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: S4W-19108

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether the underspends recorded in its consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013 will be retained in the same departmental expenditure limits for the year 2013-14.

The Scottish Government’s consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013, published on 27 September 2013, record the outturn position against the Scottish Budget as approved at the Spring Budget Revision. Paragraphs 54 to 59 of the Operating and Financial Review section of the published consolidated provide a comprehensive summary of financial performance.

I confirmed the provisional cash departmental expenditure limits outturn for 2012-13 and the deployment of available budget carry forward to 2013-14, in my statement to the Scottish Parliament on 19 June 2013. To support the statement a paper was prepared and shared with MSPs confirming the position against the Scottish Government’s HM Treasury control aggregates. The HM Treasury control aggregates are the key control aggregates in determining budget carry forward for the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-19107

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government from which level 4 budget headings the underspend identified in its consolidated accounts for the year ended 31 March 2013 comes, broken down by directorate.

The Scottish Government does not hold outturn information at what is termed level 4 budget by directorate. Level 4 information, in the context of the budget, is provided as part of the Draft Budget Scrutiny Phase in accordance with the written agreement with the Finance Committee. The written agreement recognises that there is no formal definition of level 4 information.

In line with good practice the Scottish Budget is managed with appropriate flexibility to ensure sound financial management of available resources and to meet the reporting requirements of the Scottish Parliament and HM Treasury.

The Scottish Government’s consolidated accounts, in accordance with agreed protocol, reports outturn against the Scottish Budget as approved at the Spring Budget Revision by portfolio and at programme level.

Question reference: S4W-19097

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 16 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in implementing section 122 (2) of the Children's Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011.

Section 122 of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011 (2011 Act) relates to access to advocacy services for children attending children’s hearings. To date, this section has not been commenced.

Scottish Government officials have undertaken detailed discussions with relevant partners via the Voice of the Child Group to scope out a range of models and consider possible future options for advocacy services for children in the modernised children’s hearings system.

The structural and procedural changes flowing from the 2011 Act took effect in June 2013, and will be subject to benefits review in 2014. We will commence section 122 of the 2011 Act and introduce the associated regulations when we are satisfied that new services can be suitably designed and sustainably resourced for the young people within the hearings system that want and need this provision.

Other related activity is being progressed to support vulnerable children and the ‘voice of the child’ measures within the 2011 Act, including guidance for the provision of advocacy services for children. In December the Scottish Government supported the recommendations in the LACSIG Mentoring Hub Report which calls for the development of a national mentoring scheme for looked after children. In the first half of 2014 initial Scottish Government funding will support work on the identification of mentors and the current availability of services. This activity will inform our understanding of the demand for, and benefits of, advocacy provision.

Question reference: S4O-02809

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the prison population.

Question reference: S4W-19109

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what underspend there was on specific projects in 2012-13 in the (a) Education and Lifelong Learning, (b) Health and Wellbeing and (c) Infrastructure, Investment and Cities portfolio.

Question reference: S4F-01824

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to advice given by academics on tuition fees for students from EU countries.

Question reference: S4W-18933

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider asking an organisation such as the Higher Education Statistics Agency to collect and publish statistics on completion rates at universities.

Although the Higher Education Statistics Agency does not publish completion rates, it does publish non-continuation rates and projected outcomes, measures which the Scottish Government has felt sufficient for its interests to date. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council feed into the development of the UKPIs through the UK Performance Indicators Steering Group (UKPISG). Following a fundamental review of the UK Performance Indicators, UKPISG will implement a series of recommendations in relation to the UKPIs, including the recommendation that “The current set of UKPIs should undergo a more detailed review to ensure they use the most appropriate data and have the appropriate focus to measure the specified topics, including the scope of the population covered”. The Scottish Government will take this opportunity to consider the most appropriate measures for Scottish institutions going forward.

Question reference: S4W-18932

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the non-completion rate has been for Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (primary) courses at university in each of the last five years for which information is available.

Performance Indicators (PIs) for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on behalf of the four UK higher education (HE) funding bodies. These PIs include non-continuation rates and projected outcomes and are available at institution level. A non-completion rate for the specific course requested is not currently published as part of the PIs. PIs are available from the HESA website:

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2072&Itemid=141

The development of the UKPIs is governed by the UK Performance Indicators Steering Group. This collaborative governance arrangement brings together representatives of the four UK funding bodies for HE, HESA, government departments, HE institutions and other interested bodies to steer the development of such measures.

Question reference: S4O-02775

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it plans to spend the consequentials arising from the Autumn Statement on.

Question reference: S4O-02717

Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 18 December 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how it will legislate to support fair trade.