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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: S5W-00001

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) copies of (a) all correspondence and (b) the minutes of meetings that it had with representatives of China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone (i) in advance of and (ii) after the signing of the memorandum of understanding on 21 March 2016.

Question reference: S5W-00011

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities said on Scotland 2016 on 4 April 2016 that the Scottish Government, China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone were "not at the stage of discussing particular projects", and whether it considers that this was contradicted by Sir Richard Heygate in an interview on Good Morning Scotland on 8 April 2016.

Question reference: S5W-00017

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that it would be appropriate for it to sign an agreement with China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone to build homes in Falkirk, following its signing of the memorandum of understanding on 21 March 2016, if Falkirk Council had already rejected such a proposal from these companies.

Question reference: S5W-00008

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) a copy of all documentation relating to the agreement of a joint press release between the Scottish Government and China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone regarding the memorandum of understanding signed on 21 March 2016, which was published on the companies’ English language website.

Question reference: S5W-00010

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £10 billion investment associated with the memorandum of understanding with China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone that was signed on 21 March 2016, and how this figure was arrived at.

Question reference: S5W-00003

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what date (a) officials, (b) the First Minister and (c) other ministers became aware of the proposals by China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone to invest in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-00025

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its due diligence of foreign companies involves.

Question reference: S5W-00024

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it carried out due diligence prior to signing a memorandum of understanding with China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone on 21 March 2016; what its position is on this matter, and whether it is standard procedure for the First Minister or other ministers and officials to sign agreements with companies for which the Scottish Government has not conducted background checks.

Prior to signing the memorandum of understanding, Scottish Government officials sought advice from the Scottish development international team in China and also assessed Sinofortone’s credibility in terms of their existing UK activity.

As the memorandum of understanding does not involve any legal, contractual or funding obligations or commitments on behalf of the Scottish Government full due diligence was not undertaken.

Whenever the Scottish Government is seeking to award a contract in relation to construction or the purchase of goods or services, procurement legislation sets out the criteria that can be used to select which companies will be invited to submit a bid. Criteria include the company’s suitability to pursue a professional activity, its economic and financial standing, and its technical and professional ability and include provisions in respect of when a bidder should be excluded from bidding because of, for example, conviction for corruption and/or child labour and other forms of trafficking in human beings.

Question reference: S5W-00013

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister expressed a preference that China Railway No.3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone invest in (a) affordable housing and (b) clean energy during discussions, as stated by Sir Richard Heygate on Good Morning Scotland on 8 April 2016, and whether she indicated that she would "like to get something moving this year" and, if so, on what date this occurred.

Question reference: S5W-00004

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 May 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates (a) officials, (b) the First Minister and (c) other ministers have held discussions with China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone.

Officials became aware of SinoFortone’s possible interest in investing in Scotland in June 2015 via the Chair of the Asia Scotland Institute.

The First Minister’s office was contacted in July 2015 and in October 2015 regarding Sinofortone’s interest in investing in Scotland.

Officials held discussions with Sir Richard Heygate and Dr Peter Zhang representing SinoFortone on 16 December 2015, 3 February 2016, 9 March 2016 and 10 March 2016.

The First Minister met with Sir Richard Heygate and Dr Peter Zhang representing SinoFortone on 3 February 2016.

I was introduced to Sir Richard Heygate and Dr Peter Zhang on 9 March 2016 at an event on ‘Chinese Invests West Infrastructure Investment’ hosted by the legal firm Pinsent Masons.

Officials and the First Minister held discussions with Sir Richard Heygate and Dr Peter Zhang representing SinoFortone and China Railway No 3 Engineering Group on 21 March 2016.

There have been no meetings with representatives of China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group and SinoFortone since the memorandum of understanding was signed on 21 March 2016. Officials spoke with Sir Richard Heygate by phone on 8 and 9 April 2016 to clarify issues raised in the media.