- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the baseline against which data will be measured for Scotland Performs is set at May 2007 and, if not, at what date the baseline is.
Answer
As stated on the website the evaluation of the latest change is based on the latest two relevant data points for a given indicator or target, and these are shown clearly against each one. Baselines for target evaluation are all published in the Technical Notes to the Spending Review. Each is specific to the data source and ties in as closely as possible to May 2007.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the time period for reporting on data changes in respect of Scotland Performs is the same for all national indicators.
Answer
The majority of indicators and targets are updated on an annual basis, although some can be updated quarterly. The exact timing for each up-date depends on when data is available. As the majority of indicators are drawn from existing published sources, the publication date for the forthcoming update is pre-announced by the Government Statistical Service in Scotland.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the need for external involvement in the group chaired by the Director of Corporate Analytical Services which makes the final decisions on the direction of the arrows in Scotland Performs.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14250 on 16 July 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that annual GDP growth rates calculated on a rolling four quarters on four quarters basis is a reliable method of assessing Scotland’s economic performance.
Answer
Annual GDP growth rates are calculated on a rolling four quarters on four quarters basis which provides a reliable method of assessing Scotland’s recent GDP growth performance.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed with Audit Scotland the possibility of the Auditor General for Scotland conducting independent monitoring of Scotland Performs.
Answer
This has not been discussed with Audit Scotland
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland Performs will be independently monitored and, if so, by whom.
Answer
The current methodology is transparent and therefore open to independent scrutiny by anyone.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive who will conduct the analysis of Scotland’s performance against the Scottish Government’s Purpose Targets, for use on the Scotland Performs website.
Answer
Professional analysts within the Scottish Government will evaluate the latest performance on all targets and indicators against the published criteria.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has taken any independent advice on the (a) time period of reporting, (b) data used, (c) setting of thresholds and (d) methodological approach taken for the evaluation arrows shown on the Scotland Performs website for the assessment of Scotland’s performance against the Scottish Government’s Purpose Targets.
Answer
All such analytical issues have been determined by professional analysts within government, and agreed by the group Chaired by the Director of Corporate Analytical Services. The current methodology is transparent and therefore open to independent scrutiny by anyone.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the start-up costs were of Scotland Performs.
Answer
The start-up costs were £8,948 plus VAT.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual running costs will be for Scotland Performs.
Answer
Scotland Performs is up-dated from data already collected by the Scottish Government. It is a key element of the performance management regime for the Scottish Government and, in time, public services in Scotland. Its costs are contained within that existing function.
