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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: S3W-18551

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which daily and weekly newspapers and magazines are purchased regularly for ministers.

The following daily and weekly newspapers and magazines are purchased regularly by ministers:

Daily Record	The Big Issue
Daily Telegraph	The Spectator
Edinburgh Evening News	The Sunday Times
Evening Times	The Courier
Farmers Weekly	The Guardian
Financial Times	The Herald
Fishing News	The Independent
Health Service Journal	The Mirror
News of the World	The Scotsman
Press and Journal	The Sun
Scottish Daily Express	The Times
Scottish Daily Mail	Times Education Supplement Scotland
Scottish Farmer	West Highland Free Press

Question reference: S3W-18557

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 18 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what overseas official visits the First Minister plans to make in the next six months.

Question reference: S3W-18760

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times since he took office the First Minister has met Sandi Thom.

Question reference: S3W-18391

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-17253, which received a holding reply on 11 November 2008.

Question reference: S3W-18549

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the cost of dealing with snow on the roads this winter; what account has been taken of such cost in the local government settlement, and whether there is any contingency provision if the estimate is exceeded.

Responsibility for snow clearance on local roads is a matter for Scotland''s local authorities, in which the Scottish Government is investing record levels over the next three years, with overall funding to local government increasing by 13.1% over 2008-11. As our joint concordat between national and local government has reduced the level of ring fencing around funding streams, councils now exercise a greater degree of freedom and flexibility for financing, planning and implementing their own winter maintenance procedures to ensure the safe movement of both vehicles and pedestrians appropriate to the prevailing weather conditions.

Transport Scotland, on behalf of Scottish ministers, is responsible for winter maintenance on Scotland''s Trunk Road and Motorway network which comprises 2,000 miles or 6.3% of the total Scottish road network. Transport Scotland is investing approximately £8.5 million on winter maintenance this year.

Question reference: S3W-17253

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accounts submitted to it by contractors had not been settled within a 10-day period as at 10 November 2008

Following the First Minister''s announcement on 9 October 2008 to aim to hit a 10-day target for payment of invoices to suppliers, the Scottish Government has been putting in place processes and systems to take forward the transition from the existing 30-day target to help ensure we meet this requirement.

Between 9 October and 10 November the Scottish Government paid 4,804 transactions within 10 days, which is approximately 58% of the transactions paid within the period. The transactions in that period largely originated prior to the new target.

The latest figures in December are averaging in excess of 80%.

Question reference: S3W-18588

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it ensures that the registered interests of members, including chairs, of recently established government commissions or bodies are available to the public and, if so, by what means.

Public bodies listed in Schedule 3 of the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc (Scotland) Act 2000 are required to set up, maintain and make available for public inspection a register of interests as required by its members'' Code of Conduct. The Standards Commission for Scotland is currently liaising with public bodies to ensure that a register of interests is published on the website of each public body. Where this is not yet available, registers of interest are available on request from each public body.

Question reference: S3W-18555

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 16 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of any planned visits by civil servants to (a) Iceland, (b) Norway, (c) Ireland and (d) Denmark in 2009.

It is currently planned that in 2009 officials of the Scottish Government and its agencies will undertake the following visits as set out in the following table.

(a) Iceland
None planned.

(b) Norway
28 to 30 April	Officials from Transport Directorate attending Air Transport in Remoter Regions Forum, Bergen.
16 to 17 November	Chief Executive, Scottish Prison Service attending round-table discussion.
Date to be Confirmed	Visit to discuss connecting Registers of Scotland Registers Direct web-based service to EULIS, the European Union Land Information System, the portal for which is maintained by Norway.

(c) Ireland
January	Two officials from the Europe, External Affairs and Culture Directorate attending 2-day workshop on diaspora strategies organised by the National University of Ireland (Maynooth) in Dublin.
March	Official from Support for Learning Division attending British and Irish anti-bullying forum.
11 to 15 May	Officials from Student Awards Agency participating with universities in the Study in Scotland group by visiting schools to give advice on the funding and eligibility arrangements for studying in Scotland.
June	Officials from Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate attending scientific conference.
8 to 9 October	Senior Chief Inspector of Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Education will attend the General Assembly of the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates (SICI) in his capacity as President of the organisation.
Date to be Confirmed	Officials from Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate attending discussions on the Common Agricultural Policy.
Date to be Confirmed	Officials from General Register Office participating in British-Irish Council work on migration.
Date to be Confirmed	Two officials from General Register Office overseeing printing of rehearsal questionnaires for 2011 Scottish census.
Dates to be Confirmed	Staff from Registers of Scotland will attend two meetings of the eRegistration Working Group, a sub-group of the Four Registries Group.

(d) Denmark
10 to 12 March	Director of Environmental Quality Directorate attending Climate Change Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions Conference in Copenhagen.
17 to 18 March	An official from Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) will meet head teachers to talk about the work of HMIE in relation to follow-through inspection, and school employees to talk about the relationship between inspection and improvement in education.
December	Officials from the Climate Change and Water Industry Directorate will attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen.

Question reference: S3W-18570

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were prosecuted for rape in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S3W-18571

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were charged with rape in each of the last four years.