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: S4W-15702

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons the Youth Employment Scotland Fund was not launched before June 2013.

Question reference: S4W-15707

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £88 million for the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme had not been announced prior to 12 June 2013.

All Scottish Government budgets are announced first as part of the budget process laid out to Parliament each year between September and the following February. Following the budget, the Scottish Government subsequently announced more specific plans for how budgets will be deployed. The first time the full details of the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme were made public was on 12 June 2013.

Question reference: S4W-15709

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £15.1 million announced on 12 June 2013 for the SME Growth Programme from the European Regional Development Fund was included in the money that was announced by the Scottish Government on 9 May 2012.

Question reference: S4W-15706

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 27 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the First Minister described the Youth Employment Scotland Fund and the SME Growth Programme as "a further £88 million investment".

Question reference: S4W-15713

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the £22.75 million of support from Scottish Enterprise and Business Gateway for the SME Growth Programme that was announced on 12 June 2013 is money that had not previously been announced.

Question reference: S4W-15395

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 May 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 June 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its plans for the regulation of financial services in advance of the white paper on independence, and whether the white paper will contain its proposals for these regulations in full.

Question reference: S4W-14038

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 21 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13 Third Sector budget was spent, including amounts received by each organisation funded.

The following table breaks down funding for third sector intermediaries (largely grant funding), third sector funds (spend), business support contracts and support for third sector events and initiatives, which represents the major part of the third sector budget. Individual recipient awards for a number of third sector funds have already been published. Some funds were specific one-off commitments such as the Scottish Investment Fund.

The table captures the major part of the third sector budget, but does not comprise a comprehensive list of every direct payment.

The table does include funding which has been transferred to other Scottish Government Directorates under the Autumn and Spring Budget Review process to support third sector purposes.

	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	Totals
Third Sector Intermediaries and Related Activities
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)	£1,189,374.00	£1,210,000.00	£1,476,211.00	£3,875,585.00
Association of Chief Officers of Voluntary Organistions (ACOSVO)	£99,000.00	£60,000.00	£120,000.00	£279,000.00
Volunteer Development Scotland	£1,428,475.00	£909,890.00	£914,580.00	£3,252,945.00
Development Trusts Association Scotland	£85,000.00	£150,000.00	£150,000.00	£385,000.00
Voluntary Action Scotland	£104,500.00	£265,500.00	£272,823.00	£642,823.00
Senscot	£106,457.00		£17,795.00	£124,252.00
Scottish Social Enterprise Coalition	£135,300.00			£135,300.00
Social Firms Scotland	£84,600.00		£16,339.00	£100,939.00
Supporting Social Enterprise Alliance (Senscot, Social Enterprise Scotland, Social Firms Scotland)		£445,000.00	£330,000.00	£775,000.00
Third Sector Interfaces	£6,074,396.00	£8,010,000.00	£8,236,866.00	£22,321,262.00
Social Enterprise Academy	£285,000.00	£280,000.00	£320,000.00	£885,000.00
Scottish Community Alliance			£50,000.00	£50,000.00
Quality Scotland			£30,350.00	£30,350.00
Project Scotland		£2,880.00		£2,880.00
Volunteer Development East Lothian		£31,916.00		£31,916.00
Evaluation Support Scotland	£80,000.00	£80,000.00	£158,000.00	£318,000.00
International Network of Street Papers	£10,000.00	£10,000.00		£20,000.00
Barnardos/Voluntary Action Scotland/Improvement Sevice - Getting it Right for Every Child - National Project			£25,000.00	£25,000.00
Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland with Assist Social Capital/International Futures Form			£74,722.00	£74,722.00
Council for Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO)	£90,623.00			£90,623.00
Firstport	£178,000.00			£178,000.00
Third Sector Funds
Scottish Investment Fund	£14,800,000.00	£3,000,000.00		£17,800,000.00
Social Investment Scotland	£386,500.00	£385,000.00	£385,000.00	£1,156,500.00
Third Sector Enterprise Fund	£6,326,713.00			£6,326,713.00
Third Sector Credit Union Fund	£81,403.00			£81,403.00
Social Entrepreneurs Fund	£562,000.00	£500,000.00	£500,000.00	£1,562,000.00
Third Sector Enterprise Growth Fund		£6,332,092.00	£85,592.00	£6,417,684.00
Voluntary Action Fund	£1,248,000.00	£1,260,000.00	£1,250,000.00	£3,758,000.00
International Social Enterprise Programme			£90,000.00	£90,000.00
Community Jobs Scotland Fund			£511,000.00	£511,000.00
Business Support Contracts
PWC PSP Contract	£122,617.00	£105,019.00		£227,636.00
Provision of Support to Equalities Focussed Third Sector Organisations	£47,250.00			£47,250.00
Ready for Business (2)			£1,099,250.00	£1,099,250.00
Just Enterprise		£1,072,539.00	£1,213,382.00	£2,285,921.00
Public Social Partnerships (PSP)			£90,996.00	£90,996.00
Longitudinal Study	£41,525.00	£41,775.00	£37,875.00	£121,175.00
Realise Mentoring	£83,197.00			£83,197.00
Support for Third Sector Events and Initiatives
Ready for Business (1)	£73,000.00	£9,800.00		£82,800.00
Community Enterprise in Scotland (CEiS) Conference		£6,000.00	£9,900.00	£15,900.00
Senscot - Scottish/Northern Ireland Exchange			£3,000.00	£3,000.00
Supplier Development Programme	£8,225.00	£8,400.00	£7,000.00	£23,625.00
Social Enterprise Exchange (Social Enterprise Scotland)			£95,000.00	£95,000.00
Pilot Light			£9,000.00	£9,000.00
Strategic Return on Investment (SROI)	£200,019.00			£200,019.00
Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone (HISEZ)	£75,867.00			£75,867.00
University of Highalnds and Islands (UHI) O4O Older People for Older People	£34,000.00			£34,000.00
Aspire to Enterprise (CEiS)	£430,964.00			£430,964.00
Tender Writing Training (CEiS)	£78,169.00			£78,169.00
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) Business on Board	£36,253.00			£36,253.00
EKOS Research Project	£29,375.00			£29,375.00
Partnership Development Initiative (Apex Scotland)		£11,000.00		£11,000.00
Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust	£200,000.00			£200,000.00 transferred at Autumn Budget Review (ABR)
Providers and Personalisation - Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS)		£40,000.00		£40,000.00 transferred at Spring Budget Review (SBR)
Providers and Personalisation - Coalition of Care and Support Providers Scotland (CCPS)			£40,000.00	£40,000.00 transferred at Spring Budget Review (SBR)
The Change Fund:Enhancing the Role of the Third Sector Programme - The Alliance			£80,000.00	£80,000.00 transferred at Spring Budget Review (SBR)

Information of individual awards made by the Enterprise Growth Fund is available at: http://www.thewisegroup.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s23_16

The details of awards for a number of Scottish Government third sector funds have previously been published.

Question reference: S4W-14028

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Third Sector budget was reduced in the 2012-13 Spring Budget Revision.

The purpose of the Spring Budget Revision is to amend the Budget (Scotland) Act 2012, which authorises the Scottish Government’s spending plans for the financial year 2012-13.

There was a delay completing the procurement of fund management arrangements for the successor to the Enterprise Growth Fund resulting in an underspend of £5 million. The project is now in progress with budget allocation expected to be fully committed going forward.

There was also a transfer of £1 million to the Justice budget for the Reducing Re-Offending Change Fund.

Question reference: S4W-14037

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact will be of changes to the Third Sector budget in the 2012-13 Spring Budget Revision.

The £1 million transfer to the Justice budget for the Reducing Re-Offending Change Fund was a planned reallocation of funds. The Reducing Reoffending Change Fund has two key aims:

To provide offenders with substantial one-to-one support through evidence- based mentoring schemes

To promote strong, equal partnership working between third and public sector organisations.

The £5 million transfer was redeployed to other purposes within the overall Scottish Government budget.

Question reference: S4W-14043

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 March 2013
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government when the decision was taken to support the buyout of the Scottish Public Pensions Agency building; what savings will result, and over what time period.