Parliamentary questions

Jackie Baillie

9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the equality impact assessment it carries out of spending by (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise are responsible for carrying out Equality Impact Assessments of their own policies and practices. They publish the assessments on their respective websites. Links to the relevant pages are provided bel…

6 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the growth of women's enterprises, including how much funding it provides toward this.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all of Scotland’s people are able to benefit from participation in enterprising activity. To this end, we launched a co-developed policy framework and action plan for women in enterprise in March 2014. Thi…

6 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what gender-specific training is provided for (a) Business Gateway advisers and (b) Scottish Enterprise account managers.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: Ensuring that Business Gateway Advisers have the training they need to deliver the Business Gateway Service is the responsibility of local authorities which are responsible for the operational delivery of the service. Training for Scottish Enterprise account…

6 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the gender pay gap for self-employed people, and what action it can take to close this.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The gender pay gap for self-employed people in Scotland is not published in official sources. However total earnings by gender for self-employed individuals in Scotland is published in ‘Table 3.11 Income and tax by gender, region and country’ of the HMRC publ…

6 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to reports that 3% of the high-growth companies assisted by Scottish Enterprise are led by women.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The latest Equality Mainstreaming Report from 2015 showed that the overall proportion of companies with female ownership rose from 40% in 2012-13 to 46% in 2013-14. The 3% figure quoted relates to a subset of SE account managed companies contained within th…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that each NHS board is able to manage potential treatment capacity challenges as a result of a rise in the incidence of kidney cancer.

Answer · Shona Robison: Our ‘Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action’ strategy and the accompanying £100 million investment over five years, serves as a blueprint for the future of cancer services in Scotland, improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of pe…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that people with kidney cancer have equal access to all systemic therapies approved by the Scottish Medicines Consortium regardless of where they live.

Answer · Shona Robison: Where the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) accepts a medicine for routine use in the NHS in Scotland, there is a clear expectation that NHS Boards will consider it and will make it (or its equivalent) available. There are a number of medicines which have …

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has that guidance on either (a) the living wage or (b) fair work has been considered and had an impact on the outcome of public sector procurement as a result of the implementation of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires contracting authorities to produce and publish a procurement strategy setting out how they will meet the obligations of the Act. Procurement strategies must include a statement of their general policy on the…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses have signed up to (a) the Scottish Business Pledge and (b) components other than the requirement to pay employees at least the living wage, broken down by each element.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The information requested is already in the public domain. Information on the Pledge elements met by businesses is given in the table entitled “Business Pledge – Statistical overview – August 2016”, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to collect its own data on the labour market by sector rather than by relying on UK data and, if so, when.

Answer · Keith Brown: Scottish data on the labour market by sector is produced by the Office of the National Statistics (ONS) on behalf of the Scottish Government and we will continue to use these National Statistics for headline labour market and sector analysis. Scotland’s Labou…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the implementation of the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 and associated guidance.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 contains a number of measures to increase transparency of public procurement including requiring contracting authorities with an annual regulated procurement spend of £5 million or more to produce and publish annual …

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether introducing a requirement for fair work practice for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise account-managed businesses is being considered as a condition of support.

Answer · Keith Brown: As part of Phase 2 of the enterprise and skills review, we will explore the feasibility of introducing a requirement for fair work practice for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise account-managed businesses.

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the compliance of businesses that have signed up to the Scottish Business Pledge.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Business Pledge is a commitment made voluntarily by firms in recognition of shared values and ambition to boost productivity and competitiveness through innovation, internationalisation and progressive workplace practices. Information on the Pled…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the implementation of the public sector equality duty and whether it analyses the information and data that is provided under the duty.

Answer · Angela Constance: Monitoring and compliance of the public sector equality duties falls to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The Commission published a series of reports entitled ‘Measuring Up’ between June 2013 and August 2016. These can accessed online:https://www.equ…

4 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for how long scaffolding has been in place at Dumbarton Castle and when it anticipates it will be removed.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Historic Environment Scotland Act 2014 created a new public body, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), to carry out the regulatory and other functions which were formerly delivered by, or on behalf of, Scottish Ministers. The information you requested is…

3 Oct 2016 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what impact the breaching of EU spending rules has had on the funding of infrastructure projects.

30 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Energy Jobs Taskforce last met; who attended, and what was discussed.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Energy Jobs Taskforce last met on 14 September 2016. During the meeting there was a substantive discussion on the longer term vision for the sector, work which the Oil and Gas Authority is leading alongside Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) and the Energy Jobs Taskfo…

30 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter of 27 September 2016 from the Director of Health and Social Care Integration to the integration joint boards regarding the new arrangements for the payment of the Scottish Living Wage to social care workers from 1 October 2016, what its position is on the reported …

Answer · Shona Robison: Scottish Government allocated a further £250 million to health and social care partnerships to protect and grow social care services and deliver on our shared priorities, including paying the Living Wage to adult care workers. We recognise the challenges of…

30 Sep 2016 · Written Question

Answer · Shona Robison: Our commitment will see care workers being paid the Living Wage for all ‘waking’ hours including holiday and travel time. What we have agreed with stakeholders is that hours where an individual is sleeping (sleepovers) must be compliant with the 2014 Employme…

30 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what processes it has put in place to ensure that each integration joint board has adequate funding to meet the Scottish Living Wage commitment to social care workers.

Answer · Shona Robison: We have made a national assessment of the cost of implementing this policy and have asked health and social care partnerships to make their own assessment of cost with providers. The cost of implementing was always going to vary across authorities in Scotlan…

22 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many consultant psychiatry vacancies there are, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Shona Robison: Number (whole time equivalent) of psychiatric consultant vacancies by NHS board as at 30 June 2016. Total Vacancies Scotland 55.5 NHS Ayrshire and Arran 4.0 NHS Borders 3.0 NHS Dumfries and Galloway 1.0 NHS Fife 1.6 NHS Forth Valley 4.8 NHS Gr…

22 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many NHS full-time-equivalent psychiatrists cover the (a) Helensburgh and Lomond and (b) Argyll and Bute area.

Answer · Shona Robison: Data on the number of psychiatrists in Helensburgh and Lomond and Argyll and Bute area is not held centrally. The workforce information held centrally identifies the employing Health Board but not the locations of work. Specific local information may be ava…

22 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the adjustments to Council Tax bands E, F, G and H will continue to include the 25% single person's discount.

Answer · Derek Mackay: There would be no changes to the eligibility criteria for 25% single person’s discount as a result of the Government’s reform of Council Tax, including for those in Bands E to H.

22 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the grant in aid for Skills Development Scotland has been in each year since it was established.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Grant in Aid to Skills Development Scotland in each financial year from its beginning (2008-9) Financial Year Grant in Aid1 (£m) 2008-09 195.7 2009-10 196.7 2010-11 194.2 2011-12 199.3 2012-13 188.7 2013-14 208.7 2014-15 197.7 2015-16 207.7 …