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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: S4W-09000

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers aged between 19 and 21 were given guidance and assistance under Section 29(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years by age, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.

The numbers of young people aged 19-21 years who were eligible for aftercare services on 31 March 2007-09 and 31 July 2010-11 are detailed in the following table. We are unable to break this down further to give specific ages.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Aberdeen City	29	13	18	19	22
Aberdeenshire	7	34	31	30	36
Angus	8	7	4	4	10
Argyll and Bute	2	2	4	22	18
Clackmannanshire	0	0		1	2
Dumfries and Galloway	58	52	53	43	47
Dundee City	19	26	16	6	16
East Ayrshire	25	24	36	23	19
East Dunbartonshire	3	9	14	10	7
East Lothian	18	17	20	11	13
East Renfrewshire	11	3	1	7	8
Edinburgh, City of	147	145	57	133	158
Eilean Siar	1	2	1	0	3
Falkirk	1	16	10	4	2
Fife	19	40	0	85	22
Glasgow	170	225	284	169	219
Highland	0	42	3	18	34
Inverclyde	20	25	21	42	28
Midlothian	7	13	6	6	4
Moray	12	11	14	6	13
North Ayrshire	36	31	40	32	33
North Lanarkshire	22	18	87	59	68
Orkney	2	2	3	2	0
Perth and Kinross	16	12	0	0	3
Renfrewshire	56	56	0	1	0
Scottish Borders	8	6	7	7	9
Shetland Islands	7	8	0	1	3
South Ayrshire	8	5	11	32	35
South Lanarkshire	43	51	54	34	31
Stirling	20	15	0	7	6
West Dunbartonshire	28	26	26	8	13
West Lothian	93	91	86	87	93
All	896	1,027	881	909	975

Source: Children Looked After Statistics.

Question reference: S4W-09001

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers under the age of 21, who have left school have received financial assistance under Section 30 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-09002

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers under the age of 21, who have left school have been declined financial assistance under Section 30 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-08993

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to ensure that young people living near to the construction of the Forth Replacement Crossing are able to benefit from the training and job opportunities it is creating.

Key performance indicators have been agreed with the Principal Contractor to ensure work experience placements for further education students, support for PhD students and educational visits to the works. All Forth Replacement Crossing employment opportunities are required to be advertised in local job centres.

Operation of the recruitment processes for training and employment vacancies are a matter for the contractors.

Question reference: S4W-08992

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which education provider is responsible for filling modern apprenticeship places arising from the Forth Replacement Crossing construction.

Question reference: S4W-08510

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what standards are appropriate for ballast water exchange at ports near or contiguous with sites protected under the EU birds and habitats directives.

It is the responsibility of the port/harbour authority to ensure that any environmental legislation, such as the Habitats Directive, is met within the area under their authority.

Vessels will have to meet the requirements of the Ballast Water Management Convention once it enters into force. The standard aims to reduce the risk of introducing non-native species.

Where possible, ballast water exchange should be conducted at least 200 nautical miles from the nearest land and in waters 200 metres deep.

Question reference: S4W-08512

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what communication it has had with Orkney Islands Council regarding the proposal to authorise ballast water releases in the sheltered harbour of Scapa Flow.

It is the responsibility of Orkney Islands Council to ensure it complies with the relevant legislation.

I have written to the Convener, Orkney Islands Council to stress the importance of complying with international conventions and guidelines on the exchange of ballast water. I have also sought assurances that the appropriate assessment has been fully considered in accordance with the requirements of the Habitats Directive.

Question reference: S4W-08509

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the transfer of ballast water a potential route for invasive non-native species to marine habitats in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-08511

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive to whom the "polluter pays" principle, as described in the draft Code of Practice on Non-native Species, would apply if ballast water exchange led to the introduction of damaging invasive non-native species.

Question reference: S4W-08513

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 July 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it can take when a local authority or harbour authority approves a scheme for ballast water discharge against the advice of Scottish Natural Heritage or the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.