Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 3507 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-27743

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 28 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what recent (a) discussions and (b) correspondence it has had with Loganair regarding the reliability of flights between Orkney and mainland Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-27558

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 8 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of kinship care allowances being raised to the same level as foster care allowances, what plans it has to introduce a national minimum fostering allowance and by what date.

As part of the Scottish Government’s response to the Foster Care Review in January 2013, we agreed to take forward further research in relation to fostering allowances. The Scottish Government recently agreed with COSLA to provide £10.1 million a year of funding to improve financial support to kinship carers. Once these payments commence we plan to bring together a working group to develop a sustainable and fair national minimum allowance rate that local authorities can use to financially support all looked after children including those living in both foster and kinship care placements. Any date to introduce a national scheme will need to be agreed with local partners.

Question reference: S4W-27668

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is giving to remote communities in Orkney to ensure that they have access to improved mobile network coverage and fibre broadband.

The Scottish Government and our partners are investing £146 million through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme which is extending fibre broadband infrastructure into non-commercial areas. Substantial progress has been made in Orkney, including the laying of subsea cabling to connect the islands. The project will see fibre broadband coverage extended to 75% of premises in Orkney. No commercial roll out was planned.

Community Broadband Scotland is actively engaged with a number of community groups in Orkney with a view to developing and delivering an aggregated broadband solution to areas ultimately outwith the scope of DSSB. Local scoping work is underway with expectations that an aggregated project should progress during early 2016. The Scottish Government is also supporting a trial of TV Whitespace technology in Orkney, through our Demonstrating Digital programme.

Improving mobile coverage in Scotland is an integral part of the Scottish Government’s world class digital ambitions. We are collaborating with industry to improve mobile coverage across Scotland. An example of this is our pilot project on the Isle of Coll, a partnership with Vodafone which has extended 3G and 4G services to the island utilising a community-owned mast. We are currently working with industry and local stakeholders, including the Our Islands Our Future group, to determine whether this model could be used to extend coverage to other island communities in future.

Question reference: S4W-27671

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £146 million superfast broadband budget it has spent on remote communities that are experiencing no internet connection.

The aim of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme is to extend fibre broadband infrastructure as widely as possible across the Highlands and Islands. As the core network grows, and backhaul becomes more readily available, it will become easier to provide alternative solutions to remote communities that will not directly benefit from DSSB roll-out.

Community Broadband Scotland is working with a number of these communities to help them design and implement robust, sustainable broadband solutions.

Question reference: S4W-27670

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what broadband speeds remote island communities can expect on completion of the superfast broadband rollout in 2020.

Question reference: S4W-27669

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on securing alternative technology that will supply broadband to the projected 16% of Highlands and Islands premises not covered in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

Community Broadband Scotland is supporting a range of communities across the Highlands and Islands to develop broadband schemes using alternative technologies, notably fixed wireless solutions. The Scottish Government is also supporting a trial of TV Whitespace technology on Orkney, which could be used to deliver broadband in future.

New technologies can also be incorporated into delivery of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme. BT is currently trialling wireless to the cabinet and fibre to the remote node technologies which could potentially be used to extend the reach of the DSSB programme in future.

Question reference: S4W-27666

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £146 million superfast broadband budget it has spent on upgrading broadband in Orkney.

The Highlands and Islands Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband contract is geared towards maximising coverage across the region, rather than having specific amounts allocated to each local authority area. Therefore there is no budget allocation for Orkney and the budget is not broken down by local authority area.

By the end of September 2015, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will have paid £65 million of the project’s total £146 million budget, which can be broken down to £49.7 million on backhaul and £15.3 million on access. These figures take account of the £29.6 million spend on subsea cabling which includes the cable to Westray.

The project will reach at least 84% of premises in the HIE region by the end of 2016. This includes at least 75% of premises in Orkney. Without the intervention of the project, only 21% of premises in the HIE region would have been covered by the commercial market, with no planned commercial coverage at all in Orkney.

Question reference: S4O-04678

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 October 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding the impact of the agreement to maintain teacher numbers.

Question reference: S4W-27515

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Frank Mulholland QC on 29 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement local procurators fiscal have in discussions about potential diversions from prosecution and whether they are involved in every such decision.

Examples of diversions from prosecution include the referral of an accused to the supervision of a social worker, psychiatrist, psychologist or mediator for the purposes of support, treatment or other action as an alternative to prosecution. The use of diversion schemes by prosecutors will depend on the availability locally of a suitable diversion scheme. Prosecutors will work together with local service providers to create, operate and monitor diversion schemes. These schemes are designed to prevent the re-occurrence of offending through early or intensive intervention outwith court.

Decisions to refer an accused to a diversion scheme are taken by prosecutors after full consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case reported by the Police. There are other statutory alternatives to prosecution including fiscal fines and fiscal work orders which are similarly considered by prosecutors on a case by case basis.

Question reference: S4W-27518

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 29 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many diversions from prosecution have been agreed in each year since 2011 and what percentage of the number proposed this represents.

Table 2 of the bulletin Criminal Justice Social Work Statistics in Scotland, 2013-14 (http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00474323.pdf, page 24) contains figures for the years 2009-10 to 2013-14 on the number of referrals, assessments and cases commenced for diversion from prosecution, as reported by local authority social work departments. It should be noted that referrals and assessments may not be made in the same year as the year in which the case commenced.