Parliamentary questions
Margaret McDougall
364 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
16 Mar 2016 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to citizens advice bureaux.
Answer · Marco Biagi: The Scottish Government recognises the role advice services play across Scottish society, in particular, to support the most vulnerable in our communities. That is why the Scottish Government is providing funding of over £2.6 million this year to support a wi…
27 Jan 2016 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what skills and other training it provides to people in Ayrshire who have been made redundant.
20 Jan 2016 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to local authority education services.
2 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in Glasgow Prestwick Airport since November 2013 and when it expects the airport to move into profit.
Answer · Keith Brown: Since November 2013 the Scottish Government has provided Glasgow Prestwick Airport with £15.8 million in loan funding. We believe that the airport can be returned to profitability although this will take a long-term investment.
2 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made since November 2013 in securing additional routes for Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
Answer · Keith Brown: The management team continues to pursue route development opportunities for passenger services. Although no new routes have been added since November 2013 some existing passenger services have seen frequencies increased. For example, Ryanair recently announce…
2 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many staff Glasgow Prestwick Airport employs; how many are (a) on zero-hour contracts and (b) paid less than the living wage and how this compares with November 2013.
Answer · Keith Brown: Since the new board was put in place, substantial progress has been made in moving all the employees onto the living wage. Currently 41 employees are paid at below the living wage and by April 2016 all the employees of Glasgow Prestwick Airport will be paid a…
2 Nov 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) recruitment and (b) other consultants Glasgow Prestwick Airport (i) is hiring and (ii) has hired since November 2013 and at what cost.
Answer · Keith Brown: Since November 2013 Glasgow Prestwick Airport has hired three consultants at a cost of £205,150 in support of the bid to locate the UK spaceport at Prestwick. It should be noted that £150,000 of this cost was met by South Ayrshire Council. The airport has al…
30 Sep 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in appointing attainment officers in each local authority area.
Answer · Angela Constance: Attainment Advisors for the seven local authorities in phase one of the Attainment Challenge are in post. The recruitment of individuals and assignment of Education Scotland staff as Attainment Advisors to the remaining local authorities is ongoing and all 32…
9 Sep 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the business cases that were prepared in advance of the establishment of Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
4 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what contact PACE has had with the staff of the Hunterston coal terminal.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: I co-chaired the inaugural meeting of the Longannet Taskforce on 24 August 2015 with Councillor David Ross of Fife Council. I also chaired a subsequent meeting on 31 August 2015 for companies in the Longannet supply chain who will be affected by the closure o…
4 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what preparations it has made to reduce the impact of the closure of Longannet power station.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: Since Scottish Power announced on 23 March 2015 the likelihood that Longannet would close in March 2016, the Scottish Government has been working closely with Fife Council and other public agencies to consider the impact of closure and secure the best possibl…
4 Sep 2015 · Written Question
To ask Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact on the economy of North Ayrshire of the closure of Longannet power station given its commercial relationship with the Hunterston coal terminal and whether it has considered repurposing the terminal to protect jobs.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: An economic development plan will be developed by the Longannet Taskforce, which was set up by the Scottish Government to support the workers, businesses and communities impacted by Scottish Power’s decision to close Longannet. One of the plan’s strands will …
10 Jun 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding securing the future of Glasgow Prestwick Airport.
6 May 2015 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in setting up the public consultation on fracking.
23 Apr 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with port authorities regarding improvements to plug-in points at ports so that potatoes can be stored in Scotland for export rather than be transported to England.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Scottish Government has had no discussions with port authorities regarding improvements to plug-in points to aid the storage of potatoes in ports. The Scottish Government values the diverse range of ports in Scotland which support our thriving rural econo…
15 Apr 2015 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Ayrshire College is facing a shortfall in student support funding.
30 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to ensure that college students are receiving sufficient financial support.
Answer · Angela Constance: In the current academic year we are investing a record £104 million in further education student support meaning that students can receive bursaries of up to £93.03 per week. College bursaries rose in line with inflation in 2014-15 and will do so again in 201…
30 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the total budget for further education student support funding has been (a) across Scotland and (b) for Ayrshire College in each year since 2007.
Answer · Angela Constance: Since 2006-07, the total further education (FE) student support budget has increased by 29% in real terms, and the corresponding increase in Ayrshire is 47%. Total FE Student Support(£m) Ayrshire College* FE Student Support(£m) 2006-07 67.3 5.7 2007…
30 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers it appropriate to advise colleges to use depreciation funds to cover shortfalls in student support funds and what it is doing to assist colleges that do not have such funds available.
Answer · Angela Constance: By taking decisive action around this technical accounting issue, we have protected the college sector’s ability to spend its full budget allocation and, in doing so, have filled the student support gap in 2014-15.
30 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to address the reported £7 million shortfall in student support funding.
Answer · Angela Constance: With the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), we have agreed with colleges that the estimated shortfall in further education (FE) student support will be met in 2014-15 through the redirection of funds previously earmarked for depreciation. We are working close…
18 Mar 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the rate of early-onset group B streptococcus infections per 1,000 live births has been and how many pregnant women have had (a) an enriched culture medium and (b) standard test for group B streptococcus carriage, in each year from 2003.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Group B Streptococcal infections are not notifiable under the terms of the Public Health (Scotland) Act 2008. Surveillance of invasive early onset Streptococcal B infection in Scotland is based on laboratory confirmed reports received through the electronic r…
9 Mar 2015 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what additional support it is giving to councils where parents cannot access free childcare entitlement due to capacity issues.
Answer · Fiona McLeod: £329 million was allocated to local authorities in agreement with COSLA for the first two years following implementation of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. We are not aware of any local authorities unable to meet the new requirements. Unde…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) information and (b) guidelines it provides to NHS boards on (i) identifying and (ii) dealing with obesity in (A) adults and (B) children.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: For both children and adults information and guidance on the identification and appropriate interventions is available through the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network publication SIGN 115 Management of obesity – A national clinical guideline.
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it makes available to (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities for tackling obesity.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government and COSLA published Preventing Overweight and Obesity in Scotland A Route Map towards Healthy Weight in February 2010. The route map made a long-term commitment (over 20 years) to taking actions to prevent overweight and obesity. The r…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) male, (b) female and (c) child obesity rates it recorded in each year from 2007 to 2014.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Obesity prevalence information is published in the Scottish Health Survey. The survey has run annually from 2008. The latest published information is for the 2013 survey. The percentage of men and women aged 16 and over classified as ‘obese’ (BMI 30 or highe…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it is spending on initiatives to tackle childhood obesity and what these initiatives are.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Since 2008 the Scottish Government has directly funded NHS boards to deliver child healthy weight interventions. Three classes of intervention have been run – one to one, family group and school based supported by an annual £2 million funding. This work goes…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) primary school children receives at least two hours and (b) pupils in S1 to S4 receives 100 minutes of PE each week, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Alasdair Allan: This information was published on 17 June 2014 as part of the Scottish Government Statistics Publication - Summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living, No. 4: 2014 Edition and can be accessed at the following address: http://www.…
23 Feb 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement in 2010 that the Spanish power company, Iberdrola, would invest £2.7 billion in Scottish business over the following two years, what companies received funding and what the nature was of each investment.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: This is matter for the company, Iberdrola S.A. The information requested is not held centrally.
7 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the coastal partnerships will feed into and work with the regional partnerships that are being established in conjunction with the draft National Marine Plan.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Local Coastal Partnerships were initially established to address local priorities and coastal zone issues. Marine planning partnerships will deliver statutory marine planning for Scottish Marine Regions out to 12 nautical miles. Where Local Coastal Partnershi…
7 Jan 2015 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what resources will be made available to the Clyde 2020 initiative and the emerging regional marine planning partnership to (a) identify the indicators of Good Environmental Status (GES) relevant to the region and (b) deliver the practical measures needed to achieve GES by 2020.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Clyde 2020 is a broad-based initiative which aims to bring together existing activity and build on that through new action – both scientific research and practical measures – to achieve a healthier and more sustainable Clyde ecosystem. A project steering gro…