- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17158 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, how much it has provided for each year from 2007-08 to 2014-15 for work on race equality, also broken down by organisation.
Answer
Scottish Government has provided significant funding over the period 2007–15 to promote equality and help tackle inequality and discrimination. The Equality budget supports funding to address issues of race equality through its Equality Fund, through strategic interventions and through its support for intermediary organisations. Figures relating to the support for organisations are broken down by organisation and detailed in the table placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55361).
In addition, resources from the Equality budget also contribute to race and religious equality work elsewhere in the Scottish Government such as sectarianism and Gypsy/ Traveller educational projects.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17158 by Shona Robison on 26 September 2013, to what projects and initiatives the £5.3 million is allocated.
Answer
Scottish Government is providing significant funding (nearly £21 million per annum) over the period 2012–15 to help tackle inequality and discrimination. The £5.3 million is the amount of money provided by Scottish Government’s Equality Fund for specific work to tackle issues around race and religious equality. A detailed breakdown of this is shown in Table A of the information placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55362). In addition the Equality budget also supports strategic interventions and provides support to intermediary bodies which also contribute to tackling race inequality and religious intolerance and discrimination. These are detailed in Table B and Table C of the information placed in the Parliament’s reference centre (Bib. number 55362).
In addition resources from the Equality budget also contribute to race and religious equality work elsewhere in the Scottish Government such as sectarianism and gypsy/traveller educational projects.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 7 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17159 by Shona Robison on 3 October 2013, what specific action is being taken to tackle poverty and deprivation in black and minority ethnic communities.
Answer
We are committed to tackling the long-term drivers of poverty through early intervention and prevention. In Spring 2014, we will publish a revised Child Poverty Strategy which will focus on maximising household resources and improving children’s wellbeing and life chances.
The Scottish Government has made a number of commitments which will help maximise incomes for households in Scotland. For example, we have allocated
£40 million in partnership with local government to plug the gap in funding for Council Tax Benefit successor arrangements in 2013-14 and ensure that over 500,000 vulnerable people are protected from UK Government funding cuts. The Equality Statement on the Scottish Draft Budget 2014-15 highlights that because of the demographic differences between ethnic groups, ethnic minorities are particularly likely to benefit from such income-related commitments.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2013
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it can provide from the culture and external affairs budget to the paddle steamer, the Maid of the Loch, so that it can sail again on Loch Lomond.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2013
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 5 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government how many people with learning disabilities have been enrolled at a college in each year since 2007-08.
Answer
The Scottish Funding Council produces statistics for students in colleges. The latest data is for the academic year 2011-12.
The disability categories used by SFC do not allow us to separately identify students with learning disabilities. The following table shows the percentage of enrolments for students with any recorded disability.
Percentage of enrolments in Scottish Colleges for students with a recorded disability: 2007-08 to 2011-12
| | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 |
| Percentage of enrolments for students with any recorded disability | 10.4% | 11.0% | 11.6% | 12.3% | 12.3% |
Source: Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17292 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 October 2013, when data will be published regarding the number of households assisted by the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes for Scotland.
Answer
Councils have until the end of September 2014 to complete works carried out using HEEPS funding for 2013-14 as part of area-based fuel poverty schemes. They will provide monitoring information to the Scottish Government after that date. Information on the final position regarding the number of households assisted by HEEPS funding will be published as soon as possible after that date.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 1 November 2013
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-17291 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 October 2013, what information is being collected now and what specific monitoring information is being proposed.
Answer
Scottish Government monitoring of ECO and of the general progress of projects will be on two levels:
(1) Local authorities will complete monthly reports on activity which will cover work completed in the previous months, works started on site and works committed but not yet started. This will include an analysis of ECO for committed and completed homes. The first return is for the month of October and will include all activity funded by the area based schemes this financial year and is due to be received from local authorities by November the 14th.
(2) Local authorities will on a quarterly basis provide details of the measures completed to homes which will be cross referenced to the data set Ofgem provide. This will provide a better understanding of how ECO is working in Scotland and how to develop future policy. The first quarterly return will be to the end of December 2013 and is due to be received from local authorities by the 24th of January 2014.
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Current Status:
Withdrawn
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 October 2013
To ask the Scottish Government whether there is an independent review mechanism for the Scottish Welfare Fund.
Answer
Second tier reviews for the Scottish Welfare Fund are carried out by an impartial panel in each local authority. We have published details of the second tier review in our guidance. The guidance is available on our website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/welfarereform/scottishwelfarefund/scottishwelfarefuindguidance.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 29 October 2013
To ask the Scottish Government what average level of grant it anticipates for (a) community care and (b) crisis grants.
Answer
We have not estimated the average award for Community Care Grants, or Crisis Grants. Informal monitoring information from local authorities shows that, for the period April to August inclusive, the average award for a Community Care Grant was £550 and the average award for a Crisis Grant was £57.
