Lewis Macdonald

18 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 30 recommendations made by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in its publication, Independent Assurance Review Police Scotland – Call Handling Final Report, have been met in full.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Following publication of the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) review on police call handling in November 2015, assurances were received from both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority that all 30 of the recommendations included …

18 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which of the 30 recommendations made by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in its publication, Independent Assurance Review Police Scotland – Call Handling Final Report, have (a) been met in full, (b) not yet been met in full but have seen significant progress made and (c) had no significan…

Answer · Michael Matheson: Following publication of the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) review on police call handling in November 2015, assurances were received from both Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority that all 30 of the recommendations included …

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether all funds collected under the apprenticeship levy will be spent on apprentices.

Answer · Annabelle Ewing: The apprenticeship levy is an employment tax which was announced in the UK autumn budget after The Smith Commission process to take forward the devolution commitments on further powers for the Scottish Parliament. The collection of the levy is a reserved matt…

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements will be made for the implementation of the apprenticeship levy and when they will be concluded and published.

Answer · Annabelle Ewing: The apprenticeship levy is an employment tax which was announced in the UK autumn budget after The Smith Commission process to take forward the devolution commitments on further powers for the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government does not have a role …

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what basis it assigned nominal figures for police and fire funding for 2016-17 to local authorities, given that local authorities have had no funding streams for these services in the current spending period.

Answer · John Swinney: In order to provide a fair comparison for calculating the average revenue funding per head figures for 2016-17, we added back the police and fire funding to each local authority in exactly the same way as it had been removed from the 2014-15 local government …

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it excluded the revenue funding of a number of local authorities in adjusting the revenue funding per capita as part of the process of determining the funding floor.

Answer · John Swinney: In determining the 85 per cent funding floor we excluded those outlier local authorities whose funding per head was much greater than 100 per cent in order to make the 85 per cent calculation more comparable.

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29851 by John Swinney on 24 February 2016, how it calculated the unadjusted average revenue funding per capita figure of 77.3% for Aberdeen City Council in 2016-17.

Answer · John Swinney: The unadjusted average revenue funding per capita figure of 77.3 per cent was calculated by comparing Aberdeen City Council's revenue funding allocation with the all-Scotland average for 2016-17 without making any adjustments and before the addition of the ex…

10 Mar 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29850 by John Swinney on 24 February 2016, what percentage of the unadjusted average revenue funding per capita Aberdeen City Council received in (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15.

Answer · John Swinney: Aberdeen City Council received 77.4 per cent of the unadjusted Scottish average final revenue funding per head in 2013-14 and 78.4 per cent in 2014-15.

7 Mar 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it has provided to Aberdeen City Council to address the shortfall in teacher recruitment, and what penalties it has imposed as a consequence.

Answer · Angela Constance: I attended the teaching summit in Aberdeen at the end of September last year to discuss working with the authority to address barriers to recruitment. We increased the University of Aberdeen's student teacher intake targets for 2016-17 and supported the deve…

29 Feb 2016 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of planned reductions in higher education funding.

22 Feb 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in filling consultant vacancies at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in the last 12 months.

18 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05529 by Shona Robison on 4 February 2016 (Official Report, c. 6), whether it will publish the advice that it received from the relevant clinicians (a) prior to and (b) since its announcement on 2 April 2014 that four major trauma centres would be i…

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30009 on 14 March 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybu…

18 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05529 by Shona Robison on 4 February 2016 (Official Report, c. 6), whether it sought further advice from the relevant clinicians following its announcement on 2 April 2014 that the four major trauma centres would be in place from 2016 and, if so, fo…

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-30009 on 14 March 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybu…

18 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-05529 by Shona Robison on 4 February 2016 (Official Report, c. 6), what expert advice it received in advance of its announcement on 2 April 2014 that the four major trauma centres would be in place from 2016, and from whom it received this.

Answer · Shona Robison: The National Planning Forum (NPF)’s Major Trauma Oversight Group (MTOG) has been tasked with looking at ways to enhance major trauma services in Scotland. In 2013, NPF received the following report from MTOG, which informed advice to ministers: http://www…

18 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it provides to public bodies regarding the publication of agendas and associated papers in advance of board meetings.

Answer · John Swinney: Although the Scottish Government does not provide any specific guidance on publication of agendas and associated papers in advance of board meetings, On Board – A Guide for Board Members of Public Bodies in Scotland highlights that stakeholders should have ac…

18 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many days in advance agendas are published for board meetings of (a) the Scottish Prison Service, (b) the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, (c) Transport Scotland, (d) the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and (e) the Scottish Police Authority.

Answer · John Swinney: The information on publication of board agendas in advance of board meetings of the named organisations is: a) The Scottish Prison Service does not have a board but a senior management group. The agendas of the meetings of the senior management group are not…

10 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of the projects in the Aberdeen City region deal that are in reserved areas of responsibility.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question SW4-29906 on 24 February 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

10 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the value is of the projects in the Aberdeen City region deal that are in devolved areas of responsibility.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Aberdeen City region proposals bring together a £250 million package of measures that are not divided along devolved and reserved boundaries. Both governments have worked together to agree a deal that responds to the particular opportunities identified by…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29258 by John Swinney on 15 January 2016, in light of local authorities having no continuing responsibility for police and fire services, how it will calculate the support funding floor for the forthcoming spending review period.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29849 on 24 February 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29257 by John Swinney on 15 January 2016, what percentage of the unadjusted average revenue funding per capita Aberdeen City Council will receive in 2016-17.

Answer · John Swinney: In 2016-17 as a result of the transfer of police and fire on 1 April 2013, Aberdeen City Council's revenue funding per head would have been 77.3% but following the adjustment for police and fire the council will once again receive 85% of the adjusted Scottish…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29256 by John Swinney on 15 January 2016, what percentage of the unadjusted average revenue funding per capita Aberdeen City Council has received in each year since 2011-12.

Answer · John Swinney: In 2011-12 before the introduction of 85% funding floor Aberdeen City Council received 84.0% of the Scottish average revenue funding per head. Following the introduction of the new floor Aberdeen would have received 83.5%/84.1%/84.6% over the three year settl…

9 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29258 by John Swinney on 15 January 2016, whether it plans to make adjustments in determining the average local authority revenue support per capita and, if so, (a) what these are and (b) what the reason is for doing so.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government will consider how the average local authority revenue support per capita should be calculated in connection with the 85% funding floor as part of the consideration of future local government finance settlements.

3 Feb 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many jobs in Scotland it estimates have been lost as a result of the downturn in the oil and gas industry.

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the transition training fund for workers made redundant from the oil and gas industry announced by the First Minister will be taken from existing budget allocations, and how much will be allocated to the fund in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) subsequent years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government has allocated £12 million over three years to deliver the transition training fund. The Scottish Government is currently working with Skills Development Scotland to finalise the detail of how the transition training fund will work in p…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which organisation will manage the transition training fund for workers made redundant from the oil and gas industry announced by the First Minister.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The transition training fund will be delivered by Skills Development Scotland and will augment the work of the energy jobs taskforce.

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be any restriction on the kind of retraining on offer to people applying for support from the transition training fund for workers made redundant from the oil and gas industry announced by the First Minister.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29666 on 26 February 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether people working in the oil and gas sector who (a) live in Scotland but work elsewhere and (b) work in Scotland but live elsewhere will be eligible to apply for support from the transition training fund for workers made redundant from the oil and gas industry announced by the First…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-29666 on 26 February 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.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support will be available to workers who have lost their jobs from the transition training fund for workers made redundant from the oil and gas industry announced by the First Minister, and what criteria will apply.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The transition training fund will be focused on people who have lost or face losing their jobs in the oil and gas sector and the support will help to transition into other roles in the oil and gas industry, and other energy industry and manufacturing employme…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when workers in the oil and gas industry who have lost their jobs will be able to apply for support from the transition training fund announced by the First Minister, and when the first payments will be made.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government is currently working with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to finalise the detail of how the transition training fund will work in practice. SDS is currently undertaking a consultation process with industry bodies and the trade unions…

2 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether the £12.5 million Scottish Enterprise funding to support research and development in the north east announced by the First Minister will be taken from existing budget allocations, and how much will be allocated to this fund in (a) 2015-16, (b) 2016-17 and (c) subsequent years.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The £12.5 million funding, provided by Scottish Enterprise, for oil and gas innovation and further business support has been allocated to two specific funding streams. Funding of £10 million is available over a three year period, to aid firms in reducing th…