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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-20868

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03099 by Angela Constance on 2 April 2014, whether it has carried out economic modelling on providing 1,140 hours of childcare for (a) half of two-year-olds and all three and four-year-olds and (b) all children aged one to four, and, if so, whether it will publish this.

By the end of the first Parliament, vulnerable two years olds and all three and four years olds will be entitled to 1,140 hours of childcare a year. In the longer term, the Scottish Government plans to provide 1,140 hours of childcare a year to all children from age one until they start school. Once fully operational, the Scottish Government estimates that around 240,000 children and 212,000 families will benefit.

Question reference: S4W-20861

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) briefing 14/26, Early Learning and Childcare, that its proposal to provide 1,140 hours of childcare per year to all pre-school children in an independent Scotland would cost approximately £1.2 billion.

Question reference: S4W-20860

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 April 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 May 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the modelling for its childcare policy in an independent Scotland does not differentiate between gender and, in light of women having both lower average pay and working fewer hours per week, whether if it will carry out further modelling based solely on the impact on women.

The Scottish Government modelled the impacts of increased female participation using a detailed Computable General Equilibrium model of the Scottish economy. CGE models are widely used for dynamic policy modelling by many national governments and international organisations.

Many women work less hours and earn less than men precisely because of current or previous childcare commitments. This only reinforces the argument for the transformational change in the provision of childcare proposed in Scotland’s Future. When fully implemented, universal childcare entitlement would represent a fundamental change in the choices and opportunities women with young children face in the labour market, providing clear social and economic benefits.

Changes in the labour market have the potential to happen relatively quickly. The latest available breakdown of the employment figures by the working pattern shows that over the year between October to December 2013, the number of women in full-time employment rose by 48,000 whilst part-time employment increased by 17,000.

Question reference: S4W-20379

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 3 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government who formed the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning’s delegation to the OECD education summit in New Zealand.

The parameters of the delegation were set by OECD and Education International, the organisers of the International Summit on the Teaching Profession. The UK delegation comprised the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning; Ken Muir, Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council for Scotland; Larry Flanagan, the General Secretary of the EIS; Darren Northcott, National Official for Education at NASUWT and Ian Mitchell, Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4O-03088

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how widely it estimates zero hours contracts are used.

Question reference: S4O-03072

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take to improve public transport links to and from Renfrewshire.

Question reference: S4W-19928

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, how many planning appeals in the (a) energy, (b) retail, (c) commercial property, (d) environmental waste management and (e) hotel, leisure and recreation sectors ministers have considered since February 2013 and with what outcome.

Question reference: S4O-03017

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what so-called red lines an independent Scotland would set when negotiating membership of the EU.

Question reference: S4O-02867

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what account the business case for the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme takes of the impact that construction work could have on passenger numbers.

Question reference: S4W-18728

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 15 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the term "childcare" in its white paper on independence is to be read as "early learning and childcare".

	Appeals Decided	Number Allowed
Energy	103	41
Retail	11	8
Commercial Property	20	11
Environmental Waste Management	2	1
Hotel, Leisure and Recreation	19	10