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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.

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Question reference: S4W-16603

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 2 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) economic and (b) social damage has been caused by poor air quality in each year since 2007.

Data are not currently collected in ways that would allow the direct attribution of any such damage to poor air quality on an annual basis. To separate out the specific impact of poor air quality would be a complex piece of work for which we do not at present have a suitable methodology.

Cost benefit analysis is routinely undertaken to assess the potential impact on air quality of introducing or removing specific policies. However this approach produces only very broad estimates of future scenarios and does not generate any information on past trends nor on overall air quality.

Question reference: S4W-16605

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 2 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) children have experienced poor health as a result of and (b) children's already poor health has been exacerbated by failure to meet air quality standards in each year since 2007.

Data are not currently collected in ways that would allow the direct attribution of poor health in individual children to the effects of exposure to air pollution. Many different environmental and socio-economic factors interact to produce an overall effect on children’s health and to separate out the specific impact of poor air quality would be a complex piece of work for which we do not at present have a suitable methodology.

Question reference: S4W-16602

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 2 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have experienced poor health due to failure to meet air quality standards in each year since 2007.

Data are not currently collected in ways that would allow the direct attribution of any individual poor health effects to exposure to air pollution. Many different environmental and socio-economic factors interact to produce an overall effect on an individual’s health and to separate out the specific impact of poor air quality would be a complex piece of work for which we do not at present have a suitable methodology.

Exposure to air pollutants is a factor that may exacerbate the symptoms of anyone suffering from pre-existing lung disease such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or from heart disease. Extended exposure to poor air quality may worsen the course of these diseases in those who already have them, but is unlikely to have a significant impact on otherwise healthy individuals.

Question reference: S4W-16595

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many local air quality management areas (LAQMA) have been in place for five or more years since the establishment of the LAQMA policy.

Question reference: S4W-16594

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government on how many occasions a local air quality management area has been deemed no longer necessary due to the achievement of air pollution standards in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-16593

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many local air quality management areas have been declared in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-16604

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 29 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what environmental damage has been caused by poor air quality in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-16596

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many deaths due to road traffic accidents there have been in each year since 2007.

The following table shows the number of deaths in road traffic accidents reported to the police since 2007.

Fatal Road Casualties 2007-12:

2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012 (p)
281	270	216	208	185	170

The figures are available in table 2 of the Key Reported Road Casualtes Scotland 2012 bulletin which was published on 20 June 2012. The publication can be found at:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/strategy-and-research/publications-and-consultations/j276199-00.htm

Note that the figures for 2012 are provisional. Final figures for 2012 will be published in Reported Road Casualties Scotland 2012 in October 2013.

Question reference: S4W-15833

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-14411 by Fergus Ewing on 8 May 2013, what the names are of the three recipients of support from the Renewable Energy Investment Fund.

Question reference: S4O-02297

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to avoid colleges being re-classified as public bodies.