- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 23 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to protect the economy of the Highlands and Islands from the impact of the reductions in pay of up to 25% recently proposed by CalMac Ferries Ltd for its shore-based employees.
Answer
Whilst this is a matter between the employer and the unions, we would urge CalMac Ferries Ltd to continue with their negotiations to seek an early resolution to avoid any impact on ferry services and the economy of the Highlands and Islands.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 23 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Transport Scotland relating to proposals by CalMac Ferries Ltd to reduce the pay of its shore-based employees by up to 25%, and what the outcome was.
Answer
Whilst this is a matter between the employer and the unions, Ministers have been kept informed of progress with the negotiations by their officials in Transport Scotland.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on procurement with (a) medium, (b) small and (c) micro-sized companies in the last five years.
Answer
Information from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub (the Hub) indicates that the value of spend by Scottish Government Core Departments with medium, small and micro sized companies in the last five years was:
| | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 |
| Total SG Spend | £153m | £197m | £231m | £181m | £155m |
| Total SG Spend where supplier size known | £142m | £188m | £219m | £171m | £143m |
| Micro (<9 employees) | | £7m | £10m | £7m | £8m | £7m | | 5% | 5% | 3% | 5% | 5% | |
| Small (10 – 49 Employees) | | £13m | £15m | £15m | £12m | £11m | | 9% | 8% | 7% | 7% | 8% | |
| Medium (50 – 249 employees) | | £28m | £45m | £41m | £41m | £32m | | 20% | 24% | 19% | 24% | 23% | |
| % suppliers where employees numbers known | 87.5% | 88.7% | 89.7% | 89.6% | 87.8% |
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 22 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-14306 by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 April 2013, what spend with Scotland-based small and medium-sized companies for (a) 2010-11 and (b) 2011-12 was with (i) medium, (ii) small and (iii) micro-sized companies.
Answer
Information from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub (the Hub) indicates that the value of spend with Scottish based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) per financial year was:
| Micro (1-9 employees) | £394 million |
| Small (10-49 employees) | £778 million |
| Medium (50-249 employees) | £1,460 million |
| Micro (1-9 employees) | £401 million |
| Small (10-49 employees) | £835 million |
| Medium (50-249 employees) | £1,448 million |
All Hub figures quoted above are based on data where both the number of employees and region of the supplier are known.
It is likely that many of those suppliers where employee numbers are not known are SMEs, meaning that the SME figures shown are likely to be understated.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-14085 by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 April 2013, whether it plans to ask public sector bodies to keep a record of community benefit information.
Answer
We intend to use the forthcoming Procurement Reform Bill to introduce a statutory requirement that public sector bodies include community benefit clauses in all new major public contracts and that those in receipt of major public contracts publish details of the community benefits these requirements have achieved.
Regarding records management, public sector organisations in Scotland are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Sections 60 & 62 of the Act refer to the Scottish Ministers’ Code of Practice on Records Management by Scottish Public Authorities, which gives guidance on records management which the Scottish public sector should adhere to.
Furthermore, the Public Records (Scotland) Act 2011 makes provision about the management of public records by named public authorities. The Act complements the existing code of practice and comes in to force in 2013.
The Scottish Government also reports to the Public Audit Committee on a six monthly basis on how major capital projects are contributing to local economic development, including community benefits. The latest report can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12271/PACDecember2012.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 21 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to public sector bodies on including community benefit clauses in procurement tenders and contracts.
Answer
A Scottish Procurement Policy Note (SPPN) along with a report and guidance on Community Benefits in Public Procurement (CBIP) were published by the Scottish Government, in partnership with COSLA in February 2008.
In addition to this we have useful information available to public sector bodies on the Scottish Government website www.scotland.gov.uk/procurement, including guidance from Construction Skills and Ready for Business.
Over the last two years the Scottish Government has also promoted this guidance through Marrakech Task Force training events and the Developing Markets contract. This has enabled us to promote the use of CBIP to over 300 buyers across the wider public sector in Scotland including: Central Government, agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies, higher and further education institutes, local authorities, and the NHS.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had in the last two years with (a) Scottish Water, (b) the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and (c) local authorities in connection with public health issues related to discharges from combined storm overflows.
Answer
The Scottish Government, SEPA and Scottish Water hold regular discussions on the improvements that Scottish Water is making to waste water treatment with a view to improving the protection of bathing waters. Reducing the number of combined storm overflows and reducing the frequency of spills into bathing waters are important objectives of Scottish Water’s investment programme.
The Scottish Government and local authorities receive weekly updates from SEPA on water quality at Scotland’s designated bathing waters during the bathing water season, 1 June to 15 September, and discuss bathing water improvement with SEPA periodically throughout the year. The Government has written to all local authorities informing them of their legal obligations to protect public health, which include: providing information on short term pollution impacts under regulation 8 and actions required during abnormal situations under regulation 13 of the Bathing Water (Scotland) Regulations 2008.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 14 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the public is aware of (a) any health risk associated with and (b) all areas that may be affected by combined storm overflows so that they do not bathe in or near them.
Answer
Waters with substantial numbers of bathers are designated under Bathing Waters legislation. All designated bathing waters have a profile, identifying risks to water quality, which is published on SEPA’s website, with summaries on information signs at bathing water locations. An electronic signage network at 23 sites across Scotland displays real-time predictions of bathing water quality during the bathing water season, 1 June to 15 September. Daily forecasts are also displayed on the SEPA website, by smartphone application and via Beachline services.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of areas affected by combined storm overflows to prevent them being used for recreational purposes.
Answer
Recreational use of waters that may be affected intermittently by combined sewer overflows is not prohibited. However, action is being taken through Scottish Water’s investment programme and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency’s licensing regime to reduce the number of combined sewer overflows and the numbers of times they overflow.
- Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 April 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 8 May 2013
To ask the Scottish Government when it will conduct the first review of the impact of the road equivalent tariff on ferry (a) passengers and (b) services.
Answer
Halcrow Group Limited published their Assessment of the Impacts of the Road Equivalent Tariff Pilot in July 2011, which fully evaluated the impacts of RET on services to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree. The report stated that passenger traffic increased by 20% and car traffic by 31% over the period of the pilot.
A copy of the report can be found here - http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/files/documents/water/ferries/Assessment_of_the_Impacts_of_the_RET_Pilot_-_Final_Report.pdf.
RET is now a permanent feature on routes to the Western Isles, Coll and Tiree. A further RET pilot was rolled out to Islay, Colonsay and Gigha in October 2012, and will be rolled out to Arran in October 2014. RET will then be rolled out to the remaining Clyde and Hebrides islands within the term of this Parliament.
We will continue to monitor and evaluate the pilots as RET is rolled out across Scotland’s ferry network.
The latest finalised figures show that the Scottish Government provided £72.4 million in 2011-12 to support Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) including the services to the Western Isles. This is considerably higher than the amount paid in the first full financial year of the CHFS contract in 2007-08 of £58.0 million.
