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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: S4W-02888

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will explain to sheep farmers how the sheep electronic identification scheme will operate.

Question reference: S4W-02521

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 22 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to amend or remove the regulation requiring sheep to be ID tagged on the holding where they are born.

Question reference: S4W-02524

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on home births and whether women are provided with home birth as an option at booking-in time in each NHS board area.

The Scottish Governments Refreshed Framework for Maternity Care outlines the services we expect to be in place for woman and babies, including the option of Home Birth.

Keeping Childbirth Natural and Dynamic (KCND) promotes the midwife as the first point of contact for pregnant women. As part of the antenatal care pathway midwives undertake maternal history taking and care planning, including planning for place of birth. All NHS boards in Scotland are signed up to the principles of KCND and are all now offering support to expectant mother wanting Home Birth.

Question reference: S4W-02526

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether health ministers have had recent discussions with representatives of NHS boards regarding their policies on home births.

Question reference: S4W-02525

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on NHS Fife’s proposal to stop supporting home births and whether it (a) has had or (b) will have discussions with NHS Fife on the proposal.

Question reference: S4W-02556

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 21 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to support Shetland cabbage, Shetland kye, reestit mutton and Shetland black potato, which were recently added to the Slow Food movement's Ark of Taste catalogue as being under threat.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of Shetland Cabbage, Shetland Kye, Reestit mutton and the Shetland Black Potato as culturally significant products and the role such products play in overall food bio-diversity.

The Scottish Government supports the maintenance of genetic resources through the UK National Action Plan for Farm Animal Genetic Resources and the Scottish Landrace Protection Scheme (SLPS).

To guarantee continued sustainable production of such products a key issue is ensuring there is market demand for these goods. Scottish Government supports a number of funding schemes to assist in the marketing and promotion of products such as those listed in the Ark of Taste. LEADER, a delivery mechanism of the Scotland Rural Development Programme, is a good example as it supports small-scale, community-driven projects.

Question reference: S4W-02528

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 15 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to seek independent verification as to the validity of the findings of the survey of stakeholders of the Association of Scottish Community Councils.

Question reference: S4W-02527

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 15 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its officials agreed to meet directors of the Association of Scottish Community Councils (ASCC) prior to publishing the findings of its survey of ASCC stakeholders; whether it met directors prior to publication, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Officials were happy to meet the ASCC when it requested a discussion about the draft analysis of the 2010 survey of ASCC Stakeholders. Unfortunately they could not find a mutually suitable date and an offer to have the discussion by teleconference was declined. Officials also asked the ASCC on several occasions to set out its specific concerns about the survey findings, but these were not forthcoming.

The 2010 survey was part of the 2010-11 conditions of grant accepted by the ASCC in June 2010. Officials met the ASCC on 8 November 2010, in advance of the survey beginning, to explain its purpose and methodology. The survey questionnaire was subsequently modified to address some concerns raised by the ASCC at that point.

Question reference: S4W-02552

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the Standards Commission for Scotland and what matters were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-02523

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to decide on levels of funding for the third sector interface network and how it will ensure that these do not unfairly impact on people living in remote and island locations.

Funding for councils for voluntary service, volunteer centres and social enterprise partnerships was transferred to the new network of 32 single interfaces on 1 April 2011. This strengthens the third sector contribution to the work of community planning partnerships.

Given that in many areas the new structures are different to those which existed previously and the functions of the new interface are broader than those of the older bodies, we are aware that there is some debate about the distribution of funding for the interface network. We need to carefully consider the impact of any changes in the distribution formula and the implications for retaining the status quo. I have asked my officials to explore these issues further.