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-02455

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its new economic action plan and whether it will include specific targets for improving the economy.

Question reference: S5W-18838

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been raised by the apprenticeship levy since its introduction; how many companies and businesses have used the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, and what amount has been paid out in each year since its introduction.

Question reference: S5O-02444

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of staff shortages on local fire services.

Question reference: S5W-18835

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to introduce its proposed new levy on (a) out-of-town and (ii) online businesses.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking forward the Barclay Review as a priority.

Our consultation on the Bill to implement the agreed Barclay recommendations requiring legislative changes, sought views on a range of appropriate safeguards for a pilot scheme which would allow local councils in no more than three towns to charge businesses based predominantly online or out-of-town a modest rates supplement. The consultation closed on 17th September and we are currently considering and analysing the responses. We will publish the responses and analysis in due course in line with good practice.

Subject to consideration of the consultation responses, the forthcoming Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Bill will make provision for the pilot scheme. Subject to parliamentary approval, the scheme could start no earlier than April 2020.

Question reference: S5W-18837

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 26 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether any of the £15 million loan provided to Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) has been repaid and, if so, how much.

The Scottish Government expanded the loan facility made available to BiFab to allow the completion of the BOWL contract and convert that loan to a minority equity stake in the new company. That amount will be determined by the extent to which the loan is used towards the completion of the BOWL contract. The shareholding will not exceed 38%.

In addition we will make a commercial loan available to support DF Barnes during this transition.

The Scottish Government sought independent legal and financial advice throughout this process, the details of which are commercially confidential.

Question reference: S5W-18836

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many apprenticeships there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by business sector.

Skills Development Scotland(SDS) is responsible for contracting Modern Apprenticeship (MA) places. Skills Development Scotland (SDS) gathers information on Apprenticeship starts by occupational groupings.

AsSDS began collating data on occupational groupings in 2013-14.

The number of MA starts per year by occupational grouping is laid out in the following table.

Occupational Grouping	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16*	2016-17	2017-18
Administration & Related	2,175	2,451	2,359	2,154	1,811
Animal Care, Land & Water based	470	394	270	298	296
Automotive	1,051	1,118	1,203	1,118	1,085
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	57	65	35	19	30
Construction & Related	4,435	4,409	4,894	5,934	6,104
Creative & Cultural Skills	269	319	207	353	221
Engineering & Energy Related	1,816	1,704	1,458	1,255	1,339
Financial Services	429	502	759	752	931
Food & Drink	1,023	1,064	1,250	1,111	1,251
Hospitality & Tourism	3,279	2,940	2,773	2,987	2,766
Management	1,034	829	783	666	557
Other Manufacture	31	26	203	293	355
IT & Other Services	609	845	1,100	1,302	2,107
Personal Services	996	965	1,007	936	831
Retail & Customer Service	3,072	2,886	2,718	2,683	2,263
Sport, Health & Social Care	3,008	3,047	3,323	3,295	3,628
Transport & Logistics	1,530	1,683	1,476	1,106	1,570
Total	25,284	25,247	25,818	26,262	27,145

All end of year Modern Apprenticeship statistics dating back to 2010 are published on the SDS website and can be found at the following link.

https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/statistics/modern-apprenticeships/?page=1&quarter[]=Q4&statisticCategoryId=4&type[]=8&order=date-desc

Question reference: S5O-02414

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with NHS Forth Valley regarding funding for GP services at the Aberfoyle Medical Centre.

Question reference: S5W-18266

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the call by the Federation of Small Businesses for more support for rural start-ups, in light of the numbers of these lagging behind those in cities.

Scottish Government is committed to helping businesses across Scotland to grow and offers a variety of support options. These range from publicly funded business support, support for exporting, reducing the burden of taxation and regulation, making it easier for small businesses to access public sector contracts, improving access to finance, and strengthening innovation and entrepreneurship.

Support for our Enterprise Agencies provides responsive and focussed support to allow both urban and rural businesses to grow. While improving start-up rates is a national objective, we recognise the particular challenges faced by those located in rural areas such as the South of Scotland for example. This has led to the establishment of a new enterprise agency in the South of Scotland, to respond to the needs of that area and drive forward sustainable inclusive growth.

Business Gateway offers support for start-up businesses across Scotland, including business advice, planning and financial management as well as assistance with marketing, sales and business growth.

Scottish Government also provide funding for initiatives, such as Perth-based GrowBiz to develop, promote and deliver sustainable community-based enterprise support in rural areas.

In addition, The LEADER programme, part-funded by Scottish Government, will deliver around £77.4 million of locally targeted funding, including support for start-up and expanding enterprises.

Question reference: S5W-18268

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 7 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many nurses have (a) joined and (b) left NHS (i) Forth Valley and (ii) Fife in each year since 2007.

The number of Nurses & Midwives working in NHS Forth Valley have increased by over 7% between September 2006 and June 2018 while Nurse and Midwifery numbers in NHS Fife have increased by nearly 4% in the same period.

The total number of joiners and leavers across an entire year is not captured centrally. However, numbers of net joiners and net leavers are available.

The number of net joiners and net leavers for qualified nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Forth Valley and NHS Fife each year between 2008 and 2017 are shown in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively.

Table 1. Qualified nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Forth Valley - Net joiners and leavers, in each year ending 30 Sep, from 2008 to 2017 (Whole Time Equivalent).

Year ending 30 Sep	Nursing and Midwifery
Year ending 30 Sep	Net Joiners	Net Leavers
2008	113.3	38.6
2009	63.7	42.7
2010	45.9	32.2
2011	28.1	19.5
2012	51.9	23.3
2013	53.1	32.8
2014	115.5	30.2
2015	135.0	35.8
2016	139.2	49.7
2017	115.2	60.4

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Table 2. Qualified nursing and midwifery staff in NHS Fife - Net joiners and leavers, in each year ending 30 Sep, from 2008 to 2017 (Whole Time Equivalent).

Year ending 30 Sep	Nursing and Midwifery
Year ending 30 Sep	Net Joiners	Net Leavers
2008	84.3	39.6
2009	88.4	31.3
2010	76.6	34.1
2011	54.0	24.6
2012	67.0	35.7
2013	102.9	44.4
2014	127.8	39.3
2015	141.5	50.1
2016	110.1	61.2
2017	121.6	42.2

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Question reference: S5W-18264

Asked by: Dean Lockhart, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 August 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has received in Barnett consequentials as a result of the UK Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund.

The National Productivity Investment Fund was announced at Autumn Statement 2016. Barnett Consequentials allocated to the Scottish Government as part of this funding initiative are as follows.

Fiscal Event	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	TOTAL
	£m	£m	£m	£m	£m
UK Autumn Statement 2016	109.8	184.2	227.9	248.9	770.8
UK Budget 2017	-	-	-	-	-
UK Autumn Budget 2017	-	22.5	84.8	121.3	228.6
UK Spring Statement 2018	-	-	-	-	-
TOTAL	109.8	206.7	312.7	370.2	999.4