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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S4W-16830

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how the impact of the Nice Way Code campaign will be evaluated.

Question reference: S4W-16828

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much the Nice Way Code marketing campaign will cost and what budget this is drawn from.

Question reference: S4W-16829

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 August 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 September 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it has that the Nice Way Code campaign will result in behaviour change on Scotland's roads.

The campaign is based on the success of the “Give Me Cycle Space” campaign which has run for the last three years and complements continued infrastructure investment of £5.6 million for vulnerable road users through Cycling Walking and Safer Streets Funding to local authorities and over £10 million to Sustrans for projects including community links cycle paths. These campaigns are also supported by Police Scotland. It is recognised that such communication campaigns contribute to improved road safety when delivered with infrastructure improvements and enforcement. The ethos of mutual respect amongst road users fits with both the refreshed Cycling Action Plan for Scotland and Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2020.

Question reference: S4F-01520

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 September 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2013

To ask the First Minister, in light of its report, The Gender Impacts of Welfare Reform, what impact the Scottish Government considers welfare reforms are having on women in Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-16831

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4W-16040

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 6 August 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are able to thrive and that public procurement processes are fit for purpose and do not disadvantage SMEs.

The Scottish Government recognises the vital contribution small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make to our economy and is committed to maintaining a supportive environment to allow SMEs to continue to thrive. For example, on 12 June 2013, we announced £88 million investment in helping Scotland’s young people into work and supporting small business growth. The investment package includes a £37.85 million SME Growth Programme to support businesses to grow and create an expected 3,000 jobs in small businesses across Scotland.

We are working with SMEs and the third sector to improve access to public contracts. Representatives from the private, public and third sectors sit on the Public Procurement Advisory Group. In addition, the Supplier Engagement Working Group brings together the public, private and third sectors to look at ways of improving public procurement. We have also developed the online supplier journey which is a simple, one stop help and guidance for anyone interested in bidding for public work.

Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) was set up in 2008 and now has over 63,000 registered users. Following an extensive consultation with business and the wider public sector we have introduced a standardised suite of questions to test supplier capacity and capability, which include the standard Pre-Qualification Questionnaire. This will help ensure that only questions that are proportionate to the risk involved in a contract are asked. We are also taking economic SME impact into account in collaborative procurement strategies e.g. by splitting national requirements into specialist or geographical lots and supporting SME consortia and supply chain opportunities wherever possible.

Question reference: S4W-16213

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 July 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many planning applications were notified because (a) they were significantly contrary to a "playing field" designation in a local plan or (b) a development would result in the loss of an "outdoor sports facility" to which sportscotland objected or recommended conditions that the planning authority does not intend to attach to the planning permission; and how many of such applications were subsequently called in, in each year since 2005.

Information is not held in the detail sought. The Scottish Government only holds information on the number of applications notified because of objections from sportscotland.

In the period since the beginning of 2005, six planning applications have been notified to Scottish Ministers because of an objection by sportscotland. These were all cleared back to the relevant local authorities for their determination. None of the applications were called-in.

The number of cases in each year is set out in the following table:

YEAR	NUMBER	OUTCOME
2005	1	cleared
2006	1	cleared
2007	0	-
2008	0	-
2009	3	all cleared
2010	1	cleared
2011	0	-
2012	0	-
2013	0	-

Question reference: S4W-16043

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 July 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to small and medium-sized enterprises seeking to win public procurement contracts.

The Government has taken a number of steps to assist small and medium sized companies bidding for public contracts. Examples are:

Launched in October 2008, Public Contracts Scotland provides a free point of access for public sector contract opportunities. Registration is not necessary to browse opportunities, but once registered users can receive free e-mail alerts when opportunities relevant to their business area are published. Over 63,000 users are now registered on the system and over 5000 buyers in over 550 contracting authorities are now placing their opportunities on the system. In addition main contractors on public sector contracts can advertise sub-contract opportunities, giving smaller firms the chance to bid for contracts further down the supply chain

Issuing policy guidance, that public bodies should take steps to ensure that financial requirements (e.g. requirements relating to turnover and insurance levels), do not act as a barrier to participation by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); producing the supplier journey, a comprehensive online guide that: explains the process of awarding a public sector contracts, sets out what buyers expect suppliers to do at each stage in that process; gives practical information on how to find out about business opportunities, how to bid for business, and what to expect when delivering the contract; tells suppliers what support is available to help them win business, and what they can do if they are unsuccessful; simplifying the pre-qualification process by producing standard pre-qualification templates for use by public bodies and providing functionality that allows for suppliers to store and reuse their answers to standard questions; taking SME impact into account in collaborative procurement strategies e.g. splitting national requirements into specialist or geographical lots and supporting SME consortia wherever possible; promoting the involvement of SMEs in public procurement by issuing the six simple steps guidance to public bodies.

Question reference: S4W-16065

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-15640 by Richard Lochhead on 25 June 2013, on what date it plans to begin its consultation on the microchipping of dogs.

Question reference: S4W-15656

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to ban the promotions firm, Bounty, from NHS maternity wards.

In Scotland, NHS hospitals decide locally whether to allow Bounty representatives on to maternity wards.

The Scottish Government does not hold any central contracts with Bounty or have any influence over the conduct of their sales representatives. But as with all hospital visitors, we would expect them to respect the privacy of all women and their families. This is an operational matter for NHS boards.