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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: S5O-00025

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what noise level monitoring it carries out on the trunk road network.

Question reference: S4O-05706

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to veterans seeking accommodation.

Question reference: S4O-05643

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it is taking to increase active travel.

Question reference: S4O-05607

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it seeks to identify and acknowledge outstanding practice and contribution in the NHS.

Question reference: S4O-05587

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many responses it received to its consultation on the comprehensive review of the planning system, which closed on 1 December 2015.

Question reference: S4O-05230

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of projects under construction or development in the Edinburgh area under the Hub South East Scotland Programme.

Question reference: S4W-28854

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 December 2015
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making with implementation of the plans set out in Developing the Young Workforce – Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy.

The Scottish Government has today (9 December 2015) published the first Developing the Young Workforce annual progress report.

This report highlights great progress in preparing young people for work, as was set out in our youth employment strategy published in December 2014. Key areas of progress include expanding work-related skills and qualifications, including through the new Foundation Apprenticeship pathfinders; facilitating high quality school/employer partnerships, work placements and careers education 3-18 through new national guidance and standards; offering careers advice earlier in school; increasing the opportunities for school pupils on offer in colleges; tackling inequalities by addressing stereotyping in occupation choice and targeting support on young people who face the greatest barriers to finding employment; and developing closer, productive partnerships between employers and education with seven new regional employer groups set up across the country.

Question reference: S4F-03057

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 November 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2015

To ask the First Minister what impact the proposals in the Trade Union Bill could have on the Scottish Government’s commitment to fair work.

Question reference: S4O-04639

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to encourage rail freight transport.

Question reference: S4W-27288

Asked by: Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 September 2015
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 11 September 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many brownfield sites have been brought back into use for housing developments since 2007.

Scottish Planning Policy defines brownfield land as: “Land which has previously been developed”. The term may cover vacant or derelict land, land occupied by redundant or unused buildings and developed land within the settlement boundary where further intensification of use is considered acceptable.

In total, since 2007, 1,013 hectares (919 sites) of derelict or urban vacant land has been reclaimed for residential developments.

The following table gives details for reclaimed land from the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey. These figures for derelict and urban vacant land are a subset of all brownfield land.

Sites that have been reclaimed for residential developments since the previous year:

Year

Derelict Land ¹

Urban Vacant Land ²

Total Derelict and Urban Vacant Land

Area (hectares)

No. of Sites

Area (hectares)

No. of Sites

Area (hectares)

No. of Sites

2008	99	80	173	136	271	216
2009	66	55	60	77	126	132
2010	51	45	61	82	111	127
2011	69	40	66	72	135	112
2012	43	36	85	58	128	94
2013	57	55	60	69	118	124
2014	60	44	63	70	124	114
Total	445	355	568	564	1,013	919

Source: Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey

1. Derelict land (and buildings) is land which has been so damaged by development that it is incapable of development for beneficial use without rehabilitation. In addition, the land must currently not be used for the purpose for which it is held or a use acceptable in the local plan. Land also qualifies as derelict if it has an un-remedied previous use which could constrain future development. For both vacant and derelict land, site records must be at least 0.1 hectares in size to be included.

2. Vacant land is land which is unused for the purposes for which it is held and is viewed as an appropriate site for development. This land must either have had prior development on it or preparatory work has taken place in anticipation of future development. Urban vacant land is located within settlements of over 2,000 in population.