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: S6W-12997

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to Skills Development Scotland, how it measures (a) outcomes, (b) performance and (c) value for money.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) are issued with a Ministerial letter of guidance at the start of each financial year, setting out delivery expectations for the year ahead.

In addition, SDS publish an annual Strategic Plan which is subject to Ministerial review and approval. The plan sets out the outcomes SDS intend to achieve, and the measures they use to monitor and report progress.

SDS report to the Scottish Government and Ministers on performance and spend through a series of governance meetings and produce regular reports including publishing quarterly Modern Apprenticeship statistics.

As set out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual, NDPB Accountable officers are responsible for ensuring that the resources of the public body are used economically, efficiently and effectively, and that arrangements are in place to secure Best Value and deliver Value for Money for the public sector as a whole.

Question reference: S6W-12995

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Advisory Council for Economic Transformation has met in the last year.

The Advisory Council for Economic Transformation was established in July 2021 to help shape the 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). The Council met 4 times in July 2021, August 2021, September 2021 and October 2021 ahead of the publication of the strategy in March 2022. In addition, a number of sub group meetings were held to help inform the strategy’s programmes and actions. Following its publication, the NSET Delivery Board was created to oversee the successful implementation of the strategy.

Question reference: S6W-12993

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many times the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board has met in the last year.

Question reference: S6W-12996

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Advisory Council for Economic Transformation, how it assesses (a) outcomes, (b) performance and (c) value for money.

The Advisory Council for Economic Transformation was established in July 2021 to help shape the 10 year National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET). Following its publication, the NSET Delivery Board was created to oversee the successful implementation of the strategy. In October 2022 NSET Delivery Plans were published which set out how the Scottish Government will work with partners to implement the strategy. The plans includes measures for assessing the impact of the 6 NSET programmes: https://www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-national-strategy-economic-transformation-delivery-plans-october-2022/ .

Question reference: S6W-12994

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board, how it assesses (a) outcomes, (b) performance and (c) value for money.

The Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board was supported by an independent Analytical Unit which monitored the impact and outcomes of the enterprise and skills system through a Performance Framework. Details of the Board’s Performance Framework can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/enterprise-and-skills-strategic-board-january-2020/ . The final evaluation undertaken for the Board was measuring the return to post-school education and skills, which was published on 2 December 2022.

Question reference: S6F-01658

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the First Minister what progress the Scottish Government has made in ending the use of hotels as temporary accommodation for children and families.

Question reference: S6W-12771

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2022
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 16 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-12034 by Michael Matheson on 28 November 2022, whether the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council's Collaborative Framework Charter includes within its scope a specific workstream to develop a windfarm support service operation vessel design and build programme in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has been working closely with the Scottish Offshore Wind Energy Council’s Collaborative Framework Working Group, which is comprised of all active offshore wind developers in Scotland, the enterprise agencies and ORE Catapult, to develop a Strategic Investment Model (SIM). The SIM will deliver on the commitments in the Collaborative Framework Charter, and facilitate timely, strategic investment through the pooling/sharing and coordination of funds linked to supply chain commitments associated with the ScotWind projects. The Strategic Investment Model is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks, with further detail to be announced in early 2023.

Question reference: S6O-01728

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the Scottish Housing Regulator regarding the future of community housing associations.

Question reference: S6W-12662

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many clinical trials in NHS Scotland were run for brain tumour patients in 2020-21, and how many patients took part in any such trials.

Question reference: S6W-12607

Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 12 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many new post-foundation specialty training posts for junior doctors in NHS Scotland there have been in each of the last 10 years.

725 additional training places have been created for trainee doctors since 2014. This includes 152 posts which were agreed to this year and will be recruited to in 2023. This represents the largest annual expansion to date, exceeding last year’s record by 13 places. An annual breakdown is included in the following table.

Data is not held for years prior to 2014.

Year	Number of posts created
2014	58
2015	15
2016	117*
2017	21
2018	26
2019	53
2020	70
2021	74
2022	139
2023	152
Total:	725

* includes 100 additional GP training places