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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.

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Question reference: S5W-23081

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23 Implementation Strategy to be launched.

Implementation of the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23 will be monitored in a number of ways.

While Bòrd na Gidhlig do not currently plan to publish a separate implementation strategy, Bòrd na Gidhlig’s Corporate Plan 2018-23, published in September 2018, provides more detail and performance indicators which will measure progress against the priorities identified in the National Plan. This will be monitored by Bòrd na Gidhlig on an annual basis.

In addition to this, I met with various national organisations in August 2018 to establish workstreams to take the priorities in the National Plan forward, to ensure a faster rate of progress for Gaelic. These workstreams include Gaelic teaching, digital & media, economy & labour market, community and participation. The organisations involved in these workstreams will also be reporting on their progress annually.

Question reference: S5W-22563

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding the combined spend on fisheries, including per registered fishing vessel, agriculture and forestry per CAP payment recipient for (a) Scotland, (b) England and (c) Wales.

The combined spend to date in Scotland under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2014 to 2020 is £2.2 billion. Information about expenditure on fisheries, agriculture and forestry in England and Wales can be found on the relevant UK Government and Welsh Government websites www.gov.uk and www.gov.wales/ Specific questions about the detailed profile of their expenditure would be best directed to the government departments concerned.

Question reference: S5W-22561

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers there are per 100,000 pupils, and what information it has regarding how this compares with (a) England and (b) Wales.

Question reference: S5W-22562

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 April 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools there are per 100,000 pupils, and what information it has regarding how this compares with (a) England and (b) Wales.

Question reference: S5O-03144

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how its resilience fund to reduce the risk of ferries breaking down has been spent.

Question reference: S5O-03099

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 March 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 April 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the action it is taking to tackle population decline in rural areas.

Question reference: S5W-22043

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates since March 2017 it has written to the DWP regarding (a) universal credit and (b) other benefits, and whether it has received responses.

The Scottish Government wrote to DWP 43 times between March 2017 and December 2018. On 23 occasions correspondence was regarding Universal Credit, and the other 20 occasions were regarding other benefits. During this same period, we received 32 replies from DWP. The following tables gives an overview of the correspondence.

UC correspondence				Other benefits correspondence
Date	Author	Response Received?	Date	Date	Author	Response Received?	Date
21-03-2017	SG	No	n-a	06-03-2017	SG	Yes	29-03-17
30-03-2017	SG	Yes	11-04-2017	06-04-2017	SG	Yes	19-04-2017
01-04-2017	SG	Yes	11-04-2017	12-04-2017	SG	No	n-a
01-04-2017	SG	No	n-a	22-06-2017	SG	Yes	16-07-2017
03-05-2017	SG	No	n-a	28-06-2017	SG	n-a	n-a
26-06-2017	SG	Yes	28-06-2017	14-08-2017	SG	Yes	25-08-2017
07-08-2017	SG	Yes	n-a	11-10-2017	SG	Yes	24-10-2017
28-09-2017	SG	Yes	11-10-2017	07-02-2018	SG	Yes	20-02-2018
02-10-2017	SG	Yes	11-10-2017	21-03-2018	SG	Yes	04-06-18
05-12-2017	SG	Yes	20-12-2017	29-03-2018	SG	Yes	16-04-18
07-12-17	SG	Yes	13-12-2017	16-05-2018	SG	Yes	04-06-18
30-01-28	SG	Yes	21-02-18	17-05-2018	SG	No	n-a
05-02-2018	SG	Yes	17-02-2018	11-06-2018	SG	Yes	09-07-18
19-03-2018	SG	Yes	19-05-2018	21-06-2018	SG	No	n-a
19-03-2018	SG	Yes	19-05-2018	06-07-2018	SG	Yes	10-07-2018 & 11-07-2018
30-05-2018	SG	Yes	11-06-2018	03-09-2018	SG	Yes	25-10-18
05-06-2018	SG	No	n-a	20-09-2018	SG	Yes	25-10-18
15-06-2018	SG	No	n-a	26-09-2018	SG	No	n-a
20-06-2018	SG	No	n-a	17-10-2018	SG	Yes	20-12-18
07-11-2018	SG	Yes	22-11-18	20-11-2018	SG	Yes	20-12-18
20-08-2018	SG	Yes	25-10-18
20-11-2018	SG	Yes	20-12-18
12-12-2018	SG	Yes	20-12-18

Question reference: S5W-22052

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which scheduled meetings of the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare since June 2016 have been (a) re-arranged and (b) postponed following a request by (i) it and (ii) the DWP.

Since June 2016 there have been 7 meetings of the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare (JMWGW). The dates, and minutes, of these can be found at https://www.gov.scot/groups/joint-ministerial-group-welfare/ .

The intention was that the JMWGW would meet quarterly but that did not always happen. In June 2018, following a request from Scottish Ministers, dates for the next four meetings were set with the aim of ensuring that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) prioritised, and matched, the Scottish Government’s pace for delivering the devolved welfare powers to Scotland.

Dates of 10 September 2018, 13 December 2018 and 18 March 2019 were subsequently agreed. UK Ministers requested that the 13 December meeting be rescheduled, but a mutually suitable alternative date could not be found, and it was subsequently cancelled.

The next meeting was originally planned for the 18 March 2019; this has been rearranged at DWP’s request on a number of occasions, and the meeting is now expected to take place on 1 April 2019.

Question reference: S5W-22042

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has experienced delays in receiving information from the DWP to enable it to pay carers supplement.

Question reference: S5W-22041

Asked by: Dr Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 20 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what dates since June 2016 the Joint Ministerial Working Group on Welfare has met; who attended, and when it will next meet.