Marco Biagi

27 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the proposals in the Draft Communications Data Bill, which is currently being considered by the UK Parliament, would have on (a) the police service, (b) the judiciary, (c) public record-keeping and (d) other (i) devolved public bodies and (ii) areas of devolved competence in …

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The purpose of the proposed legislation is to ensure that law enforcement and other agencies across the UK can continue to obtain the information they require in order to investigate crime and planned acts of terrorism. As is currently the case, all public au…

22 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S3W-37964 by John Swinney on 15 December 2010, whether the reciprocal rights set out apply to public grant support in addition to public contract opportunities.

Answer · John Swinney: Grant agreements do not fall within the scope of the World Trade Organisation’s Government Procurement Agreement.

22 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what advice the Scottish Medicines Consortium has provided on the effectiveness of homeopathy.

Answer · Alex Neil: Homeopathic products are not within the remit of the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) and therefore the SMC does not provide advice on their effectiveness.

22 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there have been under section (i) 19, (ii) 24 and (iii) 29 of the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The available information is given in the following tables: People proceeded against for offences1 under Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, Sections 19,24,29 Section of Act: 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 SECTION 19(1) 0…

21 Nov 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider the fees charged to non-EU students in the context of the forthcoming Post-16 Education Reform Bill.

5 Nov 2012 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people with long-term health conditions who formerly did not receive free prescriptions now do so.

1 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded undergraduate places it has provided in each year since 1999 and how many it plans to provide in the future.

Answer · Michael Russell: The number of funded undergraduate places has increased by almost 900 since 2010-11. A further increase is planned for AY 2013-14 but the final number has yet to be confirmed. Funded undergraduate student places - 1999-2000 to 2012-13 Academic session Tota…

1 Nov 2012 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how the Parliament’s facilities and services meet the needs of members and staff with special dietary requirements.

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what emphasis it places on the recommendation by the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee in its 9th Report, 2010 (Session 3), Report on Low Carbon Scotland: The Draft Report on Proposals and Policies, that "the final version of the Report on Proposals and Policies shou…

Answer · Keith Brown: Reducing the need to travel is one of the three themes of the transport chapter of the final report on Proposals & Policies (RPP) published in March 2011. Work is underway to develop the evidence base on interventions that might encourage alternatives to trav…

31 Oct 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to meet the recommendation of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee in its 9th Report, 2010 (Session 3), Report on Low Carbon Scotland: The Draft Report on Proposals and Policies, that "the Scottish Government policy direction should match the…

Answer · Keith Brown: The National Transport Strategy (2006) includes reducing emissions as one of its three key objectives. A wide range of Scottish Government transport policy initiatives are currently underway in line with the objectives set out in the RPP. The sought-after tra…

29 Oct 2012 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure high sustainability standards in future biomass energy generation.

22 Oct 2012 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many deposits have been lodged with approved schemes under the Tenancy Deposit Schemes (Scotland) Regulations 2011 since their introduction in July 2012.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: A total of 35,000 deposits have been lodged with the three approved providers in Scotland within the first four months of operation. This is in advance of the first legal obligation for landlords to submit deposits to one of the schemes, by 13 November.

27 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the designs of the 30 new schools announced in the draft budget provide high quality spaces to support outdoor learning and outdoor play.

Answer · Michael Russell: The design of new schools is quite rightly for individual local authorities to determine. That said, in order to qualify for funding under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme local authorities must demonstrate that they meet the programme goals. …

27 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the designs of the 30 new schools announced in the draft budget will be integrated with the delivery of sustainable development and global citizenship education.

Answer · Michael Russell: The design of new schools is quite rightly for individual local authorities to determine. That said, in order to qualify for funding under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme local authorities must demonstrate that they meet the programme goals. …

27 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the 30 new schools announced in the draft budget meet the (a) principles set out in the Building Better Schools strategy and (b) highest energy efficiency standards.

Answer · Michael Russell: The 30 new schools will be built under the Scotland’s Schools for the Future (SSF) programme. In submitting bids for SSF funding authorities were required to confirm that their project would support the delivery of key national and local policies, one of whic…

27 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the recently-announced consultation on how renewable obligation certificates are to be granted for biomass will commence.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Renewables Obligation supplementary consultation was published on Friday 5 October 2012. The consultation, seeking views on our proposed 10 MW cap for biomass generation, changes to the solar PV ROC band and on new biomass sustainability criteria, is avai…

25 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what opportunities remain for public and stakeholder engagement in the development of marine protected areas under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Scottish Ministers will receive advice on the development of a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in November 2012, and will report to the Parliament in December 2012. …

25 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has chosen to exclude feeding areas for seabirds from the criteria for designating marine protected areas under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and what the reasons are for its approach.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Marine Protected Area (MPA) network will include designations under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010, EU Habitats Directive, EU Wild Birds Directive, and marine components of Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSI). There are currently 47 Special Prot…

25 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is meeting the 2011 SNP manifesto commitment to maintain student numbers in further education and at what level.

Answer · Michael Russell: In the current academic year (2012-13) we are meeting our commitment through funding the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to secure the same volume of college learning as in 2011-12. The New College Learning Programme, delivered through Skills Development Scotl…

14 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reported findings that people living in hard water areas may have a lower incidence of liver disease caused by alcohol.

Answer · Alex Neil: Scottish Government is aware of recent research from England which looks at possible associations between water hardness and admissions for alcohol-related liver disease. This type of observational study can certainly be used to generate hypotheses. Such hypo…

14 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what effects it considers the consumption of soft water has on health.

Answer · Alex Neil: The Scottish Government maintains an open position on the health effects of water softness. There is no regulatory standard for the hardness of drinking water in Scotland. The Scottish standards for drinking water are derived from the European Drinking Water…

10 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what schemes Creative Scotland runs to fund start-up for-profit businesses; how much has been awarded to how many recipients in previous years for which information is available; how much the recipients secured in match funding from other sources and whether it will provide a breakdown o…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: I have asked Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland, the public body for Culture and Creative Industries to write to the member: Further information about Creative Scotland’s activities is available at http://www.creativescotland.com/.

10 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the tuition fee grant for part-time students of Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework courses for 2013-14 will be distributed.

Answer · Michael Russell: From academic year 2013-14, Scottish domiciled students studying a higher education part-time course with a personal income of less than £25,000 can receive full support for the relevant proportion of the full-time tuition fee. In order to qualify, students s…

10 Sep 2012 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the Procurement Reform Bill will incorporate and advance the principles of sustainability.

8 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs there are in the computer games development sector and what the gross value added of the sector is.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Scottish Annual Business Statistics 2010 published on 29 August 2012 are based on data from the Annual Business Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics. The two most relevant domains, audio/visual and digital industries, include a range of rel…

8 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will restate its support for the computer games development sector in light of the report, Economic Contribution Study: An Approach to the Economic Assessment of the Arts & Creative Industries in Scotland: Final Report.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Scotland is known the world over as a creative and innovative nation, with our computer games industry undoubtedly one of our global success stories. Indeed, the computer games, software and electronic publishing was worth over £1 billion to the Scottish econ…

4 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether section 32 of the Private Rented Housing (Scotland) Act 2011 applies to fees charged on termination of a tenancy.

Answer · Margaret Burgess: At the current time, the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 makes it an offence to charge or receive any premium or require the making of any loan in addition to rent and a refundable deposit (not exceeding two months’ rent), as a condition of the grant, renewal or con…

3 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the provision of public toilet facilities, disabled facilities and child changing spaces in railway stations is included in (a) the rail franchise or (b) other regulations.

Answer · Keith Brown: ScotRail was obligated through the franchise to install or improve toilet facilities. This has delivered new toilets at 24 stations and existing facilities were refurbished at five stations since 2004. All of these are wheelchair accessible and contain child …

3 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to local authorities on the provision of public toilets, disabled facilities and child changing spaces.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The provision of public toilets, facilities for disabled people and child changing spaces is a matter for local authorities, and the Scottish Government does not issue guidance regarding their provision. However, the Scottish Government funds local Access Pa…

14 Aug 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what rights to NHS services have non-EU citizens who are living and working in Scotland for less than one year.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Immediate necessary treatment in an accident and emergency or casualty department is freely available to everyone, regardless of their residency status. Under an exemption contained in the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) (Scotland) Reg…