Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-13160

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding the use of agencies in employing staff.

Question reference: S5W-13265

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether ScotRail on-board hospitality staff are paid for the duration of their shift, excluding time between stations.

Question reference: S5W-13163

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of on-board ScotRail hospitality staff who are employed through agencies are (a) paid at least the real living wage and (b) on zero-hours contracts.

The Scottish Government is a strong proponent of the living wage and is fully committed to all ScotRail employees and contractors receiving at least the living wage and that is why we have written it into the ScotRail franchise contract.

The ScotRail Franchise Agreement commits ScotRail to pay all its staff at least the living wage and to take reasonable endeavours to procure that all its contractors and suppliers in the UK also receive at least the living wage.

On 11 March 2016 ScotRail became the sixth largest organisation in Scotland to become a Living Wage Accredited Employer.

The decision to use agency staff is a commercial decision for ScotRail. The Scottish Government does not hold details on ScotRail hospitality staff employed through agencies.

Question reference: S5W-13454

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to expand support for employee ownership, and whether this includes promoting worker co-operative developments.

Support for employee ownership is delivered by Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), who raise awareness of the value of co-operative and employee ownership models, and provide specialist advise. CDS currently supports 92 of these businesses, with approximately 7,000 employee-owners generating a combined turnover of £930 million. The most recent expansion to support this area is the ‘Succession Expert Support’ programme, delivered by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. This is available to all Scottish businesses and is designed to assist with succession planning. Advice on employee ownership is part of this service. Other services CDS deliver to promote employee-ownership include the ‘Successful Succession’ promotion campaign and ‘Employee Ownership Day’ which aims to promote the values and benefits of employee ownership within the wider business community.

The Scottish Government supports and promotes all types of co-operatives through the work of CDS. This includes worker co-operatives where businesses are owned and managed by employees.

Question reference: S5T-00834

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the finding by the Institute for Public Policy Research Scotland that the budget for day-to-day spending is expected to fall by £250 million between 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Question reference: S5W-13249

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 15 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which minister certified that the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill was compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and from whom did that minister seek advice on the matter.

Question reference: S5W-13248

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 15 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Human Rights Commission's submission to the Justice Committee in November 2017, which raised concerns regarding whether the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012 is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and whether it plans to seek further advice on the matter.

As I explained when giving evidence to the Justice Committee on 5 December in relation to the proposed repeal of the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, under the Scotland Act 1998 the Scottish Government has a duty to comply with the Human Rights Act 1998. Like any Executive Bill, the Law Officers advised that the Bill for the 2012 Act was within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament (that includes compliance with Convention Rights). In addition the Presiding Officer had to certify it as being within legislative competence, and following its passage into law, the law officers did not seek to raise any action to has challenged its compatibility.

Furthermore, the Donnelly and Walsh case of 2015 was an appeal based on Convention Rights and specifically looked at the issue of the Act’s compatibility with human rights. Three appeal judges took the view that Article 7 of the ECHR was not infringed, and the appeal was dismissed. We are satisfied that the Act is compatible with human rights.

Question reference: S5O-01558

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it can provide for owners of properties affected by aluminium composite material cladding.

Question reference: S5F-01636

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 October 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether public sector workers should be given a real-terms pay increase in 2018-19.

Question reference: S5O-01304

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the regional directors of education will be in place.

We have established a Joint Steering Group with Local Government to support the establishment of new Regional Improvement Collaboratives. We are therefore working with local government and with Education Scotland on the detailed arrangements for ensuring that each Improvement Collaborative is supported by strong and expert leadership. We will prove further information on those arrangements in due course.