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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: S4O-00335

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce legislation on same-sex marriage in 2012 following completion of its current consultation.

Question reference: S4O-00228

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what national and local accountability mechanisms there will be to prevent the politicisation of the proposed national police force.

Question reference: S4W-01965

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it makes available to which organisations to meet the support needs of survivors of childhood abuse in care.

The Scottish Government committed £750,000 to the In Care Survivors Service Scotland (ICSSS) over three years from November 2008. The final payment of £125,000 was made in April 2011. Future funding for the ICSSS is subject to further discussion.

Information about other organisations that help meet the support needs of survivors of abuse including childhood abuse in care and which received funding in 2010-11 through The Sexual Abuse Service Development Fund (SASDF) can be found at the SurvivorScotland following website:

http://www.survivorscotland.org.uk/national-strategy-funding/priorities-for-201011/.

£850,000 has been allocated for 2011-12. The Scottish Government has invited organisations to submit their applications by 30 September 2011. This fund will be allocated in November 2011.

Question reference: S4W-02099

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the risks involved in hydraulic fracturing are sufficiently understood to allow the use of the technique in Scotland.

The UK has a long history of onshore gas exploration and the range of techniques used in both conventional and unconventional gas extraction, including hydraulic fracturing, are understood by the relevant regulators. There is a robust regulatory, safety and environmental regime in place to ensure that potential risks to safety, the environment or the community are properly managed. Given the new dimension of hydraulic fracturing being applied to unconventional gas extraction the statutory regulators will continue to monitor hydraulic fracturing closely.

Question reference: S4W-02098

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive under which category in the hierarchy of developments the planning aspects of a proposal to begin shale gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracturing would fall.

The interpretation of legislation is a matter for the planning authority in the first instance. It will be for them to consider in the circumstances of the case whether a proposal is a national, major or local development.

No such projects are designated as national developments in the second National Planning Framework. In terms of the Town and Country Planning (Hierarchy of Developments) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, which identify thresholds for major developments, there is no specific reference to “shale gas extraction by means of hydraulic fracturing”. The planning authority will have to consider which, if any, of the descriptions of development the proposal falls into and whether the associated threshold is met or exceeded. Where developments are neither national nor major developments, then they are classed as local developments.

The Hierarchy regulations can be found at the following link:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2009/51/contents/made.

Question reference: S4W-02097

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings ministers and officials have had with representatives of Composite Energy/Dart Energy Ltd in the last 12 months; what the dates of the meetings were; who was present, and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S4W-01865

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times in the last five years it has agreed to pay the legal expenses of a party with which it is in dispute with where it considers it to be in the public interest that the matter is determined by a court or tribunal.

Question reference: S4W-01967

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what alternative means exist to provide the services offered by In Care Survivors Service Scotland in the event that they are withdrawn due to lack of funding.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting survivors of childhood abuse. The In Care Survivors Service Scotland (ICSSS) provides a specialist service to a group of people who have suffered trauma of a very specific nature which is tailored to their needs. In particular, the service uniquely offers support accessing records relating to individuals’ care experiences.

We have asked Open Secret to submit a renewed business case for further funding, which we will take into consideration in combination with the external evaluation of the service currently being carried out. We therefore do not anticipate the need for alternative arrangements.

Question reference: S4W-01966

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what evaluation it has carried out of the (a) quality and (b) effectiveness of the services that it funds that are provided by In Care Survivors Service Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-01935

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Finance Employment and Sustainable Growth has had with ministerial colleagues to ensure that the next budget bill fully funds the implementation of the proposals in Low Carbon Scotland (The Report on Proposals and Policies).