Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-04250

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many students (a) began and (b) completed childcare courses at SVQ level (i) 2 and (ii) 3 in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Question reference: S5W-05853

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much tax revenue it expects will be generated by the large business rates supplement in 2017-18, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government's estimate of non-domestic rates income attributable to the large business supplement for 2017-18 by local authority area is set out in the following table.

Local authority	Estimated income (£ million)
Aberdeen City	11.0
Aberdeenshire	4.4
Angus	1.1
Argyll & Bute	1.5
Clackmannanshire	0.7
Dumfries & Galloway	1.6
Dundee City	3.0
East Ayrshire	1.1
East Dunbartonshire	1.0
East Lothian	1.1
East Renfrewshire	0.5
Edinburgh, City of	16.3
Eilean Siar	0.3
Falkirk	3.0
Fife	7.1
Glasgow City	16.9
Highland	5.4
Inverclyde	0.8
Midlothian	1.3
Moray	1.7
North Ayrshire	1.6
North Lanarkshire	4.5
Orkney Islands	0.3
Perth & Kinross	2.2
Renfrewshire	5.9
Scottish Borders	1.2
Shetland Islands	0.9
South Ayrshire	1.7
South Lanarkshire	19.2
Stirling	1.8
West Dunbartonshire	3.6
West Lothian	3.3
TOTAL	126.0

Question reference: S5W-05856

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many commercial properties the large business rates supplement will apply to in 2017-18, broken down by (a) local authority area and (b) business sector.

The Scottish Government's estimate of the numbers of properties liable for the large business supplement for 2017-18, broken down by local authority area and by Assessors’ property classification, is set out in the following tables.

Local authority	Estimated number of properties
Aberdeen City	2,068
Aberdeenshire	937
Angus	281
Argyll & Bute	274
Clackmannanshire	112
Dumfries & Galloway	391
Dundee City	687
East Ayrshire	279
East Dunbartonshire	201
East Lothian	257
East Renfrewshire	131
Edinburgh, City of	3,098
Eilean Siar	89
Falkirk	476
Fife	1,042
Glasgow City	3,390
Highland	1,058
Inverclyde	181
Midlothian	306
Moray	310
North Ayrshire	352
North Lanarkshire	1,055
Orkney Islands	70
Perth & Kinross	537
Renfrewshire	721
Scottish Borders	306
Shetland Islands	108
South Ayrshire	384
South Lanarkshire	1,039
Stirling	408
West Dunbartonshire	265
West Lothian	765
TOTAL	21,578

Class	Estimated number of properties
Advertising	19
Care Facilities	802
Communications	78
Cultural	159
Education and Training	2,077
Garages and Petrol Stations	331
Health and Medical	579
Hotels	938
Industrial Subjects	4,552
Leisure, Entertainment, Caravans etc.	909
Offices	3,421
Other	314
Petrochemical	78
Public Houses	643
Public Service Subjects	1,043
Quarries, Mines, etc.	96
Religious	92
Shops	5,077
Sporting Subjects	32
Statutory Undertaking	338
Total	21,578

Question reference: S5W-05135

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 13 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the introduction of the apprenticeship levy will have on the (a) total money available in the block grant for apprenticeships, (b) cost of paying the levy by the public sector and (c) the net impact on its resource DEL, in each of the next three years.

a) Funding allocated to the Scottish Government as a result of the introduction of the UK Government Apprenticeship Levy will form part of the Scottish block grant. Barnett consequentials accrued to the Scottish Government are added to or, if comparable UK budgets have been reduced rather than increased, are deducted from the total available funding available to Scottish Ministers. It is then for Scottish Ministers to decide how all the resources available to them should be allocated.

b) The cost to the Scottish public sector contribution to the UK Government Apprenticeship Levy is estimated at £73 million per annum.

c) Given the direct financial impact on public sector employers, between 2017-18 and 2019-20, we estimate that the Scottish Government’s net spending power will be £63 million lower than it would have been in the absence of the Levy.

Overall, the Scottish Government’s Spending Review discretionary resource DEL allocation, as amended in the March UK Budget and UK Autumn Statement, faces the equivalent of a real terms cut of 3.1% over the period relative to the 2016-17 budget.

Question reference: S5F-00648

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2016

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to figures released by the Care Inspectorate that show that 70% of four-year-olds were recorded as receiving funded childcare.

Question reference: S5W-05134

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 12 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government which public bodies it estimates will pay the apprenticeship levy in Spring 2017 and how much it estimates each will pay.

The Scottish Government estimates that the majority of public bodies in Scotland will pay the UK Government's Apprenticeship Levy. Overall we estimate that Scottish public bodies will pay £73 million in 2016-17.

Exact details of each body’s contribution will not be known until the employers start to pay Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs when the UK Government's Levy comes in to force in April 2017.

Question reference: S5W-05153

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology it uses to analyse how the performance of Scotland’s (a) primary and (b) S1 - S3 school pupils compares with others internationally, and whether it will publish the most recent findings.

The Scottish Government participates in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The programme runs every three years across all OECD members and a variety of partner countries, and aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students, with a particular focus on maths, reading and science. Scotland has participated in all six surveys since the first wave of testing in 2000.

The OECD published the results of the 2015 survey on 6 December 2016 and, on the same date, the Scottish Government published a report focussing on the Scottish results and how they compare internationally http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/7252. The next survey will take place in 2018, with the results available in December 2019.

We do not carry out an international comparison of the performance of primary school pupils. We took the decision in 2010 to limit our participation in international surveys to PISA in order to reduce the bureaucratic burden on teachers and pupils, and because we felt PISA provides an effective indicator of how the whole Scottish education system is performing relative to other countries.

Question reference: S5W-05175

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology it uses to analyse how the literacy skills of Scotland’s school pupils compare with others internationally, and whether it will publish the most recent findings.

The Scottish Government welcomes international scrutiny of the education system, and the Scottish Government participates in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The programme runs every three years across all OECD members and a variety of partner countries. Scotland has participated in all six surveys since the first wave of testing in 2000. PISA aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students, with a particular focus on maths, reading and science.

The OECD published the results of the 2015 survey on 6 December 2016 and, on the same date, the Scottish Government published a report focussing on the Scottish results and how they compare internationally http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/7252. The next survey will take place in 2018, with the results available in December 2019.

Question reference: S5W-05155

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what methodology it uses to analyse how the performance of Scotland’s school pupils in mathematics compares with others internationally, and whether it will publish the most recent findings.

The Scottish Government welcomes international scrutiny of the education system, and participates in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The programme runs every three years across all OECD members and a variety of partner countries, and aims to evaluate education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students, with a particular focus on maths, reading and science. Scotland has participated in all six surveys since the first wave of testing in 2000.

The OECD published the results of the 2015 survey on 6 December 2016 and, on the same date, the Scottish Government published a report focussing on the Scottish results and how they compare internationally http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/12/7252. The next survey will take place in 2018, with the results available in December 2019.

Question reference: S5W-05136

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the total payroll cost is for each public body in 2016-17 and what estimate it has made of these costs for the next three years.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on total payroll costs centrally. This would be a matter for individual public bodies.

However, we do collect projected and actual paybill costs for those employees within public bodies covered by the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy for Staff Pay Remits. The total projected paybill (salary plus on-costs: National Insurance Contributions, pensions, allowances, etc.) for these employees is estimated to be £1.4 billion for 2016-17. This estimate excludes the paybill costs for senior appointments such as the Chief Executive, non-executive directors and all Senior Civil Service appointments because they are not covered by the Pay Policy for Staff Pay Remits.

A list of those public bodies covered by the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy is available at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/public-sector-pay/staff-pay/public-bodies-covered.

Estimates of these costs for future years are dependent upon the Pay Policy in place at the time; decisions taken on National Insurance Contributions and employers’ pension contributions by the UK Government; decisions on recruitment and workforce planning taken by individual public bodies; and decisions individual bodies take on their annual pay remits, following engagement with trade unions. The 2017-18 Public Sector Pay Policy will be announced alongside the draft budget statement on 15 December.

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