-24716

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to help grow the sport of lawn bowling at grass roots level.

The Scottish Government’s support for lawn bowling in Scotland is routed through sportscotland, the national agency for sport. They invest in Bowls Scotland, the Scottish Governing Body, focussing on governance, development and performance. See the following table showing their investment since 2007:

Years	Amount
2013-15*	£633,624
2012-13	£333,167
2011-12	£301,500
2010-11	£301,500
2009-10	£301,500
2008-09	£154,500
2007-08	£126,500

*sportscotland’s investment of £633,624 into bowls for the period 2013-15 is based on a 19-month realignment investment (realigning the governing body’s year end to that of sportscotland’s). The longer time period also explains the increased amount of funding.

Question reference: S4W-24717

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to bowling clubs to address the impact on them of the introduction of rates.

The Scottish Government funds a range of business rates relief, including the Small Business Bonus Scheme and relief for registered charities and Community Amateur Sports Clubs, for which many bowling clubs will be eligible. Information for applicants is available at the Scottish Government's online business portal: .

Support and information are available to sport clubs from sportscotland through their ‘Direct Club Investment’ and ‘Help for Clubs’ initiatives. Their website can be found at:

Question reference: S4W-24689

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fiona McLeod on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how it calculated the predicted cost of £880 million for 30 hours of funded weekly nursery care by 2020.

Question reference: S4W-24548

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 6 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that Shetland Island Council's decision not to (a) produce a consultation report or (b) impose a five year moratorium, following its decision not to proceed with proposed closures of the junior secondary schools on Whalsay and Yell, is in accordance with the Children and Young People's (Scotland) Act 2014.

We fully expect local authorities to comply with the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 (as amended by the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014), including the requirements regarding publishing a consultation report and observing a five year restriction on further consultation.

I understand that Shetland Islands Council is reviewing its position to ensure that it complies with all the requirements imposed on it by the legislation.

Question reference: S4F-02629

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the National Trust for Scotland, the John Muir Trust and RSPB Scotland's view that the planning process should be wholly independent of government.

Question reference: S4W-24462

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government who the members will be of its expert group to review the guidance on assessing and reporting on the condition of the school estate, and when it will meet.

The working group is comprised of representatives from: The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities The Association of Directors of Education in Scotland Scottish Futures Trust NHS Scotland (Estates) Education Scotland Architecture and Design Scotland The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scottish Government officials The group held an initial meeting on 8 January 2015 and will continue to meet on a regular basis over the coming months. It is expected to report to ministers in the autumn of 2015.