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-00795

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-00367 and S5W-00369 by Keith Brown and Jamie Hepburn on 14 and 15 June 2016 respectively, whether it will provide a breakdown of how it arrived at the figure of "more than 2,500 individuals" being provided with support by the Energy Jobs Taskforce, and whether it is satisfied with the accuracy of this answer and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S5W-00840

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether NHS Greater Glasgow and Clydehas has carried out a public consultation regarding transfering birthing services from the Vale of Leven Hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.

Question reference: S5W-00838

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the transfer of birthing services from the Vale of Leven Hospital or Inverclyde Royal Hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital would be classified as a major service change.

Question reference: S5W-00841

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated each year to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde toward the promotion of the Community Maternity Unit at the Vale of Leven Hospital since the publication of the agreement, Vision for the Vale, broken down by type of marketing activity.

This government has substantially increased funding for all health boards since 2007. We have increased NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s frontline budget by £444.3 million from £1,634.9 million to a planned £2,079.2 million; a cumulative cash increase of 27.2% (2006/07 to 2016/17). In 2016-17, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s annual resource budget increased by 5.2% to £2,079.2 million, an above inflation increase, having previously increased by 2.7% in 2015/16. It is for individual health boards to determine how these resources are spent locally, in line with national policies, priorities and frameworks.

Question reference: S5W-00839

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the reported proposal in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde draft local delivery plan to transfer birthing services from the Vale of Leven Hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital would run contrary to the NHS board's commitment in the agreement, Vision for the Vale, that "the Community Maternity Unit will be sustained and promoted".

Question reference: S5W-00370

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what funding is available for the (a) Adopt an Apprentice scheme and (b) Transition Training Fund; how much it has spent on it so far; what the time period is; who administers it, and how many people it has helped.

Adopt an apprentice launched in 2009, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) administers the Adopt an Apprentice scheme. Funding is allocated to SDS through their annual block grant. Annual spend on adopt an apprentice is published in the SDS annual accounts which can be found here: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/publications/#page=1&order=date-desc. Details of this spend and the number of apprentices supported is noted in the following table:

Year	Adopt an Apprentice	Adopt an Apprentice Individuals Spend (from SDS annual accounts)
2009-10	428 (Individuals Supported)	£730,000
2010-11	523 (Individuals Supported)	£1,027,000
2011-12	375(Individuals Supported)	£812,000
2012-13	301 (Applications Approved)	£538,000
2013-14	224 (Applications Approved)	£456,000
2014-15	175 (Applications Approved)	£352,000
2015-16	244 (Applications Approved)	Annual accounts not published*

*SDS annual accounts for 2015/16 are due to be published in the second half of 2016/17.

Transition Training Fund announced in February 2016, Skills Development Scotland administers the Transition Training Fund. £12 million has been allocated over the three year period from 2016-17 to 2018-19. To date 122 applications have been approved. Details of spend on the Transition Training Fund will be published in the SDS annual accounts for 2016-17.

Question reference: S5W-00368

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many apprenticeships have been lost each month since January 2015 as a result of the reduction in the price of oil.

Question reference: S5W-00366

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what measures to improve productivity it (a) has introduced and (b) plans to adopt.

Improving productivity is central to achieving the twin aims of Scotland's Economic Strategy (SES): improving economic competitiveness and tackling inequality. Each of the four priorities for growth identified in the SES – Investment, Innovation, inclusive growth, and internationalisation – have important roles in helping improve Scotland’s productivity performance. The SES sets out a number of actions and measures under these priority areas that will help improve productivity in Scotland, and can be downloaded at the following address:

The Government's Programme for Scotland sets out the policies, actions and legislation that the Scottish Government will take over the year ahead, including actions to improve productivity. Within current programme the Scottish Government has launched a manufacturing action plan for Scotland to develop leadership and skills and stimulate innovation and investment in Scottish manufacturing sectors, and has continued investment in a major programme of road, rail and ferry infrastructure.

The government's programme for Scotland 2015-16 can be accessed at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484439.pdf

The Scottish Government is continuing to take action to support improvements in Scotland’s productivity performance. For example, as I set out in my speech in the Chamber on 31 May 2016, we will by launching an annual innovation prize to encourage innovation, we will launch a labour market strategy to ensure that support is tailored to meet economic conditions, and are undertaking an end-to-end of our enterprise, development and skills agencies to consider how best to deliver and enhance the agencies' services to deliver on the Scottish Government's ambitions around productivity.

Question reference: S5W-00432

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in (a) boosting competitiveness and (b) tackling inequality as set out in Scotland's Economic Strategy, and what methodology it uses to determine whether this is being made.

Scotland’s competitiveness is closely linked to its productivity performance. The productivity purpose target monitors progress in Scotland’s productivity performance, and data on progress is available online at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/purposetargets/productivity

Progress on reducing inequality in Scotland is monitored through the solidarity purpose target, and data is available online at the following address:

http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/purposetargets/solidarity

Question reference: S5W-00546

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what national performance framework national indicators priorities apply to Scotland's Economic Strategy.

Scotland’s Economic Strategy (SES) is directed towards achieving the Scottish Government’s central purpose of creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth. Progress is measured through the national indicators and purpose targets contained in the National Performance Framework (NPF).

The NPF was updated in March 2016 with additional indicators to reflect the strategic approach of the SES, including new measures of natural capital, access to local greenspace, underemployment, gender pay differences and payment of the living wage. The methodology used to monitor progress towards the productivity and solidarity targets was also updated, to allow for a better assessment of progress towards the productivity and inequality ambitions contained in the SES.