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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-04849

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of suppliers to each (a) of its directorates, (b) of its agencies and (c) non-departmental public body is a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code.

The Scottish Government does not hold centrally records of suppliers who are signatories to the prompt payment code for its Directorates, Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. It is a standard condition of Scottish Government contracts that suppliers are paid within 30 days. Where relevant, it is also a standard condition that any sub-contract must contain a clause which requires payment of invoices to sub contractors within 30 days.

Question reference: S5W-04854

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 5 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of late payments in publicly-funded subcontract chains and the impact of these.

The Scottish Government does not hold details of every contract awarded by every public body in Scotland. We have taken steps, however, to reduce the impact of late payment in public contracts. In 2009, we introduced a standard clause into our contracts which requires valid invoices to be paid within 30 days of receipt at all stages of both the prime contract and sub-contract chain. We encourage other public bodies to adopt a similar clause.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires contracting authorities to set out how they intend to ensure that payments down the sub-contract chain are made within 30 days of a valid invoice being presented.

We published guidance on the use of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) in construction contracts in September 2016. PBAs ensure that payments for supply chain firms in both tiers immediately below the main contractor are made promptly and protected from upstream insolvency. Scottish Government bodies must include a PBA in tenders with an estimated value of at least £4.1m for building projects, or £10m for civil engineering projects. We encourage other public bodies to also use PBAs.

Question reference: S5O-00435

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will set a new target to eradicate fuel poverty.

Question reference: S5W-04856

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to answer to question S5W-03759 by Paul Wheelhouse on 31 October 2016, whether it will publish the 44 performance measures for Scottish Enterprise.

Question reference: S5W-04621

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 11 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03816 by Keith Brown on 9 November 2016, how many military flights from (a) the UK and (b) other countries to Glasgow Prestwick Airport there have been per day in each year since 2011.

Question reference: S5W-04852

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of each of its directorate's invoices for goods and services supplied by (a) private companies and (b) small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is paid on time, and what proportion of the (i) number and (ii) value of contracts between each directorate and private companies is held by SMEs.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by supplier type. However, we have provided in the following table, the most recent figures available (October 2016) of our ten day payment performance, by Directorate General. We do not hold the information by Directorate.

Scottish Government Directorates	Number of invoices paid within ten days
DG Communities	98%
DG Economy	99%
DG Finance	98%
DG Health & Social Care	99%
DG Learning and Justice	98%
DG Strategy and Operations	99%

According to figures obtained from the Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) advertising portal the numbers of SMEs winning awards by each Scottish Government directorate for 2014 and 2015 are recorded in the table below.

As many contracts are multi supplier frameworks we can only provide information on the percentage of suppliers winning awards.

Until 18 April 2016, there was no legal requirement to record contract values and therefore the PCS portal is not able to provide accurate figures at this time for the value of the contracts awarded.

2014

2015

	Total Suppliers Awarded Contracts	SMEs Awarded Contracts	% SME	Total Suppliers Awarded contracts	SMEs Awarded Contracts	% SME
Built Environment Directorate	44	25	56.8	44	26	59.1
Chief Information Officer	45	23	51.1	46	27	58.7
Digital Directorate	64	39	60.9	60	37	61.7
Directorate For Business	43	25	58.1	46	27	58.7
Directorate For Chief Medical Officer, Public Health And Sport	39	21	53.8	66	45	68.2
Directorate For Chief Nursing Officer, Patients, Public And Health Professions	42	24	57.1	44	26	59.1
Directorate For Children And Families	39	21	53.8	49	30	61.2
Directorate For Education Analytical Services	40	22	55.0	45	26	57.8
Directorate For Employability, Skills And Lifelong Learning	39	20	51.3	45	27	60.0
Directorate For Energy And Climate Change	47	28	59.6	59	36	61.0
Directorate For Health And Healthcare Improvement	40	22	55.0	61	41	67.2
Directorate For Health And Social Care Integration	76	45	59.2	49	28	57.1
Directorate For Health Workforce And Performance	41	22	53.7	44	26	59.1
Directorate For Hr And Organisational Development	43	22	51.2	46	27	58.7
Directorate For Justice	76	53	69.7	50	32	64.0
Directorate For Learning	44	25	56.8	53	33	62.3
Directorate For Legal Services (Solicitor To The Scottish Government)	38	20	52.6	44	26	59.1
Directorate For Marine Scotland	115	87	75.7	98	73	74.5
Directorate For Office Of The Chief Scientific Adviser	38	20	52.6	45	27	60.0
Directorate For Safer Communities	43	22	51.2	52	33	63.5
Directorate For The Inspectorate Of Prosecution In Scotland	38	20	52.6	44	26	59.1
Directorate for Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities	112	67	59.8	101	57	56.4
Directorate for Chief Economist	49	27	55.1	48	29	60.4
Directorate for Communications and Ministerial Support	10	5	50.0	58	37	63.8
Directorate for Culture and Heritage	39	20	51.3	44	26	59.1
Directorate for Environment and Forestry	74	46	62.2	50	31	62.0
Directorate for External Affairs	41	22	53.7	47	29	61.7
Directorate for Finance, eHealth and Pharmaceuticals	40	22	55.0	52	31	59.6
Directorate for Housing, Regeneration, the Commonwealth Games and Sport	75	43	57.3	58	36	62.1
Directorate for Local Government and Communities	45	26	57.8	57	35	61.4
Directorate for Strategy and Constitution	41	22	53.7	47	27	57.4
Directorate for the Health Quality Unit	12	5	41.7	49	31	63.3
Finance Directorate	46	27	58.7	52	30	57.7
Office Of The Scottish Parliamentary Counsel	38	20	52.6	44	26	59.1
Scottish Procurement And Commercial Directorate	51	28	54.9	121	79	65.3
TOTAL	1707	986	57.8	1918	1183	61.7

Question reference: S5W-04850

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 29 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of undisputed invoices to each (a) of its directorates, (b) of its agencies and (c) non-departmental public body was paid within five days in each year since 2011.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by directorate or agency, nor do we hold this information for non-departmental public bodies. However, we have provided in the following table, combined figures for The Scottish Government and bodies who share its finance system.

Financial Year	Number of undisputed invoices paid within five days
2011-12	81.3%
2012-13	79.9%
2013-14	80.3%
2014-15	77.8%
2015-16	79.6%
2016-17 (April-October)	79.2%

Question reference: S5W-03755

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 October 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 25 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on the growth sectors that it identified in each year since 2007.

Support for Growth Sectors as set out in our Economic Strategy is delivered in a variety of ways across Government departments and our partner agencies, it is therefore not possible to provide a full measure of spend to support them individually or to differentiate spend in the manner requested. The Growth Sector Database however, shows the performance of the growth sectors. http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Business/Publications/GrowthSectors

Question reference: S5O-00393

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport will meet campaigners and elected members in the Dumbarton constituency to discuss proposed reductions to NHS services.

As I have said before in this Chamber, no final decisions have been made about these proposals. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is now engaging with the local communities, staff and other stakeholders so they can carefully consider their views. It is important not to pre-judge this, as the proposals may change or not be pursued at all, as a result.

Given the formal role that Ministers have in the major service change process, it would have been inappropriate for me to accept an invitation to meet with campaigners at this stage. I have, however, been clear that I'd be happy to meet with local campaigners and their representatives to help inform my final decision on any proposals that may come to me, once the engagement and formal consultation period has concluded.

Question reference: S5W-04475

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 24 November 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, what its response is to the comment by Professor Graeme Roy of the Fraser of Allander Institute to the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work Committee on 1 November 2016 (Official Report, c.45) that “although trade deals and access to the single market are important, proximity is one of the most important things. One of the big focuses for the Scottish Government in future policy rounds should be integration into the rUK market and what it can do to support expansion into it”.