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-03525

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase reporting of homophobic and transphobic hate crime.

There are a range of actions that have been and that are being taken forward.

I attended the launch of the ACPOS Hate Crime Guidance Manual. This manual was launched by ACPOS in September 2010 and provides operational guidance to the police service on all aspects of dealing with hate crime. The manual has also highlighted the importance and raised awareness of hate crime and encourages reporting of all types of hate crime.

I also delivered a speech at a vigil organised by the NUS Scotland LGBT Campaign on 28 October 2011. The vigil was to mark International Day Against Hate Crime.

We supported an application from the University of Stirling to the Royal Society of Edinburgh to fund a series of seminars to improve understanding of what drives race and hate crimes. Those seminars are now underway.

We are also working with the police service through the Scottish Policing Performance Development Group to broaden the data currently reported on hate crime.

We intend to hold a one day event either later this year or early next year which will be designed to build on the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s research report on the “Rehabilitation of Hate Crime Offenders”. We hope that by bringing together policy makers, academics and service providers from across the criminal justice sector, the foundations can be laid for the design of a new rehabilitative programme for hate crime offenders in Scotland.

All of the above actions demonstrate our efforts to help to increase awareness and encourage reporting of hate crime.

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-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-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-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.