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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-08094

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of complaints to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission regarding the probity of solicitors has been upheld since 2007 and how much compensation has been awarded.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information requested.

It may be helpful to note that conduct complaints against solicitors are referred to the Law Society of Scotland. The Law Society of Scotland’s Professional Conduct Committee investigates. If it considers that the complaint is upheld, one option is an unsatisfactory conduct censure and compensation. Another option for the Committee is to refer the matter for prosecution by the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal and information would be required on how many of these referrals are upheld by the Tribunal.

Question reference: S4W-07762

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 25 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of street lights have been switched to LED or other energy saving bulbs, broken down by region.

Question reference: S4W-07615

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 19 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of dwellings is in public ownership and what energy performance categories these dwellings have.

Around 28% of Scottish housing stock is in public ownership.

Energy performance is measured using the Scottish House Condition Survey by approximating energy efficiency ratings (EER) as used in the production of Energy Performance Certificates. The EER grade properties from extremely good ratings of A to poor ratings of G.

Of the homes in public ownership:

2% of homes have an energy efficiency rating of B,

47% have an energy efficiency rating of C

36% have an energy efficiency rating of D

13% have an energy efficiency rating of E

1% have an energy efficiency rating of F.

No homes in the sample had an energy efficiency rating of A or G and 2% of homes in the sample were unable to be classified.

Question reference: S4W-07614

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 15 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) newbuild, (b) retrofitted, (c) domestic and (d) non-domestic dwellings fall into each energy performance certificate rating, broken down by region.

Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings for new construction are collected and held by each local authority. There is no legal requirement to provide an EPC for a building which has been retrofitted. Information on existing dwellings is recorded centrally on the Home Energy Efficiency Database. Data for existing non-domestic buildings is not currently collected. The database will be extended to record the lodgement of EPCs for existing non-domestic buildings in late 2012, with new-build EPCs following in 2013.

EPC ratings for existing dwellings are shown in the following table. This represents approximately one quarter of the housing stock, however, due to the triggers for producing EPCs, the totals should not be extrapolated to present a national picture.

Property Count

EPC Rating

Local Authority	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	Total
Aberdeen City	0	1,997	9,305	9,364	4,344	1,599	423	27,032
Aberdeenshire	2	532	6,079	7,080	4,760	2,465	843	21,761
Angus	0	438	3,296	3,960	2,035	873	283	10,885
Argyll and Bute	0	320	1,787	2,902	2,316	1,384	604	9,313
Clackmannanshire	0	154	1,583	1,946	791	186	49	4,709
Dumfries and Galloway	0	236	2,557	3,848	2,870	1,564	635	11,710
Dundee City	0	1,137	6,220	5,923	2,617	1,075	362	17,334
East Ayrshire	0	406	5,370	4,756	1,574	464	122	12,692
East Dunbartonshire	0	204	1,780	2,959	1,384	322	67	6,716
East Lothian	1	467	3,140	3,210	1,352	511	162	8,843
East Renfrewshire	0	310	1,718	2,673	1,321	388	80	6,490
Edinburgh, City of	1	6,369	21,811	18,744	9,179	3,266	927	60,297
Eilean Siar	0	10	92	284	372	340	194	1,292
Falkirk	0	623	4,512	5,250	2,197	802	232	13,616
Fife	1	1,368	10,304	12,866	5,408	1,587	415	31,949
Glasgow City	1	8,786	38,074	27,260	11,004	3,174	860	89,159
Highland	0	530	3,831	6,366	5,239	2,949	966	19,881
Inverclyde	0	764	2,438	2,362	1,174	349	90	7,177
Midlothian	0	467	3,299	3,068	1,005	258	83	8,180
Moray	1	282	2,300	3,036	1,882	810	299	8,610
North Ayrshire	0	470	4,144	5,079	1,953	631	266	12,543
North Lanarkshire	0	1,205	9,276	8,592	2,861	725	176	22,835
Orkney Islands	0	14	191	579	440	267	92	1,583
Perth and Kinross	2	606	3,527	4,432	3,070	1,608	609	13,854
Renfrewshire	2	805	5,345	5,944	2,474	741	253	15,564
Scottish Borders	1	330	2,986	4,162	2,659	1,360	554	12,052
Shetland Islands	0	1	170	434	410	139	58	1,212
South Ayrshire	0	445	3,064	4,183	2,420	836	219	11,167
South Lanarkshire	1	1,307	9,224	10,116	4,832	1,642	373	27,495
Stirling	1	414	2,724	2,831	1,502	642	172	8,286
West Dunbartonshire	0	657	3,942	3,392	1,011	252	69	9,323
West Lothian	1	1,139	4,951	4,822	1,236	290	80	12,519

Question reference: S4W-07613

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS Fife is meeting its waiting time targets to obtain (a) an appointment and (b) treatment at a GP practice.

Question reference: S4W-07616

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of public bodies' budgets pays for the energy costs of public buildings, broken down by (a) region and (b) type of public body.

Question reference: S4W-07617

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 12 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many train journeys were (a) cancelled and (b) delayed in 2012; what the reasons were, and how many of the affected trains were going to or through Fife.

Fifteen thousand, seven hundred ScotRail services were cancelled in total, representing 2.2% of the 719,000 planned to operate in year 2011-12. This figure is not broken down for services operating in Fife.

Fifty-one thousand ScotRail services were delayed by over five minutes, representing 7.1% in year 2011-12. This figure is not broken down for services operating in Fife.

70.4% of the cancellations were due to Network Rail issues, 27.5% were due to ScotRail issues, and 2.1% were due to problems caused by other train operating companies.

Question reference: S4O-01033

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on RGR Foundry Limited's plans to build a new foundry at Fife Energy Park in order to supply the offshore wind market.

Question reference: S4O-00966

Asked by: David Torrance, MSP for Kirkcaldy, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance packages are available for people seeking work in the voluntary sector in Fife.

The third sector is key to Scotland having a successful and fairer future and has a major role to play in supporting Scotland’s communities, in tackling unemployment and in helping people to develop new skills and experience in a tough jobs market.

The Scottish Government has already provided £14 million through the Community Jobs Scotland programme, delivered through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and Social Enterprise Scotland, to provide training and support for up to 2000 young people in Scotland, including 161 individuals in Fife.

Question reference: S4O-00760

Current Status: Withdrawn