Chamber and committees

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-17754

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will seek to amend the Equality Act 2010 to (a) include in the protected characteristic of religion or belief, support for the current definition of marriage and (b) ensure that people opposed to same-sex marriage should not experience any detriment because of their views.

No.

The Scottish Government fully respects the belief held by many people and organisations that marriage can only ever be between a man and a woman. However, we would not support an amendment to the protected characteristic of religion or belief in the Equality Act 2010 to make specific provision on beliefs about marriage.

Adding a specific amendment to the protected characteristic which related to beliefs about marriage could cast doubt about whether other strongly held beliefs are covered as well.

Where necessary, the Government is proposing provision to protect specific persons, such as the provisions in the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, and related amendments to the 2010 Act, to make it clear that religious and belief bodies opposed to same sex marriage are under no obligation to solemnise such marriages.

The Government has indicated that persons opposed to same sex marriage should suffer no detriment just because of their reasonably expressed views. The Bill has provision at section 14 making it clear that the introduction of same sex marriage will have no impact on existing rights to freedom of speech. In addition, the Lord Advocate has issued prosecution guidance in relation to same sex marriage:

http://www.copfs.gov.uk/images/Documents/Prosecution_Policy_Guidance/Guidelines_and_Policy/PROSECUTION%20GUIDANCE%20IN%20RELATION%20TO%20SAME%20SEX%20MARRIAGE.pdf.

Question reference: S4W-17757

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 12 November 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will amend the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 to specify that organisations opposed to same-sex marriage will not fail to meet the charity test because of this view.

No. We do not consider such an amendment is necessary.

Section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 provides that a body meets the charity test if its purposes consist only of one or more of the charitable purposes and it provides public benefit. One of the charitable purposes laid down in section 7 of the 2005 Act is the advancement of religion.

Decisions on charitable status are a matter for the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). OSCR have advised us that the simple expression of a view on same sex marriage which was to the furtherance of a body’s charitable purposes is not expected to adversely affect the body’s charitable status.

In addition, the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill has provision at section 14 making it clear that the introduction of same sex marriage will have no impact on existing rights to freedom of speech.

Question reference: S4F-01654

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 November 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2013

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland's finding that the level of grants paid to university students from the poorest backgrounds has fallen by 3%.

Question reference: S4W-17661

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether and, if so, how it will ensure that wind turbine applications currently in the planning process are refused planning permission if they are without an OFGEM licence or exemption from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Matters concerning OFGEM licences or exemptions relate to the interpretation of electricity legislation in the Court of Session’s decision in the Viking wind farm judicial review. The decision does not concern applications for planning permission made under planning legislation and to how the planning system operates.

Consequently, the Scottish Government considers that it is not appropriate to refuse planning permission for wind turbine applications without OFGEM licences or exemptions.

Question reference: S4W-17667

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to receive notification from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills of its response to the Pub Companies and Tenants consultation.

Question reference: S4W-17660

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it will issue to local authority planning departments dealing with wind turbine applications from developers without an OFGEM electricity generation licence or an exemption from the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Question reference: S4W-17452

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 September 2013
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 7 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on clarifying the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 in relation to charges made while granting a tenancy.

The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 states that it is an offence to require payment of any premium (in addition to rent and a refundable deposit of no more than two months’ rent), as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of a tenancy.

As many tenants were being charged a range of additional fees in order to access privately rented accommodation, section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011, which came into force on the 30 November 2012, clarified the law by amending the definition of a premium in the 1984 Act, to make clear that a premium means “any fine, sum or pecuniary consideration, other than rent, and includes any service or administration fee or charge”.

Question reference: S4O-02440

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what help it provides for people who have had a stroke.

NHSScotland has made great progress in improving outcomes for people with stroke:

Over the last ten years mortality rates for stroke have reduced by over 41%.

Between 2010 and 2011 mortality rates dropped by 5.7%

Our Better Heart Disease and Stroke Action Plan, backed by over £1 million of funding each year, contains actions aimed at ensuring people with stroke get access to effective, safe and person-centred care, as quickly as possible.

Full implementation will help ensure we maintain momentum and continue to improve the quality of care and support available to people with stroke.

Question reference: S4W-16933

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) whole-time equivalent and (b) headcount places were available in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at each college in (i) 2011-12 and (ii) 2012-13.

The latest data on students in colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2011-12. Data for 2012-13 will be published in January 2014.

Table 1 contains student numbers expressed as headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE).

Table 1 – Number of students studying on STEM courses at colleges in Scotland, 2011-12

College	Headcount	FTE
Aberdeen College	3,572	2,312
Adam Smith College	4,575	1,522
Angus College	1,669	524
Anniesland College	1,206	649
Ayr College	1,090	577
Banff and Buchan College of Further Education	3,157	827
Barony College	12	0*
Borders College	389	119
Cardonald College	1,358	717
Carnegie College	1,887	1,054
Clydebank College	1,586	569
Coatbridge College	622	423
Cumbernauld College	735	416
Dumfries and Galloway College	1,251	415
Dundee College	2,070	1,139
Edinburgh's Telford College	789	627
Elmwood College	247	23
Forth Valley College	2,502	1,507
Glasgow Metropolitan	3,048	1,943
Inverness College	963	476
James Watt College of Further & Higher Education	2,457	1,341
Jewel and Esk College	1,483	826
John Wheatley College	5,918	471
Kilmarnock College	1,057	502
Langside College	1,019	628
Lews Castle College	371	93
Moray College	819	293
Motherwell College	2,693	1,547
North Glasgow College	539	446
North Highland College	1,135	241
Oatridge College	26	0*
Orkney College	131	27
Perth College	898	343
Reid Kerr College	3,358	931
Shetland College of Further Education	648	90
South Lanarkshire College	184	71
Stevenson College Edinburgh	1,416	825
Stow College	1,427	893
West Lothian College	718	409
Total	59,025	25,819

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Notes:

* at some specialist colleges, general STEM subjects are not part of the core range of subject areas. However, these colleges do offer specialist courses in subjects which are classified as STEM (e.g. welding). Such courses are often very short in duration. For some colleges in the table above this gives rise to a relatively small headcount and an FTE of less than 0.5 which is rounded to 0.

STEM courses include superclass groups:

C - Information Technology and Information

R - Science and Mathematics

X - Engineering

Question reference: S4W-16995

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 12 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeships it is supporting in the renewable energy and low-carbon sector.

There are a number of Modern Apprenticeship Frameworks relevant to the renewable energy and low carbon sector in Scotland. As at the 28 June 2013 there were 8,299 Modern Apprentices being supported in engineering and related frameworks. Included in this is the Wind Turbine Operation and Maintenance Framework, which is currently the only one relevant solely to renewable energy, and 37 MAs are being supported through this framework.