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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: S5O-00613

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the Time for Inclusive Education campaign pledge, which calls for LGBTI-inclusive education.

Question reference: S5W-06029

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects on the staff-to-child ratios in (a) local authority and (b) (i) private and (ii) voluntary early years childcare providers and whether it is considering taking action to make this data more robust.

Question reference: S5W-06028

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 20 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is using birth-rate data to plan its phased expansion of childcare provision and, if so, how.

Scottish Government is using National Records of Scotland (NRS) population projections for planning the Early Learning and Childcare expansion, and in particular for estimating the number of children who will be eligible. NRS population projections take into account the expected number of births by multiplying the average number of women at each single year of age during the year by the fertility rate applicable to them during that year.

Question reference: S5W-06027

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 20 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many people provide early years childcare services, broken down by people employed by (a) local authority and (b) (i) private and (ii) voluntary providers, and what information it has regarding their levels of qualifications.

Data on how many people provide early years childcare services, broken down by people employed by (a) local authority and (b) (i) private and (ii) voluntary providers, published by the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) at: http://data.sssc.uk.com/local-level-data/132-2015-detailed-workforce-information.

Scottish Government has some information, provided by SSSC and based on SSSC registration data as at September 2016, regarding the levels of qualifications among staff employed in daycare of children. It shows the number of workers who are still working towards the qualification required for their job function, broken down by local authority and provider sector. By implication, we assume that the remaining workers are qualified at least to the level required for their job function. The minimum qualification level for each job function is as follows:

Care workers in supporting roles are required by the terms of registration to hold or be working towards a relevant practice degree at SCQF level 6/SVQ level 2 (e.g. National Certificate) or above

Care workers in roles with more responsibility (i.e. practitioners) are required by regulation to hold or work towards at least a relevant degree at SCQF level 7/SVQ level 3 (or comparable)

Managers of daycare services need to hold or be working towards a relevant university degree and practice qualification.

The information on the number of workers who are still working towards the qualification required for their job function is shown in the following table. Where the headcount of a grouping is very small, cells have been suppressed (indicated by *). Note that these data only refer to workers who are registered with SSSC; this will exclude teachers.

Daycare for children workers with a qualification condition

Managers

Practitioners

Support

Local authority	Local authority settings	Partner provider settings	Non-funded (LA)	Non-funded (P&V)	Local authority settings	Partner provider settings	Non-funded (LA)	Non-funded (P&V)	Local authority settings	Partner provider settings	Non-funded (LA)	Non-funded (P&V)
Aberdeen City	*	44	*	50	10	76	*	78	*	86	13	184
Aberdeenshire	*	83	*	36	27	154	16	65	6	126	45	70
Angus	*	25	0	*	4	35	*	8	21	21	0	21
Argyll & Bute	*	14	0	*	12	24	*	*	16	24	0	10
Clackmannanshire	*	*	*	*	*	10	*	6	*	*	0	*
Dumfries & Galloway	0	40	*	*	7	66	*	9	36	25	0	*
Dundee City	15	23	*	29	7	41	*	36	10	46	*	89
East Ayrshire	6	*	*	9	*	5	*	11	7	*	0	*
East Dunbartonshire	*	16	*	27	6	34	*	48	9	22	20	41
East Lothian	*	17	0	*	7	63	0	42	19	22	*	11
East Renfrewshire	9	5	*	20	3	8	*	35	46	*	18	48
City of Edinburgh	10	104	*	139	24	295	*	197	50	194	*	308
Eilean Siar	*	*	*	0	20	6	*	0	*	*	0	0
Falkirk	*	6	0	19	*	17	*	18	28	*	*	40
Fife	*	47	8	19	27	70	73	40	227	33	18	17
Glasgow City	34	86	*	124	15	141	*	184	25	108	7	189
Highland	*	33	*	22	132	110	6	59	11	19	*	73
Inverclyde	7	*	*	7	*	5	*	*	17	*	*	*
Midlothian	*	23	*	32	*	52	*	53	13	35	*	23
Moray	0	13	0	6	*	41	0	8	12	20	0	5
North Ayrshire	*	12	0	*	6	22	0	5	*	11	0	16
North Lanarkshire	9	21	*	36	13	56	7	62	8	27	0	26
Orkney Islands	0	*	0	*	6	*	0	0	*	*	0	0
Perth & Kinross	*	32	*	19	6	41	6	49	40	32	13	34
Renfrewshire	9	33	*	34	8	67	*	22	12	54	*	48
Scottish Borders	*	22	*	*	8	49	*	6	17	25	*	21
Shetland Islands	0	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
South Ayrshire	*	7	*	11	*	13	*	30	17	*	0	31
South Lanarkshire	5	35	*	35	8	110	*	50	25	37	*	49
Stirling	19	11	*	13	21	36	*	16	16	*	*	21
West Dunbartonshire	7	9	*	*	*	23	*	16	14	18	9	9
West Lothian	0	8	*	42	*	20	*	68	52	16	*	34
Scotland Averages	164	787	70	832	400	1697	124	1230	772	1068	158	1434

Question reference: S5F-00758

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2017

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S5W-05823

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the full (a) capital and (b) lifetime (i) borrowing and (ii) maintenance cost will be of the (A) Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie Tipperty, (B) Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service National Centre, (C) Royal Hospital for Sick Children/Department of Clinical Neurosciences, (D) Dumfries acute services redevelopment and (E) new Orkney hospital and healthcare facilities project; how the costs will be accommodated in its (1) budget and (2) capital borrowing allocation, and whether extra costs, including long-term debt and interest repayments, will be incurred by the organisation that will operate the completed project.

Information on these projects, including the overall capital investment value, is contained within the Infrastructure Investment Plan Project Pipeline report available from the following link:

www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/IIP/IIPProjectPipelineSep2016.

Further information on the non-profit distributing projects, including unitary charge payments, is published annually and is available from the following link: www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Finance/18232/12308/NPDhubPipelinepayments.

In relation to the new Orkney Hospital details of the project will be published (on the same basis as other NPD projects) when the project has reached financial close.

Borrowing and maintenance cost information is contained within the contracts held by the procuring authorities. This information, which was subject to competition during the procurement process, is subject to confidentiality provisions in the contracts for a time limited period of typically two years.

The capital costs have been accommodated in the Draft Budget 2016-17 and Draft Budget 2017-18.

We would expect to take decisions about borrowing in 2016-17 later in the year on the basis that it is more cost effective. The Draft Budget 2017-18 sets out our intention to make full use of borrowing powers in 2017-18 but final decisions are expected be taken late in 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-05825

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much in (a) capital and (b) additional costs of non-profit distributing projects has been paid upfront by the organisations operating them.

Question reference: S5W-05824

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding what profits will be made by each company involved with the (a) Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie Tipperty, (b) Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service National Centre, (c) Royal Hospital for Sick Children/Department of Clinical Neurosciences, (d) Dumfries acute services redevelopment and (e) new Orkney hospital and healthcare facilities project, including from long-term (i) interest and (ii) fees.

As these projects were procured under the Non Profit Distributing model, there are no profits distributed to the private sector investors in the project companies that have been set up and which hold the contracts with the procuring authorities.

Information on interest and fees is included in the financial models which underpin the contracts This information, which was subject to competition during the procurement process, is subject to confidentiality provisions in the contracts for a time limited period of typically two years. Information on the profit levels of sub-contracting companies, such as the construction contractor, is not held.

Question reference: S5F-00736

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 January 2017

To ask the First Minister when the Cabinet will next meet.

Question reference: S5O-00493

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how its proposed new climate change targets will take account of the Paris Agreement's goal of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.