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 1294 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-01236

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 2 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided in (a) 2014-15, (b) 2015-16 and (c) 2016-17 toward the provision of cars for road traffic collision training and how many cars this funding has helped provide, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S5W-01206

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 July 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what funding provision it has made for rural homes that have exchange only broadband cables and would therefore not be upgraded to Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) in order to receive superfast broadband, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

The Scottish Government and our partners are investing over £410 million in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) Programme, which will extend access to fibre broadband to at least 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017.

The DSSB programme deploys a range of technology solutions to meet these targets. Although more technically challenging and time consuming than standard Fibre-To-The-Cabinet deployments, the DSSB programme is delivering fibre broadband solutions at scale to premises on exchange only (EO) lines. Over 200,000 such premises have been connected across Scotland to date and we anticipate that more than 320,000 EO lines will have been upgraded by the end of the DSSB programme.

As the DSSB programme is a national programme, the budget is not segmented or allocated by parliamentary constituency. In addition, the programme has not made specific budget provision for individual technology solutions, rather it assesses and funds the most appropriate solution as the roll-out progresses.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring 100% superfast broadband access across Scotland by 2021.

Question reference: S5W-01168

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government to ensure that the actions of Wave Energy Scotland are aligned with the other UK-wide wave innovation programmes.

There are currently no other funded wave innovation programmes with which Wave Energy Scotland (WES) can align. The Scottish Government has taken the initiative in the UK by developing this internationally unique programme.

However, the Energy Catalyst run by Innovate UK is a general energy fund for early stage technology which has funded some wave projects, and complements WES alongside other early stage funds available to wave developers. This arrangement has proven successful in allowing three projects; Zyber, Checkmate and Artemis, which started with Energy Catalyst funding, to then progress into the WES programme.

WES is also co-ordinating activity with the SuperGen UK Centre for Marine Energy Research (UKCMER), which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Reasearch Council. Objectives and priorities are already aligned and the option of a joint research call between the organisations is actively being pursued.

In addition, WES has been in discussion with other non-UK funders, namely the EU Horizon 2020 programme and the ERANET co-fund to ensure these research and development priority areas are well aligned.

The UK Government has yet to signal any future commitment to funding wave technology from its available energy innovation funds and there is uncertainty over revenue support for marine renewables. A co-ordinated UK technology programme based on the WES concept would be a clear signal of the UK Government’s continued support for the sector.

Question reference: S5O-00061

Asked by: Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to making houses in west Aberdeenshire more energy efficient.