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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: S4O-03421

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the introduction of employment tribunal fees has had on youth and women's employment.

Question reference: S4W-22070

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of its carbon management plan and the development of future plans.

The Scottish Government published its first Carbon Management Plan (CMP) in 2009. It committed the Scottish Government to a 30% reduction in its CO₂ emissions by 2020 against 2007-08 baseline levels and contained a range of projects including voltage optimisation, centralised building management systems) and server virtualisation which have been delivered.

In 2008-09, the offices, laboratories and other buildings used by Marine Scotland, Communities Scotland and the Scottish Building Standards Agency became part of the Scottish Government estate. These significant structural changes to the Scottish Government estate are reflected in a new CMP that has been developed with the support of The Carbon Trust and which will be published in the near future.

Question reference: S4W-21918

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 18 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish guidance on supporting its planning policy on onshore oil and gas exploration and production; what the status of this guidance will be, and how it will be informed by (a) the findings of the Independent Expert Scientific Panel on Unconventional Oil and Gas and (b) EU recommendation 2014/70/EU.

Updated Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) published on 23 June 2014 contains strengthened policy on promoting responsible extraction of resources, including the following key changes: confirmation that buffer zones should be applied to all proposals; making explicit that buffer zones will be assessed by the planning authority and statutory consultees, with a strong expectation that planning permission should be refused if they are unacceptable; putting in place an additional requirement for risk assessments to be prepared; ensuring greater transparency concerning proposals for unconventional gas developments; and requiring a fresh application and public consultation if permission has not been sought for hydraulic fracturing but a developer subsequently wishes to undertake this process. The updated policy now applies.

The Scottish Government is currently considering the scope of further guidance which will take account of both the Expert Scientific Panel’s report and the EU’s recommendation. This guidance will be non-statutory and will be published in due course. The Scottish Government will continue to monitor emerging advice on health and safety.

Question reference: S4W-21817

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its pilot project to deliver Healthy Start through community pharmacies and dispensing practices.

Question reference: S4W-21816

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the uptake rate is for the (a) Healthy Start voucher scheme and (b) vitamin supplements available as part of the scheme, broken down by NHS board area and also expressed as a national average.

(a) The uptake rate for the Healthy Start Voucher Scheme is shown in the following table:-

NHS Board	5 May 2014 to 1 June 2014 (latest available figures)	%
Ayrshire and Arran	3,112	75
Borders	521	72
Dumfries & Galloway	801	73
Fife	2,798	75
Forth Valley	1,899	74
Grampian	1,856	65
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	10,429	79
Highland	1,401	67
Lanarkshire	4,484	76
Lothian	4,956	74
Orkney	50	55
Shetland	45	47
Tayside	2,467	75
Western Isles	84	64
Total	34,903	69

(b) The uptake of Healthy Start Vitamins is shown in the following table:-

NHS Board	Children (Vitamin drops)	Women (Vitamin Tablets)	Total
Ayrshire & Arran	105	42	147
Borders	87	54	141
Dumfries & Galloway	119	79	198
Fife	60	40	100
Forth Valley	86	72	158
Grampian	290	147	437
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	2,245	1,050	3,295
Highland	109	75	184
Lanarkshire	245	177	422
Lothian	318	205	523
Orkney	19	13	32
Shetland	9	8	17
Tayside	158	82	240
Western Isles	No data	No data	No data
Total	3,850	2,044	5,894

Question reference: S4W-21691

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of electric shock dog collars.

As noted in part of the answer to S4W-17063 from Christine Graham on 19 September 2013, the latest Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) funded research into the effect of electronic shock collars found no evidence of long-term or significant harm to dog welfare. Based on this evidence the Scottish Government does not believe that there are sufficient grounds for a ban.

However, it is important to ensure that such collars are used responsibly and manufactured to a high standard. We will therefore work with Defra and industry to ensure the development of a set of manufacturing standards for electronic shock collars and of guidance about how such collars should be used to avoid misuse.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-21756

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the next periodic safety review is due for (a) Hunterston B and (b) Torness nuclear power station.

Question reference: S4W-21757

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the periodic safety review of a nuclear power station requires an environmental impact assessment.

Periodic safety reviews (PSRs) of nuclear power stations do not require an environmental impact assessment.

UK nuclear site licensees must carry out PSRs every 10 years as agreed with the regulator, Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and provide a systematic review and assessment of the safety case, looking forwards up to ten years.

PSRs provide an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive study of plant safety, taking into account aspects such as its operational history, ageing factors which could lead to deterioration in safety, and the advances in safety standards since the time of construction or the previous review. From this, the safety of future operation of the plant is evaluated. PSRs are complementary to the day-to-day regulatory controls which are applied to nuclear power stations.

The scope and the structure of a PSR is a matter for the licensee but must satisfy the ONRs expectations as set out in its guidance: http://www.onr.org.uk/periodic-safety-review/.

Question reference: S4W-21475

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out on barriers to increasing business enterprise research and development spending.

The Scottish Government uses data from the UK community innovation survey and has committed to boost the size of the Scottish sample in the 2015 survey. The survey includes sections on factors that hamper innovation, the impact of innovation on the business and the sources of information used. It also touches on aspects of the wider innovation process, such as the introduction of new management techniques.

Question reference: S4W-21474

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 June 2014

Boosting business investment in research and development is a key priority for the Scottish Government. A range of support programmes to help address this is being delivered by our enterprise agencies, working in collaboration with the Scottish Funding Council.

We are also taking steps to improve industry and academic links by establishing Innovation Scotland as well as a network of Innovation Centres, where partners from across Scotland are coming together to provide targeted support for business and academic engagement and develop solutions to demand-led industry problems.

On 13 November 2013, Scotland CAN DO: Becoming a World-leading Entrepreneurial and Innovative Nation was published. The framework builds on The Government Economic Strategy and details the Scottish Government’s current approach to, and future plans for, supporting entrepreneurship and innovation. It can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/11/7675

On 29 April 2014, Scotland CAN DO Action Framework was published and it can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2014/04/3454

Building on Scotland CAN DO: Becoming a World-leading Entrepreneurial and Innovative Nation, the Action Framework describes where and how we are investing and working with partners to help Scotland become a world-leading entrepreneurial and innovative nation.

Last week the Scottish Government also published a strategy for reindustrialising Scotland, which highlights the key role that innovation has to play and sets out how the powers of independence could help achieve our aims.