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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-02710

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the labour productivity figure has been in each year since 2007, expressed in output per hour.

Question reference: S5W-02711

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many registered businesses there have been in each year since 2007.

The Scottish Government publishes a count of the number of private sector registered businesses, in the ‘Businesses in Scotland’ report, on an annual basis. The table below is taken from the ‘Businesses in Scotland 2015’ report, which was published on 3 November 2015 and can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Corporate

Registered businesses, operating in Scotland, 2007 to 2015

Year	Registered Businesses
2007	151,145
2008	155,285
2009	155,320
2010	155,045
2011	154,365
2012	159,580
2013	160,050
2014	166,525
2015	170,335

Source: Businesses in Scotland 2015, Scottish Government

Notes:

1. Registered businesses are those businesses that are registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) and/or Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

2. Excludes central and local government.

Question reference: S5W-02715

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget is for the Workplace Innovation Service, and how many businesses will receive assistance.

Question reference: S5W-02712

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government by what date Skills Development Scotland will publish its regional (a) skills assessments and (b) outcome agreements.

Question reference: S5W-02714

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish details of what assessment it has carried out of skills (a) shortages and (b) underuse.

The UKCES Employer Skills Survey covers skill shortages and underuse. The Scottish Government is a partner to this research. The survey results were published in January 2016 and the latest results for Scotland are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukces-employer-skills-survey-2015-scotland-toolkit

Scottish Government also commission Skills Development Scotland to undertake further Regional Skills Assessments, using information from the UKCES Employer Skills Survey.

Question reference: S5O-00191

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of the condition of college buildings.

Question reference: S5W-02407

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many public contracts were placed with supported employment workplaces for disabled people through its procurement process and what their value was in each year since 2011.

The Scottish Government Framework for Supported Factories and Businesses was awarded in September 2012.

The number of contracts placed from financial year 2011-2012, via Public Contract Scotland (PCS) prior to the Framework Agreement is 17. As referred to in the answer to question S4W-14309 on 26 April 2013.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Since 2012, spend and orders placed through the Framework Agreement across all Scottish sectors (Central Government, Health, Education, Local Authority and Charities), has totalled £1.9m. Orders placed totalled 389, with a sectoral breakdown provided in the following tables. However, those figures do not include any public contracts placed with supported businesses by public bodies outwith the Scottish Government framework.

The current framework agreement has recently been extended for a further year and will now expire on 11 September 2017.

Annex A – Spend breakdown by Sector/by year since 2012 via Framework.

Sum of Value of spend - nearest £
	2012-13.	2013-14.	2014-15.	2015-16.	2016-17 (so far).	Grand Total
Affordable Housing				£632		£632
Central Government incl. NDPB and Agency	£81,028	£134,536	£185,471	£286,863	£44,727	£732,626
Charities/3rd Sector	£2,520	£5,367	£2,665	£3,394		£13,947
Health		£31,945	£1,635	£69,979	£176,430	£279,989
Local Authority	£116,939	£293,296	£169,144	£213,279	£96,826	£889,484
Universities and Colleges		£91	£140	£10,087		£10,317
						£1,926,994

Annex B – Orders placed breakdown by Sector/by year since 2012 via Framework.

No. of contracted orders placed by sector
	2012-13.	2013-14.	2014-15.	2015-16.	2016-17 (so far).	Grand Total
Affordable Housing	0	0	0	1	0	1
Central Government incl. NDPB and Agency	16	39	46	77	29	207
Charities/3rd Sector	1	3	1	3	0	8
Health	0	3	6	24	7	40
Local Authority	12	17	17	47	31	124
Universities and Colleges	0	1	1	7	0	9
						389

Question reference: S5W-02536

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 21 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the signatories to the Scottish Business Pledge and what components each business has signed up to.

The information requested is already in the public domain. A list of Scottish Business Pledge signatories entitled "A to Z of Scottish Business Pledge Companies as of 15 September 2016" can be found on the Scottish Business Pledge website at: https://scottishbusinesspledge.scot/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Alpha-Pledge-Companies-15-09-16.pdf.

Information on the Pledge elements met by businesses is given in the table entitled “Business Pledge – Statistical overview – August 2016”, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 57653). This material is updated and published on a quarterly basis.

Question reference: S5W-02408

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 20 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it monitors the number and value of public contracts that it and other public bodies in Scotland award to supported employment workplaces for disabled people.

Public bodies should publish a contract award notice for contracts that are in scope for procurement regulations. Generally these are contracts for £50,000 or more for goods and services and £2 million for construction. In addition public bodies are required to publish and maintain a public contracts register setting out such details as the name of the contractor, the subject matter of the contract and the estimated value of the contract.

Public bodies with procurement spend of £5 million or more per annum are required to publish a procurement strategy. Part of that strategy will set out how the public body will consider how it can undertake procurements in a way which facilitates the involvement of supported businesses. Such bodies must also produce an annual procurement report that will set out the steps the public body has taken to facilitate the involvement of supported businesses in regulated procurements. These reports will be published by the individual public bodies and will form the basis for an annual report on procurement activity in Scotland to be prepared by Scottish Ministers. Financial year 2017-18 will be the first full year subject to annual procurement reports under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

The Scottish Government Framework for Supported Factories and Businesses was awarded in September 2012. The answer to question S5W-02407 on 20 September 2016 provides details of spend through that Framework. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-01894

Asked by: Richard Leonard, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will publish the full minute of the meeting between the First Minister and the German Government's Minister of State for Europe, which was held on 9 August 2016.

On 28 June 2016 the Scottish Government received a clear mandate from Parliament to pursue all options to protect Scotland’s relationship with the EU. Acting on this, the First Minister met with Michael Roth, Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Ministry on 9 August 2016 in Berlin. This meeting was not seeking decisions or conclusions but rather ensuring that Scotland’s voice was heard and that Mr Roth, on behalf of the German Government, understood Scotland’s position.

The Scottish Government is committed to regularly reporting progress on its EU engagement to Parliament including through regular engagement with relevant committees. However, the Scottish Government has no plans to publish a minute of this meeting, in view of the need to protect diplomatic conversations which is the normal practice for government to government meetings internationally.