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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-11538

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Cycling Scotland's suggestion that the Minister for Transport and Veterans and local authority heads of transport should hold an annual summit, and what its position is on whether cycling interest groups should be involved.

My letter of 12 November to the Cross Party Group on Cycling said:

“I welcome the opportunity to speak with elected members of all parties to discuss what more could be done locally to deliver more cycling facilities. Currently, local government officials attend the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland Delivery Forum, Chaired by Cycling Scotland, and I know that Cycling Scotland would welcome representation at a more senior level, both at official and elected member levels. I will ask officials in the Sustainable Transport Team to progress this with Ian Aitken at Cycling Scotland.”

The current position is that Cycling Scotland will organise this first annual meeting for Summer/Autumn 2013. Other cycling interest groups are represented on the National Cycling Interest Group chaired by Paths for All. This will remain the case.

Question reference: S4W-11541

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 4 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the timescale is for publication of a progress report on the work being carried out by Transport Scotland on road user hierarchy and liability laws.

Question reference: S4W-11225

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce secondary legislation under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to deal with the unregulated sale of pets over the internet.

Question reference: S4W-10959

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 19 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what resources are allocated to research on novel pathogens affecting (a) native and (b) commercial conifer tree species.

Research into pathogens affecting native and commercial conifer tree species is undertaken by the Forestry Commission research agency. As part of the devolution process it was agreed that the research agency, Forest Research, would primarily be funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Forestry Commission Scotland works closely with the research agency.

The Scottish Government has funded a comprehensive study on the epidemiology of Phytophthora ramorum (and P. kernoviae), which also includes information on distribution of larch and infected larch plantations in its risk model. The aim of the project is to increase our understanding of the factors affecting the spread of these organisms in the wider environment, and ultimately to help to target our plant health monitoring and surveillance activities. This 3-year study is a collaborative project involving the James Hutton Institute, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA), St. Andrews University and Cambridge University.

The Scottish Government has also increased its own funding in recent years in the resourcing of Forestry Commission Scotland's response to plant health issues. This has seen Scottish Government funding for plant health response measures increase from £50,000 in 2010-11 to £600,000 in 2012-13.

Question reference: S4O-01512

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment and Cities is doing to ensure a modal shift toward active travel.

Question reference: S4W-10417

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its national walking strategy and what (a) leisure, (b) transport and (c) health stakeholders will be involved in its development.

Question reference: S4W-10168

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether national development designations proposed to be carried forward from the National Planning Framework 2 to the National Planning Framework 3 will be subject to public consultation.

Question reference: S4W-10167

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what representations or contributions it has made to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment.

The Scottish Government has made the following financial contributions to the UK National Ecosystems Assessment (UKNEA):

Contribution toward the UKNEA project - £243,936

Contribution towards the cost of UKNEA co-chair - £35,475

Contribution towards costs for steering group membership - £2,500 + travel expenses.

The Scottish Government has also been represented through the UK NEA Client Group and Stakeholder’s Group.

Question reference: S4O-01408

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when the Tax Consultation Forum will next meet and what issues will be on the agenda.

Question reference: S4W-09860

Asked by: Alison Johnstone, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 8 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how it ensures high levels of energy efficiency in and (b) whether it has a target power usage effectiveness for new or refurbished data centres in its estate.

The energy efficiency of the data centre at Saughton House will be significantly increased in the next two years by a greater number of Scottish public bodies using the facilities. Negotiations continue with a number of Scottish public bodies to house their IT infrastructure in Saughton House data centre which is expected to reach capacity by the end of 2015.

Fully occupied, Saughton House data centre is designed to reach a theoretical PUE of 1.4.

There are currently no plans to build new or refurbish existing data centres.