Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-10999

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 28 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its policy on fuel poverty, what its position is on claims by Ignacio Galan of Iberdrola that Scottish Power is the only energy utility company in the UK losing money.

The Scottish Government is working to tackle fuel poverty and protect Scottish consumers. We are tackling fuel poverty through a range of initiatives, including working with each of the big six energy supply companies, and a range of other key interests, to maximise support for Scottish households, particularly those who are vulnerable. In addition, the Scottish Government is committing £65million per year to the National Retrofit Programme to ensure maximum support to hard-pressed households to install energy efficiency measures and help them manage their energy consumption more efficiently. The scheme aims to make Scotland as attractive as possible for energy companies to meet their environmental obligations and help vulnerable households.

Ofgem, the independent UK energy regulator, is responsible for regulation of the energy markets in England, Scotland and Wales. To ensure Scottish consumers can get the best possible energy deal, the Scottish Government is pressing Ofgem and energy companies to deliver a simpler, clearer, fairer and more competitive energy market for all consumers. In doing so, we believe energy companies must strike the right balance between profit, investment in improving Scotland’s grid network infrastructure, ensuring Scottish consumers get the best deal and helping to tackle fuel poverty. We are also pressing the UK Government to deliver its recent commitment to legislate to ensure companies move customers onto the lowest tariff.

Question reference: S4W-11000

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 20 November 2012

To ask Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the correlation between increased expenditure for the personal care of older people in their own homes and quality of care provision.

Question reference: S4O-01473

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 November 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what is being done to prevent outbreaks of Norovirus in care homes.

Question reference: S4W-09917

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 25 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reduce or increase funds for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust in 2013-14.

The Scottish Government has agreed indicative funding with the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) of £422,977 for 2013-14. This is broadly in line with the initial £430,070 that was agreed for this year.

We have also provided a further £80,000 in 2012-13 to extend the CRTs Community Futures Programme and agreed with acknowledgement to consider a similar extension to this programme in 2013-14, depending on the outcomes and other budget demands.

Question reference: S4W-09820

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking regarding the teaching of Scottish history in schools.

The place of learning about Scotland’s history, heritage and culture has been strengthened and will continue to be promoted and supported in the context of Curriculum for Excellence. New national qualifications in history build on the success of the introduction of a required unit on Scottish history in the existing Higher history course, with this element also being incorporated at National 4 and National 5 in the new courses.

Specific resources have been developed to support the teaching of Scottish history, including a Scottish Dimension Planning Tool, and an Education Scotland History Curriculum Group including practitioners, academics and other specialists, is overseeing the development of further history support materials. This builds on the work of the History Excellence Group and the earlier History in Curriculum for Excellence Group.

We are taking forward the recommendations of the Scottish Studies Working Group which has been supported by Education Scotland’s Studying Scotland resource, which includes the popular Scotland’s History website, guidance and professional learning opportunities.

We also continue to support the Heritage Education Travel Subsidy Scheme which improves access to learning about Scotland’s history, heritage and culture. Education Scotland’s recent Social Studies 3-18 Impact Report highlighted that children and young people are increasing their understanding of Scotland’s culture, past and place in the world.

Question reference: S4W-09817

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 17 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that free university education will be sustained in the long term.

Question reference: S4W-09819

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Burgess on 12 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to tackle homelessness.

The Scottish Government is committed to preventing homelessness where it can and to tackling homelessness where it cannot. We are committed to the 2012 target that all those assessed as unintentionally homeless by local authorities will be entitled to settled accommodation by the end of this year.

We have been working with our local authority partners and other stakeholders through the Scottish Government/COSLA 2012 Steering Group to help achieve the target and to establish and support five local authority led housing options hubs with funding from the Scottish Government.

We believe the promotion of the housing options approach, which considers the specific and individual needs of those facing homelessness, is having a positive effect in this regard and we are continuing to work with partners to promote this approach to preventing homelessness across Scotland.

We are also committed to delivering 30,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament. At least 20,000 of these will be for social rent including 5,000 council houses. Almost 6,900 affordable homes were completed in 2011-12, of which 5,652 of these were for social rent.

The latest homelessness statistics published by the Scottish Government on 2 October show continued progress to achieving the 2012 target along with further reductions in homelessness applications and assessments and in the use of temporary accommodation.

Question reference: S4W-09821

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering creating a definition for furnished and unfurnished flats and houses for the purposes of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997.

The Scottish Government is not considering creating a definition for furnished and unfurnished homes for the purposes of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 and the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997. It will continue to be for local authorities to determine what they consider to be a furnished or unfurnished home.

Under the proposals in the Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc.) (Scotland) Bill and subsequent regulations, councils could charge increased levels of council tax on certain homes after they have been unoccupied for a year or more. The government proposes these increases could be applied whether the property is furnished or not.

Question reference: S4W-09818

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 2 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help postgraduate students in Scotland with tuition fees.

Under the Postgraduate Students’ Allowances Scheme the Scottish Government provides £3,400 towards the cost of tuition fees for all eligible Scottish domiciled and EU postgraduate students studying vocational one year postgraduate diplomas and the nine month taught element of some masters courses.

A list of eligible courses can be found via the Student Awards Agency for Scotland website: http://www.saas.gov.uk/student_support/special_circumstances/postgrad_list.htm.

Question reference: S4O-01363

Asked by: Colin Beattie, MSP for Midlothian North and Musselburgh, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when the economic benefits of minimum pricing of alcohol will be evident.

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