Neil Findlay

16 Feb 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will hold an inquiry into the policing and convictions of miners arrested in Scotland during the 1984-85 miners' strike.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects NHS Lothian to resume recruiting nursing and other staff.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian has confirmed that they have not suspended the recruitment of nursing and other staff and in the last 14 days they have recruited 114 clinical staff and 19 non- clinical staff.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assistance it is giving to NHS Lothian to overcome reported budget difficulties.

Answer · Shona Robison: For 2014-15, NHS Lothian received an additional £17.521 million of ‘NRAC (NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee) parity funding’ recurringly into their baseline allocation. A further £7.000 million is planned for 2015-16. To provide the board with flexib…

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on NHS Lothian’s decision to suspend the recruitment of nursing and other staff because of reported budget difficulties.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian has not made any decision to suspend the recruitment of nursing and other staff due to ‘reported budget deficits’.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it was informed of NHS Lothian’s decision to suspend the recruitment of nursing and other staff because of reported budget difficulties.

Answer · Shona Robison: NHS Lothian has not made any decision to suspend the recruitment of nursing and other staff.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the current status is of NHS Lothian's budget.

Answer · Shona Robison: The current year end forecast for 2014-15 is that the board will deliver a balanced financial position.

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what independent evaluation it has commissioned on the changes that it has introduced to the college sector, and whether it will publish the findings.

Answer · Angela Constance: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and Education Scotland monitor and evaluate the impact of the Government’s reforms as part of their existing arrangements. Additionally, the SFC has evaluated each college merger, with a full evaluation after two years – wit…

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many college students in each year since 2007 were aged (a) 18 to 24 and (b) 25 and older, also expressed as a percentage.

Answer · Angela Constance: The latest available data on students in colleges in Scotland are Scottish Funding Council data for 2013-14. Tables 1 and 2 show the number and percentage of college students aged under 18, 18 to 24 and 25 and over, in each year since 2006-07. Table 1 - Stu…

5 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget is for the implementation of the recommendations of the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: The budget directly associated with the implementation plans in Developing the Young Workforce – Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy is £12 million for 2014-15 and £16.6 million in 2015-16. That is in addition to our substantial existing investment in post-s…

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has discussed the use of the so-called Swedish derogation with recruitment agencies that it contracts for temporary and agency workers.

Answer · John Swinney: Once all the bidders for the new agency and interim collaborative frameworks have been notified of the outcome of the competitive tender process we will discuss with the successful bidders the arrangements for ensuring pay parity.

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has used the so-called Swedish derogation as an opt-out clause for (a) temporary and (b) agency workers under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 and what its position is on the use of this opt-out.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has used the Swedish derogation with its main supplier of agency workers. However the Scottish Government will have pay parity arrangements in place with all suppliers to the new agency and interim collaborative frameworks which come i…

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its (a) temporary and (b) agency staff were or have been employed on so-called zero-hours contracts in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 and (iii) 2014-15.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not employ any people on zero hours contracts.

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) temporary and (b) agency staff it employed or has employed for (i) up to a week, (ii) between two and four weeks, (iii) between five and eight weeks, (iv) between nine and 12 weeks, (v) between 13 weeks and six months, (vi) between seven and 12 months, (vii) over a year and …

Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows the number of people directly employed by the Scottish Government on temporary fixed term contracts, plus agency workers who are not directly employed. These figures are extracted from the HR database at the end of each of the period…

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what employment agencies it has contracted and what job types each provides.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government uses the following contracted suppliers: Pertemps, Global Highland, Manpower, ASA and The Recruitment Agency Network (RAN) for the supply of administrative and executive officer roles. Pertemps, Global Highland, Advantage Resourcing …

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the agency staff that it employs by (a) the type of the work, (b) their grade and (c) agency.

Answer · John Swinney: Data on grades for agency staff is not held because the frameworks the Scottish Government uses to procure agency/interim workers are not based on Scottish Government pay grades but rather the job description or the market rate for the role on offer. The coll…

2 Feb 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) permanent, (b) temporary and (c) agency staff it employs and how many it employed in (i) 2012-13 and (ii) 2013-14.

Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows the number of people directly employed by the Scottish Government on permanent or fixed term contracts, plus agency workers who are not directly employed. These figures are extracts from the HR database taken at the end of each of th…

29 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the contract for the (a) new Dumfries hospital and (b) Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route was put out to tender.

Answer · Shona Robison: The contract for the new NHS Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary was issued to the Official Journal of the European Union on 25 June 2013, while the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty was issued on 18 January 2013. This is the publicati…

29 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-22668 by John Swinney on 28 October 2014, what progress it has made on reviewing the effectiveness of the blacklisting guidance and when it expects to place this on a statutory footing.

Answer · Keith Brown: We continue to monitor the uptake of the blacklisting questions in pre-qualification questionnaires, and to meet regularly with trades unions on the issue. We have now published a consultation paper on proposals to both transpose the new European procurement…

29 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on what date the contract for the V&A project in Dundee was put out to tender.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Dundee City Council’s tender for the V&A Dundee construction project was published on 16 August 2013. The Scottish Government is a supportive funder of the V&A Dundee but Dundee City Council is the contracting authority for the construction project. The V&A…

26 Jan 2015 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many women in the last year have been treated with mesh or tape products to treat pelvic prolapse or stress urinary incontinence.

26 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government at which point in its procurement process it is possible to cancel a project without any penalties being applied.

Answer · Keith Brown: Conducting a procurement process does not usually create an obligation to award a contract, and public bodies may specify in tender documents that they reserve the right to cancel the project and not award a contract. It is sometimes possible, therefore, to c…

19 Jan 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average college bursary funding is compared with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

12 Jan 2015 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of its staff work in the culture and heritage and external affairs directorates.

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have taken part in adult learning courses in each year since 2007.

Answer · Angela Constance: Data on adult learning participation rates are collected by the National Institute for Adult and Continuing Education which has undertaken surveys since 1996 which include a Scottish sample. The 2014 survey is available at: http://shop.niace.org.uk/media/ca…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in adult learning in each year since 2007.

Answer · Angela Constance: Adult learning is funded under a number of different portfolios across the Scottish Government. A proportion of local government funding is allocated by each authority for community learning and development who are key providers of community based adult learn…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on (a) public sector and (b) private employers publishing details of their pay ratios.

Answer · John Swinney: In the private sector, the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) (Amendment) Regulations 2013 require that the directors’ remuneration policy of large and medium-sized UK companies must contain a statement of consideration of empl…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether an independent assessment has been made of the impact of the small business bonus scheme and, if not, what plans it has to commission such an assessment.

Answer · John Swinney: Views on the impact of the small business bonus scheme were expressed in response to the Supporting Business – Promoting Growth Consultation Analysis were analysed and published in September 2013, available at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/09/1530).…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the criteria are for small businesses seeking support from the small business bonus scheme.

Answer · John Swinney: The criteria for eligibility for the Small Business Bonus Scheme are: rateable value of the properties occupied by each ratepayer falling within the thresholds set out in the following table; and that the rateable occupier is not a payday lender. The table s…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) many businesses have received support from and (b) much it has spent on the small business bonus scheme each year.

Answer · John Swinney: The number of properties that have received support from the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) and the total amount of that support each year is set out in tables 1 and 2, as published annually in the non-domestic rates (NDR) relief statistics for small busi…

9 Jan 2015 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it measures the success and outcomes of the modern apprenticeship programme.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: In our 2014-15 letter of guidance, the Scottish Government asked Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to consider how it measures the long-term outcomes of the modern apprenticeship (MA) programme, in line with the recommendations from the recent Audit Scotland …