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: S5O-00751

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the reduction in the Skills and Training budget in 2017-18 will have on Skills Development Scotland's ability to grow the economy and develop the workforce.

There is no reduction to the budget for Skills Development Scotland in 2017-18.

In the Budget Bill, approved by this parliament on 23 February, the Skills Development Scotland grant in aid budget increases from £176.1m in 2016-17 to £179.6m in 2017-18.

This budget will be supplemented by a number of in year transfers to allow Skills Development Scotland to deliver activity in addition to its core services.

Question reference: S5W-05868

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in facilitating the transfer of administrative responsibilities for reserved tribunals, including employment tribunals.

The Scottish Government is progressing the transfer of reserved tribunals to Scotland. I met with the Senior President of Tribunals in November 2016 and will be meeting the president of the Employment Tribunal (Scotland) later this month.

The draft Order in Council for the devolution of Employment Tribunals is still in the course of being finalised and discussions with stakeholders on its terms are
on-going.

Question reference: S5W-04671

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, with reference to its enterprise and skills review, what the position will be of the chief executives of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council by the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-04673

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council will remain as non-departmental public bodies following its enterprise and skills review.

Question reference: S5W-04669

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) trades union and (b) business representatives will sit on the statutory board that has been proposed in its enterprise and skills review.

Question reference: S5W-04674

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what savings it anticipates will be made as a consequence of its enterprise and skills review; whether the assets of the enterprise companies will transfer to the proposed statutory board once it is established, and which respondents to the consultation proposed or supported a statutory board.

The phase one report identified that we should optimise what can be achieved by seamlessly working across the enterprise and skills bodies with a focus on agreed priorities and objectives, as well as the need to deal with the perceptions of a cluttered landscape by simplifying service delivery with a ‘no wrong door’ approach. Any savings which might be secured will be identified through the work being taken forward in phase two and beyond.

The agencies involved in this review are only one part of the overall enterprise and skills systems in Scotland, but they are an important one. As indicated in our Call for Evidence -Summary Analysis (see

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0050/00505877.pdf), respondents overall felt that a refreshed strategic focus with a single vision, goals and shared ownership could foster more effective collaboration.

Question reference: S5W-04670

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the boards of Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council will be abolished as part of its enterprise and skills review.

There will be a new single, strategic Scotland-wide statutory board to co-ordinate the activities of SE and HIE, SDS and the SFC, in order to bring greater integration and focus to the delivery of our enterprise and skills support. This will focus on fully aligning and coordinating activity across the agencies to maximise their collective impact.

Our intention is that, once established, this overarching board will assume the key functions and roles of the existing agency boards whilst each of the bodies will remain in its own right. Consideration of how board functions will be distributed between levels, and what supporting infrastructure will be required to support the operation of the new board and of the existing bodies will be taken forward during phase two of the review. Existing boards will be fully involved in this, and will continue to perform their current roles during the transition process to the new arrangements.

Question reference: S5W-04672

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what involvement Highlands and Islands Enterprise will have on the statutory board that has been proposed in its enterprise and skills review.

Question reference: S5W-04676

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent police civilian staff jobs there have been in each year since 2007-08.

Data on the number of Full Time Equivalent civilian staff in the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland is published by the SPA on a quarterly basis.

For ease, the information you have requested is provided in the table below.

Police Staff Quarterly Strength Statistics (Full-Time Equivalent), Scotland¹, from 31 March 2007 to 31 March 2016

Date	Scotland
Q1 2007	7,350
Q1 2008	7,528
Q1 2009	7,713
Q1 2010	7,891
Q1 2011	7,447
Q1 2012	6,947
Q1 2013	6,790
Q1 2014	5,987
Q1 2015	5,542
Q1 2016	5,505

1. Q1 represents the 31 March

The data provides a snapshot of police staff at the end of the quarter.

Question reference: S5W-04678

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00181 by Michael Matheson on 8 November 2016 (Official Report, c. 3), what powers it will have to reject any of the findings of the Police Scotland review of its estate.