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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: S4O-02816

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider introducing a national confidential alert line for Police Scotland employees.

Question reference: S4W-18987

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the definition is of a pupil with additional support needs and whether this has changed since the 2010 edition of the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland was published.

<>Additional support needs is defined by the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended). The definition and guidance on the definition is available from the code of practice on additional support for learning available from http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/04/04090720/5. The definition has been in place since the commencement of the legislation in 2005.

However, the way in which statistics about additional support for learning are collected was changed in 2010. Prior to 2010, only pupils with co-ordinated support plans, individual educational programmes or who were attending a special school were recorded as having additional support needs. However, in 2010 this was extended to include anyone receiving additional support, regardless of whether it was under a formal plan. This led to a large increase in the number of pupils recorded with additional support needs since 2010.

Question reference: S4W-18988

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the definition is of "Other" under the heading, Additional Support Needs, in Table 3.5 in the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No.4: 2013 Edition.

The definition of 'Other' which is provided in the ScotXed guidance to local authorities for the completion of the pupil census is:

Other Need Type:

This need type is there to record any other type of additional support that does not fit into any of the other categories. This could include: Stage 1 or 2 intervention (interventions at class or school level), other formal or informal support, temporary or short term support (possibly as an interim measure pending a formal plan). This should not include support that falls into co-ordinated support plans, individual educational programme or child plan need types, should cover information already recorded on their MIS system and should not necessitate the collection of any additional data.

Please note that in 2010, 'Child Plans' were included within 'Other' as a separate category for 'Child Plan' was not added until 2011.

Question reference: S4W-18910

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with (a) Creative Scotland and (b) film producers regarding the (i) appointment process for and (ii) job description of the agency’s new Director of Film and Media.

Question reference: S4W-18856

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 20 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what actions (a) it is and (b) the organisers of the 2014 Commonwealth Games are taking to address the predicted shortfall in security provision for the games.

The Scottish Government, working with the Organising Committee and Police Scotland have agreed that a mixed workforce solution involving police, military and private industry resources would be the most robust structure to ensure a safe and secure games.

This decision has incorporated lessons learned from the Olympics and this mixed workforce solution will ensure that there is no shortfall of resources to implement safety and security planning.

Question reference: S4F-01780

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2013

To ask the First Minister what the impact will be on the Scottish Government's energy policy of Scottish Power's decision not to go ahead with its proposed wind turbine development off Tiree.

Question reference: S4W-18744

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many community-led projects have bid for support from Community Broadband Scotland; which bids were successful; how much was awarded, and how many of the projects have been completed, broken down by local authority area.

Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) provides a broad spectrum of support to community-led broadband projects including advice, guidance and funding support. The purpose of the funding support is to assist communities in the planning, development and delivery of their projects.

As of 11 December 2013, CBS had received 15 formal applications from community-led broadband projects for capital assistance grants from its Start Up fund. Of these, funding totalling £257,487 has been allocated to 11 projects, two of which have completed delivery of broadband connections. CBS is currently concluding the formal approval process for the four projects that have not yet been allocated a capital assistance grant.

As of the same date, CBS was actively engaged with 57 pre-application “pipeline” projects, all of which it expects to progress to the formal application stage upon completion and submission of a viable business plan. Three of these are in Fife.

The following table provides details of capital assistance grant applications to the Start Up fund, by local authority.

Local Authority	Capital assistance grant bids	Completed Bids	Grant Awarded	Completed delivery
Aberdeenshire	1
Argyll and Bute	1	1	£ 5,000
East Lothian	1	1	£ 2,000
Highland	6	4	195,759	2
Moray	1	1	11,808
Scottish Borders	2	2	23,300
South Lanarkshire	2	2	19,620
Stirling	1	0
Total	15	11	257,487	2

Question reference: S4W-18746

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications for support from the start-up fund have been made to Community Broadband Scotland; which applications were successful; how much was awarded, and how many of the projects supported by this funding have been completed, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S4O-02720

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the board of Scottish Opera and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-18484

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many times and (b) for how long on average the (i) M9/A9 and (ii) A92/A972 have been closed as a result of crime scene investigations of accidents in the last three years, and for what reason these roads cannot be reopened for managed traffic flow more quickly in such cases.

Details of trunk road closures on the M9/A9 and A92/A972 in the last 3 full calendar years are contained in the following table. Our records for 2013 are not yet complete:

2010

2011

2012

Road

Number of Closures

Average time (hrs)

Number of Closures

Average time (hrs)

Number of Closures

Average time (hrs)

M9/A9

05:01

04:20

03:35

A92/

A972

06:27

05:00

05:44

The decision by Police Scotland to close a road is never taken lightly and only occurs when the collision itself has blocked the road, or where there is a need to protect those who might already have been injured and the emergency service staff who are dealing with the incident.

The impact on local communities and the wider economy is always at the forefront of investigators' minds, but there is a need to ensure that incidents are investigated thoroughly to ensure that families of those killed or seriously injured receive the support and information that they deserve and also to ensure that any safety issues are identified and addressed.

Roads are closed in such cases to gather evidence regarding an accident and the length of any closure can vary, depending on the nature and complexity of the incident.