Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)

Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Question reference: S6W-00817

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 9 July 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent each year on the Fair Start Scotland (FSS) programme in (a) Angus and (b) the rest of the country, and whether it will carry out an impact assessment of FSS to determine (i) its effectiveness and (ii) whether it is offering value for money.

Financial expenditure data relating to Fair Start Scotland is broken down by contract area, rather than by Local Authority area. For a breakdown of these contract areas, please refer to Annex A of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report .

The anticipated spend on Fair Start Scotland is regularly published by the Scottish Fiscal Commission and is based on performance levels set within provider contracts. As this is dependent on provider performance in supporting people into sustainable employment this figure is subject to some variation.

The Scottish Government proactively publishes information relating to the annual spending on Fair Start Scotland. Annex B of the Fair Start Scotland Annual Report published on 9 th November 2020 outlines the total expenditure in its first two years of delivery. Further information on annual spend will be published in future publications.

The Scottish Government also publishes annual Evaluation reports that fully assess the effectiveness of the service. These reports include commissioned research with service users, delivery partners and providers, as well as ongoing analysis of performance. Links to the first two Evaluation reports can be found below. The next Evaluation report is due to be published in September 2021.

Fair Start Scotland evaluation report 2: overview of year one - November 2019 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Fair Start Scotland - evaluation report 3: year two - overview - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S6W-00816

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 28 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to figures recording that 85.19% of people from Angus who were referred to the Fair Start Scotland (FSS) programme did not remain in work for more than six months and, in light of this, what action it is taking to address reported concerns that the FSS scheme in the county is not adequately resourced.

Question reference: S6W-00563

Asked by: Tess White, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 21 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many government tenders were awarded with only one bidder in the financial year 2020-21, and what was the overall value of those tenders.

217 contracts were awarded whereby only one bid was received. The overall value of those tenders was £24,181,445. This figure includes contracts that were awarded following a competition (often referred to as ‘tenders’), including call-offs from frameworks already competed, where only one bid was received. It does not include contracts that were awarded directly to one supplier without competition.

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