Murdo Fraser

3 Jun 2013 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on how an independent Scotland would maintain research funding for universities.

3 Jun 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional needs assistants have been employed in schools in each of the last five years.

Answer · Michael Russell: The requested information on additional support needs auxiliary or care assistants, is collected as part of the teacher census in September each year and is given in the following table: Full-time equivalent numbers of additional support needs auxiliary or c…

29 May 2013 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what reductions in energy usage have been achieved across the campus over the last three years.

22 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government where each SQA Higher Grade foreign language course has ranked on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment in each of the last five years.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: SQA Modern Language Higher Qualifications are not officially benchmarked on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (CEFR). However, the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), on which the SQA…

21 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether, at his recent meeting with the Qatari culture minister, the Minister for External Affairs and International Development raised the issue of Qatar’s reported (a) support for the Muslim Brotherhood and (b) denial of women’s rights.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: I met with HE Dr Hamad Bin Abdulaziz, Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage whilst in Qatar to attend the Doha Forum on 21 May 2013. The meeting was an introductory meeting to build a relationship with the Minister and provide me with the opportunity to dis…

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to meet the target of a 50% increase in the value of international exports by 2017.

Answer · John Swinney: Scotland’s Trade and Investment Strategy outlines the priorities to be pursued to deliver this ambitious target and government agencies are working closely with industry to understand their own export ambitions. Scottish Development International (SDI) have …

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider deploying more STEM Ambassadors to younger children at primary schools.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: It is up to individual schools to take up the offer of assistance from volunteer STEM Ambassadors. The STEM Ambassadors programme is run by STEMNET, not the Scottish Government. Questions about how the scheme operates are therefore a matter for STEMNET.

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage primary school pupils to be enthusiastic about careers in science and maths.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-14973 on 28 May 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybus…

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it assesses the success of the STEM Ambassadors programme.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: The STEM Ambassadors programme is funded by the UK Government and run by STEMNET, a UK-wide charity that promotes STEM to schools. Four organisations in Scotland – Science Connects, Global Science, Dundee Science Centre and a UHI/HIE partnership – are contrac…

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that primary school pupils are encouraged to (a) learn and (b) enjoy maths and sciences.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: One of the design principles of Curriculum for Excellence is that young people experience challenge and enjoyment in their learning, across all subjects. Teaching approaches for both science and maths will enable learning that is both stimulating and engaging…

14 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S3W-10807 and S3W-10809 by Shona Robison on 25 March 2008, what autism research projects the Chief Scientist Office has funded in the last five years.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Chief Scientist Office has funded three autism research studies since 2008. These studies have been based in the University of Glasgow and University of Aberdeen, the funding awarded to the studies amounts to £320,000. Of these studies two were based in A…

7 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to bring forward legislation on the introduction of plain packaging on cigarettes and, if so, what the timetable is.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government will await the UK Government and the other Devolved Administrations’ responses to the UK wide consultation before deciding on the most appropriate legislative option for introducing the standardised packaging of tobacco products.

7 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it took the political affiliation of the founder of the Scottish Asian Women’s Association into consideration when deciding to provide funding to it.

Answer · Shona Robison: No. The occasion was considered to be beneficial to both Scottish Asian women and other representatives of Scottish civic life and industry, enabling the development of new and existing links between organisations and individuals. The organisation received cr…

7 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what conditions it has attached to its funding to the Scottish Asian Women's Association.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government does not provide core or project funding to the Scottish Asian Women’s Association. Funding was made available solely for the purpose of the launch event for the Association, due to the links it will help establish, not just with Scott…

7 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what lessons it has learned from providing over £200,000 in funding to the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, which has been wound up.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Funding allocated to the Scottish Islamic Foundation resulted in a series of events in March and April 2010 to help tackle Islamaphobia by celebrating Muslim culture, challenging stereotypes and promoting community cohesion. A proportion of the total allocate…

7 May 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent development of a vaccine against Clostridium bolteae, which is common in autistic children, what consideration it is giving to offering the vaccine to autistic schoolchildren.

Answer · Michael Matheson: This vaccine has not yet had any preclinical or human trials, which would be needed to establish its efficacy and safety. Should these be completed satisfactorily, the vaccine would then be considered for licensing by the European Medicines Agency. If granted…

3 May 2013 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to understand and deal with the increase in the number of schoolchildren with additional support needs.

29 Apr 2013 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to increase the uptake of foreign languages in secondary schools.

24 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many grants (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) Highlands and Islands Enterprise have given to rural petrol stations since 2008.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The administration of grants to support rural petrol stations is an operational matter for Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise. I will ask their chief executives to write to you in this regard.

24 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many petrol stations that received funding from the Rural Petrol Station Grant Scheme between 1998 and 2008 are still open, also broken down by local authority.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This information is not held centrally.

24 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support is available to rural communities that wish to take control of their local petrol station.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Land Fund is an initiative being delivered in partnership between BIG Lottery Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It is a £6 million, 3-year commitment aimed at giving local people in rural communities the tools and resources to successful…

24 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many petrol stations have closed since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The DECC-commissioned report “Study of the UK petroleum retail market”, published in December 2012, indicates that there were 892 petrol stations in Scotland at year-end 2011. During the peri…

19 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on increasing and speeding up rail connections between Aberdeen, Inverness, Dundee, Stirling, Perth and the central belt, as indicated in the SNP 2011 manifesto.

Answer · Keith Brown: The winter 2012 timetable which came into effect on 9 December 2012 delivered a number of service enhancements to several stations on the Aberdeen-Fife-Edinburgh corridor. These included additional calls at Aberdeen, Portlethen, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Perth …

19 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there has been an increase from nine to eleven trains per day on long distance services on the Highland main line, as indicated in the SNP 2011 manifesto.

Answer · Keith Brown: The first phase of the Highland Main Line improvements has been completed, introducing two additional services each way, to increase the number of trains per day from nine to eleven from December 2011 and providing journey time improvements of up to 18 minute…

19 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on delivering the 2007 SNP manifesto commitment to reduce train journey times between Edinburgh and Inverness by 45 minutes.

Answer · Keith Brown: The long-term goal of the project, which is due to be completed by 2025, seeks to achieve a journey time of 2 hours 45 minutes between Inverness and the Central Belt with an average journey time of 3 hours and an hourly service. The aim is that these measures…

15 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children attending school have had additional support needs in each year since 2002.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: Information on the number of pupils in publicly funded schools in Scotland with an additional support need recorded, by year, from 2002, is given in the following table: It should be noted that over the last 11 years there have been substantial changes in th…

8 Apr 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the reported increase since 2009 in the number of children attending school who have (a) additional support needs, (b) autism, (c) a speech and language disorder and (d) social, emotional behavioural difficulties.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: Prior to 2010, only pupils with Co-ordinated Support Plans, Individual Education Programmes or who were attending a special school were recorded as having additional support needs. However, in 2010 this was extended to include anyone receiving additional supp…

8 Apr 2013 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on increasing and diversifying the levels of physical education in schools.

20 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-13239 by Fergus Ewing on 19 March 2013, what evidence it has to support the assertion that (a) the research carried out was fundamentally flawed and (b) modern turbines are more efficient.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: In our view, the fundamental flaw in the report is its contention that a 15 year old wind turbine can be described as “mature”. A turbine that has been operating for 15 years must clearly have been developed and installed at a time when the technology was sti…

13 Mar 2013 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the findings in the research published by gastroenterologists at Wake Forest Institute in the United States, Identification of Unique Gene Expression Profile in Children with Regressive Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Ileocolitis, what steps it will take to (a) offer NHS …

Answer · Michael Matheson: The research referred to was a small preliminary study that the authors themselves suggest requires replication on a larger scale. It would therefore be inappropriate at this time for the Scottish Government to issue a statement. We must consider the totality…