- Asked by: Paul Sweeney, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether (a) retaining Glasgow Prestwick Airport in public ownership and control under Prestwick Aviation Holdings Limited is (i) in the public interest and (ii) the best way to realise the long-term economic and industrial development potential of the site and (b) the site is strategically important for the Scottish economy.
Answer
The Scottish Government intervened to secure the future of Glasgow Prestwick Airport when the business was under threat of closure. It was in the public interest to secure the continued operation of Glasgow Prestwick Airport as an asset of strategic importance to Scotland.
Glasgow Prestwick Airport has performed well in a highly competitive aviation market and is now a profitable business, however we remain committed to returning the airport to private ownership at the appropriate time. Any decision to sell Prestwick Airport must be informed by what is right for the long-term success of the business and it's contribution to the local and Scottish economy.
There is considerable potential for Glasgow Prestwick Airport to drive economic development as the anchor of an aerospace cluster in South Ayrshire. The Scottish Government will work with all relevant parties to make the most of this opportunity.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been reimbursed by NHS Scotland for private surgery in other parts of UK in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information and it is not collected by Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current levels of public debt in the public sector.
Answer
Every Public Body publishes an Annual Report and Accounts which will include details of amounts owed to them. These annual accounts will normally be available online on the website of the individual organisation.
The Scottish Government continues to support struggling households, which is why both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3 billion to support policies which tackle poverty and protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis. We will also allocate at least £11 million in 2023-24 to support free debt, welfare and income maximisation advice.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been referred by NHS Scotland for private surgery in other parts of UK in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information and it is not collected by Public Health Scotland.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what recent representations ministers have made to public bodies regarding the pausing of public debt collection.
Answer
Scottish Ministers continue to encourage public bodies to share good practice on debt assistance and collection and to show empathy and dignity when working with people struggling with debt. At a recent meeting of the ‘Joint Working Group on Sourcing of Local Government Funding and Council Tax Reform’ ministers raised the issue of Council Tax Debt and Recovery with the COSLA President, Vice President and Resources Spokesperson.
Scottish Government has also taken considerable action to help people struggling with the impacts of the cost of living crisis. This year we will provide funding to local government in excess of £350 million to deliver the Council Tax Reduction Scheme, ensuring over 450,000 households receive some level of Council Tax Reduction and on average recipients save over £750 a year. More widely, in 2023-24 we are tripling the Fuel Insecurity Fund and maintaining our investment in the Scottish Welfare Fund at £41 million to support those most in need.
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many quasi-governmental agencies, also known as quangos, it has funded in each year since 1999, and how much it spent on each.
Answer
Quasi-government agencies (quangos) are referred to as devolved national public bodies. There is no requirement to maintaining financial records of devolved national public bodies as far back as 1999, therefore, this information is not held centrally.
The national directory of all devolved national public bodies is in the public domain, and may be accessed in the following link. It provides information on Scottish Government funding for the current year, where applicable. It also provides links to the webpages containing published accounts for the various bodies.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/national-public-bodies-directory/pages/introduction/
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16997 by Tom Arthur on 9 May 2023, whether it can confirm that 6% of its contractors do not pay employees a minimum wage of at least £10.90 an hour, as stated in its answer to question S6W-15469, including employees not directly involved in the delivery of its services, and whether it will provide a list of those companies that it contracts to deliver services that do not pay all of their employees a minimum wage of at least £10.90 an hour.
Answer
The Scottish Government now routinely mandates the payment of at least the Scottish real Living Wage (£10.90) to employees directly involved in the delivery of its contracts. The 6% of contractors referenced in the Annual Report 20-21 was made up of 16 suppliers. Recent analysis of these suppliers and the associated contracts has revealed that of these 16, 14 now pay the real Living Wage either through a change of contractor during a re-let or via contract management processes. For the 2 remaining suppliers, one contract is currently being retendered due for award in July 2023 and the other is due for re-tender in 2024.
The Scottish Government is taking steps to maximise the payment of the real Living Wage, by including Fair Work First Criteria, including providing fair pay for workers in the delivery of the contracts where relevant and proportionate.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-16779 by Patrick Harvie on 27 April 2023, how funding to pay for household measures will be (a) coordinated and (b) delivered, and, specifically, what it anticipates will be the role of local authorities in this.
Answer
Support for households is currently accessed via Home Energy Scotland or via local authority-led Area Based Schemes. Funding for these schemes is allocated annually by the Scottish Government.
It is likely that this arrangement will continue in the short term, but we are committed to working with delivery partners, including Local Government to ensure the efficient and delivery of support to households.
As noted in response to S6W-16779 the Scottish Government is working with wider stakeholders to align current and future delivery and funding programmes with Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies to support a strategic approach to the decarbonisation of heat reflecting local contexts and tailoring support to specific needs of communities.
- Asked by: Rachael Hamilton, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Siobhian Brown on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many outstanding cases of human trafficking
have yet to lead to a prosecution due to court backlogs.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold the requested information.
Any form of human trafficking is completely unacceptable. Through the Victim Centred Approach Fund, we are providing record funding of more than £9 million over the period 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2025 to organisations supporting victims of human trafficking.
We have a strong track record on court investment, and continue to prioritise supporting justice partners to address the backlog.
The 2023-24 budget allocates £42.2 million for justice recovery, which includes over £26 million for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) to maintain enhanced court capacity. We have also increased SCTS’s resource funding by £5 million, and provided record resource funding for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 May 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 30 May 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage NHS boards to adopt the coeliac disease clinical pathway, in line with the Once for Scotland approach.
Answer
In 2018, a new national evidence-based pathway for coeliac disease was launched across four health boards (NHS Lothian, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and NHS Tayside). It was funded by Scottish Government’s Modernising Patient Pathways Programme (MPPP) and co-produced in partnership with key stakeholders including Coeliac UK, and people living with coeliac disease and clinicians.
We recognise that more needs to be done and we expect all Health Boards to fully implement the pathway in order to improve services and ensure that, with dietetic person-centred support, people with coeliac disease take control of their condition and manage its impact on their health and quality of life.
We continue to support NHS Boards on the adoption of the pathway through our representation on the Endoscopy and Urology Diagnostic Elective Care Group (EUDECG) which includes representation from all key stakeholders to support delivery, including NHS Boards and Endoscopy units across the country, in line with our Once for Scotland approach.