Parliamentary questions
Dean Lockhart
573 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Jun 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government how the finance secretary determined the budget allocation for its proposed publicly-owned energy company.
12 Jun 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £500 million Scottish Growth Scheme has been allocated to Scottish companies, broken down by year.
Answer · Derek Mackay: To 31 May 2019, under the Scottish Growth Scheme, some £125.3 million has been invested in 158 companies. The following table contains a breakdown by year. Year Invested No.of Companies 2017 £22.7 m 24 2018 £83.5 m 58 2019 £19.1 m 76 Total £125…
12 Jun 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to NHS Forth Valley to reduce waiting times for chronic pain treatment.
21 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to jobseekers with sight loss.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government’s ambition is to reduce the disability employment gap by at least half, and we have set out our initial actions to achieve this through a ‘Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: Employment Action Plan’. This plan committed us to deliver …
16 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to establish or support an agency to promote E-commerce.
Answer · Kate Forbes: The Scottish Government currently has no plans to establish an Agency to promote Ecommerce. However, we recognise that e-commerce is an area of opportunity for businesses across Scotland and officials are working closely with a number of organisations keen t…
15 May 2019 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase access to funding for apprenticeships in the construction sector.
14 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of (a) its and (b) its agencies' staff are working on the establishment of the Scottish National Investment Bank, also broken down by total staff cost.
Answer · Derek Mackay: There were 28 (full time) Scottish Government staff working on the establishment of the Scottish National Investment Bank during the 2018-19 financial year. Staffing costs for Scottish Government staff amounted to £0.8 million for this period. There were no…
14 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what specific targets it has set regarding the updated National Performance Framework.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The refreshed National Performance Framework (NPF) agreed by Parliament on 24 May 2018 does not contain targets. The NPF sets a purpose, values and National Outcomes for all of Scotland and all sectors, and organisations (in public, private and third sector…
8 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hectares of trees were planted in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018 in respect of its 2017 commitment to raise tree-planting rates over time from 10,000 to 15,000 hectares a year by 2025.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: We have seen significantly increased levels of applications for tree planting approvals in the past year and are confident that this will translate into higher planting rates. Published figures show that for the 2017 planting year we delivered 7,100 hectares…
7 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its paper, A Trading Nation – a plan for growing Scotland’s exports, to treble its number of trade envoys to 12, by what date the new envoys will be in place, and where they will be located.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government will continue to develop the network of Trade Envoys to support Scotland’s aspiration to grow exports. The expansion of the network will be subject to identifying and recruiting suitable candidates with the right knowledge, experience …
7 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its paper, A Trading Nation – a plan for growing Scotland’s exports, to provide £2 million for chambers of commerce to deliver a number of trade missions over three years, how many new missions will be delivered, and where these will be located.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The First Minister at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce Annual Business Address on 7 December 2018 announced that funding of up to £2 million would be made available to the Scottish chamber of commerce network over the next 3 years to support the development …
7 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its in-market specialists focus on exporting to the rest of the UK.
Answer · Ivan McKee: Our in-market specialists are based overseas and are focussed on generating international exports, not UK domestic trade. However, supporting businesses to increase their sales within the UK is also important. Around £300 million of business support is availa…
7 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its paper, A Trading Nation – a plan for growing Scotland’s exports, to support the Scottish business network in exploiting trade opportunities from London, how much support it will provide and how the network will use this to exploit these opportunities.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government will provide up to £300,000 to the Scottish Business Network (SBN) over the next 2 years to help support Scottish businesses to target trade opportunities specifically in London and potentially in other key parts of the UK. This fundi…
7 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its paper, A Trading Nation – a plan for growing Scotland’s exports, to expand GlobalScot to have 2,000 business people in key markets, by what date it expects to achieve the 2,000 target.
Answer · Ivan McKee: The Scottish Government, working in close collaboration with our enterprise agencies and other delivery partners, intends to significantly scale up the GlobalScot network, expanding from 600 to 2000 business people in key markets, including doubling to 500 in…
2 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many contractors have been employed to implement social security benefits in each year, also broken down by department and how much this has cost.
Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Social Security Directorate contracts temporary staff through the Scottish Government Interim Managers Framework as well as procuring contracts for the supply of technical posts. The Scottish Government is not the employer of these individuals, they are e…
1 May 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing official road signage to warn road users of the presence of red squirrels.
Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government has approved official road signs warning road users of the presence of red squirrels for a number of locations across Scotland in the past and will approve similar applications at other locations that are considered appropriate. Consi…
24 Apr 2019 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the performance of ScotRail services using Stirling station.
23 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has completed its feasibility assessment into its proposed publicly-owned energy company and, if not, by what date it will do so.
Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-22156 on 27 March 2019. 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/parliamentarybusiness/…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many complaints regarding the (a) road surface and (b) other issues on the A811 between Stirling and Drymen have been received by Transport Scotland in each year since 2010.
Answer · Michael Matheson: Since 2010 Transport Scotland has recorded 12 pieces of correspondence relating to the A811, 9 of which were in relation to the road surface. Local road authorities have statutory responsibility for the improvement, maintenance and repair of roads within thei…
4 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeship starts there have been in the (a) Stirling, (b) Clackmannanshire and (c) Fife local authority area in each year since 2014.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Please see MA Starts by Local Authority in the following table. Local Authority/Year 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 Clackmannanshire 297 289 346 319 Fife 1568 1734 1736 1893 Stirling 406 411 436 410 Total 2271 2434 …
2 Apr 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) business rate poundage and (b) large business rate supplement has been in each year since 1999.
Answer · Kate Forbes: The following table shows the poundage, Large Business Supplement, and Large Business Supplement threshold (rateable value) for each year from 1999-2000 to 2019-2020: Year Poundage (pence) Large Business Supplement (pence) Large Business Supplement Thresh…
28 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding businesses in Scotland have received through the implementation of the UK Government’s Construction Sector Deal.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Funding through the implementation of the UK Construction Sector Deal is routed through several avenues, including research councils and Innovate UK. Complete data is not shared with the Scottish Government and we do not hold details of all of the funding all…
28 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when the two pilot projects for community wealth building will be established.
Answer · Derek Mackay: In line with the commitment made in the 2017 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government is currently involved in development of two projects, one in Glasgow and one in Ayrshire. In Glasgow, we are working with the Glasgow Procurement Collaboration Gro…
28 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of public contracts has been awarded to (a) small- and medium-sized and (b) micro-businesses in each of the last five years.
Answer · Derek Mackay: As contracts can have multiple suppliers, the Scottish Government’s Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) portal does not report on the number of individual contracts won by size of supplier. We do report on the number and size of suppliers winning awards. This inf…
28 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what target it has set for spending on public contracts with (a) small- and medium-sized and (b) micro-businesses.
Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government does not set targets for public spending with SMEs, however we have introduced legislation through the Procurement Reform Act which requires public contracting authorities to consider how they can facilitate involvement of SMEs and pro…
28 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many apprenticeships have been established through community benefit clauses.
Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Community Benefit Clauses are operated widely across the public sector in Scotland and the information sought, detailing how many Apprenticeships have been established through Community Benefit Clauses is not centrally held by the Scottish Government.
14 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities (a) it expects to use and (b) are considering using their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to reduce business rates in 2019-20.
Answer · Kate Forbes: Local authorities are not required to notify the Scottish Government of any local relief schemes they intend to put in place in advance of the financial year, that is rightly a matter for each local authority to determine themselves based on their own local c…
14 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) headline business rate poundage and (b) large business rates supplement has been in each year since 2010, and what it will be in 2019-20.
Answer · Kate Forbes: The following table shows the poundage, Large Business Supplement, and Large Business Supplement threshold (rateable value) for each year from 2010-11 to 2019-20: Year Poundage (pence) Large Business Supplement (pence) Large Business Supplement Threshold …
13 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage more business engagement in schools.
Answer · John Swinney: Through Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), Scotland’s youth employment strategy, the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that meaningful and productive school-employer partnerships are operating in all secondary schools. We have established 21 DY…
13 Mar 2019 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing a requirement for road users to stop and report a collision with a domestic cat.
Answer · Mairi Gougeon: The reporting of traffic accidents is a matter of road traffic law and is reserved to Westminster. We would encourage those involved in traffic accidents involving any animal to report the event and location to the relevant local authority.