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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 635 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S4W-10235

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the changes concerning trade union facility time announced by the Minister for the Cabinet Office will have on its workforce.

Question reference: S4W-08625

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 9 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) civil servants and (b) special advisers have worked on its constitutional team in each quarter since 2007.

Staff across the Scottish Government support Ministers in work on constitutional policy, including preparing for the implementation of the Scotland Act 2012 and the independence referendum in relation to their own policy areas, as and when required. For details of the staff of the Election and Constitution Division as at
31 March 2008, 2009 & 2010 and 30 September 2010, I refer the Member to the answer to question S3W-36766 on 17 November 2011.

Current details of Scottish Government staff supporting constitutional reform have been published on the Scottish Government website

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/constitution/About/constitution-SG-staffing

Special advisers are not members of the Elections and Constitution Team. However, I refer the Member to the answers to questions S3W-05415 on 15 October 2007, S3W-15385 on 3 September 2008, S3W-26243 on 3 August 2009, S3W-31349 on 22 February 2010, S4W-00282 on 1 July 2011 and S4W-10032 on 4 October 2012 for a breakdown in special adviser duties since 2007.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-10486

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the documentary film, You’ve Been Trumped.

Question reference: S4W-10316

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what income it has received as a result of the UK Government's digital strategy; what Barnett consequentials it has received arising from UK Government digital expenditure, and what use it has made of these resources.

The Scottish Government has secured over £240 million to deliver next generation broadband across Scotland. Of this, £100.8 million has been committed from Broadband Delivery UK, the UK Government’s broadband delivery arm; and £68.2 million has been allocated from the £380 million of capital consequentials accruing to Scotland for the period 2012-2015.

This funding will primarily be used to deliver our Step Change 2015 programme, which is being taken forward via two procurement exercises – one covering the Highlands and Islands, which is led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the other covering the rest of Scotland, led by Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-10242

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools no longer use the Glow network.

Question reference: S4W-10246

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will list the (a) recipients and (b) amounts of payments made in relation to the schools network, Glow, since 2007.

The Scottish Government contract for Glow is with RM Education plc. Since 2007 the value of payments to RM has been £29,078 million (excluding VAT). In addition, between Education Scotland and the Scottish Government, £11.59 million (excluding VAT) has been paid to Janet (UK) / Thus for the provision of the Interconnect – the high speed education broadband network. Over the same period, Education Scotland has received £25.21 million for the management, development and support of the overall ICT in Education programme of work. This includes the management and development of Glow, provision of an online service and digital content, and since 2009, ownership of the Interconnect contract.

In each of the financial years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, £1.2 million has been allocated across local authorities to support the implementation of Glow. A further £670 has been paid to members of the ICT in Education Excellence Group to cover their travel and subsistence expense claims.

Question reference: S4W-10244

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the proportion of school pupils who have access to super fast broadband (a) in school and (b) at home.

During late 2011, a bandwidth survey was conducted by Education Scotland. Summary of findings can be obtained from:

https://wikis.glowscotland.org.uk/0000250/Interconnect_Utilisation/Schools_Bandwidth_Survey/2011.

Information on proportion of school pupils who have access to superfast broadband at home is not held centrally. General information on household access to the internet can be obtained from the 2011 Scottish Household Survey:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0040/00403747.pdf.

Question reference: S4W-10238

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what evaluation it has made of the approaches being taken by local authorities to internet filtering in schools.

Question reference: S4W-10241

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much it (a) has spent in each of the last three years and (b) will spend in 2013-14 on extending high speed broadband access to schools.

Local authorities are responsible for the connections to schools within their boundaries. However, Education Scotland funds Interconnect, the high speed education broadband network connecting all Scottish Local Authorities and key education sites. Investment made on the Interconnect is as follows:

Year	Amount (ex VAT)
2009-2010	£2,563,924
2010-2011	£1,949,457
2011-2012	£2,187,122
2012-2013	£2,505,069
2013-2014 (predicted)	£2,344,010

Question reference: S4W-10236

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will introduce a national filtering policy in relation to internet use in schools.