Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-03079

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that enough has been done to address workforce concerns regarding helicopter safety in the North Sea since the disaster 10 years ago this week.

Question reference: S5W-21211

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 4 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations have received funding from the Brexit Stakeholder Engagement Fund; how much each has received, and what information it has regarding how they are using the support.

£140,321 has been given out from the fund to support 11 organisations discussing the impact of Brexit on their local community and sectors. Funding amounts range from £1,500 to £25,000, with the average amount received being £12,756.

The following organisations have received funding from the Brexit Stakeholder Engagement Fund: Scottish Rural Action; Children in Scotland; My Life My Say & Social Bite; Midlothian Voluntary Action; Voluntary Action South Lanarkshire; EU Citizens Rights Project; Health and Social Care Alliance; Royal Scottish National Orchestra; Scottish Islands Federation; YouthLink Scotland and, Perth and Kinross Association of Voluntary Services.

The organisations have used the support to facilitate discussions about leaving the EU. These open public discussions have raised many concerns. These include, but are not limited to: losing or failing to attract staff, losing funding, losing rights, concerns from the uncertainty about the future and concerns about rural issues that may be exacerbated by Brexit.

Question reference: S5W-21069

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work on 15 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 66), how many of the 3,600 people who have been supported through the Transition Training Fund have said that it improved their job prospects.

As of 20 January, the latest figures show that 3748 people have had applications approved. By 11 November 2018 the customer survey carried out by SDS showed that there were approximately 3,070 customers who had their applications approved at least 6 months before, off this number SDS were able to contact 1,281 individuals of which 1,204 agreed to take part in the survey.

Of those 68% who are in employment, the survey found that of the participants who responded, 97% confirmed that they felt that the fund helped them improve their job prospects, and in addition 87% noted that the support from the fund helped them into employment.

In terms of the Customer Survey Timescales, SDS have advised that Customers are contacted 6 months after their application was approved because:

the majority of training is not completed until at least 4 months following application approval.
SDS want to allow customers sufficient time to search and apply for jobs once their training is completed

SDS have confirmed that there are attempts to contact everyone 3 times, 6 months post application approval.

Source: SDS https://transitiontrainingfund.co.uk/

Question reference: S5W-21068

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work on 15 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 66), how many of the 3,600 people who have been supported through the Transition Training Fund have gone on to full-time employment

As of Sunday 20 January, the latest figures show that 3748 people have had applications approved. By 11 November 2018 the customer survey carried out by SDS showed that there were approximately 3,070 customers who had their applications approved at least 6 months before. Within this number, SDS were able to contact 1,281 individuals of which 1,204 agreed to take part in the survey.

The survey found that of the 1204, 68% are reporting that they are in employment. SDS capture the employment status that best describes the individuals circumstances and reflects the sector of employees and contractors therefore the employment status may be temporary / permanent / directly employed or contracting. Whilst data on individuals who are in full time employment is held by SDS, this data would not include those individuals engaged in temp, contracting or who are self-employed.’

In terms of the Customer Survey Timescales, SDS have advised that customers are contacted 6 months after their application was approved because:

the majority of training is not completed until at least 4 months following application approval.
SDS want to allow customers sufficient time to search and apply for jobs once their training is completed

SDS have confirmed that there are attempts to contact everyone 3 times, 6 months post application approval.

Source: SDS https://transitiontrainingfund.co.uk/

Question reference: S5O-02871

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to consult on setting a target for all homes to have at least a C energy performance certificate rating.

Question reference: S5W-21083

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out on the impact of increasing the Additional Dwelling Supplement from 3% to 4% on the (a) property and (b) private rental market.

The Scottish Government’s assessment of the effects of increasing the Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) from 3 per cent to 4 per cent was informed by independent analysis by the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC). The SFC assessed the impact on housing market prices and transactions which, given the nature of ADS, includes a substantial element of private rental market transactions. SFC’s analysis on prices and transactions is set out in their publication Scotland's Economic and Fiscal Forecasts December 2018 ( Annex A: Policy Costings, page 222-227) which is available here: http://www.fiscalcommission.scot/media/1435/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-december-2018-full-report.pdf.

Question reference: S5O-02826

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to meet Welsh Government ministers and what matters will be discussed.

Question reference: S5W-20554

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 23 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will recruit pharmacists in both community pharmacy and general practice to (a) sustain the existing workforce and (b) meet the demand for growth within the new pharmacotherapy service.

We continue to support NHS Boards to put pharmacy teams in to GP practices. The Programme for Government commitment is to ensure every GP practice has access to a pharmacist with advanced clinical skills by 2021, and throughout this year we will continue to make progress towards this target. There has been ongoing investment through the Primary Care Improvement Fund to both sustain and expand on the recruitment of pharmacists and technicians across Health and Social Care Partnerships to meet this target.

NHS Boards reported that up to 31 March 2018 they had appointed 201 whole time equivalent (wte) pharmacists and 47 wte technicians, providing a level of pharmacy team support to some 530 practices based on their local needs. Further funding for pharmacy is available through the Primary Care Improvement Fund in 2018/19. Ongoing in-year monitoring of Boards’ recruitment continues, which is crucial in benchmarking progress against the pharmacotherapy service element of Health and Social Care Partnerships’ three-year Primary Care Improvement Plans.

The recruitment of pharmacists in to general practice will be implemented in a phased manner in order to ensure the service is sustainable and does not destabilise the workforce in other sectors.

Community pharmacy owners are independent contractors and are responsible for the recruitment of pharmacists working in community pharmacy.

Question reference: S5W-20475

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 07 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 18 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many times trains on the Aberdeen-Glasgow route have been delayed in each month since January 2018, broken down by reason.

Question reference: S5O-02781

Asked by: Lewis Macdonald, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it will fulfil the commitment made by the then cabinet secretary for infrastructure in January 2016 to double-track key pinch points on the east coast railway line between Aberdeen and the central belt.

Chamber and committees