- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest GERS figures.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what measures its proposed talent attraction service will feature for building Scotland’s reputation as a career destination in the rest of the UK.
Answer
It is essential that we grow our working age population to support our economy and society now and into the future as people live for longer. NRS projections indicate that in the next 25 years Scotland’s population growth will be reliant on inward migration, with 49% of migrants coming from the rest of the UK.
The Scottish Government is working with partners including SDS, the enterprise agencies and CosLA to develop proposals for a talent attraction service for Scotland, to promote Scotland as an attractive and competitive place to work and to provide welcome and integration support for individuals and their families.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what target it will set for public procurement spend with small local businesses as part of its plan to make it easier for local businesses to bid for and win contracts as set out in its Economic Recovery Implementation Plan.
Answer
Figures published in the Public Contracts Scotland Summary Report https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Guides/Guide_Download.aspx?id=2898
for 2019-2020 reveal that 79% of suppliers awarded contracts in 2019-20 were SMEs, and 63% were SMEs located in Scotland.
Public sector contracts are awarded following open and fair competition and spend fluctuates due to numbers of contracts, their size and nature. So, we do not set targets for SME spend in Scotland. Instead, our approach is to improve access to public contracts for SMEs, the third sector and supported businesses as a key part of meeting our sustainable procurement duty obligations.
This includes developing and signposting sources of support to enable SME and third sector organisations who wish to tender for public contracts to engage with the public sector and to be more successful in winning contracts. For example, we invest in the Supplier Development Programme which assists businesses to become tender ready for public procurement and improves their prospects of success when competing for contracts. Our approach provides practical support to enhance the opportunities for smaller firms that might otherwise not be able to bid.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to engage employers to promote the positive benefits of providing more job opportunities for young people, and through which channels.
Answer
The Scottish Government’s youth employment strategy, ‘Developing the Young Workforce’, has transformed how employers engage with young people through the education and skills system, improving the work readiness of Scotland’s young people. DYW Regional Groups bring local employers together to take an industry led approach to further improving the relationship between employers and young people in the senior phase at school.
We have appointed Sandy Begbie to advise on the implementation of a Youth Guarantee, which will promote the importance of giving young people the opportunity to access employment, education and training. In line with the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery this work will be led by employers. We engage regularly with a wide range of employers and business organisations and will continue to do this as the Youth Guarantee is implemented.
We have committed to make £60 million available to support the delivery of the Guarantee this year. We recognise the need for this to work alongside the UK Government KickStart scheme. Although we regret that Kickstart was announced with no opportunity for the Scottish Government to contribute or influence it, we are working with DWP to ensure our investment adds value and delivers better outcomes for young people in Scotland.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, as set out in its Economic Recovery Implementation Plan, whether it will set a target for a proportion of the increase in private sector representation on agency and public boards to feature small and micro business representation.
Answer
We are working through how best to achieve the aim of greater private sector representation on agency and public boards including consideration of an inclusive approach encompassing businesses of all sizes.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how many laptops with internet access were provided to disadvantaged children as part of its commitment to provide 25,000 of these, also broken down by local authority area.
Answer
A breakdown of the allocation of these devices by local authority is shown in the following table. Local authorities are making arrangements for distribution of the devices to disadvantaged learners in their areas. Funding allocations for the remainder of the £25m investment in digital exclusion have been made to all local authorities who are now in the process of ordering additional equipment, be that devices or connectivity solutions, to meet local need.
Local Authority | Number of devices |
Aberdeen City | 1447 |
Aberdeenshire | 2725 |
Angus | 1111 |
Argyll & Bute | 800 |
Clackmannanshire | 674 |
East Ayrshire | 1366 |
East Dunbartonshire | 815 |
East Lothian | 407 |
East Renfrewshire | 590 |
Fife | 4139 |
Glasgow City | 300 |
Highland | 3248 |
Midlothian | 1235 |
North Ayrshire | 750 |
South Ayrshire | 1200 |
South Lanarkshire | 1792 |
Stirling | 1528 |
West Dunbartonshire | 358 |
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what independent expert advice it has identified as being necessary to include in its forthcoming working group to assess the capability to manage ownership stakes in private companies.
Answer
The Scottish Government will be drawing on corporate finance, governance, economic and business expertise in helping to shape our thinking on our approach to managing ownership stakes in private companies.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it has established for determining whether to take ownership stakes in private businesses.
Answer
Decisions on whether to take ownership stakes in private businesses are taken on a case by case basis.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to second business leaders or delegate officials to manage potential ownership stakes in private businesses.
Answer
As outlined in the Scottish Government’s Economic Recovery Implementation Plan, a report and recommendations on the management of ownership stakes in private businesses will be put to Ministers in the autumn. This will include a recommendation on the optimum delivery model for the management of such stakes.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 August 2020
To ask the Scottish Government whether applications to its proposed Transition Training Fund will be restricted to those having worked in specific sectors and, if so, which ones.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of upskilling and retraining individuals to mitigate the labour market challenges causes by Covid-19. As the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture announced on 16 July, we will bring forward proposals for a new transition training fund to help people develop the skills they need to enter into sectors or occupations where we are most confident of a strong recovery, high demand, or tangible job opportunities.