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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-23833

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has surveyed its and its agencies' staff to establish how many (a) walk, (b) cycle, (c) take public transport or (d) drive to work, and, if so, what the result was.

Question reference: S5W-23948

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23176 by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019, how it will make an assessment of the affordability of future water charges on water charge payers in the most economically-challenged communities if it does not keep data on how many charge payers in each local authority area will pay more than 3% of their income on water charges after housing costs.

The Citizens Advice Scotland report, “Charting a new course: a study in developing affordability policy for water and sewerage charges”, provides an initial understanding of customers facing affordability issues. The Scottish Government will continue to listen to a wide range of views as it develops the policy framework that enables the independent regulator to determine a fair structure of water charges.

Question reference: S5W-23947

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23062 by Roseanna Cunningham on 22 May 2019, whether it will engage with (a) Age Scotland, (b) Citizens Advice Scotland and (c) other third sector organisations to ensure that consumers are fully involved in the consultation.

Question reference: S5W-23949

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 28 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to S5W-23182 by Roseanna Cunningham 22 May 2019, whether it has directed the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to increase water charges above the rate of inflation for an extended period of years from 2021 and, if so, (a) for how many years and (b) at what level of increase above the rate.

Question reference: S5W-23943

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £37 million that was allocated to it to deal with Brexit preparations in 2018-19 was spent.

In 2018-19, the Scottish Government received £37.3 million (£35.7 million resource, £1.6 million capital) in consequentials as a proportionate share of the £1.5 billion Brexit preparation funding allocated to UK Departments in each of the years 2018-19 and 2019-20.

From this £37 million, £27 million (26.6 million resource and £0.5m capital) was allocated to specific Brexit related activity in the Scottish Government and its agencies, with the remaining £10 million being spent by portfolios as part of the 2018-19 Scottish Budget.

A Portfolio breakdown of the allocation of the £27 million consequential funding was published within the 2018-19 Autumn Budget Revision. A summary has been included below.

Portfolio (£m)

Health and Sport: 2.1

Finance, Economy and Fair Work: 3.6

Education and Skills: 0.4

Justice: 0.7

Environment, Climate Change & Land Reform: 4.0

Rural Economy: 9.2

Transport, Infrastructure & Connectivity: 0.9

Administration: 4.8

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal: 0.2

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service: 0.1

Food Standards Scotland: 0.9

Forestry Commission (Scotland): 0.1

Total: 27

Funding from the UK Government is not ring-fenced for a specific purpose and it is for Scottish Ministers to decide on allocation. While we will continue to prepare as best we can for leaving the EU with the limited resources we have, we are not able to mitigate all of the impacts completely.

Question reference: S5W-23829

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Attainment Challenge Fund will be provided on a multi-year basis to allow schools to future plan.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge is providing £750m over the course of this Parliament to tackle the poverty related attainment gap, providing support through the Challenge Authorities and Schools Programmes, Pupil Equity Funding and funding for Care Experienced Children and Young People. Funding for each of these programmes is committed until the end of the current parliament. This Government is committed to closing the poverty related attainment gap and has no plans to stop further investment in the Attainment Scotland Fund in future years.

The Scottish Government and Education Scotland provide a variety of comprehensive guidance to Local Authorities and schools on the use of this funding, including National Operational Guidance on the use of Pupil Equity Funding and the Care Experienced Children and Young People Grant. Each Local Authority also has a dedicated Attainment Advisor from Education Scotland. Attainment Advisors play a significant role in helping schools to plan and develop sustainable strategies and approaches to close the poverty-related attainment gap, and support them to use data to plan, monitor and evaluate their impact.

Question reference: S5W-23944

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of how the £55 million that has been allocated to it to deal with Brexit preparations in 2019-20 will be spent.

The Scottish Government will received £54.7 million consequentials (£48.8 million resource and £5.9 million capital) as a result of the UK Government allocating £2 billion of EU Exit preparation funding for 2019-20.

All Portfolios have benefited from the £54.7 million EU Exit funding consequentials being allocated via the 2019-20 Scottish Budget; these are fully absorbed in supporting work already underway, including EU exit preparation. These funds are not separately identifiable.

Question reference: S5W-23828

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of (a) the Attainment Challenge Fund and (b) pupil equity funding.

Progress towards the long term outcomes of closing the poverty related attainment gap are assessed in relation to the basket of measures outlined in the National Improvement Framework. Education Scotland’s inspection reports of the nine Challenge Authorities, published over the past 12 months, also provide valuable learning.

The Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation began in 2015 and follows the duration of the Scottish Attainment Challenge. An evaluation of the first two years of the Attainment Scotland Fund was published in March 2018 and may be accessed here:- https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-attainment-scotland-fund-interim-report-years-1-2/pages/2/ .

The second interim evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund was published on 21 June 2019. This evaluates Year 3 (2017-18) of the Attainment Scotland Fund and focuses on 3 strands of funding: the Challenge Authority Programme, the Schools’ Programme and Pupil Equity Funding. It found that 88% of headteachers saw improvements in relation to closing poverty-related attainment gap as a result of interventions supported by the Attainment Scotland Fund and 95% of headteachers expect to see improvements over the next 5 years. The evaluation may be accessed here:- https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-attainment-scotland-fund-interim-report-year-3/ .

The Attainment Scotland Fund will continue to be evaluated in line with the published Attainment Scotland Fund evaluation strategy:

- https://www.gov.scot/publications/evaluation-strategy-attainment-scotland-fund-years-3-4/pages/1/ .

Question reference: S5O-03441

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Social Security Committee’s recommendation that the housing element of universal credit should be paid directly to a landlord by default, with the option for a tenant to opt out.

Question reference: S5F-03432

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 10 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2019

To ask the First Minister for what reason only £3.2 million out of a £200 million Scottish European Growth Co-Investment Programme has been spent in supporting Scottish businesses.