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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-00523

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 14 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial assistance it will give NHS Lothian for the combined development of the new Royal Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Government's position on funding support for revenue financed projects was set out in a letter to NHS chief executives from the Director General Health and Social Care on 22 March 2011. That letter detailed those elements of unitary payments made under hub initiative Design Build Finance and Maintain projects and non-profit distributing projects that would attract Scottish Government revenue support. These arrangements state that 100% of the approved capital and financing elements, and 100% of special purpose vehicle costs and insurances would be covered by Scottish Government support. In addition, 50% of the charge relating to lifecycle maintenance will be supported. Funding support will be dependant on the approval of appropriate business cases by Scottish Government with technical and commercial input provided by the Scottish Futures Trust. In addition to support for elements of the unitary payments due, the Scottish Government will be providing capital support for those elements of enabling works and equipment contained within approved business cases.

Question reference: S3W-40522

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how communities will be consulted on spending priorities arising from benefits received from Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Question reference: S3W-40532

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the duration will be of the contracts for the Forestry Commission Scotland renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Question reference: S3W-40564

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average bursary award has been for (a) part-time and (b) full-time students at colleges and universities in Edinburgh and the Lothians region in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Bursary payments to Scottish students are paid out by Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for full-time higher education (HE) students, and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocates further funds for further education (FE) students. The most recent year where data collection for bursary payments is complete is 2009-10, so this answer contains data for academic sessions 2005-06 to 2009-10.

In these academic sessions, full-time Scottish students studying at HE level in Scotland are eligible to apply for Young Students'' Bursary (YSB). The bursary is income assessed, and is paid out to students who were under 25 before the first day of the first academic year of your course and have not been supporting themselves through earnings for at least three years. YSB is paid out instead of part of the maintenance loan, so it reduces the amount of loan that these students will be entitled to. Table 1 therefore shows the average YSB payments to full-time students for each institution in Edinburgh and Lothians, for 2005-06 to 2009-10.

Table 1: Average Bursary Payments to Full-Time Higher Education Students Studying at Institutions in Edinburgh and Lothians, 2005-06 to 2009-10 (£)

Edinburgh Institutions	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Queen Margaret University	1,910	1,916	1,954	1,985	2,136
Edinburgh''s Telford College	1,863	1,970	1,935	2,014	2,079
Edinburgh College of Art	1,913	1,894	1,963	1,910	2,040
Stevenson College	1,957	1,908	1,986	2,109	2,105
Edinburgh University	1,775	1,814	1,854	1,885	1,923
Napier University	1,880	1,939	1,983	2,008	2,088
Heriot-Watt University	1,790	1,865	1,930	1,965	2,049
Lothians institutions
Oatridge Agricultural College	1,842	1,821	1,856	1,773	1,912
West Lothian College	1,901	2,068	2,074	1,914	2,036
Jewel and Esk Valley College	2,008	2,001	2,075	2,021	2,077

Source: SAAS Management Information.

The Scottish Funding Council allocate money to college institutions in respect of students who are studying at further education level. These funds can be accessed by full-time students or part-time students on the basis of study, travel, or special educational needs. However, because institutions distribute the money as they see fit, the total number of students that benefited from these allocations of money was not available so it was not possible to calculate an average payment. Therefore, table 2 shows the total amounts allocated to each college in the Edinburgh and Lothians regions.

Table 2: Total Bursary Amounts Allocated by Scottish Funding Council to Colleges in Edinburgh and Lothians, 2005-06 to 2009-10

Edinburgh Colleges	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Edinburgh''s Telford College	£2,441,659	£2,746,050	£2,687,411	£2,961,324	£3,552,944
Stevenson College	£1,864,943	£2,097,509	£2,164,474	£2,638,576	£2,911,232
Lothians Colleges
Jewel and Esk College	£1,043,917	£1,389,652	£1,165,197	£1,450,441	£1,773,488
West Lothian College	£977,562	£1,079,000	£1,139,508	£1,231,406	£1,302,431
Oatridge College	£356,698	£414,281	£413,188	£512,470	£572,242

Source: Scottish Funding Council.

Question reference: S3W-40521

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how the community benefits from Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011 will be administered and which organisations will oversee this.

It will be for the appointed development companies for the different lots to engage with and agree the details with communities based upon the template agreed with Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS). FCS will additionally publish guidance for communities on the options available and Community Energy Scotland has been contracted by the Scottish Government to provide advice to communities on these possibilities.

Question reference: S3W-40528

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive which banks provided assistance in drawing up the contracts for the Forestry Commission Scotland’s renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Question reference: S3W-40529

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the renewables potential of the forestry estate.

Question reference: S3W-40530

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what options were explored by Forestry Commission Scotland prior to concluding that private companies be awarded the renewables contracts announced by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change on 22 February 2011.

Question reference: S3W-40534

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will delay the eight month limit from the agreement of exclusivity arrangements for communities to put forward their own proposals for renewables contracts the Forestry Commission Scotland estate.

Communities are welcome to flag up their interest during the eight month period if they want to pursue a renewables project under the National Forest Land Scheme (NFLS) prior to the list of sites being finalised by the developer. Once that list is established communities will have another opportunity to take forward sites via the NFLS scheme for non allocated sites. They will be able to engage with the developers to avail of the negotiated Forestry Commission Scotland deal for a longer period after the exclusivity period prior to a planning application being made.

Question reference: S3W-40535

Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 March 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 March 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis it proposed the deadline of eight months from the agreement of exclusivity arrangements for communities to propose their own renewables projects on the Forestry Commission Scotland estate.