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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: S4W-10032

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 October 2012
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 4 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been changes to the number of its special advisers and their responsibilities since July 2012 and what the costs are of employing the special adviser team.

The estimated costs of employing special advisers for the current financial year is £933,522 – a real terms decrease of £54,846 from the 12-month cost of the 2006-07 special adviser team which, when up-rated to 2012-13 prices, cost £987,368.

Two senior special advisers, Kevin Pringle and Colin Pyle, have recently left the Scottish Government on 31 August 2012 and 28 September 2012 respectively. Colin McAllister was appointed on 3 October 2012 as Deputy Head of Policy. On 8 October, Alexander Anderson joins as Deputy Head of Communications and Political Spokesperson, Delancy Johansson joins as a Policy Special Adviser.

The cost of employing special advisers in financial years since 2006-07 is as follows:

SPAD Numbers and Costs Since 2006-07

Year	Number	Salary	Salary Uprated to 2012-13 Prices***	ERNIC**	Pension**	Total Cost	Total Cost Uprated to 2012-13 Prices***
2006-07	12	£684,520	£791,072	£90,874	£105,422	£854,376	£987,368
2007-08	9	£358,281	£403,982	£39,093	£98,434	£480,251	£541,510
2008-09	11	£466,783	£512,340	£44,888	£120,830	£617,766	£678,058
2009-10	10	£535,331	£578,873	£54,103	£125,720	£701,627	£758,695
2010-11	11	£542,068	£569,973	£51,364	£108,550	£694,153	£729,887
2011-12	12	£528,869	£543,148	£64,930	£128,671	£717,380	£736,749
2012-13*	12	£704,288	-	£70,094	£158,140	£932,522	-

Notes:

Total Costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions.

*Estimate based on current team of 13 special advisers being in post for the remainder of 2012-13

**The level of the employer ERNIC and pension contributions is not a matter for the Scottish Government.

***All total costs figures have been converted into real terms (2012-13 prices) to adjust for inflation using HM Treasury deflators, published in June 2012. These were the latest available deflators at the time of calculation on 12 September 2012. It should be noted that the 2012-13 deflator is based on OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) forecast data from the UK Government March 2012 Budget Report.

In total, there are 13 special advisers. They are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a special adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish ministers. Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Role	Appointed
Geoff Aberdein	Chief of Staff Responsible for the First Minister's strategic programme in Government First Minister’s senior intermediary with key internal & external stakeholders Coordination of the Special Adviser team Policy support on Commonwealth Games & Sport portfolio	26 May 2011
Stuart Nicolson	Head of Communications Senior Political Spokesperson	26 May 2011
Liz Lloyd	Deputy Head of Communications & Political Spokesperson Lead on online and new media	30 January 2012
Alexander Anderson	Deputy Head of Communications & Political Spokesperson	8 October 2012
Malcolm Fleming	Support to the First Minister’s Private Office Contributing to FM’s keynote speeches and new media Policy advice on International Development portfolio	25 July 2011
John MacInnes	Lead on political research Support for First Minister’s Questions Support to the Communications Special Advisers	3 June 2011
Noel Dolan	Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister Support on Government Strategy & Constitution Policy advice on Infrastructure & Investment portfolio	26 May 2011
Alex Bell	Head of Policy Development including Constitution Policy advice on Culture & External Affairs portfolio	26 May 2011
Colin McAllister	Deputy Head of Policy Development Education & Lifelong Learning portfolio overview Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio overview	3 October 2012
Stephen Gethins	Policy advice on Energy, Rural Affairs and the Environment portfolios Support on EU relations	26 May 2011
David Hutchison	Policy advice on the Health & Wellbeing portfolio Lead on FOI legislation	8 June 2011
John McFarlane	Policy advice on Justice portfolio Policy advice on Parliamentary Business portfolio, including engaging with Parliamentary Liaison Officers	26 May 2011
Delancy Johansson	Policy advice on Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio (other than Energy) Policy advice on Education & Lifelong Learning portfolio Policy advice on the Council of Economic Advisers	8 October 2012

The current Special Adviser Pay Bands and Ranges and the number of Special Advisers within each Pay Band are:

Pay Band	Current Pay Range	Number of Special Advisers
1	£39,445 – £52,904	7
2	£51,041 - £67,709	2
3	£65,017 - £83,963	4
3 (premium)	£83,549 - £100,942	0
4	£86,965 - £104,462	0

Question reference: S4O-01294

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that court attendance by police officers does not affect frontline policing in their area.

Question reference: S4O-01234

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made on the programme of school building and refurbishment using the Scottish Futures Trust.

Question reference: S4O-01198

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 28 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on items held by the national collections of art in Edinburgh being displayed at other venues across the country.

Question reference: S4O-01146

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 June 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can confirm that the Scottish police service will not face the reductions in numbers and pay and conditions being experienced in England and Wales and will welcome transfer applications from officers in those countries.

Question reference: S4O-01076

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides guidelines on the implementation of health and safety policies in primary schools.

Question reference: S4O-00873

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 March 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made with using vitamin D supplements or additives to tackle long-term health issues.

Question reference: S4O-00573

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 January 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive what it is doing to identify young carers and how this is resourced.

Question reference: S4O-00516

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011 allows for the dismissal of a failing or uncooperative factor.

Question reference: S4O-00504

Asked by: Bill Kidd, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expected impact on employment and economic growth is of the finance that it has committed to renewables projects.