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-00410

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the pledge in the 2016 SNP manifesto to increase investment in the Scottish Attainment Fund by £750 million over the course of the current parliamentary session, whether it will establish a minimum additional funding level per pupil eligible for additional support and, if so, what this will be and how it will ensure that the interventions benefit eligible pupils.

We will allocate £750 million over this parliamentary session to expand the Attainment Scotland Fund to close the gap in educational attainment. As well as investing £50 million each year in our established area-based approach to raising attainment, we will allocate the additional £100 million that will be raised each year from our local tax reforms directly to schools. The allocation will be based on the numbers of children in each school who meet the eligibility criteria for free school meals.

This additional funding will ensure that children affected by poverty, wherever they live, will receive additional support to ensure they can get the help they need, when they need it. We will work with key stakeholders to establish how this funding will achieve maximum benefits for eligible children and I will confirm the per pupil funding levels in due course.

Question reference: S5W-00346

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the originally estimated 2016 Basic Payment Scheme spend had been paid as at 31 May 2016, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Division area office.

The estimated 2015 expenditure for Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening measures) is approximately £334.5 million.

To date, Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) has issued instalment payments of £216 million or around 65% of the planned expenditure. The breakdown of payments by RPID area office is shown in the following table:-

Area Office	Value
Ayr	£ 26,207,726.10
Benbecula	£ 1,042,667.15
Dumfries	£ 23,008,480.37
Elgin	£ 4,622,488.87
Galashiels	£ 31,264,559.10
Golspie	£ 1,439,323.92
Hamilton	£ 9,557,224.05
Inverness	£ 17,290,209.08
Inverurie	£ 40,259,584.49
Kirkwall	£ 5,704,218.78
Lerwick	£ 3,255,914.07
Oban	£ 6,938,155.11
Perth	£ 37,948,173.71
Portree	£ 1,240,934.69
Stornoway	£ 580,934.92
Thurso	£ 5,592,618.51
TOTALS	£ 215,953,212.92

Question reference: S5W-00411

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will develop a fair and transparent funding formula for schools to receive money from the Scottish Attainment Fund.

Question reference: S5W-00350

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many new entrants to the Basic Payment Scheme in 2016 are still awaiting a final instalment or any payment, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Division area office.

No final basic payment has been yet been made, however we are working very hard to meet the regulatory deadline.

Some new entrants shown in the following table have received a loan and have now received their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) instalment payment, therefore there is an overlap between the two categories. Those who have not received any payment are still having aspects of their claim or business registration validated, which is an European Commission requirement, and will be paid as soon as possible.

Area Office	Total Number of Eligible Applications to the National Reserve, New Entrants Category	Total Number who have received a BPS Instalment Payment	Total Number who have received Nationally Funded Loan	Total Number who have received neither Instalment or Loan as at 7 June 2016
Ayr	19	18	4	0
Benbecula	5	4	3	0
Dumfries	22	22	1	0
Elgin	8	8	3	0
Galashiels	10	8	3	0
Golspie	5	4	2	0
Hamilton	10	8	3	0
Inverness	21	19	8	0
Inverurie	44	39	16	0
Kirkwall	14	12	4	0
Lerwick	8	5	4	1
Oban	13	9	4	1
Perth	46	38	20	0
Portree	4	4	2	0
Stornoway	9	8	2	0
Thurso	13	9	4	1
TOTALS	251	215	83	3

Question reference: S5W-00349

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a discrepancy in the definitions of Basic Payment Scheme region 1 and region 2 on the Rural Payments and Inspections Division website compared with the interpretation by officials assessing parcels of land and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S5W-00347

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when the Rural Payments and Inspections Division will provide a written definition for region 1 and region 2 under the Basic Payment Scheme regulations.

Question reference: S5W-00405

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy pretests involve; whether there will be a numeracy pretest in 2016, and what the reason is for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) pretesting is an important quality assurance mechanism in the development of new assessment tasks. It is one of a number of procedures employed to validate assessment tasks and to check the quality of individual assessment items. The SSLN has now been running for a number of years and sufficient and appropriate survey materials have been generated. Therefore a numeracy pretest in SSLN 2016 was not required.

Question reference: S5W-00408

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for each college has been in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 2011-12.

Question reference: S5O-00051

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the fishing industry to discuss the discard ban.

Question reference: S5W-00348

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when any outstanding payment reviews will be concluded under the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Division area office.