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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-01253

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 14 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the reported decrease in labour productivity.

Scotland’s labour productivity growth has outstripped the UK’s in recent years. GDP per hour worked has increased by 7.6% in Scotland since 2007, compared to 0.6% for the UK as a whole.

The Scottish Government is taking action to support the Scottish economy’s productivity, in line with the priorities set out in our Economic Strategy and our Labour Market Strategy, which underpins all our ambitions for Scotland’s labour market.

These include initiatives to help strengthen the skills of the Scottish workforce, such as the £10 million pilot Flexible Workforce Development Fund I launched last week, and the Individual Training Account scheme, which will help equip people with the right skills to participate in the labour market.

This investment in upskilling will assist the workforce to be better equipped for social and economic demand and support improved productivity.

We are also committed to paying the real Living Wage, and promoting it to all employers, and we are supporting access to flexible working, through initiatives such as the Family Friendly Working Scotland Partnership and Carers Positive scheme.

These measures contribute to reduced absenteeism, better retention, and improved staff morale, all of which help enhance productivity.

Question reference: S5W-10729

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the (a) Highlands and Islands and (b) Scottish Enterprise (i) revenue and (ii) capital budget has supported (A) co-operatives, (B) employee-owned organisations and (C) mutuals in each of the last five financial years.

Question reference: S5W-10721

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for Co-operative Development Scotland is for 2017-18 and has been in each of the last four years.

Question reference: S5W-10724

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been invested by the Scottish Co-investment Fund in each of the last five years in (a) PLCs, (b) companies limited by guarantee, (c) charities, (d) co-operatives, (e) mutual and (f) other designations.

Question reference: S5W-10723

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) organisations and (b) people have received financial support from Co-operative Development Scotland to help facilitate the transfer of a company or entity into an employee-owned or a co-operative venture in each of the last four years.

Financial support to facilitate the transfer of businesses and other entities to employee owned is provided by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise rather than from the budget of Co-operative Development Scotland.

Therefore this is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked Lena Wilson, Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, to contact you directly with the information you have requested.

Question reference: S5W-10722

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what financial support has been provided by its agencies to establish (a) employee ownership and (b) community co-operatives in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-10719

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) co-operatives, (b) employee-owned organisations and (c) mutuals have received (i) advice and (ii) financial support from (A) Highlands and Islands and (B) Scottish Enterprise in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-10720

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 31 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many companies have received advice from Co-operative Development Scotland in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S5W-10725

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 14 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many communities have (a) registered an interest in and (b) acquired land each year under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, also broken down by how much funding it has made available to support these communities and how much of this was used.

The number of communities that have registered an interest under the Community Right to Buy legislation per year is shown in the following table:

Calendar Year	No. of communities bodies who registered an interest
2004 (from 15-6-04)	8
2005	14
2006	12
2007	13
2008	18
2009	6
2010	9
2011	10
2012	13
2013	8
2014	7
2015	8
2016	11
2017	7

Total	144

Notes

In the first year (2004) the data is from the date of commencement.
The figures for 2017 are as at 17 August 2017.
The ‘Total’ does not take into account that some communities registered interests in more than one year.
Currently, there are 27 applications which have been approved and that are awaiting the owner disposing of the asset.

A total of 19 community bodies have acquired land under the Community Right to Buy legislation, totalling 21,072.02 Ha (52,070.77 acres). The details are shown in the following table:

Name of Community Body	Area of land (Ha)	Area of land (Acres)	Purchase date
Crossgates Community Woodland	14.87	36.74	24-05-2005
Assynt Foundation	4861.80	12013.77	14-07-2005
Assynt Foundation	41.07	101.49	14-07-2005
Assynt Foundation	14909.25	36841.56	14-07-2005
Silverburn Community Limited	0.08	0.20	10-10-2005
Neilston Development Trust	0.08	0.20	24-11-2006
Comrie Development Trust	35.78	88.41	14-09-2007
Benbecula Sport & Leisure Community Company	12.10	29.90	31-03-2010
Bute Community Land Company	701.70	1733.94	23-07-2010
Camuscross Community Initiative	1.05	2.59	26-10-2010
Catrine Community Trust	0.20	0.49	10-06-2011
Machrihanish Airbase Community Company	409.00	1010.66	11-05-2012
Isle of Jura Development Trust	0.02	0.05	22-03-2013
Coigach Community Company Ltd	0.16	0.40	05-04-2013
Covesea Lighthouse Community Company Limited	0.62	1.53	05-04-2013
Mull of Galloway Trust	16.00	39.54	04-07-2013
Johnstonebridge Centre and Community Development Trust	0.81	2.00	17-01-2014
Sunart Community Company	0.01	0.02	07-04-2014
Culbokie Community Trust Limited	0.5	1.23	27-05-2015
Newburgh Community Trust	25.92	64.04	30-09-2015
Gallan Head Community Trust	41	102.00	29-01-2016

The following table shows the amount of funding the Scottish Government has made available to community groups through the Scottish Land Fund (SLF). These figures do not relate solely to community bodies who have applied to acquire land under the Community Right to Buy legislation as the SLF is open community groups who meet the SLF’s criteria for grant funding. From 2012 to 2016 only rural communities were able to apply for grant funding. From 2016, community groups throughout Scotland could apply for grant funding.

Financial Year	Budget (£million)	Awarded	Comment
2012	1	£788,577	SLF came into operation in June 2012.
2013	2	£2,231,118
2014	3	£4,443,696	Includes additional funds made available by the Scottish Government.
2015	3	£3,203,427	Includes additional funds made available by the Scottish Government. Excludes awards subsequently not taken up.
2016	10	£4,429,203
2017	10	£1,448,456	Figure relates to current funding decisions to 17-08-17.

Source: BIG Lottery Scotland

Notes

These figures relate to the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) only. They do not include SLF running costs.
Other Scottish Government grants have-can be accessed by community groups, which are not taken in account in the above figures.
The Scottish Government also grant funds organisations to support communities e.g. Community Land Scotland and the Community Ownership Support Service.

Question reference: S5W-09839

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 28 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) it and (b) its agencies provided for the construction of the slipway at Westway Business Park, Renfrew; which organisations received this funding, and what the economic impact of the slipway has been.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) provided £556,384 towards the construction of the slipway at Westway Business Park, Renfrew. The funding was provided to Renfrewshire Council and WB Westway LP (Moorfield). The funding provided by SE leveraged £1,275,000 private sector investment for the project and Westway is an integral part of the Glasgow Airport Investment Area (GAIA) which seeks to create an advanced manufacturing district adjacent to key Industry assets, including the Advanced Forming Research Centre.