- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy advised local authority chief executives that the contribution expected from third and private sector care organisations toward paying at least the living wage to their care workers in 2016-17 is 25%.
Answer
The funding provided last year to improve quality of care through fair work practices, including paying the living wage, used a tripartite model where care providers and local government each provided a 25% contribution of the investment agreed.
In correspondence to chief executives of local authorities, regarding the local government settlement, I said that this investment assumes that private and third sector providers will meet their share of the costs.
We have not stipulated a specific contribution expected from providers in regards to the 2016-17 local government settlement. We would expect a more finely grained analysis of the situation regarding wages and fair work within contracted out care services at integration authority level and as part of the negotiations on the National Care Home Contract – that is why the target date has been extended to 1 October rather than implementation by 1 April 2016.
We will work in partnership with stakeholders in the coming months to achieve our shared goal, that being to help raise the status and public image of social care as a profession to help improve the quality of care in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of how the proposals in the 2016-17 local government settlement could impact on (a) jobs and (b) services.
Answer
The package of funding the Scottish Government is providing for the financial year 2016-17 to local government will enable councils to increase the pace of reform and improve public services to communities across the country. Taking into account the addition of the £250 million to support the integration of health and social care, next year’s reduction in local authority overall estimated expenditure is less than one per cent. I believe that such a reduction should have minimal impact on the jobs or services as Scotland's councils should be able to address these challenges from a healthy base as local government funding has been rising in Scotland in recent years with core funding protected and new money provided for additional responsibilities.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will set up a taskforce should the proposals in the 2016-17 local government settlement lead to job losses in the public sector.
Answer
The package of funding the Scottish Government is providing for the financial year 2016-17 to local government will enable councils to increase the pace of reform and improve public services to communities across the country. Taking into account the addition of the £250 million to support the integration of health and social care, the strong but challenging financial settlement for local government represents the equivalent to a reduction in local authority overall estimated expenditure of less than one per cent in 2016-17. I believe that such a reduction should have minimal impact on the jobs or services as Scotland's councils should be able to address these challenges from a healthy base as local government funding has been rising in Scotland in recent years with core funding protected and new money provided for additional responsibilities.
The Scottish Government has always attached the highest priority to maintaining public sector employment.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the assessment by COSLA that the proposals in the 2016-17 local government settlement could lead to 15,000 local authority job losses.
Answer
The package of funding the Scottish Government is providing for the financial year 2016-17 to local government will enable councils to increase the pace of reform and improve public services to communities across the country. Taking into account the addition of the £250 million to support the integration of health and social care, the strong but challenging financial settlement for local government represents the equivalent to a reduction in local authority overall estimated expenditure of less than one per cent in 2016-17. I believe that such a reduction should have minimal impact on the jobs or services as Scotland's councils should be able to address these challenges from a healthy base as local government funding has been rising in Scotland in recent years with core funding protected and new money provided for additional responsibilities.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 February 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the assessment by the union, GMB, that the proposals in the 2016-17 local government settlement have led to 8,351 local authority job losses being identified so far.
Answer
The package of funding the Scottish Government is providing for the financial year 2016-17 to local government will enable councils to increase the pace of reform and improve public services to communities across the country. Taking into account the addition of the £250 million to support the integration of health and social care, the strong but challenging financial settlement for local government represents the equivalent to a reduction in local authority overall estimated expenditure of less than one per cent in 2016-17. I believe that such a reduction should have minimal impact on the jobs or services as Scotland's councils should be able to address these challenges from a healthy base as local government funding has been rising in Scotland in recent years with core funding protected and new money provided for additional responsibilities.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4F-03190 by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 January 2016 (Official Report, c. 19), whether it will provide the information requested regarding when it will next publish an updated oil and gas bulletin.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the severe challenges facing the oil and gas industry, which is why our focus is on what we can do to support the industry and the work force.
We continue to do all that we can within devolved powers to help the sector. In 2015, we set up the Energy Jobs Taskforce, which has already helped to support more than 2,500 individuals and 100 employers through the current downturn, and will continue to support the industry to improve collaboration, co-operation and innovation. We have also announced a £12 million Transition Training Fund, which will offer grants to individuals to support their redeployment through retraining or further education.
The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact that low oil prices is having on the oil and gas industry and its wider supply chain and this will be discussed at the next Energy Jobs Taskforce meeting, which will take place on 23 March 2016.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on the repair and maintenance of the Erskine Bridge in each year since 2006-07.
Answer
The total expenditure on Erskine Bridge repair and maintenance from 2006-07 to 2015-16 is £36.196 million.
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Year
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Erskine Bridge Expenditure (£ million)
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2006-07
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1.329
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2007-08
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3.137
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2008-09
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3.152
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2009-10
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4.400
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2010-11
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1.972
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2011-12
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2.450
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2012-13
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4.135
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2013-14
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7.755
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2014-15
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5.518
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2015-16
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2.348*
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Total
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36.196
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*Anticipated 2015-16 expenditure to 31 March 2016
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the network strengthening line in the 2016-17 draft budget has been allocated to the repair and maintenance of the Erskine Bridge.
Answer
The budget allocation on Erskine Bridge repair and maintenance for 2016-17 is £3.76 million
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 9 February 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to network strengthening in each year since 2006-07.
Answer
Since 2006-07 the Scottish Government has allocated the following amounts to network strengthening including in-year changes approved through autumn and spring budget revisions:
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Year
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Network Strengthening Expenditure (£ million)
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2006-07
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52.2
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2007-08
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60.2
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2008-09
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45.7
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2009-10
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42.0
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2010-11
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25.0
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2011-12
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15.0
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2012-13
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27.0
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2013-14
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30.0
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2014-15
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38.8
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2015-16
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36.0
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2016-17
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40.8
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- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 January 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has estimated the growth in annual managed expenditure over the next parliamentary session and, if so, what that growth is, broken down by year.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold a complete projection for all areas of annually managed expenditure (AME) beyond those published for 2016-17. The Office of Budget Responsibility does publish AME projections, including consideration of the position for the Scottish NHS and teachers pensions and Scottish student loans as part of their Economic and fiscal outlook, the latest version of which is available at: http://budgetresponsibility.org.uk/economic-fiscal-outlook-november-2015-3/.
