Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it provides to the oil and gas sector to export knowledge and services.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government and our Enterprise and Skills Agencies work closely with Scottish oil and gas companies providing support, advice, and other assistance to help businesses access international markets, including: identification of market opportunities;…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many public sector construction projects in each of the last five years have used locally-sourced stone, and how much this represented as a percentage of the overall cost of each project.
Answer · Derek Mackay: This information is not held centrally.
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it only provides one-year contracts for the delivery of Employability Fund programmes, which is in contrast to the three-year contracts for the delivery of Fair Start Scotland programmes, and whether it will provide three-year contracts for Employability Fund programmes.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: There is a fundamental difference why Fair Start Scotland contracts apply for a longer period of time. This is because many of the people who participate in Fair Start Scotland require a much longer period of support. Fair Start Scotland offers 12 to 18 month…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will complete the review of the Employability Fund.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: In “Delivering for Today, Investing for Tomorrow”, the 2018-19 Programme for Government, we committed to set out the conclusions of the review of Scottish Government employability investment by the end of 2018, with a view to strengthening relationships with …
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue contracts to training providers for the delivery of Employability Fund programmes.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Skills Development Scotland are responsible for issuing contracts to training providers. The Scottish Government will outline our budget later in the year following confirmation from the UK Government of the financial settlement to Scotland. Budget allocatio…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages the use of natural stone sourced in Scotland in construction projects.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Scotland’s built environment has a rich legacy of the innovative use of stone and we are keen to capitalise on and promote the use of our national assets wherever possible. The then-Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy met with the three founders of t…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether its procurement guidance supports the use of locally-sourced materials in construction projects.
Answer · Derek Mackay: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-18852 on 26 September 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusin…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) estimated and (b) actual cost was of the recent work carried out by Scottish Water at the A814 in Rhu.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The approved stage budget for the Rhu project is £2.4m. The current latest best estimate (LBE) for the project is £2m. The project is currently forecast to be delivered for approx. £400k below budget. This was primarily as a result of utility diversions being…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the advantages are of issuing procurement notices for investment programmes rather than tendering individual project contracts.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Public bodies must ensure taxpayers get the best possible value for money. Once a requirement has been identified, and as part of the process of developing the appropriate sourcing strategy, it is important to consider what the right approach for the particu…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which delivery partners have been appointed by Scottish Water for its 2015-21 investment programme, also broken down by (a) where they are headquartered and to (b) what extent they hire local sub-contractors.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Scottish Water has appointed a range of delivery partners to deliver its 2015-21 investment programme:3 Alliance partners13 Tier 1 contractors55 Rural contractors Further details are provided in the table. Delivery vehicle Contractor name HQ % work self-…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how Scottish Water monitors performance on cost for individual infrastructure projects.
Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: In accordance with Government Guidance on Approval and Evaluation, Scottish Water operates a capital governance process which requires project budgets to be set and approved at predetermined gateways before the project can proceed to the next phase. In accord…
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 19 October 2017, Pay boost for carers, what funding it has committed, in partnership with COSLA, to deliver the Scottish Living Wage rate of £8.75 per hour for overnight support hours in social care in 2018-19, and whether it plans to provide additional su…
Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government provided £10 million of funding in the 2017-18 budget to support the commitment to pay social care workers the Scottish Living Wage for sleepovers. A further resource of £10 million was allocated in 2018-19 to support the extension on …
25 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 19 October 2017, Pay boost for carers, on what date it will implement the Scottish Living Wage rate of £8.75 per hour for overnight support hours in social care in 2018-19.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: 11 October 2018 The Scottish Government announced on 19 October 2017, that adult social care workers will be paid the Scottish Living Wage for sleepover hours, meaning that the Living Wage will be received for all hours worked. The change is taking place dur…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it is providing to implement its retail strategy, and whether it plans to provide additional resources to assist with this.
Answer · Derek Mackay: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-19027 on 23 October 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish its retail strategy, and how it will monitor the effectiveness of the strategy.
Answer · Derek Mackay: We are currently working in partnership with the Scottish Retail Consortium to develop a joint retail strategy and we will publish the strategy in due course.
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed each year by private sector organisations that contribute to the UK Apprenticeship Levy.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W–19024 on? 11 October 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusine…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund was spent on training in 2017-18.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Final information on the pilot year of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund in 2017-18 will be made available by the Scottish Funding Council to the Scottish Government early in 2019. This is in line with the publication of wider details of college deliver…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has received in Barnett consequentials from the UK Apprenticeship Levy (a) in 2017-18 and (b) since April 2018, and how this has been allocated.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: As announced by UK Government Treasury on 14 November 2016 the Scottish Government's settlement from the Barnett consequentials of the Apprenticeship Levy is (a) 2017-2018 - £221 million; and (b) 2018-2019 - £230 million. As the public sector is liable to pa…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it expects to receive in Barnett consequentials from the UK Apprenticeship Levy in each of the next three years.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: On 14 November 2016 the UK Government announced the Scottish Government's three year settlement from the Barnett consequentials of the Apprenticeship Levy: 2017-2018 - £221 million; 2018-2019 - £230 million; and 2019-2020 - £239 million. Beyond 2019-20 discu…
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how much each sector in Scotland is contributing to the UK Apprenticeship Levy.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government is not responsible for collecting the Apprenticeship Levy, which is a UK Government measure. The Scottish Government requested access to data relevant to Scotland from HMRC some time ago. This was only provided in late September 2018 …
24 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what portion of its Flexible Workforce Development Fund has been accessed in each year by each sector.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W–19024 on 11 October 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusines…
19 Sep 2018 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve visitor experience by working with local authorities to enhance facilities such as car parking.
12 Sep 2018 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the quality of the engagement with patients by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde regarding the development of proposals to centralise breast cancer services away from the Vale of Leven Hospital to the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Answer · Jeane Freeman: Firstly, it is important to note that this review is still underway and that no service change decisions have been made. The Government has been consistently clear that the development of formal proposals must be informed by meaningful engagement with local …
11 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many criminal investigations Police Scotland carried out in each year since 2013, and, of these, how many were dropped in the first (a) 24 and (b) 48 hours of investigation.
Answer · Humza Yousaf: The information requested is not held centrally. The data we receive from Police Scotland to produce the Recorded Crime in Scotland publication is a simple count of the numbers of crimes and offences, for each Local Authority, which the police have recorded a…
10 Sep 2018 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister, in light of the David Hume Institute report, Wealth of the Nation, what action the Scottish Government will take to improve productivity.
6 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17330 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, in light of its responses to FOI request 18/02151 to 53 that the Special Customer Records policy remains under development and that an interim policy solution is being used to administer the first ca…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The delivery of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement relies heavily on DWP data. DWP already have a strategy and standards in place for the protection of such records. For this reason, for the purposes of Carer’s Allowance Supplement, following the existing DWP a…
6 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the question S5W-17330 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 July 2018, in light of its response to FOI request 18/02153, for what reason the Special Customer Records policy is not operational and it is relying on an interim policy solution to administer the carers a…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The delivery of the Carer’s Allowance Supplement relies heavily on DWP data. DWP already have a strategy and standards in place for the protection of such records. For this reason, for the purposes of Carer’s Allowance Supplement, following the existing DWP a…
6 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-17695 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 August 2018, which stated that the Scottish Government would not publish its Special Customer Records policy as “the security of Special Customer Records is paramount”, and further to its response to FOI reques…
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Our intention is not to publish the detailed guidance on Social Security Scotland's approach to Special Customer Records. This is because doing so may compromise the safety and security of the people who these records are designed to protect.
6 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to establish a commission on the fourth industrial revolution, which will involve industry, academics, policy-makers and workers.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government and its agencies already engage with industry, academics, policy makers and workers on issues of technological change through a wide range of mechanisms, including the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board. Given the wide range of acti…
6 Sep 2018 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the SCDI report, Automatic…For the People?.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The SCDI report “Automatic…For the People?” provides a helpful and well evidenced contribution to debate and policy on the pace of change of new technologies and their impacts on the Scottish economy and labour market. We are already responding to many of the…