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-00193

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement the recommendations arising from its consultation on the Apprenticeship Levy.

The Apprenticeship Levy was announced by the UK Government without any prior consultation with the Scottish Government, or indeed others who will be liable for paying the levy.

The consultation undertaken by the Scottish Government closed on 26 August 2016 and independent analysis of the near 400 responses is now underway, once that concludes we will form our response in Scotland. However, initial analysis does suggest broad support from employers and stakeholders to the areas proposed in the consultation.

We are acutely aware of the need to provide employers and training providers with clarity over our approach to the Levy in Scotland and will be looking to do so as quickly as we can.

Question reference: S5W-03190

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-02767

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional qualified teachers or childcare graduates it expects to be in place in nurseries in the most deprived areas by 2018.

The Scottish Government is currently working with partners to identify target nurseries for the rollout of the additional graduate or teacher commitment from 2018. This is drawing on new SIMD data published on 31 August 2016 and locally held information, to ensure that the highest possible number of the most disadvantaged young children can benefit from an additional graduate or teacher. We will set out more information autumn 2016.

Question reference: S5W-02740

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will provide in (a) real and (b) cash terms each year toward the provision of the additional 20,000 qualified early learning and childcare workers by 2020 referred to in the Programme for Government.

Ahead of any recruitment campaign, the Scottish Government is currently working with delivery partners to explore all existing routes to recruit a high quality and diverse early learning and childcare workforce. A Skills Investment Plan is being developed and research is currently being conducted with target audiences. This work will inform the cost and scope of the recruitment campaign. We will start to target our marketing activity from spring 2017.

Question reference: S5O-00180

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether all of its and its agencies’ employees receive at least the Scottish living wage.

All public bodies covered by the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy are required to pay their employees the Scottish Living Wage as part of their annual pay settlements. This requirement has been an integral part of our public sector pay policy since 2011. The policy covers the Scottish Government, its agencies, and the non-departmental public bodies for which we are responsible. It also covers the subsidiaries of these bodies.

There may be a small number of staff in public bodies subject to Minister’s pay policy still to benefit from the 2016 Scottish Living Wage increase, but this is due to the fact that these bodies are still to conclude pay negotiations with members of staff and their unions this year and Scottish Ministers cannot intervene while these negotiations continue.

We have also made sure that since [April] 2011, all NHS staff in Scotland earn above living wage rate. All teachers, police officers and Fire Service personnel already earn above the living wage rate.

The Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy does not extend to local authorities. Local authorities are self-governing bodies and set the terms and conditions under which local government staff are employed. However, I welcome the fact that local authorities do pay the living wage as part of their current pay settlement and the Scottish Government will encourage them to continue to do so for future pay awards.

Question reference: S5W-02373

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools (a) have and (b) do not have onsite outdoor sports facilities, also broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S5W-02372

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary school careers advisers there have been in each year since 2006, broken down by local authority area.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) currently employ 293 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance Advisers and 52.7 FTE work coaches who provide services to schools across Scotland. SDS manage and deliver their services using 5 geographical regions in Scotland they have defined which do not follow local authority structures.

Due to changes in the delivery landscape and the changing nature and definition of the role of a careers advisor since 2006, SDS does not hold information on the yearly breakdown of the number of careers advisors.

Question reference: S5W-02369

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the UK Government regarding development of its 2012 report, BIS Retail Strategy, and its 2013 report, A Strategy for Future Retail, Industry and Government delivering in partnership, in Scotland.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills published both the 2012, BIS Retail Strategy and 2013, A Strategy for Future Retail, in response to the Mary Portas independent review into the future of UK high streets and in support of work they were undertaking to revitalise high streets and town centres. At that time, the Scottish Government were undertaking their own independent review of town centres with a focus that went beyond retail.

The UK Government did not consult with the Scottish Government on these strategies as town centre regeneration, which both of these strategies address, is devolved to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-02370

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) its and (b) the overall costs were for each new or reinstated train station since 2007, broken down by the number of platforms.

Since 2007, a total of 13 new stations have been added to the rail network. Some stations were constructed on the operational railway whilst others were built as part of larger rail projects re-establishing former railway lines and, accordingly, with differing circumstances there is a variation in construction costs. The table below provides the costs for each station, in outturn prices, and the number of platforms.

Station	Opened in	Cost	Government Contribution	Third Party contributions(Councils, RTP's)	Number of platforms
Alloa	2008	£3.05 million	£3.05 million	***	1
Laurencekirk	2009	£3.5 million	£2,805 million	£695,000	2
Blackridge	2011	£4 million	£2.1 million	£1.98 million	2
Caldercruix	2011	£2.46 million	£2.46 million		2
Armadale	2011	£3 million	£3 million		2
Conon Bridge	2013	£495,000	£399,000	£96,000	1** (15 metre platform)
Shawfair	2015	£2.3 million	£2.3 million		2
Eskbank	2015	£2.2 million	£2.2 million		1
Newtongrange	2015	£1.1 million	£1.1 million		1
Gorebridge	2015	£1 million	£1 million		1
Stow	2015	£1.7 million	£1.7 million		2
Galashiels	2015	£1.6 million	£1.6 million		1
Tweedbank	2015	£2.3 million	£2.3 million		1* (Island Platform)

***A £4.22 million contribution from third party promoters was made towards the overall cost of the Stirling-Alloa and Kincardine project; there was no hypothecation in respect of the station.

Question reference: S5W-02374

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-01899 by Humza Youssaf on 2 September 2016, what percentage of its transport budget has been allocated to cycling policy in each year since 2010.

Financial Year	Percentage of Transport Scotland Budget Allocated to Active Travel
2010-11	1.2
2011-12	1.0
2012-13	1.1
2013-14	1.1
2014-15	2.1
2015-16	1.9