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: S5O-03150

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the decision by the DWP to reject the recommendation of the Work and Pensions Committee to set the default rate for recovery of universal credit hardship payments at 5% of the Standard Allowance.

Earlier this week this chamber discussed the damaging impact that Universal Credit is having on people and the clear evidence that it is pushing people into hardship and poverty.

Refusing to consider lowering the repayment rate for hardship payments to a more affordable level is just another example of the DWP clearly failing the people who rely on this benefit.

We believe that that this is one of the many actions the DWP should take on UC to make this benefit fit for purpose. And again I will repeat my call that these flaws must be fixed before millions of people are migrated from their legacy benefits on to UC.

Question reference: S5W-22508

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 24 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how the inflation rate is calculated and whether there are any factors in Scotland that could result in a different level from that of the rest of the UK.

Consumer price inflation is the rate at which the prices of goods and services bought by households rise and fall; it is estimated using consumer price indices. As of 21 March 2017, the Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) became the Office for National Statistics’ lead inflation index.

The UK CPIH is estimated by calculating a weighted average of monthly price indices for a basket of goods representing consumption by an average household. The basket of goods – and hence the weights used – are updated in January each year. Prices data are collected on a wide range of products and services at numerous sites across the UK. The series are chain-linked from month to month, and the comparison with the average price of the basket of goods one year earlier becomes the headline measure of inflation.

The CPIH data are not stratified by country or region of the UK, and hence regional inflation rates are not available as official statistics. The ONS has previously undertaken a feasibility study into producing CPIH inflation rates for the countries and regions of the UK. Further information is available from https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/methodologies/
feasibilitystudyintoproducingcpihconsistentinflationratesforukregions .

Question reference: S5O-02984

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the prison population are veterans.

Question reference: S5F-03121

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the UK Government's Stronger Towns Fund.

Question reference: S5O-02904

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 21 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal.

Question reference: S5W-21224

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) Clackmannanshire and (b) Stirling Council's annual education budget is used to cover PPP school payments.

The following table includes information relating to Clackmannanshire Council and Stirling
Council school PFI contracts and the associated unitary charge payments as at 31 March
2017 together with their respective net revenue expenditure provisional outturn figures on
education for 2017-18.

Local Authority	Estimated PFI Unitary Charge Payments for 2017-18 (£m)	Net Revenue Expenditure on Education: Provisional Outturn for 2017-18 (£m)	Percentage of Net Revenue Expenditure on Education for PFI Unitary Charge Payments (%)
Clackmannanshire Council	8.0	48.2	16.6
Stirling Council	14.0	97.4	14.4

Further information relating to Local Government Finance can be found on the Scottish
Government website by way of the following link www.gov.scot .

Question reference: S5W-21222

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) Clackmannanshire and (b) Stirling Council pays on an annual basis towards PPP schools, and how much this annual payment is estimated to be by the end of the contract.

The following table includes information relating to Clackmannanshire Council and
Stirling Council school PFI contracts and the associated unitary charge payments as
at 31 March 2017.

Local Authority	PFI Contract	Estimated Unitary Charge Payment for 2017-18 (£m)	Total Estimated Unitary Charge Payments (£m)
Clackmannanshire Council	Clackmannanshire Schools	8.0	273.7
Stirling Council	Balfron Schools	2.8	68.3
Stirling Council	Stirling Schools	11.2	420.7

Further information relating to PPP/PFI contracts and the associated unitary payments
is available from the Scottish Government website under ‘operational PPP/PFI projects
– unitary payment charges’ by way of the following link www.gov.scot .

Question reference: S5F-02930

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that the UK Government plans to halt the full roll-out of universal credit.

Question reference: S5O-02418

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 September 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it anticipates the economy will perform in 2019.

The Scottish Government is focused on building on Scotland's strong economic foundations, supporting businesses to stimulate growth, jobs and investment.

The latest economic data show the Scottish economy has grown 0.8% in the first half of 2018, outpacing both the Scottish Fiscal Commission forecast and UK growth. Unemployment continues to fall, and the number of people in work is at a near record high.

However, Brexit uncertainty remains the key risk to the economic outlook for 2019, with the UK Government’s proposals for a hard Brexit and the continued risk of no deal at all, representing a key threat to our economy.

Question reference: S3O-05525

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the compensation arrangements for small businesses in the event of electricity supply interruptions to be adequate.