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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S4W-29393

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the availability is of superfast broadband in each local authority area, and what information it has regarding how many homes (a) are able to access and (b) have such a service.

Our Digital Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme aims to make fibre-based broadband available to 95% of premises across Scotland by the end of 2017. Ofcom published its Connected Nations 2015 report on 1 December 2015. The information within the following table is extracted from the full dataset, which provides information on a range of speeds and corresponding take up. The full dataset is available at http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/research/connected-nations2015/Fixed_Local_Authority_2015.zip

Local Authority Name	Next Generation Access (NGA) Availability (% premises) by Local Authority	Superfast Broadband Availability (% premises) by Local Authority	Take-up of Lines 10-30 Mbit/s (number of lines) by Local Authority	Take-up of lines > 30 Mbit/s (number of lines) by Local Authority
Aberdeen City	93	83	36430	19666
Aberdeenshire	82	52	31186	11896
Angus	83	63	15970	8385
Argyll and Bute	41	21	3741	881
City of Edinburgh	90	88	69050	91531
Clackmannanshire	75	67	6755	3274
Dumfries and Galloway	86	55	15894	6915
Dundee City	96	94	17091	28186
East Ayrshire	83	70	13189	7376
East Dunbartonshire	91	83	11881	15365
East Lothian	74	57	17097	5010
East Renfrewshire	93	82	10303	12814
Falkirk	91	87	13258	26474
Fife	86	74	44088	38512
Glasgow City	90	80	82141	64072
Highland	78	43	20667	11152
Inverclyde	87	79	8454	12354
Midlothian	84	66	8849	5488
Moray	86	60	11883	5309
Na H-Eileanan an Iar	39	0	7	2
North Ayrshire	82	65	20334	8479
North Lanarkshire	89	84	29405	48061
Orkney Islands	54	19	2416	201
Perth and Kinross	75	52	18362	13061
Renfrewshire	88	79	19393	23569
Scottish Borders	81	52	14914	6874
Shetland Islands	73	30	1359	826
South Ayrshire	86	73	12950	8029
South Lanarkshire	91	83	28421	43268
Stirling	89	68	8708	6165
West Dunbartonshire	94	93	9319	16816
West Lothian	82	69	21427	17300

In terms of conventions, NGA refers to the rollout of fibre-enabled cabinets. Superfast broadband is defined as speeds above 24 Megabits per second (Mbps).

Question reference: S4W-29335

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will set out the detailed remit for its review of business rates announced in the Draft Budget 2016-17; who will conduct the review, and in what timescale.

Question reference: S4W-27722

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it has taken in the last six months on tail docking.

Question reference: S4W-27721

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on tail docking for working dogs.

I can confirm that since the publication of the Glasgow University research on tail docking in 2015, and the collection of further evidence about the experience of applying exemptions from the ban on docking for working dogs in other countries, over the last few months I have been carefully considering the strongly held views on both sides of the argument about the possibility of allowing tail docking of working dogs in Scotland.

I have concluded, after discussions with the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee, that the Scottish Government should seek views on a tightly defined exemption to the ban on tail docking of working dogs. It is planned that this consultation will issue in February 2016.

Question reference: S4W-27724

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce an exemption to tail docking for working dogs, following the research that it commissioned from the University of Glasgow that was published in Veterinary Record in April 2014.

Question reference: S4W-27723

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-26902 by Richard Lochhead on 28 August 2015, when it will inform the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee of the findings of its research on tail docking.

Question reference: S4O-05235

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether e-cigarettes are now available on prescription from the NHS.

Question reference: S4O-05205

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many uniformed officers have been deployed to roles previously filled by civilian staff since Police Scotland came into existence.

Question reference: S4F-03136

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the final report of the Commission on Local Tax Reform.

Question reference: S4W-28677

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2015
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the percentage of (a) land area and (b) wild land area from which at least one wind turbine of more than 20 metres in height is visible.