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: S5W-16219

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14428 by Derek Mackay on 20 February 2018, whether it will provide the information broken down by SME suppliers that are (a) micro-, (b) small- and (c) medium-sized.

The following table provides the number of SME suppliers, broken by
(a) micro, (b) small and (c) medium-sized suppliers, who have supplied
goods and services to core Scottish Government for Financial Years
2005-06 to 2016-17 based on data contained in the Scottish Procurement
Information Hub (the “Hub”).

Please note that the total number of SME suppliers varies in some years
from the original answer provided to S5W-14428, because the data held
in the Hub is revalidated and may change in subsequent reports as
additional information about suppliers is applied.

Number of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Suppliers supplying goods
and services to core Scottish Governmentfor Financial Years 2005-06 – 2016-17

Financial Year	Number of SME Suppliers where Employee Size known*	Total Number Micro Suppliers where Employee Size known*	Total Number Small Suppliers where Employee Size known*	Total Number Medium Suppliers where Employee Size known*
2005-06	1574	395	531	648
2006-07	1543	382	501	660
2007-08	1502	380	496	626
2008-09	1465	412	455	598
2009-10	1515	439	469	607
2010-11	1316	347	421	548
2011-12	1248	344	403	501
2012-13	1327	361	438	528
2013-14	1038	257	341	440
2014-15	1190	291	391	508
2015-16	922	203	298	421
2016-17	1012	260	329	423

Data is provided for core Scottish Government only.

Data is taken from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub and is based
on suppliers that have been classed as commercial organisations or as
non-trade social care providers and with whom core Scottish Government
has spent over £1000 in aggregate in a 12 month period.

*Supplier size is based on number of employees where it is known.

SMEs are defined as suppliers with less than 250 employees.

Micro suppliers are defined as suppliers with less than 10 employees.

Small suppliers are defined as suppliers with 10-49 employees.

Medium suppliers are defined as suppliers with 50-249 employees.

Data correct at April 2018. Data is revalidated and may change in subsequent reports as
additional information about suppliers is applied.

Question reference: S5W-16212

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how the nursery relief is being implemented.

From 1 April 2018, day nurseries in Scotland have been eligible for up to 100% non-domestic (business) rates relief. As common to other rates reliefs an application form is required. To raise awareness of this relief and encourage take-up Scottish Government has worked with sector representatives and provided guidance and model application forms to Councils.

Additionally, I will write to all potentially eligible nurseries during May to encourage applications.

Based on the valuation roll at the 1st of April 2018 there were 966 properties in Scotland classed as day nurseries for rating purposes. However, some of those nurseries will already benefit from relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme, charity relief or other reliefs. Those nurseries may choose to continue to receive relief through these schemes, rather than through Nursery Relief.

Data on number of relief applications made is not collated, but the number of premises in receipt of Nursery Relief as at 1 June 2018 will be known in the Autumn.

Question reference: S5W-16217

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses are eligible for the business growth accelerator.

Question reference: S5W-16213

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses are eligible for nursery relief.

Question reference: S5W-16215

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses that have applied for nursery relief have been granted it.

Question reference: S5W-15916

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Futures Trust's (SFT) annual assessment of savings and benefits, how the effectiveness factor of 30% for asset management is estimated; whether property disposals will be 30% larger than they otherwise would have been because of SFT activities, and how the assumed benefit of 21% for schools construction is calculated, including details of any counterfactual baseline that was used.

The effectiveness factor of 30% for asset management was based on the SFT Benefits Methodology 2016 - 17 and which is available from SFT's website www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/publications/category/benefits . Examples of work within the programme include the Smarter Workplaces Programme to deliver central estate transformational change. After a five-year programme of work led by SFT an on-going annual revenue efficiency of £28 million per annum has been delivered. SFT's work with four pilot councils to demonstrate what efficiency savings could be realised through office rationalisation has acted as a catalyst for wider change resulting in an average floor-space reduction of more than 30% in the last five years.

It is not clear where the assumed benefit of 21% for school construction was found as it does not feature within SFT's Annual Business Review for 2016-17.

Question reference: S5W-16020

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils in secondary schools have achieved foreign language qualifications in each year since 2007, also broken down by level of qualification.

The following table sets out how many passes there are in foreign languages in each year since 2007 in secondary schools. It includes the following languages: Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian (although this is no longer available), Spanish and Urdu. It includes all the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) qualifications at all levels.

In addition to the qualifications listed in the table, increasing numbers of schools are choosing to present young people for the SQA Modern Language for Life and Work Award which is available at levels SCQF level 3 and 4. In this award attainment has increased by 36% between 2015 and 2017 from 2,164 to 2,943.

The data in the table shows a decline in uptake of national qualifications at SCQF levels 3-5. This decline is also evident in other subjects and is due in large part to changes in Senior Phase design, changes to curriculum models since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence and as a drop in the cohort size. A fairer representation of language attainment can be seen in the uptake at Higher (SCQF 6) and Advanced Higher (SCQF 7) where numbers have increased since 2007 at both levels. At Higher in particular the numbers have remained above 7,000 in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Table: Passes in foreign language qualifications, by level of qualification, 2007-2017

SCQF Levels/by Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
SCQF 3 Total	7033	7589	6822	6450	5964	5596	4870	1037	810	582	643
SCQF 4 Total	23363	22214	20322	18858	17618	17113	15938	8607	6828	5625	5415
SCQF 5 Total	22842	22395	21765	21318	20928	19882	20529	16763	15599	14164	14245
SCQF 6 Total	6238	6231	6186	6347	6083	6352	6070	6276	7276	7628	7082
SCQF 7 Total	700	850	859	876	905	877	928	858	930	1128	1118
Total	60176	59279	55954	53849	51498	49820	48335	33541	31443	29127	28503

Qualifications include Standard Grades, Access 3, Intermediate 1 (A-C), Intermediate 2 (A-C), National 3, National 4, National 5 (A-C), Higher (A-C) and Advanced Higher (A-C).

Question reference: S5F-02301

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2018

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with Asda and Sainsbury’s regarding their merger and any impact this might have on jobs in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-16018

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) small- and (b) medium-sized enterprises exported their goods and services in each year since 2015.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of small enterprises and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland that exported goods and services from 2015 onwards.

However, the Small Business Survey Scotland (SBSS) 2016, available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/small-business-survey-scotland-2016/ , provides an estimate of the proportion of small businesses (businesses with 10-49 employees) and medium-sized businesses (businesses with 50-249 employees) in Scotland that exported goods and services internationally (outside of the UK) in 2016. According to the SBSS 2016, 21 per cent of small businesses and 33 per cent of medium-sized businesses reported that they had sold goods or services outside of the UK in the past 12 months. Whilst the SBSS 2016 provides an estimate of the overall proportion of SMEs with employees that exported goods or services to the rest of the UK in the past 12 months, it does not provide a breakdown by business size.

The SBS 2015, available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/small-business-survey-scotland-2015/ provides an estimate of the overall proportion of SMEs with employees that exported goods and services internationally (outside of the UK) in 2015. However it does not provide a breakdown by business size.

Question reference: S5W-15919

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Futures Trust will publish an updated Statement of Benefits, and when the last such statement was published.