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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-13865

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, what analysis it has made of the contribution of the planning system to the zero waste strategy and its target to divert waste from landfill.

National Planning Framework 2, Scottish Planning Policy and development plans support Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan target of no more than 5% of waste going to landfill by 2025. Along with other policy drivers such as landfill tax, development management, decisions are securing new waste infrastructure to encourage reduction, recycling, reuse and the recovery of energy from waste that would otherwise be landfilled.

Question reference: S4W-13863

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, what estimates it has made of the impact on employment opportunities arising from these decisions and whether it considers that the planning appeals system encourages or discourages sustainable development and employment creation.

Planning has an essential role to play in ensuring that we create the Scotland that we want, that we promote and strengthen our economy and build resilient communities. It should act as an enabler of sustainable development of the right type and in the right location. Decisions made by the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA) play an important part in this process. When making decisions on planning appeals reporters from DPEA will consider the economic benefits of a proposal along with other material considerations. No estimates have been made of the employment opportunities arising from decisions made by DPEA.

Question reference: S4W-13861

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, how many planning appeals in the (a) energy, (b) retail, (c) commercial property, (d) housing, (e) environmental waste management and (f) hotel, leisure and recreation sector ministers considered between May 1997 and May 2011 and with what outcome.

Question reference: S4W-13864

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, what analysis it has made of the contribution of the planning system to its (a) renewable energy generation and (b) economic growth targets.

There is wide recognition that supportive national planning policies are making significant contributions to the achievement of renewable energy targets. National Planning Framework (NPF) 2, Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) and development plans fully support our renewables targets and support sustainable economic growth. Ways in which this support can be strengthened are matters we are considering as part of the NPF and SPP reviews.

Question reference: S4W-13862

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 17 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13054 by Derek Mackay on 5 March 2013, how many of the energy sector appeals were for wind applications greater than 50 MW and how many were for single turbine or other developments of less than 50 MW.

Question reference: S4O-02005

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made toward justice for victims of historic child abuse following the first InterAction meeting.

Question reference: S4O-01969

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the use of new fairtrade products in Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-01946

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the rates of income tax would be in an independent Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-13051

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether productivity in the manufacturing sector has increased or decreased in each year since 1997.

Table 1 shows Gross Value Added (GVA) per employee for the manufacturing sector in Scotland. The data are sourced from the Annual Business Survey (ABS), which provides estimates from 1998 to 2010.

The manufacturing sector is defined using Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) codes.

The data are not entirely consistent over time, mainly on account of a change in the SIC codes between 2008 and 2009. Data for manufacturing on a SIC 2003 basis are provided from 1998 to 2008, and data for manufacturing on a SIC 2007 basis are provided from 2008 to 2010.

Table 1: GVA per employee, Manufacturing Sector, Scotland

In current prices: not adjusted for inflation

Year	GVA per employee (SIC 2003 based)¹	GVA per employee (SIC 2007 based)²
1998	38,969
1999	36,494
2000	37,816
2001	39,036
2002	43,593
2003	46,694
2004	52,046
2005	54,144
2006	61,402
2007	60,774
2008	64,584	65,919
2009		66,848
2010		71,033

Source: Annual Business Survey, Office for National Statistics. Compiled by the Scottish Government

Notes:

1. Manufacturing sector defined in terms of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2003 as Divisions 15-37.

2. Manufacturing sector defined in terms of Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 as Divisions 10-33.

3. Figures for 2008 on both a SIC 2003 and SIC 2007 basis have been provided for comparison.

The size of the manufacturing sector has reduced under SIC 2007 compared to SIC 2003. At the Scotland level, manufacturing employee data reduced by around 6% and manufacturing Gross Value Added by around 4% in 2008.

5. Gross Value Added (GVA) per Employee is calculated by dividing GVA (at Basic Prices) by Total Employees. The GVA data used to calculate the figures in table is in current prices i.e. it has not been adjusted for inflation.

Question reference: S4W-13048

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 February 2013
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many manufacturing jobs have been (a) lost and (b) created in (i) Ayrshire, (ii) Renfrewshire, (iii) Dunbartonshire, (iv) Lanarkshire and (v) Inverclyde in each year since 1997.

The information requested is not available.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13053 on 13 March 2013, which provides estimates of manufacturing employee jobs by local authority area. 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

	Number of appeal decisions	Number of appeals allowed
Energy	99	53
Retail	275	133
Commercial property	665	266
Housing	4240	1175
Environmental waste management	55	31
Hotel, leisure and recreation	455	212