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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 MSPs 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-18496

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17590 by Margaret Burgess on 14 October 2013, when in November the final report and research findings will be published.

Question reference: S4W-18478

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-18026 by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 November 2013, whether it will set out how the risk management section of the Scottish Public Finance Manual applies to fuel poverty targets.

The Scottish Public Finance Manual (SPFM) risk management section is directly applicable to the ongoing monitoring of the fuel poverty targets. It states that ‘effective risk management should improve policy and decision making, reduce fire fighting and focus resources more effectively’.

The Scottish Government's risk framework is designed to provide a straightforward methodology to help manage risk effectively and it follows five distinct phases: clarifying objectives; identifying risks; assessing risks; addressing risks; and reviewing and reporting risks. The Home Energy Efficiency Programmes

for Scotland have risk registers set up which are based on the SPFM criteria and are used to monitor progress towards the outcomes set out for these programmes, including tackling fuel poverty.

Question reference: S4O-02598

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the effectiveness of the national 5 and higher mathematics unit assessments.

Question reference: S4W-18027

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17283 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 October 2013, what assessment it has made of whether it will eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.

The Scottish Government has a statutory duty, ‘to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that people are not living in fuel poverty in Scotland by November 2016’.

We are committed to helping Scottish families heat their homes affordably and we are doing everything with the limited powers we have to do so. We currently only have control over one of the contributing factors to fuel poverty; the energy efficiency of Scottish dwellings and we are continuing to provide government funding for energy efficiency and fuel poverty programmes.

There is already a marked difference in approach between the Scottish and UK Governments in tackling fuel poverty. The UK Government has reduced its public funding of energy efficiency and fuel poverty schemes, in preference to private sector led approaches.

We will continue to monitor progress towards the 2016 target through the fuel poverty statistics published in the annual Scottish House Condition Survey. The next survey will be published later this year.

If elected, in an independent Scotland, this government will move the costs associated with the Energy Companies Obligation and Warm Home Discount from levies on consumers bills to central resources. This would cut energy bills by roughly 5% or £70 a year and would allow a new means of funding and delivering energy efficiency improvements to Scottish homes that is fairer and better suited to our needs.

The additional powers offered by independence would provide greater flexibility to create Scottish-specific solutions to be created enabling us to better tackle fuel poverty and the reduction of carbon emissions.

Question reference: S4W-18038

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17593 by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 October 2013, for what reason it has not replicated the functions of the Social Security Commissioners.

Question reference: S4W-18026

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17283 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 October 2013, whether it has undertaken a risk analysis of whether it will eradicate fuel poverty by 2016.

Question reference: S4W-17578

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17158 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, how much it has provided for each year from 2007-08 to 2014-15 for work on race equality, also broken down by organisation.

Scottish Government has provided significant funding over the period 2007–15 to promote equality and help tackle inequality and discrimination. The Equality budget supports funding to address issues of race equality through its Equality Fund, through strategic interventions and through its support for intermediary organisations. Figures relating to the support for organisations are broken down by organisation and detailed in the table placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55361).

In addition, resources from the Equality budget also contribute to race and religious equality work elsewhere in the Scottish Government such as sectarianism and Gypsy/ Traveller educational projects.

Question reference: S4W-17579

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17158 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, to what projects and initiatives the £5.3 million is allocated.

Scottish Government is providing significant funding (nearly £21 million per annum) over the period 2012–15 to help tackle inequality and discrimination. The £5.3 million is the amount of money provided by Scottish Government’s Equality Fund for specific work to tackle issues around race and religious equality. A detailed breakdown of this is shown in Table A of the information placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55362). In addition the Equality budget also supports strategic interventions and provides support to intermediary bodies which also contribute to tackling race inequality and religious intolerance and discrimination. These are detailed in Table B and Table C of the information placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55362).

In addition resources from the Equality budget also contribute to race and religious equality work elsewhere in the Scottish Government such as sectarianism and gypsy/traveller educational projects.

Question reference: S4W-17750

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17159 by Shona Robison on 3 October 2013, what specific action is being taken to tackle poverty and deprivation in black and minority ethnic communities.

We are committed to tackling the long-term drivers of poverty through early intervention and prevention. In Spring 2014, we will publish a revised Child Poverty Strategy which will focus on maximising household resources and improving children’s wellbeing and life chances.

The Scottish Government has made a number of commitments which will help maximise incomes for households in Scotland. For example, we have allocated
£40 million in partnership with local government to plug the gap in funding for Council Tax Benefit successor arrangements in 2013-14 and ensure that over 500,000 vulnerable people are protected from UK Government funding cuts. The Equality Statement on the Scottish Draft Budget 2014-15 highlights that because of the demographic differences between ethnic groups, ethnic minorities are particularly likely to benefit from such income-related commitments.

Question reference: S4O-02580

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it can provide from the culture and external affairs budget to the paddle steamer, the Maid of the Loch, so that it can sail again on Loch Lomond.