Parliamentary questions
Kezia Dugdale
1,684 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it offers credit unions regarding their development and the role that they can play in providing alternatives to high-interest short-term lenders.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government recognises that credit unions can offer affordable alternatives to high-interest short-term lenders, and will do all that it can to promote them. The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism is due to meet with stakeholders, includ…
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish a guaranteed loan fund for credit unions.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Currently, there are no plans to establish a guaranteed loan fund for credit unions.
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce a credit union development fund.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government recognises the valuable role played by credit unions in providing financial services and products to a wide range of customers, including those facing financial exclusion. We continue to engage with credit union representatives to ensu…
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-04207 by Michael Russell on 6 December 2011, which (a) schools and (b) local authorities delivered Cheers for Credit Unions as part of their financial education initiatives.
Answer · Michael Russell: This information is not held centrally. Responsibility for the provision and roll-out of teaching materials to support Curriculum for Excellence rests with local authorities. They are best placed to decide what should be made available in their own areas.
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-04207 by Michael Russell on 6 December 2011, what evaluation it has made of Cheers for Credit Unions and what plans it has to roll-out the scheme.
Answer · Michael Russell: Cheers for Credit Unions is one of a number of on-line financial education resources available from Education Scotland. While there are currently no plans to formally evaluate this resource, Education Scotland, through the Scottish Financial Education Forum, …
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has met or plans to meet officials from Glasgow City Council to learn from their experiences of promoting and building credit union membership through their credit union development programme.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met with credit union representatives on Monday 18 June 2012 to discuss ways in which the Scottish Government might assist credit unions in Scotland. The meeting was attended by an official from Glasgow City Cou…
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how effective it considers the Fireworks (Scotland) Regulations 2004 have been in preventing antisocial behaviour involving fireworks.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The regulations have had a significant impact, demonstrated by a marked reduction in incidents reported to the police. Regulations cannot eradicate all fireworks related incidents but they have reduced them significantly.
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people will receive support from the Reach Project, broken down by profession.
Answer · Michael Russell: The aim of the Reach Scotland project is to increase the proportion of students from the lowest 40% deprived neighbourhoods participating in the high demand subjects of medicine, veterinary medicine, law and dentistry. The project targets schools with a below…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Deputy First Minister received or had access to a draft copy of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis by Craigforth Consultancy and, if so, on what date.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether the First Minister received or had access to a draft copy of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis by Craigforth Consultancy and, if so, on what date.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what deadline it gave Craigforth Consultancy to produce the analysis of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation responses.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any (a) official, (b) special adviser or (c) minister discussed the contents of the final draft of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis prior to 12 October 2012.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which minister was the first to see the final draft of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis by Craigforth Consultancy and on what date.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether any minister had access to more than one draft of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis by Craigforth Consultancy before or after publication.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The 26,219 consultation responses, along with the independent analysis, were published on 23 October 2012. This response was the third highest to a consultation since devolution. Responses needed to be checked before being published and given the scale of the…
24 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many drafts of the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis by Craigforth Consultancy it received; on what dates; who received each draft, and who subsequently had access to it.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-10495 on 19 November 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Scottish Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parl…
22 Oct 2012 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had discussions with the City of Edinburgh Council regarding the future of Portobello High School.
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many activity agreement programmes consist of no more than than two hours activity per week.
Answer · Angela Constance: Of 1,309 young people on an Activity Agreement, there were approximately 25 young people undertaking it for no more than two hours a week. In these cases, this is an initial pattern of activity designed to engage those young people facing particularly severe…
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many young people are engaged on activity agreement programmes.
Answer · Angela Constance : As of the 30 September 2012, there were 1,309 young people engaged in an Activity Agreement.
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many school pupils are engaged on activity agreement programmes.
Answer · Angela Constance: Activity Agreements are a post school option for young people requiring flexible tailored support to engage in learning. Therefore no school pupils would be engaged on them. As part of schools offering a wide and varied range of support under Curriculum for …
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will use all possible routes to clarify the intentions in section 20 (1) of the Local Government Act 2003 and related provisions, which enable a local authority to promote or improve the wellbeing of all or part of its area and/or some or all of the persons within it, in light…
Answer · Derek Mackay: I refer the member to the answer to S4W-10214 on 2 November 2012. 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/parliamentarybusiness/2…
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, whether it plans to lay an affirmative order to clarify section 20 (1) of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 in light of the opinion of the Inner House of the Court of Session dated 12 September 2012 on the motion by Portobello Park Action Group that it "is far from self-evident,…
Answer · Derek Mackay: I refer the member to the answer to S4W-10214 on 2 November 2012. 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/parliamentarybusiness/2…
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will undertake an urgent review of section 20 (1) of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003 in light of the opinion of the Inner House of the Court Session dated 12 September 2012 in relation to Edinburgh City Council's proposal to build a new Portobello High School.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government is concerned about the difficulty which the City of Edinburgh Council is facing in securing a suitable site for a new Portobello High School. I have agreed to meet with the council on 13 November 2012 to discuss what appropriate suppor…
11 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the opinion of the Inner House of the Court of Session dated 12 September 2012 on the motion by Portobello Park Action Group against proposed plans by the City of Edinburgh Council to build a new Potobello High School that it "is far from self-evident, the constru…
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Inner House of the Court of Session concluded that the City of Edinburgh Council could not use the Power to Advance Well-Being in order to build a new Portobello High School in Portobello Park. Its fundamental reason was that, regardless of how broadly "w…
10 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made representations to broadband providers regarding broadband speeds in (a) Bonnyrigg and (b) Rosewell.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has not made any representations to broadband service providers regarding speeds in either Bonnyrigg or Rosewell specifically. Our understanding of BT’s commercial roll out plans is that residents of Bonnyrigg, served by Dalkeith exch…
10 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it will invest in broadband improvements and connectivity in Midlothian.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: As set out in Scotland’s Digital Future: Infrastructure Action Plan, published on 31 January 2012, the Scottish Government is committed to delivering a world-class digital infrastructure for Scotland by 2020. We have also set an interim milestone of investing…
4 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which ministers have visited schools in the City of Edinburgh since 2011, broken down by (a) school and (b) reason.
Answer · Michael Russell: All ministerial engagements are published proactively on the Scottish Government website. Information on Ministerial engagements from 2008 can be found here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/14944/Events-Engagements/MinisterialEngagements
4 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to universities and colleges that want to establish credit unions.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: There are already over 100 established credit unions in Scotland. Students and staff of universities and colleges may join any credit union that serves the area they live or work in. Several established credit unions already have partnerships with universitie…
4 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set up a credit union for its staff.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scottish Government staff already have access to a credit union.
4 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the link between mental health and debt problems and what action it takes regarding this.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government’s new Mental Health Strategy, published in August 2012, recognises there is evidence of a link between debt and mental health problems, and research shows that suicide risk is raised for virtually all mental health problems and substan…
4 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has had with NHS boards regarding the provision of money advice (a) information and (b) referral training for (i) GPs, (ii) health visitors and (iii) nurses.
Answer · Alex Neil: NHS boards are responsible for ensuring that adequate information is available to patients on “money advice” and for the provision of training to its staff within their board areas. The Scottish Government provides funding and support for initiatives which h…