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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: S4F-02738

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 April 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 April 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to figures from the Trussell Trust suggesting that the number of people in the UK relying on foodbanks is expected to pass one million.

Question reference: S4W-24955

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 March 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 2 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of how increasing the work allowance for universal credit will impact on (a) the income of working households in the lower end of the income distribution scale and (b) incentives to work for claimants in Scotland.

Increasing the work allowances for universal credit would provide targeted support to low income households. This would allow households to retain more of their income as they enter work or increase their earnings and can therefore improve incentives to work. The benefits of increasing the work allowances accrue largely to working households in the bottom half of the income distribution.

Universal credit and the power to change the work allowances remain reserved matters for the UK Government.

Question reference: S4O-04189

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4T-00976

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how it is tackling severe and extreme poverty in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-04106

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made with the handover of the ScotRail franchise.

Question reference: S4T-00959

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the findings of the research commissioned by the Welfare Reform Committee, which suggest that parents and disabled people are being hit hardest by the UK Government's welfare reforms.

Question reference: S4W-24663

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Maureen Watt on 26 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to examine the delivery of maternity and neonatal services.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all children in Scotland get the best possible start in life. The best quality maternity care and the best quality neonatal care are therefore crucial. We continue to make advances in care standards and strive for excellence, however to assure ourselves that maternity and neonatal services in Scotland are as good as they can be, we think that the time is right to refresh our approach to them to ensure that care is person centred, and as safe, sustainable and high quality as possible. Further details on the scope and process of the review will be announced in due course following a short period of consultation with key partners and service user representatives.

Question reference: S4W-24542

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 February 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Marco Biagi on 20 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on establishing the independent commission to consider fairer systems of local taxation.

The Commission on Local Tax Reform will meet for the first time on Monday 23 February2015 and report in autumn 2015. As Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, I shall co-chair the commission with Councillor David O’Neill, the President of COSLA. The members are:

Councillor Susan Aitken, SNP Local Government Convener and Leader of SNP Group, Glasgow City Council;

Councillor Catriona Bhatia, Leader of Liberal Democrat Group and Deputy Leader, Scottish Borders Council;

Councillor Angus Campbell, Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Leader of the Independent Group at COSLA;

Councillor Rhondda Geekie, Leader of East Dunbartonshire Council and Leader of Labour Group at COSLA;

Dr Angela O’Hagan, Research Fellow in the Institute for Society and Social Justice Research and Convenor of the Scottish Women's Budget Group;

Isobel d’Inverno, Convenor of the Tax Committee of the Law Society of Scotland and Director of Corporate Tax at Brodies LLP;

Mary Kinnonmonth, Manager of Dundee Citizens Advice Bureaux and member of Citizens Advice Scotland Board of Directors;

Dr Jim McCormick, Scotland Advisor, Joseph Rowntree Foundation;

Don Peebles, Head of CIPFA Scotland;

Alex Rowley, MSP for Cowdenbeath and Shadow Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment;

Andy Wightman, writer and researcher, representing the Scottish Green Party.

The commission will be independent from both the Scottish Government and COSLA, but will report to both against a remit which is:

To identify and examine alternative systems of local taxation that would deliver a fairer system of local taxation to support the funding of services delivered by local government. In doing so, the commission will consider:

The impacts on individuals, households and inequalities in income and wealth;

The wider macro-economic, demographic and fiscal impacts, including housing market and land use;

The administrative and collection arrangements that apply, including the costs of transition and subsequent operation;

Potential timetables for transition, with due regard to the 2017 local government elections.

The impacts on supporting local democracy, including on the financial accountability and autonomy of local government;

The revenue raising capacity of the alternatives at both local authority and national levels.

In conducting its work, the commission will engage with communities across Scotland to assess public perceptions of the emerging findings and to reflect this evidence in its final analysis and recommendations.

The commission will be supported by an independent secretariat comprising staff seconded from COSLA and the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4O-04010

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress since the most recent meeting of the opencast mining taskforce.

Question reference: S4W-24259

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Alex Neil on 2 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to increase support for community-led regeneration.

On 2 January 2015 I announced an additional funding of £5.6 million to our People and Communities Fund increasing support for community-led regeneration throughout Scotland. This increases the fund from £9.4 million to £15 million in 2015-16 and will be used to help tackle poverty and inequalities in Scotland’s most disadvantaged communities.

The First Minister announced a £10 million Empowering Communities Fund as part of her Programme for Government. The £5.6 million uplift to the people and communities budget comes from this fund which reinforces this government’s commitment to tackling inequality by empowering people to take decisions that affect their lives.