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-26038

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 23 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make women fitted with Boston Scientific Advantage Fit and Pinnacle implants aware that they have been fitted with these products.

Question reference: S4F-02902

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 June 2015

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the concerns expressed by trade unions and others regarding the budget reductions that local authorities are facing.

Question reference: S4W-25698

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 18 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-25060 by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 April 2015, which organisations have received funding from the support offered for non-formal adult learning to the voluntary sector and how much they received.

Education Scotland manages the Scottish Government funding for non-formal adult learning to the voluntary sector; they have awarded a total of £2,161,100 over the three years 2013 to 2016. This funding is broken down in the following table.

Name of grant

Organisation

Financial Year 2013-14	Financial Year 2014-15	Financial Year 2015-16
Total	Total	Total

Strategic Funding Partnership Funding

Dyslexia Scotland	£48,500	£48,500	£48,500
Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens	£10,000	£10,000	£10,000
Lead Scotland	£142,500	£142,500	£142,500
Learning Link	£70,000	£70,000	£65,000
Scotland’s Learning Partnership	£37,500	£37,500	£37,500
Scottish Community Development Centre	£65,000	£65,000	£65,000
Scottish Community Development Network	£15,000	£15,000	£15,000
Scottish Trades Union Congress	£25,000	£25,000	£25,000
Workers Educational Association	£290,000	£290,000	£290,000

Sub Total

£703,500

£698,500

Community Learning and Development Innovation and Improvement Fund (Adult Learning only)

New College Lanarkshire	0	£9,800	0
Parents Early Education Partnership	0	£30,000	0
Learning Link and Worker’s Educational Association	0	£15,800	0

Sub total	£0	£55,600	£0
Total funding for adult learning each financial year	£703,500	£759,100	£698,500

Total funding for adult learning for 2013 to 2016

£2,161,100

Question reference: S4W-26039

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 June 2015
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 17 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether its commitment to grow the annual number of new starts to modern apprenticeships from 25,000 to 30,000 by 2020 includes pupils participating in foundation apprenticeships.

Question reference: S4O-04459

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government which ministers have met representatives of the Government of Qatar since it was awarded the 2022 World Cup.

Question reference: S4W-25692

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) part- and (b) full-time students have been enrolled at colleges in each year since 2007-08, also broken down by (i) age and (ii) gender.

The latest available data on students in colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2013-14. Tables 1 to 4 show the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students studying full-time and part-time at colleges in each year since 2007-08, broken down by age and gender.

Table 1 - Number of FTE students studying full-time at Scotland's colleges by age group, 2007-08 to 2013-14

Academic Year	Under 16	16 to 19	20 to 24	25 and over	Total
2007-08	1,143	42,445	14,546	15,518	73,651
2008-09	1,011	44,563	15,429	15,809	76,813
2009-10	877	46,695	17,814	17,715	83,101
2010-11	796	47,623	19,772	18,822	87,014
2011-12	719	48,770	20,546	18,835	88,869
2012-13	676	46,627	20,108	18,178	85,590
2013-14	603	46,636	20,792	19,859	87,890

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Table 2 - Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students studying part-time at Scotland's colleges by age group, 2007-08 to 2013-14

Academic Year	Under 16	16 to 19	20 to 24	25 and over	Total
2007-08	4,642	15,394	8,097	29,639	57,772
2008-09	5,019	15,487	8,181	27,874	56,561
2009-10	4,789	14,234	7,603	25,191	51,817
2010-11	4,681	13,097	7,261	22,494	47,533
2011-12	3,380	12,451	7,177	21,323	44,330
2012-13	2,592	14,651	7,859	20,730	45,832
2013-14	2,420	13,899	8,269	20,464	45,052

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Table 3 - Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students studying full-time at Scotland's colleges by gender, 2007-08 to 2013-14

Academic Year	Male	Female	Total
2007-08	33,024	40,628	73,651
2008-09	34,270	42,543	76,813
2009-10	38,054	45,048	83,101
2010-11	40,471	46,543	87,014
2011-12	41,503	47,366	88,869
2012-13	39,758	45,832	85,590
2013-14	40,693	47,197	87,890

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Table 4 - Number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students studying part-time at Scotland's colleges by gender, 2007-08 to 2013-14

Academic Year	Male	Female	Total
2007-08	28,919	28,853	57,772
2008-09	28,815	27,745	56,561
2009-10	26,156	25,660	51,817
2010-11	24,467	23,066	47,533
2011-12	23,054	21,276	44,330
2012-13	24,725	21,107	45,832
2013-14	24,607	20,445	45,052

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Question reference: S4W-25694

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many college teachers have been employed on (a) part-time, (b) full-time and (c) temporary contracts in each year since 2007-08, and how many hours of teaching have been recorded.

The latest available data on teaching staff at colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2012-13. Table 1 shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff employed on a permanent and temporary basis, working full-time and part-time at colleges in each year since 2007-08. Data on teaching hours is not held centrally.

Table 1 - Teaching staff at colleges in Scotland, FTE, 2007-08 to 2012-13

		2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
		FTE	FTE	FTE	FTE	FTE	FTE
Permanent	Full-time	4388	4405	4390	4153	3793	3584
	Part-time	1067	1126	1125	1153	1095	1072
Temporary	Full-time	66	89	86	94	65	84
	Part-time	791	844	766	675	379	378

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Question reference: S4W-25717

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 9 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has asked the EU for advice on how to pay the living wage through public procurement and, if so, whether it will publish the advice it received.

Scottish Ministers have written to the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services on two separate occasions (in May 2012 and again in May 2014) to seek clarification on whether public bodies can make payment of a living wage a mandatory requirement for participation in a public procurement process or a mandatory condition of a public contact in a way that is compatible with EU law.

That correspondence is available from the Scottish Government’s website, see the following link:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/freedom-of-information/recentdisclosures/FoI2014/LivingWageEuropeanComm/livingwagecontentsofcomms

Also, the initial correspondence has been published as part of Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) briefing SB 15-14 The Living Wage. We also issued advice in the form of a Scottish Public Procurement Notice (4/2012) on 22 August 2012 to disseminate this clarification more widely to the public procurement community in Scotland.

As well as the European Commission’s stated opinion, the issue has been addressed in a number of rulings by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the case references are set out below:

Rüffert v Land Niedersachsen, C-346/06;

Laval un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundets avdelning 1, Byggettan and Svenska Elektrikerförbundet - C-341/05; and

Bundesdruckerie GmbH v Stadt Dortmund, C-549/13

A further Court of Justice ruling on the matter is expected later in 2015 in the following case, RegioPost GmbH & Co. KG v Stadt Landau, Case C-115/14

Earlier in 2015 we published practical advice for public purchasers on how and when a bidder’s overall approach to workforce matters, including payment of the living wage, can be evaluated as part of the procurement process.

Of course, the most effective way of ensuring that workers receive at least the living wage would be for responsibility for the legal minimum wage to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. That is why, unlike the Labour Party, this government called on The Smith Commission to recommend the devolution of employment law and the national minimum wage to Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-25696

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many agency staff have been employed by colleges in each year since 2007-08.

Question reference: S4W-25693

Asked by: Neil Findlay, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 9 June 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) disabled people and (b) people with learning difficulties have been enrolled in colleges in each year since 2007-08.

The latest available data on students in colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2013-14. Table 1 shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students with a recorded disability at Scotland's colleges in each year since 2007-08. It is not possible to identify students with learning difficulties.

Table 1 - Number of FTE students with a recorded disability at Scotland's colleges, 2007-08 to 2013-14

Academic Year

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

Full-time equivalent (FTE) students

with a disability

18,118

19,194

19,512

20,058

20,920

21,477

21,970

Source: Scottish Funding Council