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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-00364

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the Scotland Performs' webpage has recorded figures showing that Scotland's OECD productivity ranking has "worsened" from 16th place in 2006 to 19th currently.

The evaluation of progress towards the Scottish Government's productivity purpose target is based on any change in Scotland's productivity rank among organisation for economic co-operation and development (OECD) member countries. In 2006, Scotland was ranked 16th in the OECD for productivity levels in terms of output per hour worked. Between 2006 and 2010 Scotland's ranking fluctuated between 16th and 18th, and has remained at 19th since 2011.

In real terms, output per hour worked in Scotland has grown by 4.5% between 2006 and 2014. Over the same period, output per hour worked in the UK as a whole has grown by only 1.6% in real terms.

Scotland's productivity ranking relative to the OECD members is influenced by a range of external factors, such as real productivity growth in Scotland and other OECD countries, each country's rate of price inflation, and changes in currency exchange rates. Since 2010, Scotland’s ranking has been largely influenced by reduced purchasing power in the UK as a whole relative to other OECD members. This relates to the depreciation of Sterling relative to other currencies since the onset of the global financial crisis around 2008, and the consequent OECD benchmarking of purchasing power parities in 2011.

Further explanation of how purchasing power parities can impact on relative productivity rankings in the OECD is contained in the Scotland performs technical note for the productivity purpose target, which is available at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/TechNotes/productivity

Question reference: S5W-00365

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 14 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) initiatives and (b) programmes it has in place to help meet its Scotland Performs' productivity purpose target for Scotland to rank in the top quartile against its key OECD trading partners by 2017, and what analysis it has made of the effectiveness of these.

The importance of improving Scotland's productivity performance has been recognised in each of the Scottish Government's economic strategies since 2007. Scotland's Economic Strategy (SES), published in 2015, reaffirms the importance of improving Scotland's productivity performance and the ambition to reach the top quartile of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in terms of productivity levels.

Improving productivity is central to achieving the twin aims of the SES: improving economic competitiveness and tackling inequality. Each of the four priorities for growth identified in the SES – Investment, Innovation, Inclusive Growth, and Internationalisation – have important roles in helping improve Scotland’s productivity performance.

Further information can be found in SES, which is available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/EconomicStrategy

A range of actions are being taken forward that will help to improve productivity in Scotland, and these actions are set out in the government’s programme for Scotland, available at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0048/00484439.pdf

Question reference: S5W-00256

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much funding is provided by the UK Government to Citizens Advice Scotland each year.

Question reference: S5T-00004

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 June 2016

[Withdrawn]

Question reference: S5W-00255

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it provides to Citizens Advice Scotland each year; for what purpose, and what monitoring arrangements are in place.

The Scottish Government provided Citizens Advice Scotland with funding of over £2.6 million in 2015-16 to support a wide range of projects delivered by Citizens Advice Scotland and Citizens Advice Bureaux in areas such as welfare, health care and managing finances. Monitoring arrangements are put in place as part of the grant awards to provide regular progress and financial reports to the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S5W-00258

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any concerns about the governance arrangements at Citizens Advice Scotland, in light of repeated governance reviews following the departure of a number of chief executives.

Question reference: S5W-00260

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how much Citizens Advice Scotland has spent on terminating the contract of its most recent chief executive.

Question reference: S5W-00259

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it believes that the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator should investigate Citizens Advice Scotland following allegations about the use of the development fund.

Question reference: S5W-00257

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether funding of Citizens Advice Scotland should be transferred from the UK Government.

We fully support the transfer of funding to the Scottish Government for consumer advocacy and advice activities undertaken by Citizens Advice Scotland, which arises as a consequence of the devolution of powers under the Scotland Act 2016. Core funding for Citizens Advice Scotland is provided by the UK Government through the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and there are currently no plans to change this.

Question reference: S5W-00225

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it can take to combat nuisance calls.

The UK Government is responsible for the regulation of nuisance calls, and is therefore best placed to take direct action to tackle this issue. However, the Scottish Government is determined to make the most of our new consumer powers to take positive steps to reduce the impact nuisance calls have on the lives of people in Scotland. That is why we will be holding a nuisance calls summit early in summer 2016, which will bring leading industry, regulatory and consumer experts together to develop a range of effective ways to protect consumers and reduce the impact of unwanted calls.