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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S2W-24941

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive who will conduct the research into the examination of the economic, social and environmental impact and cost of retaining or removing tolls from the Tay and Forth bridges, on Fife and Dundee.

Question reference: S2W-24940

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when the results of the examination of the economic, social and environmental impact and cost of retaining or removing tolls from the Tay and forth bridges, on Fife and Dundee, will be published.

Question reference: S2W-24938

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will begin the examination of the economic, social and environmental impact and cost of retaining or removing tolls from the Tay and Forth bridges, on Fife and Dundee.

Question reference: S2W-24939

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost will be of an examination of the economic, social and environmental impact and cost of retaining or removing tolls from the Tay and Forth bridges, on Fife and Dundee.

Question reference: S2W-24664

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how those not registered with a dentist on 1 April 2006 will be able to access a free dental check from that date.

All NHS dental examinationsare free from 1 April 2006.

Both independent andsalaried dentists providing general dental services have the discretion toprovide occasional NHS treatment to unregistered patients and this couldinclude a free dental examination.

To expand access to generaldental services across Scotland we are investing £295 million over three years underthe Dental Action Plan and a further £30 million over two years on improvingdental workforce and premises.

Question reference: S2W-24666

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what provisions it will make for those who are not registered with a dentist on 1 April who wish to take up their entitlement to a free dental check.

Question reference: S2W-24665

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what entitlement people not registered with a dentist on 1 April 2006 will have to a free dental check.

Question reference: S2W-24524

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it will make to improve the tourist industry in light of claims in the latest Lonely Planet Scotland that Scotland needs to work harder at attracting tourists.

While the Scottish tourism industryis continuing to grow, we are fully aware of the challenges that Scotland facesfrom the increasing number of competing tourist destinations around the world. Inaddition, the expectations of our guests are constantly changing and rising, andit thus becomes an even greater challenge to exceed them. That is why we have beenworking in very close partnership with the tourism industry as a whole to identifyopportunities for improvement and the changes that need to be made. The result ofthat collaboration is a joint action plan – the Tourism Framework for Change– which was published in March 2006.

Question reference: S2W-24525

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it and VisitScotland will take to promote Dundee as a first-class holiday destination.

The Scottish Executive and VisitScotlandremain committed to increasing the value of tourism across all areas of Scotland as wasdemonstrated in the recent launch of a Tourism Framework for Change. VisitScotlandwill continue to promote Dundee as a great city to visit through a range of marketingcampaigns and other promotional activities.

Dundee is promoted as part of VisitScotland’s City Break marketingcampaigns along with Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness, and Stirling. Dundee is also featured in VisitScotland’s recent CityFreedomcampaign, which promoted the idea that visitors to Scottish cities can get the bestof both worlds – urban and rural experiences combined in one short break. The campaigntargets visitors from the UK. City breaks, with elements such as walks, cycling, wildlife,architecture, gardens, castles and historic sites, will be promoted in a varietyof ways. A new section has been included on VisitScotland’s city breaks website(www.visitscotland.com/citybreaks),which gives visitors information about everything from day trips to where the bestcity and rural views are. As part of the campaign 46,000 direct mail leaflets willbe sent to people who take city breaks across the UK containingthe message “no need to be torn between city and country on a short break in Scotland”. TheList Cities Guide will be used as part of the City Freedom Springdirect mail, and electronic newsletters featuring the six cities with the lead theme City Freedom, supported by City Culture and City Shoppingwill go out early in April.

In addition, VisitScotland isworking in conjunction with BBC Radio 1 to ensure that Dundee gets the maximum benefitfrom Radio 1’s Big Weekend in May when they will take over Camperdown Park in Dundeefor the weekend of Saturday 13 May and Sunday 14.

Question reference: S2W-24313

Asked by: Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee East, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the outcomes of its review of NHS prescription charges and exemption arrangements will be enacted by primary or secondary legislation.

Provision for NHS prescriptioncharges and exemption from or remission of charges is made in secondary legislationby means of regulations. The regulations involved are the NHS (Charges for Drugsand Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations and the NHS (Travelling Expenses and Remission of Charges) (Scotland) Regulations. These statutoryinstruments are made by the Scottish ministers in exercise of the powers conferredon them by the relevant sections of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act1978. Any changes to NHS prescription charging and exemption arrangements resultingfrom the outcomes of the review would be brought into force by amending one or bothof these sets of NHS regulations.