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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-27355

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on each of the 45 indicators included in Annex A of the concordat between it and COSLA, signed on 14 November 2007.

Question reference: S3W-27406

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for providing air and rail tickets for (a) its employees and (b) employees of its agencies and what action has been taken to achieve economies in such expenditure since May 2007.

Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) were appointed to provide business travel services to the government following a competitive tendering exercise undertaken by the Office of Government Commerce Buying Solutions. All government agencies have the capability to use this collaborative contract.

All government staff are encouraged to consider alternatives to business travel, such as telephone and video conference, and only to undertake travel where it is essential for the efficient delivery of government objectives. Where travel is considered to be essential the terms of the CWT contract requires them to ensure that the most economical fare options are offered. In addition, earlier this year all core government staff were given fresh instructions about the need to minimise the amount and cost of business related travel. Travel costs and the frequency of travel are regularly monitored by government senior management and new arrangements are being introduced to improve this monitoring.

Question reference: S3W-27404

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to reduce the cost of (a) electricity, (b) gas and (c) water provided to buildings for which it is responsible.

The Scottish Government has a range of measures in place to ensure we are achieving the best value for money from the use of utilities. We have developed, and continue to develop, a range of initiatives aimed at improving the operational efficiency of our building stock and raising awareness among staff of the need to reduce consumption.

We also take steps to ensure that our procurement of utilities provides the best possible value for money as follows:

Following a competitive tendering process under EU procurement rules, Procurement Scotland has awarded a contract for the supply of electricity to Scottish Power and Scottish and Southern Energy.

This new contract aims to reduce and manage financial risk in the current volatile market conditions by adopting a flexible procurement model. This involves purchasing tranches of energy over a longer period within a risk management framework, and is similar to that currently used by Office of Government Commerce (OGC) buying solutions and recommended by OGC as current best practice.

The public sector working together has resulted in annual cost savings of approximately £10 million through aggregation of demand and buying flexibly on the wholesale market

Procurement Scotland is also currently undertaking a tender exercise for the implementation of national contract for the supply of gas. The procurement strategy will follow that of the electricity contract and will commence on 1 April 2010 for an initial period of three years to 31 March 2013.

In addition, Procurement Scotland is currently analysing the water market to identify and develop a strategy in line with the Procurement Reform Programme which will provide opportunities for benefits to the public sector on a national level.

Question reference: S3W-27398

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive who the trustees are of the pension funds of employees of the Scottish Executive and its agencies.

Question reference: S3W-27397

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many pension funds exist for staff of the Scottish Executive and its agencies and which staff are members of each fund.

Question reference: S3W-27402

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Sky News is available on the TV services provided to ministers and senior staff at (a) St Andrew’s House and (b) Victoria Quay.

Question reference: S3W-27399

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for investment decisions in relation to the pension funds of Scottish civil servants.

Question reference: S3W-27393

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many residential houses are owned by it and its agencies and which of them are unoccupied.

Question reference: S3W-27405

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what energy-saving measures have been introduced since May 2007 to buildings that are the responsibility of (a) it and (b) its agencies.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21591 on 17 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Information relating to energy and related environmental performance for the Scottish Government is detailed in the Scottish Government Environmental Performance Annual Report for 2007-08 which was published in May 2009, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 48458). Information in respect of non-departmental public bodies, agencies and other associated bodies is not held centrally.

Question reference: S3W-27350

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what appointments have been made by Scottish ministers to non-departmental bodies for which the UK Government has responsibility.