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: S5W-23868

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration (a) the Just Transition Commission and (b) Scottish Enterprise has made of the economic impact of the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm.

The Just Transition Commission has not made any assessment of the economic impact of this project. The Commission works independently from Government and is tasked with providing practical advice to Ministers on how to make the transition to a net-zero economy in a way that is fair for all.

Scottish Enterprise has not conducted an evaluation of the economic impact of the development proposed by the application. Scottish Enterprise were not involved in the project at stages where this would be appropriate.

Question reference: S5W-23863

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs will be (a) directly and (b) indirectly created through (i) supply chain benefits, (ii) local employment opportunities and (iii) other means by the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm, also broken down by how many will be located (A) in South Lanarkshire, (B) in the rest of Scotland, (C) elsewhere in the UK and (D) overseas.

ScottishPower Renewables Limited applied to Scottish Ministers on 12 February 2019 for consent to construct and operate the electricity generating station the member refers to under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. The generating station was granted consent on 10 th June 2019. Information on the matters taken into consideration by Scottish Ministers are contained within the application documents and the decision notice published on the Scottish Government Energy Consents website at www.energyconsents.scot with application reference number ECU00000729.

It is noted the generating station is located in close proximity to Whitelee Windfarm and will be designed to support the flexible operation of the National Grid and decarbonisation of electricity supply to support EU targets and national planning policy.

The procurement, construction and operation of the generating station equipment will now be completed by ScottishPower Renewables Limited, who may be contacted at The Soloist, 1 Lanyon Place, Belfast, United Kingdom, BT1 3LP should the member require any further information. ScottishPower Renewables will also be able to provide further information in relation to the operation of the generating station and how this will be managed in association with the existing Whitelee Windfarm generating station.

Question reference: S5W-23867

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 26 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which elements of the Ardochrig super-battery project near Whitelee Windfarm will be imported, and what assessment it has made of the project's international supply chain.

Question reference: S5W-24477

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-23936

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21923 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 March 2019, whether the discussions with DWP in relation to these costs have been completed and, if (a) so, on what date and (b) not, when it expects them to do so.

Question reference: S5W-23973

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21923 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 13 March 2019, in light of the progress with the discussions with the DWP, how much it estimates the transition will cost each year, broken down by benefit, and what methodology it uses to calculate this.

Question reference: S5W-23760

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to close its (a) race and (b) disability pay gap, and which of its agencies take a different approach.

The Scottish Government is committed to working in partnership with unions in conducting an equality audit on pay at the Scottish Government across protected characteristics.

We are analysing the roles performed by our workforce to better understand horizontal occupational segregation in business areas across the organisation and how this connects to pay; and, we monitor career progression of our workforce to check and act on any apparent barriers to progression of people across the range of equalities characteristics.

We have set targets to improve the flow of minority ethnic and disabled people into SCS, aiming to have 13% disabled and 6% minority ethnic new entrants to Senior Civil Service by 2025. We are currently developing a Recruitment and Retention Plan, setting a target for the employment of disabled people in the Scottish Government and outlining other actions to improve the employment of disabled people in the organisation.

We have made increasing diversity a key success indicator in recent large-scale recruitment exercises including our Graduate Development Programme, and this, coupled with dedicated positive action initiatives such as our 3-day Future Leaders Conference aimed at graduates from minority ethnic, disabled and socially or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, has been effective in increasing the proportion of successful candidates who identified as minority ethnic or disabled. We support the UK Civil Service Summer Diversity Internship Programme, which focuses on creating opportunities for students who identify as minority ethnic, disabled or from a socially or economically disadvantaged background.

To build an understanding of diversity at a strategic level and to support the development of talented individuals, we have implemented mutual mentoring between our Senior Civil Servants (including the Permanent Secretary) and members of the Race Equality Network.

Question reference: S5W-23761

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23316 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, what the race pay gap is in (a) the Scottish Government, (b) its agencies, (c) NHS boards and (d) all other public bodies, broken down by public body.

The following table show the mean and median ethnicity gap for a) Scottish Government core and b) the Agencies for which it holds pay data, except for those bodies where only a small number of staff within these organisations that have self-declared their ethnicity to avoid identifying any individual members of staff.

For the purposes of this table, pay includes both salary and on-going allowances, such as pay supplements, but excludes overtime. Part-time staff are reckoned at their full-time equivalent.

Ethnicity pay gap as at 31 December 2018		Pay Gap
Ethnicity pay gap as at 31 December 2018		Mean	Median
SG Core	SG Core	5.37%	8.90%
Agencies	Disclosure Scotland	17.60%	15.66%
	Social Security Scotland	7.53%	13.65%
	Transport Scotland	20.23%	29.36%
Others	Food Standards Scotland	-2.64%	-9.25%
Others	National Records of Scotland	0.96%	-5.03%

The Scottish Government does not hold relevant payroll data for b) Agencies, other than those listed above, c) NHS boards, or d) all other public bodies. A list of public bodies and their contact details are available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/ .

Question reference: S5W-23749

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-20752 and S5W-20753 by Aileen Campbell on 15 January 2019, whether it now holds information on what the verified financial gain (VFG) is to date of its Financial Health Check service and, if so, what this is.

Question reference: S5W-23762

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23317 by Jamie Hepburn on 6 June 2019, how it works with the private and third sectors to support them in reporting on their race pay gap.

As employment law is currently reserved, the Scottish Government cannot oblige employers in the third and private sector to report their ethnicity pay gaps. However, the Scottish Government is committed to working with key stakeholders to tackle the ethnicity pay gap.

In January 2019 the Scottish Government responded to the UK Government Ethnicity Pay Reporting Consultation. In our response we noted our support for ethnicity pay reporting, and highlighted the need for the UK Government to ensure that there is clear guidance communicated to employers on how to comply with any new regulations.

In December 2017 we launched ‘A fairer Scotland for all: race equality action plan and highlight report 2017-2021’ which sets out key actions for the Scottish Government to drive positive change for minority ethnic communities. Within the action plan there is a section on employment and a number of employment actions aim to help reduce the race pay gap.