Parliamentary questions
Pauline McNeill
2,364 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the criteria for someone being classified as homeless were last updated.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The criteria for someone being classified as homeless in Scotland were last updated by the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 and commenced in January 2004.
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the number of children in temporary accommodation.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Scotland’s homelessness rights mean households with children are in temporary accommodation while they wait for appropriate settled accommodation. We want this time to be as short as possible and we are increasing housing supply to help with this. We will del…
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had or plans with universities to discuss the impact of the UK leaving the EU.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government has engaged closely with the higher education sector on the impact of the EU Referendum on universities in Scotland. We have already provided reassurance through two joint statements with Universities Scotland on the tuition fee statu…
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reverse the reported fall in the number of women attending college.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The number of women studying full-time college courses is up by 16% since 2006-07, and women account for the majority of the college population – 52% in 2014-15. As part of implementing Developing the Young Workforce, our youth employment strategy, the Scot…
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it assess the efficacy of local authority homelessness prevention initiatives.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Local authorities have the duty to ensure that advice and information about homelessness and any services that may assist a homeless person or assist in the prevention of homelessness, is available free of charge to any person within the authority’s area. Th…
21 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have received support each year from the Help to Adapt scheme.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Help to Adapt provides various levels and types of support from initial advice and information about the scheme, through to specialist advice, recommendations and support leading to the installation of an adaptation. Where the homeowner is not eligible for th…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in addressing the reported gap in educational attainment with regard to (a) school qualifications, (b) university places and (c) college places.
Answer · John Swinney: The 2015 Interim Framework Report of the National Improvement Framework for Scottish Education presents a range of evidence which demonstrates that we are making progress in reducing the gap in educational attainment between pupils from our most and least dep…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on increasing the provision of free school meals.
Answer · John Swinney: Scottish Ministers have already taken action to increase the provision of free school meals in Scotland. Latest statistics on free school meals were published on 22 June 2016 in the Scottish Government Statistics Publication - Summary statistics for attainmen…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the maximum parental annual income level has been in each year since 2007 for children to be eligible for free school meals.
Answer · John Swinney: The criteria to qualify for free school meals is provided for in section 53 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. A summary of the criteria can be accessed on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/HLivi/schoolmeals/Fr…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of changes to the reported reduction of part-time courses in the further education sector.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Over the last Parliament, colleges maintained our 2011 commitment to deliver 116,000 Full-time Equivalent college places. We are continuing this commitment, focused on purposeful, job-focused learning. Short courses leading to work or progression are still a…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recent representations it has had from the business sector regarding reported slow broadband service in Glasgow.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has not received any specific representations from businesses on slow broadband service in Glasgow. However, we do recognise that some businesses across Scotland are affected by slow speeds and poor quality of service from broadband su…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-00068 by Angela Constance on 29 June 2016 (Official Report, c. 10) and in light of its commitment to provide 30,000 modern apprenticeship places by 2020, whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to address occupational segregatio…
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Occupational Segregation is an area in which we are determined to make progress. We are taking action through Developing the Young Workforce agenda and the Scottish Funding Council. In addition to that we continue to support a range of actions including on fa…
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many apprenticeship opportunities there are in engineering.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: During 2015-16 there were 1,073 new apprenticeships starts on the Engineering Framework. At the end of the March 2016 there were a total of 4,207 MAs in training on this framework.
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assist people on low incomes in accessing cheaper energy.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government is committed to improving the energy efficiency of our homes making them warmer and cheaper to heat, allocating almost £650 million since 2009. We also recognise the importance of innovative energy models in the market and last year …
20 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the number of households with pre-payment meters.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) publish quarterly information on regional variations in payment methods for domestic energy which is available at the following link:…
19 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of large employers that are signed up to the Living Wage accreditation scheme.
Answer · Keith Brown: The First Minister's Independent Advisor on Poverty and Inequality, Naomi Eisenstadt, published her report, Shifting the Curve, in January 2016. One recommendation in the report was that we build on Living Wage Accreditation. On 12 March 2016 the First Minist…
19 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to mitigate the impact of the increase in part-time employment and the use of fractional contracts.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-03664 on 27 October 2016. 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 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve conditions for people in poverty who are in paid employment.
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-01646 on 23 August 2016. Since then the Fairer Scotland Action Plan was published on 5 October 2016, with 50 government actions for this parliamentary term and a call for everyone to get involved in delivering …
15 Sep 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding implications for the UK and Scotland's relationship with the European Investment Bank following Brexit, and with whom.
Answer · Derek Mackay: Discussions between European Investment Bank and Scottish Government officials took place immediately after the EU referendum to underline the government's commitment to continue working with the Bank whilst its longer-term relationship with the wider UK is c…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the provision of maintenance and repairs for social housing.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government has set out minimum standards for maintenance and repair that can be expected by tenants in social housing. These standards are set out in the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) and, by 2020, landlords will also have to meet the …
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the suggestion in the Scottish Housing Condition Survey 2014 that the main cause of failing to meet the standard in all tenures relates to poor energy efficiency, what measures it plans or has introduced to improve energy efficiency in (a) social housing and (b) the private …
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government has allocated almost £650 million since 2009 and we will make available a further half a billion pounds over the next four years, meaning over £1 billion will have been committed by 2021 to tackle fuel poverty and improve energy effici…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how long the Help to Buy scheme is scheduled to run.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Funding for the Help to Buy (Scotland) Affordable New Build and Smaller Developers schemes has been committed to 2018-19, bringing total support through our Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes to £0.5 Billion over 6 years. Funding breakdown Scheme Year Ceiling …
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have been purchased under the Help to Buy scheme.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Sales data for the Help to Buy (Scotland) schemes is published on the Scottish Government website quarterly in arrears. From the launch of Help to Buy (Scotland) in September 2013 to the end of December 2015 7,720 homes had been purchased using the scheme. F…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is using its powers under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 to improve the standard of private sector housing.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Private home owners are primarily responsible for improving their own property. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 gave local authorities discretionary powers to require owners to carry out work on substandard houses and to provide assistance with repairs and im…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve the condition of the current housing stock.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Private home owners and landlords are primarily responsible for improving their own property. Social landlords, including local authorities, are responsible for improving social housing. The Scottish Government requires local authorities to produce a local ho…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many times it has protected tenants against excessive rent rises in the private rented sector in each year since 2007, broken down by the type of action taken.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: Under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988, a tenant with a short assured tenancy or statutory assured tenancy can refer a case to the Private Rented Housing Panel (PRHP) for a determination on market rents. The PRHP is an independent judicial body and we do not h…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many homes have received support from the Rural Poverty Task Force.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force has not delivered any direct support to homes. The Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force is an independent short life group set up by Scottish Ministers with the remit of exploring issues around fuel poverty in ru…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have implemented rent caps in areas of their responsibility since the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 came into force.
Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 is not yet in force. It is expected to commence in December 2017.
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made with its plans to require public authorities to publish their gender pay gap every two years.
Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government introduced mandatory gender pay gap reporting for listed public authorities with more than 150 employees in 2012. The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 requires listed public authorities to publish informa…
31 Aug 2016 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent reports of a gender pay gap in Scotland of 29.9%, what steps it is taking to reduce this.
Answer · Keith Brown: We do not recognise the figures quoted. The long-term trends in relation to the gender pay gap in Scotland are positive. The official source of UK earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), 2015. ASHE provides evidence to support po…