Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 509 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-13625

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what obligations are placed on providers of cross-border rail services to maximise the uptake of underused services.

Question reference: S3W-13627

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect it expects the recent changes in alcohol duty to have on binge drinking.

There is evidence to suggest that price impacts on consumption, but it is only one factor which may affect how people drink. We are taking some immediate action on binge drinking through continued implementation of the Licensing Act which will end irresponsible promotions. We want to change the place of alcohol within Scotland’s culture and will shortly consult on proposals for tackling alcohol misuse which will look at a broad range of measures to lower consumption levels.

Question reference: S3W-13650

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-11467 by Fiona Hyslop on 16 April 2008, what steps it is taking to ensure that people, especially young people, in Kilmarnock and Loudoun are able to access science projects funded by its science engagement grant scheme.

The key aim of the Science Engagement Grant scheme is to support informal science engagement outreach activities across Scotland. This competitive grant scheme is advertised on the Scottish Government website (www.scotland.gov.uk) and is open to all competent science engagement providers to bid for grant.

No bids were received specifically from organisations in the Kilmarnock and Loudoun area for 2008-09. However, Scottish Government has funded initiatives such as Generation Science, a touring science engagement programme managed by the Edinburgh International Science Festival, which this year visited a number of schools in the Kilmarnock and Loudoun area.

While the Scottish Government is keen that successful projects reach as wide an audience as possible, it has not to date taken any steps to target specific areas of Scotland: rather, it responds to bids received. The assessment criteria for the Science Engagement Grant scheme are kept under constant review and currently include a weighting for bids that target areas where engagement is currently low.

Question reference: S3W-13628

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect it expects the recent changes in alcohol duty to have on underage drinking.

There is some evidence to suggest that price impacts on consumption, but it is only one factor which may affect how people drink. We are taking some immediate action on underage drinking and have rolled out test-purchasing for alcohol. We want to change the place of alcohol within Scotland’s culture and will shortly consult on proposals for tackling alcohol misuse which will look at a broad range of measures to lower consumption levels.

Question reference: S3W-13639

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 has had on the number of fathers obtaining access to their children.

Question reference: S3W-13649

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire has invested in Kilmarnock and Loudoun since May 1999.

Question reference: S3W-13634

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average (a) numbers and (b) rateable values have been of vacant business premises in (i) Kilmarnock and Loudoun and (ii) Scotland in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-13641

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what proportion of custody cases have been determined by awarding custody to the father in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-13638

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) Scottish residents, (b) residents from the rest of the United Kingdom and (c) other tourists have visited (i) East Ayrshire, (ii) Ayrshire and Arran and (iii) Scotland in each year since 1999.

Data on the number of visitors at local authority level is not held centrally. Data on the number of visitors to Ayrshire and Arran and Scotland is provided in the following table.

Ayrshire and Arran (000)

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Total UK	1,390	870	1,210	990	1,090	1,090	940	670
Origin
Scotland	848	418	593	426	*534	*534	461	369
Rest of UK	542	452	617	564	*556	*556	479	301
Overseas	100	90	80	70	80	80	**170	**170

Scotland (000)

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Total UK	18,530	18,960	17,540	18,530	17,520	17,520	14,870	13,280
Origin
Scotland	9,265	10,238	8,741	9,079	*8,650	*8,650	6,750	6,348
Rest of UK	9,265	8,722	8,799	9,451	*8,870	*8,870	8,120	6,932
Overseas	1,860	1,690	1,590	1,580	1,570	1,880	**2,390	**2,730

Source: ONS International Passenger Survey, and UK Tourism Survey (UKTS).

Note: *UKTS data for 2003 and 2004 are considered unreliable. Methodology changed from 2005 - earlier totals not comparable.

**ONS International Passenger Survey methodology changed from 2005 – Prestwick added as an interview point – so previous years not comparable.

Further data is available at:

Tourism in Ayrshire and Arran 2006

http://www.visitscotland.org/ayrshire___arran_2006-2.pdf.

Tourism in Scotland 2006

http://www.visitscotland.org/tourism_in_scotland_2006_national.pdf.

Question reference: S3W-13624

Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what input it had to the recent decision to simplify the rail pricing structure in the United Kingdom.