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-21143

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 30 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of (a) primary and (b) schools that will need to be replaced over the next 10 years, broken down by local authority.

An annual rating of all schools is provided to the Scottish Government by local authorities and each school is categorised by condition and suitability as ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’, ‘poor’, or ‘bad’. This information is published each year as part of the Scottish School Estate Statistics publication. This can be found at:

Local authorities regularly develop and update capital investment programmes for their schools estates. This information is held by individual local authorities.

Question reference: S4W-21058

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend the electrification of the railway line to Dunblane to include the line to Perth.

The Scottish Government plans to invest £5 billion between 2014 and 2019 to improve rail infrastructure and services. Network Rail will also oversee the development of a rolling programme of electrification at 100km of track per year upon the completion of the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme. Priorities for future electrification, following the electrification of the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High, will be determined in due course.

Question reference: S4W-21060

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many private meetings (a) cabinet secretaries and (b) ministers have had with newspaper editors in each year since 2007, broken down by newspaper.

All meetings between the First Minister and newspaper editors between 2007 and March 2014 are listed on the Scottish Government website. Also listed are all meetings between Cabinet Secretaries/Ministers and newspaper editors between 2007 and August 2012:

Meetings between Cabinet Secretaries/Ministers and newspaper editors subsequent to August 2012 are included within their ministerial engagements which are proactively published on the Scottish Government website:

Question reference: S4W-21059

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 19 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools use portable cabins as classrooms, broken down by (a) school, (b) local authority and (c) number of classrooms.

Question reference: S4O-03240

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the number of tickets made available for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games to people who live in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20729

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 8 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA regarding current council tax bands.

No recent discussions have been held with local authorities or COSLA regarding current council tax bands.

However, Scottish Ministers consider the current council tax system as a whole to be unfair and are committed to consulting with others to develop options for a fairer and more progressive local tax, based on ability to pay, later in this Parliament. All potential alternative proposals which meet this criteria will be considered.

Question reference: S4O-03208

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 May 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with local authorities about the increase in pupils in primary and secondary schools with additional support needs.

Question reference: S4O-03176

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it and its agencies are doing to promote Perth as one of Scotland’s cities.

Question reference: S4F-02050

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2014

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government is having with the Scottish Qualifications Authority regarding the future funding of the curriculum for excellence.

Question reference: S4O-03148

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in reducing the time it takes for people to see a hearing specialist.