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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-03385

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 3 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the need for an investigation by the Competition Commission into the gas and power market.

As part of its Retail Market Review, Ofgem has made a number of proposals to make the market work better for consumers, including simplification of tariffs and enhancing liquidity in the wholesale market by requiring the big six energy companies to auction up to 20 per cent of their power generation. These proposals have the potential to enhance consumer choice and encourage competition in the market.

Ofgem has estimated that referral to the Competition Commission could take up to three years, delaying much needed investment in new generating capacity. We would urge Ofgem to bring forward their proposals as soon as possible, and better still for the energy companies to take rapid voluntary action.

Question reference: S4W-03271

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there is a threat to growth in the Scottish economy caused by weak demand and what measures it is taking to stimulate demand.

As a small, open economy, Scotland cannot expect to be immune from the fragile economic conditions that currently exist in the global economy.

As set out in the Government Economic Strategy the Scottish Government is taking forward a range of actions to support growth and stimulate demand across three priority areas:

prioritising capital investment, including the use of innovative financing mechanisms and through switching resource spending to capital spending;

improving access to finance for medium and small sized businesses through the Scottish Investment Bank which is supporting Scottish companies, and working to leverage new private sector investment through initiatives such as the National Renewables Infrastructure Fund; and

continuing with measures to boost economic confidence and protect household incomes at a time of rising prices, including our policy of no compulsory redundancy for staff in our pay remit and the NHS in Scotland, the Small Business Bonus Scheme, the council tax freeze, the abolition of prescription charges and other core social and economic commitments through the delivery of a “social wage”.

However, we are limited in our powers to stimulate demand as many of the key economic and financial levers are reserved to the UK Government. The UK Government’s lack of a credible plan for growth threatens the recovery and we have called on the Chancellor to implement a Plan B to promote growth and protect jobs.

Question reference: S4W-03387

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the 2020 renewables target will be delivered by (a) tidal, (b) wave and (c) offshore wind energy, expressed in megawatts of projected demand; how it calculates these figures; when generation will start, and what the growth rate will be.

Question reference: S4W-03390

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of multiple Renewables Obligations Certificates for marine energy generation will be to electricity consumers, based on its estimate of the growth in this sector.

Analysis carried out in connection with the current consultations on the Renewables Obligation (RO) for wave and tidal stream technologies – based on a deployed capacity of 52 MW during the period to 2017 – estimates a peak cost to consumers through their electricity bills of around 50p per year.

The extent to which the costs of the RO are actually passed through to electricity consumers is a matter for electricity suppliers.

Question reference: S4W-03269

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has encouraged the Bank of England to adopt quantitative easing measures to stimulate growth in the Scottish economy and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Government believes that, in principle, a carefully managed programme of quantitative easing can provide a timely boost to the economy when growth is fragile and monetary conditions are conducive to such a course of action.

However, monetary policy on its own is unlikely to be sufficient to safeguard the recovery, and we have called upon the UK Government to do more to prioritise growth by supporting measures to boost public sector capital investment and enhance economic security to improve confidence in the economy. It should also include measures to address access to finance so that the programme of quantitative easing helps lead to improved lending conditions for our small businesses.

Question reference: S4W-03270

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the prospects for (a) growth and (b) inflation in the (i) Scottish and (ii) UK economy during the current spending review.

The Scottish Government uses a range of independent forecasts of growth to help inform the outlook for the Scottish economy. These are set out in the Chief Economist’s State of the Economy presentation which is available on the Scottish Government website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/state-economy.

Inflation forecasts are provided by the Office for Budget Responsibility, with the most recent figures available in their March 2011 Economic and Fiscal Outlook publication.

Question reference: S4W-03092

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 1 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what standards have to be met by vehicles used as private hire taxis.

Question reference: S4W-03273

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to (a) support, (b) grow and (b) prevent decline in airline routes from Glasgow airport and for what reason it has not reinstated an air route development fund to support an increase in air traffic at Scottish airports.

Question reference: S4W-03272

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the sale of Glasgow or Edinburgh airport by BAA.

Question reference: S4O-00326

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many subjects can be taught as highers and how many as advanced highers.