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-03465

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the implementation of the public sector equality duty and whether it analyses the information and data that is provided under the duty.

Question reference: S5W-03444

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for how long scaffolding has been in place at Dumbarton Castle and when it anticipates it will be removed.

The Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014 created a new public body, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), to carry out the regulatory and other functions which were formerly delivered by, or on behalf of, Scottish Ministers.

The information you requested is not held centrally and is an operational matter for Historic Environment Scotland who are responsible for delivering Scottish Ministers’ functions relating to the properties in their care. I have therefore referred your question to the HES Chief Executive who will reply to you directly.

Question reference: S5W-03144

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the adjustments to Council Tax bands E, F, G and H will continue to include the 25% single person's discount.

Question reference: S5W-03461

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the implementation of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and associated guidance.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 contains a number of measures to increase transparency of public procurement including requiring contracting authorities with an annual regulated procurement spend of £5 million or more to produce and publish annual procurement strategies, setting out how each authority will meet the obligations of the Act. Authorities must publish their first strategy by 31 December 2016, covering the remainder of their current Financial Year and the next full Year. At the end of this period, authorities are required to publish an annual report, setting out whether their regulated procurements complied with their strategies. Once the authorities have published their annual reports, the Act then requires Scottish Ministers to produce a report providing an overview of procurement activity in Scotland, based on the information contained in contracting authorities' annual reports. It is anticipated that the first such report will be published in early 2019.

Question reference: S5W-03462

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has that guidance on either (a) the living wage or (b) fair work has been considered and had an impact on the outcome of public sector procurement as a result of the implementation of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires contracting authorities to produce and publish a procurement strategy setting out how they will meet the obligations of the Act. Procurement strategies must include a statement of their general policy on the payment of a living wage to people involved in delivering public contracts. Authorities must publish their first strategy by 31 December 2016, covering the remainder of their current Financial Year and the next full Year. At the end of this period, contracting authorities must also produce an annual report on whether their procurement activities complied with the strategy, and where they didn’t, how they intends to ensure compliance in the future. Scottish Ministers will then produce an annual report on procurement activity based upon public bodies individual annual reports. It is anticipated that the first such report will be published in early 2019.

Question reference: S5W-03145

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultant psychiatry vacancies there are, broken down by NHS board.

Number (whole time equivalent) of psychiatric consultant vacancies by NHS board as at 30 June 2016.

	Total Vacancies
Scotland	55.5
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	4.0
NHS Borders	3.0
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	1.0
NHS Fife	1.6
NHS Forth Valley	4.8
NHS Grampian	6.7
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	11.8
NHS Highland	3.0
NHS Lanarkshire	4.0
NHS Lothian	1.7
NHS Orkney	1.0
NHS Shetland	-
NHS Tayside	10.9
NHS Western Isles	-
State Hospital	2.0

Source: ISD(M)36, Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS), ISD Scotland

Notes

A vacancy is a post which has been cleared for advert after being through the redeployment process (internal or external advert) and remains a vacancy until an individual starts in the post. Prior to this, a vacancy stopped being classified as such at the point when the post was offered to someone and accepted. The impact of this change is a significant increase in the number of reported vacancies

Question reference: S5W-03146

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS full-time-equivalent psychiatrists cover the (a) Helensburgh and Lomond and (b) Argyll and Bute area.

Question reference: S5F-00343

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 October 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2016

To ask the First Minister what impact the breaching of EU spending rules has had on the funding of infrastructure projects.

Question reference: S5W-02966

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget is for PACE teams and whether this has increased in light of demand.

Partnership Action for Continuing Employment (PACE) is the Scottish Government’s strategic framework initiative for responding to redundancy situations. The operation of PACE is overseen by the Ministerial PACE Partnership which I chair and which comprises the Scottish Government together with 21 organisations to oversee a continuous improvement programme to enhance the operation of PACE.

Skills Development Scotland delivers PACE on behalf of the Scottish Government in conjunction with other key partners including the Department for Work and Pensions. In addition to the National PACE Team, there are 18 local PACE Teams across Scotland to ensure speedy and effective responses to redundancy situations. Other agencies also involved in PACE include HM Revenue and Customs, local authorities' employability departments, the STUC and its affiliated Trade Unions, Citizens Advice Bureaux, local training providers, colleges and universities.

Given that PACE is a framework which brings together various organisations to provide a co-ordinated approach to delivery of support for those facing redundancy, it is not possible to quantify a specific budget for PACE activity.

Question reference: S5W-02968

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 3 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent by (a) national and (b) local PACE teams in each year since 2011.