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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-31262

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what academic and private sector partners it has identified to help it develop initial service offerings on the so-called Internet of Things.

The Scottish Government has supported the delivery of two Internet of Things (IoT) networks in collaboration with a number of academic and private sector partners.

IoT Scotland is a three-year collaborative project in which the Scottish Government is investing £2.7 million, alongside funding partners Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Boston Networks. IoT Scotland will support non-commercial research applications and facilitates a seamless transition from research and development activity through to full commercial operation.

The Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN), delivered by Capita, is a digital aggregator programme providing services to the public sector. In 2018, Capita and the Innovation Centre for Sensor and Imaging Systems (CENSIS) successfully trialled IoT services on the SWAN network and a growing portfolio of suppliers and services is now on offer to SWAN members.

CENSIS is part of the University of Glasgow and is closely engaged with Scottish universities and research institutes. The Scottish Government is also engaged with the University of Edinburgh which is leading the development of an IoT network spanning the South-East Scotland City Region. This is an integral part of the City Region Deal’s Data-Driven Innovation Network.

Privately funded IoT networks are also being deployed in Scotland including those by Sigfox and Vodafone.

Question reference: S5O-04550

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the latest GERS figures.

Question reference: S5W-31266

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what measures its proposed talent attraction service will feature for building Scotland’s reputation as a career destination in the rest of the UK.

It is essential that we grow our working age population to support our economy and society now and into the future as people live for longer. NRS projections indicate that in the next 25 years Scotland’s population growth will be reliant on inward migration, with 49% of migrants coming from the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government is working with partners including SDS, the enterprise agencies and CosLA to develop proposals for a talent attraction service for Scotland, to promote Scotland as an attractive and competitive place to work and to provide welcome and integration support for individuals and their families.

Question reference: S5W-31264

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many laptops with internet access were provided to disadvantaged children as part of its commitment to provide 25,000 of these, also broken down by local authority area.

A breakdown of the allocation of these devices by local authority is shown in the following table. Local authorities are making arrangements for distribution of the devices to disadvantaged learners in their areas. Funding allocations for the remainder of the £25m investment in digital exclusion have been made to all local authorities who are now in the process of ordering additional equipment, be that devices or connectivity solutions, to meet local need.

Local Authority	Number of devices
Aberdeen City	1447
Aberdeenshire	2725
Angus	1111
Argyll & Bute	800
Clackmannanshire	674
East Ayrshire	1366
East Dunbartonshire	815
East Lothian	407
East Renfrewshire	590
Fife	4139
Glasgow City	300
Highland	3248
Midlothian	1235
North Ayrshire	750
South Ayrshire	1200
South Lanarkshire	1792
Stirling	1528
West Dunbartonshire	358

Question reference: S5W-31259

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, as set out in its Economic Recovery Implementation Plan, whether it will set a target for a proportion of the increase in private sector representation on agency and public boards to feature small and micro business representation.

Question reference: S5W-31268

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to engage employers to promote the positive benefits of providing more job opportunities for young people, and through which channels.

The Scottish Government’s youth employment strategy, ‘Developing the Young Workforce’, has transformed how employers engage with young people through the education and skills system, improving the work readiness of Scotland’s young people. DYW Regional Groups bring local employers together to take an industry led approach to further improving the relationship between employers and young people in the senior phase at school.

We have appointed Sandy Begbie to advise on the implementation of a Youth Guarantee, which will promote the importance of giving young people the opportunity to access employment, education and training. In line with the Advisory Group on Economic Recovery this work will be led by employers. We engage regularly with a wide range of employers and business organisations and will continue to do this as the Youth Guarantee is implemented.

We have committed to make £60 million available to support the delivery of the Guarantee this year. We recognise the need for this to work alongside the UK Government KickStart scheme. Although we regret that Kickstart was announced with no opportunity for the Scottish Government to contribute or influence it, we are working with DWP to ensure our investment adds value and delivers better outcomes for young people in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-31263

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 26 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what target it will set for public procurement spend with small local businesses as part of its plan to make it easier for local businesses to bid for and win contracts as set out in its Economic Recovery Implementation Plan.

Figures published in the Public Contracts Scotland Summary Report https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Guides/Guide_Download.aspx?id=2898

for 2019-2020 reveal that 79% of suppliers awarded contracts in 2019-20 were SMEs, and 63% were SMEs located in Scotland.

Public sector contracts are awarded following open and fair competition and spend fluctuates due to numbers of contracts, their size and nature. So, we do not set targets for SME spend in Scotland. Instead, our approach is to improve access to public contracts for SMEs, the third sector and supported businesses as a key part of meeting our sustainable procurement duty obligations.

This includes developing and signposting sources of support to enable SME and third sector organisations who wish to tender for public contracts to engage with the public sector and to be more successful in winning contracts. For example, we invest in the Supplier Development Programme which assists businesses to become tender ready for public procurement and improves their prospects of success when competing for contracts. Our approach provides practical support to enhance the opportunities for smaller firms that might otherwise not be able to bid.

Question reference: S5W-31253

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it has established for determining whether to take ownership stakes in private businesses.

Question reference: S5W-31265

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether applications to its proposed Transition Training Fund will be restricted to those having worked in specific sectors and, if so, which ones.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of upskilling and retraining individuals to mitigate the labour market challenges causes by Covid-19. As the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture announced on 16 July, we will bring forward proposals for a new transition training fund to help people develop the skills they need to enter into sectors or occupations where we are most confident of a strong recovery, high demand, or tangible job opportunities.

Question reference: S5W-31254

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 August 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what independent expert advice it has identified as being necessary to include in its forthcoming working group to assess the capability to manage ownership stakes in private companies.