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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-13799

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to local authorities to support the financing of their borrowing in each year since 2007-08 and how it has been delivered.

The vast majority of the funding provided to local government by the Scottish Government, including the funding for servicing outstanding historic revenue debt in the form of loan charge support, is provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.

The following table provides the amount of outstanding loan charge support taken into account within the local government finance settlements since 2007-08.

Year	£m
2007-08	916.6
2008-09	881.4
2009-10	865.1
2010-11	855.3
2011-12	755.9
2012-13	726.7

From 2011-12 this type of loan charge support for capital investment from the Scottish Government was replaced with direct capital grant.

Question reference: S4W-13800

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities to inform the development of business cases during major capital projects.

Question reference: S4W-13797

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the Accounts Commission report, Major capital investment in councils, whether it will update its guidance to local authorities on producing estimates of timing and cost at the initial approval stage of major capital projects.

Question reference: S4W-13791

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support local authorities in servicing their debts.

The Scottish Government provides, as part of the Local Government Settlement, revenue funding for local authority debt charges. This is based on a notional amount of capital expenditure each year, and supports local authority borrowing prior to 31 March 2011. From 2011-12, following agreement with COSLA, this type of support has been replaced with direct capital grant, which is beneficial to both central and local government as this form of support does not require local authorities to borrow and does not incur interest debt costs.

From 1 April 2004 a local authority has been under a statutory duty to determine the amount it can afford to allocate to capital expenditure. In making that determination an authority has a duty to observe the “Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities”. The Code requires the capital investment plans of a local authority to be affordable, prudent and sustainable. Decisions on the capital investment, and the financial plans to ensure adequate budget provision is made to meet the costs of that investment, are therefore a matter for each local authority.

Question reference: S4W-13801

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage local authorities and other public bodies to work together to deliver major capital projects.

Question reference: S4W-13794

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to local authorities to implement the findings of the Accounts Commission report, Major capital investment in councils.

Question reference: S4W-13792

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has undertaken of the sustainability of local authority debt.

Question reference: S4W-13480

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on a recent report by Brodies LLP suggesting that challenges to planning decisions in Scotland are less successful than similar challenges in England.

Scottish Ministers welcome the findings in the report by Brodies LLP that challenges to planning decisions in Scotland are less likely to be successful than similar challenges in England and Wales. This demonstrates that decisions taken by local planning authorities and by the Scottish Government are soundly based and well-reasoned and play an important part in delivering sustainable economic development.

Question reference: S4W-13481

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that there is an adequate opportunity for (a) private individuals and (b) housing associations to review planning decisions under the terms of the Aarhus Convention.

Question reference: S4W-13139

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what role Scottish Natural Heritage's strategic locational guidance for onshore windfarms will play in the (a) National Planning Framework 3 and (b) revised Scottish planning policy.

Scottish Government has been actively engaging Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) on the development of National Planning Framework 3 (NPF3) and the preparation of revised Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) and looks forward to receiving SNH’s views on the NPF3 Main Issues Report and draft Scottish Planning Policy when these are issued for consultation. SNH will use their strategic locational guidance to help inform their response(s) to these consultations.