Parliamentary questions

Patrick Harvie

1,454 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27365 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, how many households the Home Insulation Scheme took out of fuel poverty in 2009-10 and what proportion of households in fuel poverty in each selected area this represented.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally. The Scottish House Condition Survey measures the impact of all energy efficiency measures installed in the housing stock each year. In order to tackle fuel poverty, the Home Insulation Scheme provides …

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27366 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, what proportion of the work under the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10 covered hard-to-treat properties.

Answer · Alex Neil: Loft and cavity wall insulation, which is prioritized under the UK Government''s Carbon Emissions Reductions Target scheme is the main focus of insulation measures under the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) and is not appropriate for many hard-to-treat homes. How…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27367 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, how many households were eligible to receive reduced-cost insulation measures under the Home Insulation Scheme in the areas selected for 2009-10 and what proportion of households in those areas this represente…

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38535 on 25 January 2011. 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/Apps2/Busines…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27367 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, how many households were eligible to receive free insulation measures under the Home Insulation Scheme in the areas selected for 2009-10 and what proportion of households in those areas this represented.

Answer · Alex Neil: All private sector households in Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) areas are eligible to receive free loft insulation top-ups. Households will be offered such insulation if their homes require it and are suitable to take this measure. Eligibility fo…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27369 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, what proportion of the £15 million allocated to the Home Insulation Scheme in its first year was spent on (a) insulation materials, (b) labour costs to install insulation, (c) publicity and promotion and (d) a…

Answer · Alex Neil: The breakdown is as follows : Percentage of Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) 2009-10 Budget Allocated <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=255 valign=top > Category </td> <t…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27371 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, whether it achieved its target date for insulating all homes eligible under the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10 and, if so, to what minimum standard these homes were insulated and by what date the work was c…

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38532 on 25 January 2011. 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/Apps2/Busines…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27372 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, whether it achieved its target date by which it aimed to insulate all hard-to-treat homes eligible under the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10 and, if so, to what minimum standard the work was completed.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) achieved its target of ensuring that all dwellings in the identified areas were visited and free or discounted loft and cavity wall insulation measures and other services, where appropriate, offered to those households which i…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27374 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, whether it has a date by which it expects the Home Insulation Scheme to be rolled out to all areas of Scotland.

Answer · Alex Neil: Further roll-out of the Home Insulation Scheme will depend on the financial support for the scheme from future administrations.

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-27376 and S3W-27375 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, what additional external partners were selected to help deliver the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td valign=top > Home Insulation Scheme Area </td> <td width=228 valign=top > Successful Bidder </td> </tr> <tr > <td valign=top > <p a…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27379 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, in what areas the Universal Home Insulation Scheme will be deployed in 2010-11 and what proportion of the population resides in those areas.

Answer · Alex Neil: Participating areas were announced on 6 October 2010. Details are as follows: <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td valign=top > Local Authority </td> <td valign=top > <p align=cent…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27381 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, what proportion of contributions toward the cost of insulation measures in rented accommodation under the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10 was received from (a) tenants and (b) landlords.

Answer · Alex Neil: This information is not held centrally. No client contribution is required for loft insulation top-ups provided under the Home Insulation Scheme. In the case of virgin loft and cavity wall insulation, if the tenant of a private landlord is withi…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have had insulation measures installed that were (a) fully and (b) partly paid for under the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: The breakdown is as follows : (a) 10,581 households had at least one insulation measure installed that was fully paid for under the Home Insulation Scheme (HIS). (b) 3,020 households had at least one insulation measure installed that was…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27386 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, how many installations have been carried out under the Home Insulation Scheme.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Home Insulation Scheme (HIS) provides intensive promotion of a range of energy efficiency programmes and related support to householders on the door-step in specific areas to assist in tackling climate change and fuel poverty and increase Carbon Emissions…

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-27388 by Alex Neil on 24 September 2009, how much complementary investment was secured for publicity and promotion of the Home Insulation Scheme in 2009-10.

Answer · Alex Neil: The £15 million budget for the Home Insulation Scheme was used to support a first phase of activity covering 95,000 houses in 10 local authority areas, together with a second phase of activity covering a further 85,000 houses in additional areas within those …

22 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-38092 by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 December 2010, whether Scottish Natural Heritage considers the contribution that development proposals would make to increasing or decreasing greenhouse gas emissions when advising the Scottish Ministers on applicat…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government currently seeks advice from Scottish Environment Protection Agency on the carbon impacts calculated by developers for applications for consent under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Scottish Natural Heritage considers the broade…

21 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the interim practice guidance published on 20 December 2010 by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales regarding the use of live text-based forms of communication, including Twitter, from court for the purposes of fair and accurate reporting will lead to similar measures allow…

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Matters relating to rules of court and the efficient disposal of business in the Scottish courts are a matter for the Lord President of the Court of Session under section 2(2)(a) of the Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Act 2008.

16 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be able to provide a Scotland-wide multi-modal smartcard ticket for public transport and, if so, by what date.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government has provided smart enabled electronic ticket machines to the entire Scottish bus fleet, as part of its administration of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme, and is working with First Scotrail on a trial of similar systems for the…

16 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to further refine the existing on-bus smartcard system and, if so, what the nature of the refinements will be.

Answer · Keith Brown: The roll-out of smart enabled electronic ticket machines to the entire Scottish bus fleet has allowed Transport Scotland to introduce processes that enable it to manage the National Concessionary Travel Scheme more efficiently and more effectively. Transport …

16 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what activity will be funded by the additional expenditure shown for the smartcard programme in Table 7.05 of Scotland’s Spending Plans and Draft Budget 2011-12.

Answer · Keith Brown: The £9.5 million allocated to the smartcard programme quoted in the draft budget 2011-12 paper will be used to fund the managed services that support the current ITSO interoperable smart systems, ITSO fees and charges, necessary software and hardware upgrades…

15 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37964 by John Swinney on 15 December 2010, whether it will urge the UK Government to withdraw from the Government Procurement Agreement or to amend it to allow the application of ethical criteria in procurement decisions, for example to implement boy…

Answer · John Swinney: The UK''s membership of the World Trade Organization''s Government Procurement Agreement allows Scottish businesses certain rights to participate in competitive tendering opportunities in those international markets covered by the agreement; withdrawal from t…

14 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it funds work in Scotland in the fields of conflict resolution, non-violence and cooperation; whether it has received proposals regarding a role for Scottish Churches House in this respect, and, if so, what its response is to such proposals.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Whilst recognising the merits of the proposal and the potential role that Scotland could play in promoting conflict resolution, non-violence and cooperation, the Scottish Government is not in a position to fund activity of the kind proposed at the current tim…

13 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recourse exists for communities seeking to oppose a planning application where minimum standards of pre-application consultation have not been met.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-38300 on 12 January 2011. 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/Apps2/Busines…

13 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the minimum standards for pre-application consultation as set out in planning regulations are adequate.

13 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the minimum standards for pre-application consultation as set out in planning regulations are being complied with in all cases.

Answer · John Swinney: This is a matter for individual planning authorities. Planning legislation specifies that if an applicant has not complied with the statutory requirements for pre-application consultation (PAC), or any additional requirements requested by the planning authori…

7 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-37633 by Stewart Stevenson on 6 December 2010, what level of funding has been allocated in the draft budget for 2011-12 to support the implementation of the climate change public engagement strategy.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Details of our approach will be contained in the public engagement strategy, which will be published by 31 December 2010.

6 Dec 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it expects Scottish Natural Heritage to consider the contribution that development proposals would make to increasing or decreasing greenhouse gas emissions when providing advice to the Scottish Ministers on applications for planning consent or consent under section 36 of the Elec…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government requests that developers estimate the carbon payback time of developments applied for under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, and that where appropriate they use the carbon calculator available through the Scottish Government web…

30 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the use of public procurement to support boycotts and disinvestment targeted at Israel and whether it has the power to do this.

Answer · John Swinney: Israel is a party to the World Trade Organization''s Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). The GPA is an international trade agreement that applies in the UK, other EU member states and other participating countries, including Israel. It provides that EU co…

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the resources to implement its public engagement strategy, as required under Section 91 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, have been allocated in the draft budget for 2011-12.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The public engagement strategy, as required under section 91 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, will be published in December 2010.

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, to enable projects to apply for continuation funding, applications to the 2011-12 Climate Challenge Fund will be accepted in advance.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Yes. It is intended to establish an existing project extension and development application process in sufficient time to ensure that those who are successful in that process will be able to continue projects at 1 April 2011.

18 Nov 2010 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the draft budget for 2011-12 will allow projects that were previously supported by the Climate Challenge Fund to reapply for funding.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: It is intended to allow existing projects to reapply for funding. All applications from previously supported communities will be carefully assessed, including on their achievements to date and on the robustness of their plans going forward.