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-04766

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that (a) it and (b) other public bodies exercise their functions relating to activities such as opencast coal mining and peat extraction in accordance with the requirements of section 44 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Question reference: S4W-04760

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) lowland raised and (b) upland blanket bog will be used for opencast coal mines that are in the planning system.

Question reference: S4W-04764

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects developers of (a) opencast coal mines on peatlands and (b) peat extraction sites to carry out a carbon emissions assessment and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government does not require developers to carry out carbon emissions assessments on opencast coal or peat extraction sites. The Scottish Government has supported the development of a carbon calculator for use in establishing the carbon savings from wind farm developments on peatlands. The question of “carbon payback” does not apply in the same way to the extraction of coal and peat. Consideration is being given to what further guidance may be required on the assessment of emissions associated with development on deep peat.

Question reference: S4W-04759

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hectares of (a) lowland raised and (b) upland blanket bog have been used for opencast coal mines in each year since 2001.

Question reference: S4W-04765

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the carbon balance of opencast coal mining, including any carbon losses associated with peatland impacts, are a material consideration when determining planning applications for opencast coal mining and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S4O-00582

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs is doing to ensure that diversity is represented in broadcasting and the arts.

Question reference: S4W-04780

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 23 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 11 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to publish the reports required under section 37(2) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 on the emissions of greenhouse gases that have been “produced by or otherwise associated with the consumption and use of goods and services” for (a) 2010 and (b) 2011.

The Scottish Government is currently reviewing options for reporting on the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to Scotland’s consumption of goods and services in order to determine the most suitable approach to fulfilling the reporting duty in section 37 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Given the time lags in the availability of the emissions data that is required to estimate consumption-based emissions (greenhouse gas emissions by industry for Scotland as well as the countries from which we import) and the compilation of the necessary economic and environmental input-output information (domestic and abroad), we anticipate being able to report on 2010 consumption-based emissions in 2013, and 2011 data in 2014.

The Scottish Government will seek to minimise the delay in the reporting period wherever possible providing this does not adversely impact the quality and validity of the information.

In October 2009, the Scottish Government published a time series of Scotland's Ecological Footprint and Greenhouse Gas Footprint for the period 1992-2006. This is available online at the following address:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/10/28101012/0.

Question reference: S4W-04569

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria are used to select corporate sponsors for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Commercial sponsorship for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games is a matter for the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee. The organising committee will seek to engage commercial partners across a range of sponsorship categories that are considered to be in the best interests of the games. Potential sponsors will be evaluated against a number of criteria including service provision, brand relevancy, financial offer, ability to activate, financial robustness and image/record. The organising committee will undertake due diligence checks to ensure that financial, legal and ethical considerations are factored into decisions around potential commercial partners for the games.

Question reference: S4W-04570

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether clear evidence of (a) human rights abuses, (b) environmental crimes or (c) tax evasion will exclude a company from sponsoring the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Question reference: S4W-04573

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 9 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how it has assessed the climate impact of the investment proposals in the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2011.

As set out on page 13 of the Infrastructure Investment Plan, a high-level initial assessment of how projects and programmes are expected to contribute to the four prioritisation criteria has been undertaken. The four criteria are delivering sustainable economic growth, managing the transition to a low carbon economy, supporting delivery of efficient and high quality public services and supporting employment and opportunity across Scotland. Some projects and programmes within the pipeline are still at an outline stage, so this high-level assessment provides an initial indication of whether the project will have a positive impact on managing the transition to a low carbon economy, which will be developed further as part of more detailed business cases.