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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: 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.

Question reference: S4W-24231

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Shona Robison on 30 January 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to enhance the provision of unscheduled care.

Today (30 January 2015) we are establishing new best practice guidance to be rolled out across Scottish health boards to help maintain and improve unscheduled care. This new approach, which has been developed in partnership with the Academy of Royal Colleges, is to ensure the whole health and social care system works effectively.

In addition to this work we have also commissioned a review of primary care out-of-hours services in order to promote sustainable, safe and effective care for the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-03988

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to promote the IT industry as a career choice.

Question reference: S4W-23525

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 31 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on employment, what estimate it has made of how much statutory maternity pay would be in 2015-16 if it had been uprated by Consumer Price Index inflation since 2011-12 and how this compares with the actual amount.

The move to uprating by 1% means that in 2015-16 statutory maternity pay is estimated to be £139.56 per week. If statutory maternity pay had been uprated by Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation it is estimated that it would have been in the region of £144.73. By 2015-16 a mother claiming statutory maternity pay would therefore be approximately £170 worse off than if maternity pay had been uprated by the CPI measure of inflation.

Question reference: S4W-23526

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 31 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the potential impact on the health of pregnant women, what estimate it has made of the financial impact of the discontinuation of the Health in Pregnancy Grant in 2011.

Question reference: S4O-03856

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S4T-00877

Asked by: Clare Adamson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government on devolving the power to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in Scottish parliamentary elections.