Questions · James Kelly

20 Sep 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the regional directors of education will be in place.

Answer · John Swinney: We have established a Joint Steering Group with Local Government to support the establishment of new Regional Improvement Collaboratives. We are therefore working with local government and with Education Scotland on the detailed arrangements for ensuring that…

13 Sep 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it provides to encourage access to art, drama and music by young people in South Lanarkshire.

6 Sep 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce air pollution in residential areas.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The Cleaner Air for Scotland strategy sets out a series of actions for Government, Transport Scotland, local authorities and others to further reduce air pollution across all areas of Scotland. Financial and other support is provided to local authorities to a…

19 Jun 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on calls to repeal the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

13 Jun 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to ensure that bus fare rates in Glasgow are affordable.

25 May 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the provision of adequate bus services in Glasgow.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government supports bus services across Scotland, including Glasgow, through the Bus Services Operators Grant (BSOG) which is currently (2017-18) £53.5 million per annum. Local transport authorities, including Strathclyde Partnership for Transp…

15 May 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to assess the impact of tax policy in relation to future budgets.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government provides 5 year forecasts for tax revenues in Scotland as a part of the Draft Budget process, showing the expected revenues available for expenditure in future budgets. The independent SFC have provided robust challenge to our forecast…

10 May 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support bus passengers in Glasgow.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The Scottish Government supports bus services across Scotland, including Glasgow, through the Bus Service Operators Grant. We also support bus passengers through the national concessionary travel schemes, which provide free travel for older and disabled peopl…

26 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment the Council of Economic Advisers has made of setting the top rate of income tax in Scotland at 50p.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Council of Economic Advisers have been invited by the First Minister to provide advice regarding how and to what extent the revenue risk associated with differential additional rates of income tax between Scotland and the rest of the UK may be mitigated. …

5 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made with each of the projects and programmes in the Projected Project Pipeline list set out in the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015, also broken down by the (a) investment made so far; (b) updated total estimated investment and (c) progress made against timetab…

Answer · Keith Brown: In March 2017, a range of progress updates on the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015 were published on the Scottish Government website, including the most recent Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015, Programme Pipeline Update - which is available from the fol…

5 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times so-called skip-stopping has taken place involving weekday services at each station on the Glasgow Central - Cathcart Circle/Neilston/Newton service in each of the last 12 months.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The number of occasions in each of the last twelve months on which a particular station was ‘skip-stopped’ is as follows: Station Dec-16 Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Burnside 2 1 1 2 Cathcart 0 1 1 0 Croftfoot 2 1 1 2 Crosshill 1 2 2 0 Kings…

5 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, as per ScotRail’s monthly public performance measure (PPM) figures, how many services are scheduled to call each weekday at each station on the Glasgow Central - Cathcart Circle/Neilston/Newton service, and (a) how many and (b) what percentage arrived (i) on time, (ii) up to one minute …

Answer · Humza Yousaf: On a normal weekday, 195 trains are booked to run on ScotRail’s Glasgow Central - Cathcart Circle/Neilston/Newton service as a whole. The current timetable can be found at this weblink: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/sr1612…

3 Apr 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many appeals against non-domestic rates valuations there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by business size, and how many (a) were successful, (b) were unsuccessful and (c) are awaiting a decision.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government does not hold data on all individual appeals, but does publish data on the numbers of revaluation appeals lodged, resolved and outstanding, at www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/NDR-Rates-Relief. The data he…

17 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) first time and (b) non-first time buyers used the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme in each quarter since it was launched.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Information on the first time buyer status of Help to Buy (Scotland) applicants by entry-date quarter is presented in the following table. This is based on available ‘log form’ information provided by applicants following the completions of sales over the per…

17 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) median and (b) mean total household income was of applicants for the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme in each quarter since it was launched.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Information on the median and mean household income of Help to Buy (Scotland) applicants by entry-date quarter is presented in the following table. This is based on available ‘log form’ information provided by applicants following the completions of sales ove…

15 Mar 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide the names of its special advisers in post; what their (a) responsibilities and (b) pay bands are; how many there are in each pay band, what the current total salary cost of employing them is, and whether it will provide an update on any changes made, including the…

Answer · Derek Mackay: Special Advisers are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers. There are currently 13 Special Advisers…

13 Mar 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support the provision of social housing.

27 Feb 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that school uniform costs for pupils from low-income families can be met.

20 Feb 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what costs have been incurred in detaining suspects in custody prior to court appearances for offences under the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012.

Answer · Annabelle Ewing: The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The Act makes no provision for policing which is entirely an operational matter for Police Scotland. The member may wish to direct his request to the Chief Constable of Police Scotlan…

30 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been made available by the CashBack for Communities programme in each year since 2011-12, broken down by (a) recipient and (b) activity.

Answer · Michael Matheson: We are rightly proud of our unique CashBack for Communities Programme which is delivered by partner organisations on our behalf. Information on the funding given to CashBack partners and other community initiatives is set out on the Scottish Government websi…

16 Jan 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met Glasgow City Council and what was discussed.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Ministers and officials regularly meet representatives of all Scottish local authorities, including Glasgow City Council, to discuss a wide range of issues as part of our commitment to working in partnership with local government to improve outcomes for the p…

16 Dec 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Istanbul Convention on gender-based violence and what (a) action it is taking to implement the obligations and (b) discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding ratifying it.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Government strongly supports the principles of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women. We have called upon the UK Government to set out a clear timetable for ratifying the Convention, and to engage wi…

21 Nov 2016 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what steps it is taking to improve the performance of ScotRail.

21 Nov 2016 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle the problem of nuisance calls.