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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.

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Question reference: S5W-08937

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 8 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to improve its handling of freedom of information requests in light of the report in The Ferret on 20 April 2017 that Scottish Information Commissioner has instructed it to make improvements over the next six months.

Question reference: S5W-08925

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 5 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been convicted for driving under the influence of drugs in each year since 2013.

The latest available data on the number of convictions for motor vehicle offences relating to being unfit through alcohol or drugs is contained in the following table. Please note that data is not held separately in relation to these offences between offences involving drugs and offences involving alcohol.

People convicted for motoring offences relating to being unfit due to alcohol or drugs, where main charge, 2012-13 to 2015-16

Crime	Charge	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Driving motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs	ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 4(1)	242	203	203	195
In charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink/drugs	ROAD TRAFFIC ACT 1988 SECTION 4(2)	30	14	26	31
Total convictions		272	217	229	226

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings Database.

Question reference: S5W-08927

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of its position statement on the Universal Periodic Review of human rights in the UK, for what reason issues regarding prison overcrowding are not included.

Question reference: S5W-08924

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07711 by Mark McDonald on 16 March 2017, whether the entire report will be placed in the public domain.

Question reference: S5W-08926

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 2 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of its position statement on the Universal Periodic Review of human rights in the UK, for what reason it did not include its decision not to ban justifiable assault of children in Scotland.

The Scottish Government position statement describes the current policy and legislative context in Scotland and reaffirms that the Scottish Government does not support the physical punishment of children.

Progress in this area will be achieved by providing positive support to parents which enables them to make positive choices about how they manage their children’s behaviour. Action to promote positive parenting in Scotland is delivered within the framework of the National Parenting Strategy and is supported by the Children, Young People and Families Early Intervention Fund, and the Adult Learning and Empowering Communities Fund.

The Scottish Government will continue to provide support, information and advice to ensure that parents are able to give their children the best start in life.

Question reference: S5W-08373

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects from (a) rural and remote areas and (b) the rest of Scotland have been funded by the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme, broken down by how much funding they received.

The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme was launched on 20 March 2015. It is a collaborative partnership led by the Scottish Government, working with Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Futures Trust and Resource Efficient Scotland.

The Programme focuses on supporting the acceleration of low carbon infrastructure projects across the public, private and community sectors to develop investment grade business cases to help projects secure public and private capital finance. The project expenditure provided shows committed capital spend as at 3 April 2017, given the innovative nature of the projects actual capital spend will likely be subject to change at individual project level.

Area	Number of Projects	Committed Capital Expenditure
Highlands and Islands	3	£4,764,431.17
Lowland and Uplands: Cities	5	£27,893,053.94
Lowlands and Uplands: Towns and Rural	6	£18,457,783.00

Question reference: S5W-08374

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 27 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many projects have been unsuccessful with applications for funding from the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme.

The principle of the Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme is to support Scotland's accelerated transition to a Low Carbon Economy. Where projects are unsuccessful it is because they have failed to meet the eligibility criteria or failed an independent due diligence process put in place to ensure best value.

A table showing unsuccessful applications broken down by project development support and capital funding applications is provided below:

Catalyst and Development number of unsuccessful applications

Demonstrator

Projects number of unsuccessful applications for capital support

Question reference: S5O-00919

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers to people from island communities who want to access university medical courses.

Question reference: S5W-08707

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of spending from the Islands Housing Fund, and (a) how many and (b) where houses have been built.

The Scottish Government has received expression of interest to the Islands Housing Funds that could deliver in the region of 100 homes, however projects have a natural time lag between a scheme launch and being ready to go on site as participants seek the relevant permissions. The following table provides a breakdown of spend from the Islands Housing Fund for both feasibility work and the main fund for housing investment. None of these projects have completed so, at this stage, no houses have been built using the fund. The first Islands Housing Fund homes are expected to complete by the end of May 2017.

Applicant	Local Authority	Amount
Isle of Rum Community Trust	Highland	£10,000
Mull and Iona Community Trust	Argyll & Bute	£27,384
Pairc Trust	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	£9,533
Staffin Community Trust	Highland	£4,200
Total		£51,117

Question reference: S5W-08706

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 24 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made implementing the Islands Housing Fund, and which stakeholders, including local authorities and housing associations, has it consulted regarding its plans.

The Islands Housing Fund recognises the unique needs of our island communities. It sits alongside the Rural Housing Fund and was launched in September 2016 using the same guidance which had been developed with the external stakeholder group which helped shape the Rural Housing Fund. The £5 million Islands Housing Fund allocation are specifically for the islands as proposed. Stakeholders including Local Authorities and Housing Associations have been kept up to date with the policy on both the Rural and the Islands Housing Funds. Presentations have been made by the Scottish Government at relevant Rural Housing conferences including the RIHAF conference in October 2016 and Rural Housing Scotland in February 2017. The Stakeholder Group for the development of our Rural Housing Fund consist of a wide range of stakeholders representing the housing sector.