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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-20452

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation includes drive time to primary and secondary schools but not public transport times or availability.

Question reference: S4W-20451

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 28 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 28 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation includes drive time to a range of services and facilities but not walking or cycling times.

This response relates to S4W-20451 and S4W-20452 as they are specifically relating to individuals who experience deprivations in ‘access to services’.

Indicators included in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) must fulfil a number of criteria that accurately reflect deprivations experienced by people and satisfy the conditions of an ‘official statistic’. These criteria include data being available at ‘datazone’ level for the entirety of Scotland and indicators being statistical correlated to other measures of deprivation in Scotland.

This domain was introduced in 2006 to address the perceived lack of access to services of individuals who live in rural areas. It is made up of several indicators, statistically correlated with other measures of deprivation, and includes journey times to the following amenities:

GP surgeries; petrol stations, post office, primary and secondary schools and retail centres.

Journey times to primary and secondary schools are only measured in drive times as there is no consistent timetable information across every datazone for school buses. The focus of SIMD is to measure deprivation, there is currently no consistent data available that statistically explains an individual’s experience of deprivation with walking and cycling times to local amenities.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-20347

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 April 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the third supplementary to question S4F-00845 by Alex Salmond on 13 September 2012 (Official Report, c.11415), in which the First Minister said that it was the Scottish Government's "responsibility to put forward an estimate" of the impact on climate change of its policy on air passenger duty, for what reason this estimate has not been made and, in light of the finding of the Committee on Climate Change’s report, Reducing emissions in Scotland: 2014 progress report, that, in 2011, emissions from international aviation and shipping were 2.5 MtCO2e, which represents an increase of 4% on the previous year, when it will publish this estimate.

As part of the detailed consideration of reforms to the UK Government’s air passenger duty following independence or devolution of the tax to the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish Government will conduct analysis on the environmental impact of proposals. That will be undertaken and the results made available in due course. We recognise the need to monitor the impact of activities on emissions as part of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act.

Question reference: S4W-20179

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the third supplementary to question S4O-03007 by Fergus Ewing on 13 March 2014 (Official Report, c. 28892), what the basis was for the assertion by the minister that “no contradiction exists” between the government’s climate and energy policies; whether the reported comment by the Minister for Environment and Climate Change in The Guardian on 9 October 2013 that “I accept that we can’t burn all the fossil fuels that there are, and that applies to Scotland as with every nation" reflects the government’s position and, if so, how it will calculate the proportion of the country's fossil fuel sources that will remain unused.

The Scottish oil and gas strategy sets out the Scottish Government’s aim to maximise the recovery of oil and gas, which is responsible stewardship of a national resource.

However, it is clear from our actions that we are equally committed to the transition to a low carbon economy. This is evidenced in our ambitious renewables targets, climate change targets and our draft Heat Generation Policy Statement, which will reduce our use of fossil fuels.

Question reference: S4F-02007

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2014

To ask the First Minister what role a constitutional convention would play in developing a written constitution in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-20120

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many privacy impact assessments it has published since it adopted the identity management and privacy principles, and what the titles, subjects and publication dates were.

Five privacy impact assessments have been published on the Scottish Government website since the identity management and privacy principles were published in December 2010. Details are:

Children and Young People (Scotland) Bill

Subject: Rights and provision of services and support for children and families

Published: 19 November 2013

Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Bill

Subject: Fish farming and shellfish farming

Published: November 13 2012

Scottish Care Homes Census

Subject: Proposed inclusion of resident identifiable data to the Scottish Care Home Census

Published: 31 August 2012

Social Care, Housing Support & Health Data Bill

Subject: Linking social care, housing support & health data for statistics

Published: 05 April 2012

Maternity Care Experience Survey data

Subject: Sharing of maternity care experience survey data with the Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals Research Unit

Published: 14 February 2014

Question reference: S4W-20122

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how a digital bill of rights would impact on devolved areas of responsibility and what its position is on this matter.

A digital bill of rights is not being considered actively at the present time. Under the Scotland Act 1998, however, there is a specific duty on Scottish Ministers and the Scottish Parliament to act in accordance with the rights set out in the European Convention of Human Rights, including the right under article 8 to respect for private and family life, which applies to the internet as elsewhere.

A world class digital Scotland requires people to be confident and comfortable in the use of the internet. In this regard, the Scottish Government notes the recent call by Sir Tim Berners-Lee for a digital bill of rights and will continue to monitor the development of thinking about such a bill.

Question reference: S4W-20121

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many changes have been made to policy or legislation as a result of carrying out a privacy impact assessment.

Question reference: S4O-03083

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what consideration it has given to the future capacity needs of the Parliament in the event that it exercises significant additional powers.

Question reference: S4W-20065

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has achieved the 2012 greenhouse gas emissions target.