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: S6O-02877

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress in implementing the recommendations made by the New Deal for Business Group on reforming non-domestic rates.

Question reference: S6W-23075

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 December 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it reportedly refused proposals by (a) the Scottish Building Apprenticeship and Training Council, (b) the Scottish Painting and Decorating Apprenticeship Council and (c) Unite the Union to use Professional Development Awards to alleviate the backlog in construction apprentices who have completed most of their SVA units and portfolio work but remain uncertified.

The challenges experienced by construction apprentices completing their apprenticeships continue to be closely monitored. The backlog of those who started in 2017 and 2018 has largely been cleared due to considerable support from all stakeholders. Scottish Government continues to work with agencies and industry to improve the rate of completion for the 2019 cohort, while maintaining the quality and integrity of the apprenticeships.

As Minister for Higher and Further Education I have chaired multiple roundtables with key stakeholders and industry partners and have stressed the need for practical solutions to resolve this backlog as quickly as possible, while ensuring no detriment to the apprentices.

I welcome practical and feasible solutions to help address this situation but we have to ensure that those solutions do not have any unintended consequences for the learners.

Question reference: S6T-01660

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the public sector workforce reductions predicted by the finance secretary on Sunday.

Question reference: S6O-02801

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-22702

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed in each year since it has been established, broken down by sector.

This information has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under BiB No 64673.

Data relating to colleges and the Open University in Scotland is based on bimonthly returns to the Scottish Funding Council from institutions delivering the Flexible Workforce Development Fund and should therefore be considered as an informal indication of how the Fund has been spent.

Data relating to AY 2022-23 is provisional as 2022-23 delivery is due to be completed at the end of December 2023.

Question reference: S6W-22704

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been spent on training in the current year.

For the current academic year 2023-2024, there has been no Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) spend to date. We hope to confirm the final decision on delivery soon.

Academic year 2022-2023 is still in delivery with any contractually agreed training due to be completed by the end of December 2023. Based on the latest data provided by the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the total spend so far is £11.55 million. Spend figures for 2022-23 will be finalised when delivery is complete.

Question reference: S6W-22705

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed in each year since it was established by private sector organisations that contribute to the UK Apprenticeship Levy.

Data on employer type was not collected during the first year of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) which was academic year 2017-2018. Information on Levy Paying employer spend on the first four years of the Fund is available in the FWDF evaluation report which was published in January 2023: https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-flexible-workforce-development-fund-fwdf/ .

Based on the information provided by our delivery partners, the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland, the level of FWDF accessed by private sector organisations in the academic years 2018-2023 was:

2018-2019 - £7 million.
2019-2020 - £6.7 million.
2020-2021 - £8.3 million.
2021-2022 - £9.1 million.
2022-2023 - part year as delivery continues to end of December 2023 - £7.1 million.

Question reference: S6W-22703

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund was spent on training in 2021-22.

Question reference: S6O-02765

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S6W-22637

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the shortages of ADHD medication, including what is causing these shortages, and what action it is taking, in conjunction with NHS boards, to mitigate the shortages.

The Scottish Government is aware that there are ongoing global supply issues affecting the availability of various products which are licensed for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is anticipated that the shortages will be resolved by end of December.

The shortages are caused by a combination of manufacturing issues and an increase in global demand. The pricing and the supply of medicines is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government. We continue to engage with the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and we will continue to monitor the situation.

The Scottish Government recognises the impact of these global shortages on people living with ADHD and their families. NHS Scotland has robust systems in place to manage medicine shortages when they arise and anyone affected by this issue should speak to their usual clinical team.