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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: S6O-01654

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports parents who are required for jury service with childcare.

Question reference: S6O-01625

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure NHS staffing levels are maintained at appropriate levels.

Question reference: S6W-11937

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ScotRail staff are reportedly subject to the public sector pay policy whereas CalMac staff are not.

The default position for new public bodies is that they will be subject to the Scottish Government’s Public Sector Pay Policy (PSPP). However, the decision was taken that David MacBrayne Ltd (DML), the public body which owns CalMac Ferries Limited (CFL), be excluded from the Policy. This was to enable CFL to operate in a similar commercial environment and on a level basis with other operators in tendering for future ferry service contracts.

Question reference: S6O-01611

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how it will support any Members’ staff who are dealing with added financial challenges and pressures after the homeworking allowance payment was discontinued in October.

Question reference: S6W-11900

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, what the process was for selecting members of the Ayrshire Local Action Group (LAG); whether any Ayrshire LAG members and the organisations that they represent are eligible to apply to the Fund, and what potential conflict of interest procedures are in place, and what percentage of the overall Fund was available at the outset for distribution to Ayrshire LAG members.

Local Action Group (LAG) Membership has continued with the LEADER membership that was based on a skills matrix. Plans to recruit new LAG members through a procurement process are planned. Representation will be drawn from the public sector, businesses/third sector and community interests.

LAG members may be representatives of wider rural bodies or applying on behalf of organisations they represent. LAG members are not permitted to participate in any decision making process where they have a conflict of interest. This is a standing item on the agenda for the LAG.

There is no allocation of funding to individual LAG members since decisions are taken as a collective LAG.

Question reference: S6W-11901

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the Ayrshire LEADER programme (2014-2020), whether any analysis, by local authority area, has been carried out of the distribution of funding; what organisations were successful in securing funding, and what impact analysis has been carried out of the outcomes secured by each successful project, such as in reducing inequalities and supporting community wealth-building.

Within the Ayrshire LEADER 2014-2020 Programme there were 90 projects (61 organisations) supported over the funding period. Project awards were as follows:

34 projects funded in East Ayrshire with £1,836,762;
14 projects funded in North Ayrshire with £808,123;
40 projects funded in South Ayrshire with £1,205,832; and
2 pan-Ayrshire projects funded in North Ayrshire with £227,919.

Just over half were Community projects (56%), with the remainder split between Farm Diversification (20%) and Small and Medium sized enterprises.

The Scottish Government commissioned an independent evaluation by the James Hutton Institute. Additionally, outcome evaluations by each of the 21 Local Development Strategies were required as part of closure of the 2014-2020 LEADER Programme.

Question reference: S6W-12031

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports that Ayrshire Local Action Group is carrying out unspecified "technical checks" in relation to applications to the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23 that are separate to determining whether organisations are eligible to apply to the Fund, and, if this is the case, what information it holds on any such "technical checks", including what (a) they involved and (b) the outcomes were, including whether they resulted in an otherwise eligible organisation being excluded from applying to the Fund.

The Ayrshire LAG and South Ayrshire Council Internal Audit have approved and undertaken technical checks on all projects applying for funding. Guidance on these checks is in the public domain.

https://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/media/5979/ARIA-Fund-Applicant-Guidance/pdf/ARIA_Fund_22

Only those projects that meet the technical checks progress for consideration by the Local Action Group. Of the twenty seven organisation that applied, seventeen of those progressed to the technical check stage, sixteen of which proceeded to assessment stage.

Question reference: S6W-11897

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made in allocating the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund, and (a) how much and (b) what percentage of the available funding has been allocated to the Ayrshire Local Action Group to cover staffing and resourcing costs in connection with the distribution of the Fund.

Question reference: S6W-11899

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many organisations, including local authorities, have applied for funding from the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-11898

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 17 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether local authorities should be considered as potentially suitable recipients of the Ayrshire Rural and Islands Ambition (ARIA) Fund 2022-23, whether it will provide a breakdown of the funding that has been allocated to each local authority area, and what is the definition of local authority core funding that is used to assess eligibility for the Fund.

A Local Authority cannot apply alone for funding. This funding is not intended to replace core/statutory duties of Local Authorities. Local Authorities may however allocate funding to facilitate the commissioning of recruitment, upskilling and the rebuilding of the Local Action Group (LAG) but are not direct recipients of the funding.

Funding is allocated to Local Action Groups rather than single Local Authorities areas. Local Authority area spend is ongoing and unavailable at present. The LAG allocation breakdown is provided in the following table;

LAG Area	Allocation £
Aberdeenshire North & South	£924,990,00
Angus	£288,469.00
Argyll & Islands	£618,889.00
Ayrshire	£533,604.00
Cairngorms	£281,606.00
Dumfries and Galloway	£665,492.00
Fife	£279,306.00
Forth Valley and Lomond	£213,746.00
Greater Renfrewshire	£115,520.00
Highland	£1,069,878.00
Kelvin Valley and Falkirk	£140,600.00
Lanarkshire	£282,826.00
Moray	£292,405.00
Orkney	£188,330.00
Outer Hebrides	£255,806.00
Rural Perth and Kinross	£447,098.00
Scottish Borders	£487,275.00
Shetland	£188,538.00
Tyne Esk	£204,382.00
West Lothian	£151,240.00
TOTALS	£7,630,000.00