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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-00569

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the board of the Scottish Investment Bank is separate from that of Scottish Enterprise.

Question reference: S5W-00363

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on meeting its Scotland Performs' productivity purpose target for Scotland to rank in the top quartile against its key OECD trading partners by 2017.

Scotland Performs monitors and reports on progress against the Scottish Government's purpose targets and national indicators.

Data on Scotland's productivity performance is currently available for years up to and including 2014. Data on progress towards the productivity purpose target up to 2014 is published at the following address:

http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/purposetargets/productivity

Question reference: S5W-00548

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the Scottish Investment Bank; what its remit is; how many loans it has issued and to whom; how much risk capital it has raised, and how many equity schemes have been set up, broken down by year.

Question reference: S5W-00549

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the Scottish Business Development Bank will be established.

There are no immediate plans to establish a Scottish Business Development Bank.

I refer to the response to S4W-30114 on 26 February 2016 by John Swinney, then Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth.

Our approach, given the UK Government accounting arrangements within which we are required to work, is to enhance the remit of the Scottish Investment Bank (SIB) and for Scottish Enterprise to offer a wider range of business investment approaches, addressing some of the marketplace gaps to improve the supply of funding.

The additional activity could include providing support to a broader number and range of businesses, offering and enabling loans, and potentially guarantees, alongside equity products and providing an enhanced financial readiness service.

£21.5 million of financial transactions funding has been allocated to Scottish Enterprise in 2016-17 to help in developing the SIB to meet its new objectives.

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-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-00372

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 when it will next publish an oil and gas analytical bulletin, and what plans it has to publish this on a regular basis.

I refer the member to the answer to S4W-29508 on 11 February 2016. 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

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact that low oil prices is having on the oil and gas industry and its wider supply chain. This was discussed at the energy jobs taskforce meeting on the 23 March 2016. The state of the economy report from the chief economist, published on 3 June 2016, provides an update on the oil and gas sector. A link to the report can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/state-economy/latestSofE.

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-00367

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 how many jobs have been lost each month since January 2015 as a result of the reduction in the price of oil, broken down by employer.

The Scottish Government continues to monitor the impact that low oil prices is having on the oil and gas industry and its wider supply chain. This was discussed at the energy jobs taskforce meeting on the 23 March 2016, with the next meeting taking place on 16 June 2016. The state of the economy report from the chief economist, published on 3 June 2016, provides an update on the oil and gas sector. A link to the report can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/state-economy/latestSofE.

The Scottish Government recognises the severe challenges facing the oil and gas industry, which is why our focus is on what we can do to support the industry and the work force.

We continue to do all that we can within devolved powers to help the sector. In 2015, we set up the Energy Jobs Taskforce, which has already helped to support more than 2,500 individuals and 100 employers through the current downturn, and will continue to support the industry to improve collaboration, co-operation and innovation. We also announced the £12 million transition training fund this year, around 650 individuals have registered for support and the fund has already confirmed funding for nearly 100 individuals to support their redeployment through retraining or further education.

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]