Questions and answers

Question reference: S4W-14118

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the recent increase in the price of student bus tickets in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government has not been involved in any discussions, although I understand that First Aberdeen met student representatives on 10 April 2013 to discuss their concerns.

Bus fares and tickets are a matter for individual operators, who use their own commercial judgement as to the fare structure to be applied, taking into account factors such as costs, patronage and other sources of funding.

The Scottish Government provides annual grants to the bus industry through Bus Service Operators Grant, currently totalling £50 million a year, aimed at helping keep fares at affordable levels and enabling bus operators to run services that might not otherwise be commercially viable.

Question reference: S4W-14308

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many and what percentage of the suppliers awarded contracts through Public Contracts Scotland in 2012 were Scottish owned.

Question reference: S4W-14306

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what the value was of contracts awarded through Public Contracts Scotland to (a) Scotland-based and (b) international small or medium-sized companies in (i) 2010, (ii) 2011 and (iii) 2012.

It is not possible to calculate the value of contracts awarded via Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) because at the time of the publication of the award notice only an estimated value or range of values is provided by the contracting authority. In addition, many contracts are multi-supplier agreements, often frameworks arrangements, and it is not possible at the point of contract award to calculate how any estimated contract value will be divided between the participating suppliers over the course of the contact.

However, information from the Scottish Procurement Information Hub (the Hub) indicates that the value of spend with Scottish-based small and medium-sized companies per financial year is £2.63 billion in 2010-11, and £2.68 billion in 2011-12. A further £1.1 billion was spent in each of the financial years above with Small and Medium Enterprises located elsewhere in the UK. Figures for 2012-13 are not yet available.

All Hub figures quoted above are based on data where both the employee numbers and region of the supplier are known. The Hub does not classify regions outside the UK.

Question reference: S4W-14309

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 26 April 2013

The information requested by the member is set out in the following table:

	2010*	2011	2012
Number of Supported Businesses** awarded contracts via PCS	1	7	10
Total number of suppliers awarded contracts via PCS	1,252	8,329	13,308
Percentage of Supported Businesses awarded contracts as a percentage of all suppliers awarded contracts via PCS	0.08%	0.08%	0.1%

* 2010 figures are for October to December only as this is when supported business reporting functionality became available in Public Contract Scotland (PCS).

** Supported business classification based upon supplier registrations on PCS.

A new Scottish Government reserved framework for supported businesses became effective in September 2012. To date (22 April 2013), 52 contracts have been placed by 17 different public bodies under the framework with a value of around £180,000. Due to the date of the framework’s implementation many of these will not be captured in the table.

The PCS statistics do not include any public contracts placed with supported businesses outwith the PCS portal. Much of the economic activity for supported businesses comes directly from their partner local authority e.g. Glasgow City Council and Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi). This can be substantial and is not competed through PCS.

Question reference: S4W-14086

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the average percentage of its contract clauses that community benefit clauses represent.

The Scottish Government has implemented community benefit clauses in various contracts, however we do not currently have a central record containing information on the average percentage of contract clauses that community benefit clauses represent.

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 their commitments and target updates on training, apprenticeships and performance.

It would not be the intention to hold a record of the average percentage of contract clauses that community benefit clauses represent.

Question reference: S4W-14085

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government (a) which and (b) what percentage of its (i) currently allocated contracts and (ii) contracts allocated in the last six years contain or have contained community benefit clauses.

The Scottish Government have implemented community benefit clauses in various contracts. For example, the Scottish Government’s Ready for Business programme is a public social partnership pilot which aims to support social enterprises to increase their trading with commercial businesses through the delivery of goods and services.

The Scottish Government do not currently have a central record containing information on community benefit clauses used in individual contracts, or the percentage of contracts containing community benefit clauses.

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 their commitments and target updates on training, apprenticeships and performance.

When implementing the Procurement Reform Bill, the Scottish Government intends to hold a record of community benefit information in order to identify which major Scottish Government contracts contain community benefit clauses.

Question reference: S4W-14084

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government which contracts for which it has issued invitations to tender will contain community benefit clauses.

The Scottish Government have implemented community benefit clauses in various contracts, however we do not currently have a central record containing information on community benefit clauses used in individual contracts.

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 their commitments and target updates on training, apprenticeships and performance.

When implementing the Procurement Reform Bill, the Scottish Government intend to hold a record of community benefit information in order to identify which major Scottish Government contracts contain community benefit clauses.

Question reference: S4W-14340

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the NHS Grampian area have been screened for bowel cancer in each of the last three years.

The number and percentage of eligible men and women in the NHS Grampian area who have taken part in the Scottish Bowel Screening Programme over the last three years is provided in the following table.

NHS Grampian	2010	2011*	2012
Males	23,339 (55.7%)	21,108 (57%)	These data are not available yet
Females	26,605 (63.1%)	24,309 (65.1%)	These data are not available yet

Notes:

*includes published data to October 2011.

Question reference: S4W-14307

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 25 April 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many contracts were awarded to Scotland-based small or medium-sized companies through Public Contracts Scotland in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012, also broken down by (i) micro-, (ii) small and (iii) medium-sized companies and expressed as a percentage of the total number.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

	Calendar Year 2010*	Calendar Year 2011	Calendar Year 2012
**Scotland-based Micro (1-9 employees)	181 (14%)	1,789 (21%)	3,456 (26%)
Scotland-based Small (10-49 employees)	274 (22%)	2.233 (27%)	3,592 (27%)
Scotland-based Medium (50-249 employees)	244 (19%)	1,394 (17%)	1,932 (15%)
Total Scotland-based SMEs (less than 250 employees)	699 (55%)	5,416 (65%)	8,980 (68%)

Notes:

*2010 figures are for October to December only as this is when reporting functionality on the size and location of suppliers became available in Public Contract Scotland.

**Scotland-based and employee numbers according to the supplier registrations on Public Contracts Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-02063

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 April 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 May 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what account it took of the local economy as well as access to justice in reaching the decision to close Stonehaven Sheriff Court.

Chamber and committees