Seòmar agus comataidhean

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

Criathragan Hide all filters

Displaying 283 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-10111

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 30 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that there should be a limit to the height of trees in urban settings.

Question reference: S4W-09696

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the average (a) male and (b) female life expectancy in the Glasgow Shettleston constituency has been in each year since 2000.

Life expectancy estimates by Scottish Parliamentary Constituency were first published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) on 2 October 2009 for the period 2005-07. These estimates have been updated annually to coincide with NRS publications on life expectancy. The figures quoted are a three-year average, produced by aggregating data zone population estimates and number of deaths registered over a three year period. Aggregation is necessary to provide numbers which are large enough to ensure that the life expectancy estimates are sufficiently robust.

Glasgow Shettleston Scottish Parliamentary Constituency

Period	Male life expectancy at birth (years)	Female life expectancy at birth (years)
2005-07	67.2	76.4
2006-08	67.2	76.0
2007-09	68.2	76.5
2008-10	71.3	78.2

Question reference: S4W-09330

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many convictions have been secured using the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

Question reference: S4W-09188

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s target is for answering incoming calls.

SAAS has no set target for dealing with incoming calls. At peak times, it is for the operational management of SAAS to balance processing applications with customer contact.

The primary customer service commitment is to meet, annually, the SAAS Guarantee Date. The Guarantee Date, usually 30 June each year, is not a deadline but SAAS aim to process all applications received by the Guarantee Date in time for the start of the student’s course.

This year SAAS received 105,405 applications by the Guarantee Date. All these applications have now been processed.

Question reference: S4W-09186

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency action the Student Awards Agency for Scotland takes in case of an increased volume in the number of calls it receives prior to the start of an academic year.

The peak processing session for SAAS is from April to October. During this time SAAS employs additional temporary staff in its dedicated Contact Centre as well as elsewhere across the agency, including student placements.

In recent years the guarantee date has been introduced to incentivise early applications.

SAAS have also invested in technology to ensure students can complete routine tasks online. There is extensive information on the SAAS website and through social media to assist students in completing applications and to answer the most common queries.

Question reference: S4W-09184

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of monthly calls is for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Since SAAS opened for applications for the 2012-13 academic year on 4 April 2012 until the end August 2012, the total number of attempted calls is 255,235. The number of calls per month varies significantly however this gives an average of just over 51,047 calls per month. It is not possible to isolate how many of these calls are repeated attempts to contact SAAS.

The monthly breakdown of calls attempted is:

Number of Attempted Calls to SAAS Contact Centre

Month
April	20,112
May	29,645
June	64,175
July	37,425
August	103,878
Total (to date)	255,235

Question reference: S4W-09187

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s average call handling time is.

Question reference: S4W-09185

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff are employed by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to answer incoming calls.

As a frontline delivery agency, all staff at SAAS have some level of customer contact including telephone contact. However the majority of calls are routed through the dedicated contact centre.

The total number of staff currently employed in the contact centre is 25 to 16 permanent staff, plus nine temporary workers recruited to assist the peak call period.

In addition, SAAS have two managers who manage the contact centre and also deal with the more complex or demanding calls.

Question reference: S4O-01072

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether schools in close proximity to Commonwealth Games venues will undergo refurbishment before 2014.

Question reference: S4W-06853

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4O-00887 by Derek McKay on 19 April 2012, whether it will list the (a) five councils that have confirmed that they already pay the current level of the living wage through their existing wage structures, (b) nine councils that have introduced the living wage and (c) six councils that have stated that they will implement a living wage during 2012-13.

The five councils that have confirmed that they already pay the current level of the living wage through their existing wage structures are:

East Dunbartonshire Council,

Orkney Islands Council,

Perth and Kinross Council,

Shetland Islands Council,

Western Isles Council.

The nine councils that have introduced the living wage are:

Aberdeen City Council,

Dumfries and Galloway Council,

East Renfrewshire Council,

Glasgow City Council,

North Ayrshire Council,

Renfrewshire Council,

Scottish Borders Council,

South Lanarkshire Council,

West Dunbartonshire Council.

The six councils that have stated they will implement a living wage during 2012-13 are:

Clackmannanshire Council,

Falkirk Council,

Moray Council,

North Lanarkshire Council,

South Ayrshire Council,

Stirling Council.