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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-14762

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 28 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to mark the 100th anniversary of the Education (Scotland) 1918 Act.

2018 marks 100 years of Catholic state education in Scotland, and the First Minister and I will be involved in a number of events which will mark this significant anniversary.

The First Minister will give the Cardinal Winning lecture at the University of Glasgow on 3 March, and I will attend the Caritas Awards Ceremony in June. I also look forward to hosting a reception to celebrate the contribution that Catholic schools make to Scottish education later in the year. These events will be part of a programme of wider events taking place to mark this occasion.

Question reference: S5W-14389

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12919 by Derek Mackay on 6 December 2017, how many of the invoices that it has received in each year since 1999 have not been paid within 30 days of receipt at all stages of the (a) prime- and (b) sub-contract chain, broken down by the total value of the contracts.

The Scottish Government no longer holds data going back as far as 1999 and does not have this information at all stages of the prime and sub-contract chain. We have provided in the following table, payment performance for those invoices that were not paid within 30 days of receipt, from April 2012 to date.

Financial Year	Percentage number of invoices not paid within 30 days
2012-13	1.1%
2013-14	0.5%
2014-15	0.6%
2015-16	0.3%
2016-17	0.2%
2017-18 (April-January)	0.3%

Question reference: S5W-14752

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14025 by Derek Mackay on 6 February 2018, what its position is on whether the threshold of £2 million in Wales and Northern Ireland is the prevailing practice.

Question reference: S5W-14751

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14025 by Derek Mackay on 6 February 2018, when the review of the thresholds of public sector project bank accounts will take place.

It is important that a review of PBA thresholds is only taken in the light of experience of their operation. As noted in my answer to S5W-14390 on 21 February 2018 , the first contracts containing a PBA will be awarded over the next 16 months. Therefore, a review of thresholds is not expected until 2019 at the earliest.

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-14237

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government for what reasons there has been a reported decrease of (a) 5% in overall satisfaction in ScotRail, (b) 6%, down to 71%, in levels of satisfaction with the level of crowding on trains and (c) 3%, down to 51%, in levels of satisfaction with how well the company deals with delays, since the last survey in Spring 2017.

With a very small sample size of respondents who take part in the survey, it is difficult to determine the precise reasons for the satisfaction scores. However, for a more accurate year on year comparator, it is considered more relevant to compare the scores to the Autumn 2016 results where –

(a) overall satisfaction in Autumn 2017 increased 2% from Autumn 2016

(b) there is no comparison for level of overcrowding as this question only introduced in Spring 2017

I completely understand the frustration that poor performance can have on the customer experience. Unfortunately ScotRail has faced a number of challenges in recent months, not least due to the impact of seasonal weather, which affects most UK operators, and as a consequence performance has fallen below the standards required by the Scottish Government and demanded by passengers.

As a result, ScotRail has appointed a railway industry expert to undertake an independent review of train service performance and propose steps for improvement. The review is underway and the findings will be used to develop actions to inform a Performance Improvement Plan, focussed and targeted towards delivering improved performance in key areas where there has been significant issues across the core business function – infrastructure, fleet, operations and customer experience.

Transport Scotland welcomes this review and expects the recent downward trend to be addressed so that passengers can enjoy the level of service that they desire and deserve.

Question reference: S5W-14407

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of subcontractor contract value has been paid through each project bank account.

Question reference: S5W-14429

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government which bodies have been its strategic suppliers in each year since 2007-08.

The Scottish Government have contracted with a large number of suppliers over the past 10 years and a large number of contracts have expired since

2007-8. The current list of suppliers providing services/goods to the core Scottish Government where we are implementing a strategic approach are:

CGI

IBM

Sopra Steria

Remploy Employment Services

The Shaw Trust

Momentum Scotland

The Wise Group

StartScotland

PeoplePlus

Falkirk Council

Warmworks

Spikes Cavell

Leidos

Millstream

Bravo Solution UK

We also strategically manage a wide range of collaborative contracts that are available to be used across the Scottish Public Sector, i.e. Scottish Government, Executive Agencies, NDPBs, Local Authorities, NHS bodies, Universities and Colleges.

The list of suppliers can be found in our collaborative contracts directory: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/Procurement/directory

In addition the Scottish Government works with the United Kingdom Cabinet Office to support the strategic management of key suppliers who operate across the UK.

Question reference: S5W-14404

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the total value of payment to contractors has been for each project bank account, and how many (a) payments have been made and (b) contractors have been paid.

Question reference: S5W-14396

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-12919 by Derek Mackay on 6 December 2017, what its position is on introducing project bank accounts for all public projects.

While the Scottish Government has no current plans to introduce project bank accounts for all public projects, my answer to question S5W-14025 on 6 February 2018 stated that we will review the thresholds for works contracts in the light of prevailing practice. 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-14400

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the date of the main contractor’s submission of a payment application to the commissioning body has been for each project bank account (PBA); on what date the commissioning body (a) intimated the amount of each payment and (b) deposited each payment into the PBA, and when each contractor received its payment.