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 9115 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-16217

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses are eligible for the business growth accelerator.

Question reference: S5W-16213

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses are eligible for nursery relief.

Question reference: S5W-16215

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses that have applied for nursery relief have been granted it.

Question reference: S5W-15916

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish Futures Trust's (SFT) annual assessment of savings and benefits, how the effectiveness factor of 30% for asset management is estimated; whether property disposals will be 30% larger than they otherwise would have been because of SFT activities, and how the assumed benefit of 21% for schools construction is calculated, including details of any counterfactual baseline that was used.

The effectiveness factor of 30% for asset management was based on the SFT Benefits Methodology 2016 - 17 and which is available from SFT's website www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/publications/category/benefits . Examples of work within the programme include the Smarter Workplaces Programme to deliver central estate transformational change. After a five-year programme of work led by SFT an on-going annual revenue efficiency of £28 million per annum has been delivered. SFT's work with four pilot councils to demonstrate what efficiency savings could be realised through office rationalisation has acted as a catalyst for wider change resulting in an average floor-space reduction of more than 30% in the last five years.

It is not clear where the assumed benefit of 21% for school construction was found as it does not feature within SFT's Annual Business Review for 2016-17.

Question reference: S5W-16020

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils in secondary schools have achieved foreign language qualifications in each year since 2007, also broken down by level of qualification.

The following table sets out how many passes there are in foreign languages in each year since 2007 in secondary schools. It includes the following languages: Cantonese, French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian (although this is no longer available), Spanish and Urdu. It includes all the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) qualifications at all levels.

In addition to the qualifications listed in the table, increasing numbers of schools are choosing to present young people for the SQA Modern Language for Life and Work Award which is available at levels SCQF level 3 and 4. In this award attainment has increased by 36% between 2015 and 2017 from 2,164 to 2,943.

The data in the table shows a decline in uptake of national qualifications at SCQF levels 3-5. This decline is also evident in other subjects and is due in large part to changes in Senior Phase design, changes to curriculum models since the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence and as a drop in the cohort size. A fairer representation of language attainment can be seen in the uptake at Higher (SCQF 6) and Advanced Higher (SCQF 7) where numbers have increased since 2007 at both levels. At Higher in particular the numbers have remained above 7,000 in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

Table: Passes in foreign language qualifications, by level of qualification, 2007-2017

SCQF Levels/by Year	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
SCQF 3 Total	7033	7589	6822	6450	5964	5596	4870	1037	810	582	643
SCQF 4 Total	23363	22214	20322	18858	17618	17113	15938	8607	6828	5625	5415
SCQF 5 Total	22842	22395	21765	21318	20928	19882	20529	16763	15599	14164	14245
SCQF 6 Total	6238	6231	6186	6347	6083	6352	6070	6276	7276	7628	7082
SCQF 7 Total	700	850	859	876	905	877	928	858	930	1128	1118
Total	60176	59279	55954	53849	51498	49820	48335	33541	31443	29127	28503

Qualifications include Standard Grades, Access 3, Intermediate 1 (A-C), Intermediate 2 (A-C), National 3, National 4, National 5 (A-C), Higher (A-C) and Advanced Higher (A-C).

Question reference: S5F-02301

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2018

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with Asda and Sainsbury’s regarding their merger and any impact this might have on jobs in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-15919

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 16 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Scottish Futures Trust will publish an updated Statement of Benefits, and when the last such statement was published.

Question reference: S5W-16018

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) small- and (b) medium-sized enterprises exported their goods and services in each year since 2015.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on the number of small enterprises and medium-sized enterprises in Scotland that exported goods and services from 2015 onwards.

However, the Small Business Survey Scotland (SBSS) 2016, available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/small-business-survey-scotland-2016/ , provides an estimate of the proportion of small businesses (businesses with 10-49 employees) and medium-sized businesses (businesses with 50-249 employees) in Scotland that exported goods and services internationally (outside of the UK) in 2016. According to the SBSS 2016, 21 per cent of small businesses and 33 per cent of medium-sized businesses reported that they had sold goods or services outside of the UK in the past 12 months. Whilst the SBSS 2016 provides an estimate of the overall proportion of SMEs with employees that exported goods or services to the rest of the UK in the past 12 months, it does not provide a breakdown by business size.

The SBS 2015, available at https://beta.gov.scot/publications/small-business-survey-scotland-2015/ provides an estimate of the overall proportion of SMEs with employees that exported goods and services internationally (outside of the UK) in 2015. However it does not provide a breakdown by business size.

Question reference: S5W-16071

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which research projects relating to Parkinson's disease it has funded since 1999, and what the funding commitment was to each project.

Researchers can apply to the Chief Scientist Office for funding. The CSO's Translational Clinical Studies Committee and the Health Improvement, Protection and Services Research Committees each meet twice per year to consider funding applications. Details of the application process are published on the CSO website.

http://www.cso.scot.nhs.uk/funding-2/

Research proposals in Parkinson’s Disease (including research into the underlying mechanisms and causes, diagnosis, prevention, disease-modifying treatments, care pathways etc.) are welcomed. In common with all other applications, any such proposals would be subject to the Chief Scientist Office’s standard independent expert review process.

Since 1999 the following projects in Parkinson's Disease have been funded by CSO

Identification of prognostic factors and development of prognostic models in Parkinson's disease using long-term data from a large incidence-based cohort

Funding commitment £194,985

Improving predictions of prognosis in Parkinson's: moving from intensive small-scale studies to large and reliable routinely-collected datasets

Funding commitment £20,000

The Chief Scientist Office has an active programme of co-funding research with 3rd sector organisations. Officials from CSO are currently in discussion with Parkinson's UK around potential areas of collaboration.

The Scottish Government provides annual funding of over £490,000 for the Scottish Dementia and Neuroprogressive Disease Research Network. The network supports a wide range of research studies in Neuroprogressive disease, including Parkinson’s.

Question reference: S5W-15902

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 13 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13041 by Angela Constance on 12 December 2017, when the ethnicity evidence workshop with stakeholders will take place, and how it will ensure that all relevant groups are included.

The Scottish Government held a round table discussion with stakeholders in February 2017 to discuss the ethnicity evidence base and identify evidence gaps to inform the development of Scotland’s Equality Evidence Strategy. The organisations represented included: Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER); CEMVO Scotland; BEMIS; Equality & Human Rights Commission (EHRC); academics from Heriot Watt University and University of Strathclyde; and Scotland’s Race Equality Framework Adviser.

The second event focussing on improving ethnicity evidence will be held during 2018 and is in the process of being set up although the no date has yet been confirmed. The Scottish Government intends to invite the above groups to the next event and would be happy to consider others felt to be relevant.