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-07649

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how alcohol and drug partnerships report to it on their duties to build capacity in their areas and what national evaluation is made of that information.

The Scottish Government does not require ADPs to report to it on capacity building in their areas, as ADPs are accountable to local community planning partnerships.

The provision of prevention activity, recovery focussed treatment and support services is for each local area to consider, taking account of local needs, circumstances and resources. Responsibility is devolved to alcohol and drug partnerships (ADPs) to commission (informed by robust needs assessment) evidence-based, person-centred and recovery-focused prevention and treatment services to meet the needs of their resident populations.

The Scottish Government has worked with ADPs to develop a set of core outcomes and indicators which will enable improvements in the core outcomes to be measured. The core outcomes and indicators will be supplemented by local outcomes and indicators which reflect local priorities.

An Outcomes Toolkit for Alcohol and Drugs Partnerships, was published in September 2009.

Building on this, the Scottish Government has worked with local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) and COSLA to strengthen ADP reporting arrangements. This work seeks to draw on existing good practice of ADP reporting to their Community Planning Partnerships (CPPs), and to provide a degree of consistency across the country by identifying a set of core outcomes and core indicators which all ADPs should report on.

Seven core national drug and alcohol outcomes have been identified and formed part of the allocation letters for earmarked drug and alcohol funding for 2011-12. A full list of the core outcomes is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/Alcohol/TandS/ADPOutandIn.

Question reference: S4W-07475

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how long the Yes to Growth campaign will run and what the end date will be.

Question reference: S4W-07476

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many little books of yes Scottish Enterprise has produced and how they will be distributed.

Question reference: S4W-07480

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the (a) development, (b) staff time, (c) web development, (d) publications and (e) materials for Scottish Enterprise's Yes to Growth campaign cost.

Question reference: S4W-07645

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 13 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged between 18 and 24 who have been unemployed for 12 months or more have a (a) degree or (b) further education qualification, broken down by local authority area and also expressed as a percentage of long-term youth unemployment in that area.

Unemployment levels for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland are published by the Office for National Statistics on a monthly basis from the Labour Force Survey, covering rolling quarters. The latest monthly figures were published on 16 May covering the period January to March 2012.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) combines elements from Labour Force Survey samples across a full year with an additional boost, and is the preferred source for detailed breakdowns of youth unemployment estimates in Scotland.

The latest APS estimates, covering October 2010 to September 2011, indicate that there were approximately 19,000 people age between 18 and 24 who had been unemployed for more than 12 months in Scotland.

Due to small underlying survey sample sizes, it is not possible to provide reliable further breakdowns for this group e.g. by qualifications or local authority.

Question reference: S4W-07644

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 12 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason no Community Jobs Scotland opportunities have been advertised since 30 March 2012.

The first phase of Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) was a one year pilot scheme aimed at helping long-term unemployed young people aged 16 to 24 into employment. Funding straddled financial years 2011-12 and 2013-14 and young people were recruited until 30 March 2012 with places and associated employability training fully funded until December 2012.

In February 2012, I announced a continuation of Community Jobs Scotland (CJS) which will focus on unemployed young people aged 16 to 19 and recruitment for the new phase of CJS will begin in August 2012.

Question reference: S4F-00760

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 11 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the First Minister how many new jobs have been created as a result of the modern apprenticeship programme.

Question reference: S4W-07412

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether (a) MSPs, (b) MPs and (c) councillors have been invited to regional action forums on youth employment in their respective areas.

Question reference: S4W-07409

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how the £25 million funding to tackle youth unemployment that it announced on 9 May 2012 will be allocated and whether this will be before its youth employment strategy is (a) finalised or (b) published.

The Scottish Government is considering how best to use the £25 million to support youth employment announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment on 9 May. Proposals for allocating the funds will be agreed after the publication of the finalised Youth Employment Strategy. Proposals need to be approved by the ESF/ERDF Lowlands and Uplands Programme Monitoring Committee.

Question reference: S4W-07564

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will receive Barnett consequentials arising from the UK Government's announced £82 million in available support for young entrepreneurs in England and, if so, how it will allocate it.

The £10 million pilot study for the fund will apply to England only and is being funded from within current Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) baselines. Thereafter, depending on the success of the pilot, the rest of the £82 million will be rolled out over 2013-14 and 2014-15. Should any additional funding be provided by HM Treasury to BIS for the rollout, Barnett consequentials would be made available to the Scottish Government.