Parliamentary questions
Andy Kerr
326 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
10 Mar 2011 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to the almost 13,000 children who leave primary school each year unable to read, write or count.
Answer · Michael Russell: We know from the Scottish Survey of Achievement that the majority of children develop a good grounding in literacy skills in early primary. However, a minority do not and we are determined that everything that needs to be done to support them is done.</p> <p…
10 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialist nursing or occupational therapist roles supporting people with autism exist in NHS Scotland
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Information on the number of specialist nursing or occupational therapist roles supporting people with autism is not captured separately in the workforce statistics. NHS National Service Scotland, Information Services Division (ISD) publish data annually as a…
7 Dec 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what remuneration the chair of the National Performance Management Committee received from the Scottish Government in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09 and (c) 2009-10 and on what basis the remuneration was calculated.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The arrangements for remunerating the chair of the National Performance Management Committee were approved by the then Health Minister, Andy Kerr, in 2006. These are based on the ceiling of the Band 2 daily fee for chairs, as set out in paragraph 5.19 of the …
2 Dec 2010 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers last met the National Performance Management Committee and what issues were discussed.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Ministers have never met the National Performance Management Committee.</p>
18 Nov 2010 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth last met COSLA.
Answer · John Swinney: I meet representatives of COSLA regularly, and have done so several times in the last few weeks.</b></p>
25 Aug 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) date and (b) location was of each ministerial visit to the East Kilbride parliamentary constituency since May 2007.
Answer · John Swinney: The detailed information requested is currently being collated and I will write to the member as soon as this is available. A copy of the response will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 51698).</b></p>
11 Jun 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the (a) appointments that have been made to public bodies by ministers since May 2007 and (b) political affiliation, where known, of the appointees.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Information relating to board membership details of the public bodies which are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland are shown on the Scottish Government''s public appointmen…
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is measuring the impact of the money allocated under the (a) Social Entrepreneurs Fund, (b) Enterprising Third Sector Fund and (c) Scottish Investment Fund.
Answer · John Swinney: Each of the funds is delivered by a different body, each of which has put in place specific monitoring mechanisms.</p> <p >(a) The Social Entrepreneurs Fund is delivered by Firstport who are measuring the journey travelled by awardees against five indicators…
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on the campaign to attract people from mainstream businesses onto the boards of enterprising third sector organisations and what success it has had.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has committed, over two years until March 2011, £82,000 to the Business on Board programme, delivered by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. The Business on Board programme includes encouraging and supporting people with …
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many procurement officers have been trained in the use of community benefit clauses in each of the last three years and in what public bodies.
Answer · John Swinney: There is no central record available of the number of procurement officers that have been trained in the use of community benefit clauses. The Scottish Government is however keen to support development and to raise awareness of such clauses and in the six awa…
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has advised COSLA that local authorities’ procurement contracts should be linked to single outcome agreements.
Answer · John Swinney: Single outcome agreements set out the ambitions of a Community Planning Partnership, in the form of local outcomes, and describe how progress towards these local outcomes will be measured. Single outcome agreements are not expected to set out how local servic…
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the role of social investment bonds in financing third sector organisations.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to investing in an enterprising third sector. This includes exploring with a range of stakeholders the development of innovative approaches to financing the sector.</p>
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what actions it is taking to encourage commercial banks to invest in the third sector.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to encouraging investment in, and development of, the Scottish economy. This includes encouraging lenders to support the cash, credit and capital needs of viable businesses, including those in the third sector.</p>
25 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth will report to the Parliament on the progress made in the Enterprising Third Sector Action Plan.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government will publish an update on progress of the action plan in summer 2010.</p>
5 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-31315 by Jim Mather on 1 February 2010, what the value was of the further private investment from the Shell Technology Ventures Fund in AWS Ocean Energy Ltd.
Answer · Jim Mather: The £2 million investment announced as secured recently by AWS Ocean Energy comprised a contribution of £920,000 from Scottish Enterprise''s Co-investment Fund, with the balance coming from the Shell Technology Ventures Fund.</p>
5 Mar 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S3W-26834 and S3W-31314 by Jim Mather on 8 September 2009 and 1 February 2010 respectively, for what reason it has been unable to spend over £8 million of the £13 million allocated by the previous administration for developing wave and tidal energy sche…
Answer · Jim Mather: Our spend to date under the WATES scheme is linked solely to the speed at which those projects have advanced and drawn down their grant. The marine renewable industry is an emerging sector with new and innovative technologies, faced with high costs and seriou…
26 Feb 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total extra amount is of 2010-11 non-domestic rates that larger organisations that would have been eligible for transitional relief will pay as a result of the decision by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth not to introduce an upper cap (a) comparable with t…
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32025 on 26 March 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/…
26 Feb 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its assessment of the impacts of a possible transitional relief scheme for non-domestic rates, referred to by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth in his statement in the chamber on 10 February 2010 (Official Report c. 23669).
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32025 on 26 March 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/…
26 Feb 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties and at what rateable value will be subject to increased non-domestic rates in 2010-11 compared with 2009-10 levels of (a) 0 to 5%, (b) 5 to 10%, (c) 10 to 15%, (d) 15 to 20% and (e) more than 20% per annum, also expressed as a percentage of total rateable value, and br…
Answer · John Swinney: A report on the impact of revaluation will be published shortly.</p>
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the Scottish Futures Trust schools investment pilot to begin.
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31252 on 11 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <u><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received the Scottish Future’s Trust plans for a pilot for the schools investment programme and whether they have been approved.
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31252 on 11 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <u><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with the pilot for the schools investment programme referred to in the Scottish Future’s Trust corporate plan.
Answer · Keith Brown: The pilot programme referred to in the Scottish Futures Trust''s corporate plan is underway involving a joint procurement project with Lasswade High School in Midlothian and Eastwood High School in East Renfrewshire. The OJEU notice for the design team appoin…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still the case that local authorities will have to meet a third of the costs of secondary schools and half the cost of primary schools to be built through the schools investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: We have offered local authorities 67% of the construction cost of replacing secondary schools and 50% of the construction cost of replacing primary or special schools, based on a like-for-like replacement of current facilities.</p>
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is confident that funding for all schools to be built through the schools investment programme will be secured by April 2011.
Answer · Keith Brown: Yes, this government will honour these commitments on the school building project and on the protection of local government''s share of the overall capital budget, for the entirety of the programme.</p> <p >The Scottish Government underlined its commitment t…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when funding will come on stream to fund (a) secondary and (b) primary schools through the schools investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, funding will start from 2010-11 and continue to 2017-18. We expect the first schoo…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding mechanisms will be used to build new schools and whether it will list which schools will be built by the different models.
Answer · Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, the first schools will be funded through direct capital investment. Different fund…
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timeframe is for completion of each school under the Scottish Futures Trust schools investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: That will be a matter for the Scottish Futures Trust and local authorities and will depend on individual circumstances.</p>
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the final school to be completed under the Scottish Futures Trust school investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, the funding will start from 2010-11 and continue to 2017-18.</p>
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the first school to be completed under the Scottish Futures Trust school investment programme.
Answer · Keith Brown: As the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning said during her statement to Parliament about the new £1.25 billion school building programme on 17 June 2009, we expect the first primary school to be completed in 2011.</p>
29 Jan 2010 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when a schools investment programme will be published.
Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31243 on 11 February 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <u><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…