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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: S4F-00116

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 September 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 September 2011

To ask the First Minister what recent discussions the Scottish Government has had with the UK Government regarding changes to the tax regime for North Sea oil and gas.

Question reference: S4W-02366

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 September 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many lung cancer specialist nurses there are, broken down by NHS board area.

Question reference: S4W-02045

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in establishing an export support package.

The new Export Support Initiative, which has been supported by the Scottish Government with £2.5 million, will accelerate the international development of at least 100 companies which currently have zero, or low level exports, and have the potential to reach £0.5 million over a five year period.

Officials have met with more than 80 companies over a four week period and the first 50 companies who will participate in the Initiative have been recruited. The next step is to begin a series of export review activities that will reflect on where their export ambitions lie, what they want to achieve and how they will go about this.

The recruitment of the next 50 companies is underway.

Question reference: S4W-02048

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in creating a more efficient and effective planning system.

The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 introduced the most fundamental reforms in the planning system in over 60 years. This was followed by a programme of culture change and secondary legislation to support modernisation of the system.

Whilst we continue to encourage further improvement to performance of the planning system, key improvements to date include:

Delivery of the National Planning Framework which sets out a strategy for Scotland’s long-term development and clear priorities for the improvement of strategic infrastructure;

Significant progress has been made in updating development plans and working towards a new generation of development plans;

Key changes implemented to the development management system providing improved engagement and processing of major planning applications;

Progress has been made on processing times for planning applications, planning appeals and development plan examinations whilst more minor cases are reviewed locally rather than by Scottish Government, and

The successful introduction of the ePlanning programme in Scotland has supported more efficient processes and availability of planning information to stakeholders.

Question reference: S4W-02049

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to abolish quangos in the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S4W-02046

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in developing virtual trade centres.

Our manifesto committed us to assisting new and current exporters by developing Virtual Trade Centres as an online support tool to provide information and advice for Scottish companies looking to expand overseas. The Scottish Government recently announced the launch of Scottish Development International’s Virtual Trade Centre. The first in a range of services to be delivered through www.sdi.co.uk is an online diagnostic tool to encourage and assist companies seeking to access international markets.

This will help businesses make the most of their current skills and expertise in exporting and direct them to the services and advice that they need to expand further. It will allow new exporters to identify and quickly take their first steps towards moving into international markets as well as help existing exporters to grow their activity.

Question reference: S4W-02051

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the legal costs have been of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project and what proportion of these costs is associated with dealing with objections.

The cost to date associated with the provision of legal services on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route is approximately £1.13 million. This cost covers the provision of legal services in relation to the public local inquiry, current legal challenges against the project, complaints to International bodies (e.g. Aarhus Convention) and other planning appeals. The cost excludes staff costs incurred by Transport Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-02050

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route project.

The cost of preparatory work undertaken on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, to the end of June 2011, is approximately £113 million.

Similar to other trunk road projects this has included scheme development, environmental impact assessment, consultation with statutory and non-statutory bodies, publication of statutory documentation, public local inquiry, topographical surveys, ground investigations, and acquisition of property by voluntary agreement.

Question reference: S4W-02052

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the costs of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route public inquiry.

Question reference: S4W-02047

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 August 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 16 August 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government about allocating a share of the profits from the sale of the publicly owned stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to strengthen and regenerate Scotland's retail banking sector.