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-00929

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take forward to establish a maximum waiting time of 12 months for IVF treatment and what the financial implications of this are for NHS boards.

Question reference: S4O-00076

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will work with the fishing industry and the Scottish Funding Council to promote skills development.

The Scottish Government is engaged in work led by the fishing industry itself to consider a coherent offer of skills interventions for both new entrants and those wishing to upskill within the fishing sector.

As a result of this work, two significant skills interventions have been introduced:

a new Skills for Work Course in Maritime Skills which presents an opportunity for the fishing industry to make a positive representation of the sector to school pupils aged 14-16, and

a new Level 2 Modern Apprenticeship Framework in Sea Fishing.

The Scottish Funding Council is responsible for providing funding for further and higher education, research and other relevant activities in Scotland’s colleges and higher education institutions and as such has not been involved directly in this work.

Question reference: S4O-00101

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support sports development across Scotland.

Question reference: S4F-00051

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2011

To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government will review its changes to the fuel poverty budget in light of the announcement of price increases by Scottish Power.

Question reference: S4W-00298

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies in local government and across the public sector will be implemented and, if so, on what basis.

Question reference: S4W-00300

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will rule out compulsory redundancies in the public sector for the remainder of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S4W-00303

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on voluntary redundancy and severance packages in the public sector since 1 April 2010.

Question reference: S4W-00301

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the average voluntary redundancy payment in the public sector is £51,000.

Information regarding voluntary redundancy payments across the whole of the public sector in Scotland is not held centrally.

The following table shows the number of staff who have taken early retirement/severance in 2010-11 whose costs will be paid for by the core Scottish Government. This may include some staff employed by Scottish Government agencies. Based upon these figures the average cost is £51,000.

The costs do not represent the cash amounts actually paid out in 2010-11 as the Scottish Government is invoiced on an ongoing basis for staff who have retired in previous years. All costs from the date of leaving the organisation to the normal retirement age are accounted for in the year the individual accepts an offer to retire. It should also be recognised that the cost does not represent what individuals actually receive by way of pension and lump sum as there are costs borne by the Scottish Government in relation to the costs of bringing forward the payment of early retirement/severance benefits which do not relate to payments made to individuals.

	2010-11
Total Cost of Early Retirement/Severance	£26,830,334
Total Number of Staff	526
Average Cost	£51,008

Question reference: S4W-00304

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many public sector posts (a) have become vacant and (b) remain unfilled since 1 April 2010.

Question reference: S4W-00299

Asked by: Richard Baker, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can guarantee that it can achieve three per cent efficiency savings in the public sector without the need for compulsory redundancies.

In 2011-12, individual public sector organisations are expected to report publicly on how they achieve their efficiencies and we believe they can do so without the need to resort to compulsory redundancies.

The Scottish public sector has consistently exceeded its efficiency targets without having to rely on compulsory redundancy programmes.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing economic security for the public service workforce in these challenging times. In March 2011 it announced the continuation of the existing no compulsory redundancies policy for a further year to 31 March 2012 and is committed to extending coverage to other parts of the public sector.