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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: S4W-19975

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 28 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 13 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the Council of Economic Advisers’ report on the provision of childcare will be published.

Question reference: S4W-19920

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many disabled people have enrolled in modern apprenticeships in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Question reference: S4W-19922

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland, Modern Apprenticeships, Equality & the Economy: Spreading the Benefits, what it is doing to reduce the discrepancy between the proportion of disabled people taking up apprentices in Scotland and England, and to encourage more disabled people to start modern appenticeships.

Achieving a balanced workforce which reflects Scottish society as a whole is a challenge for the wider labour market and is not specific to the Modern Apprenticeship (MA) programme. A key element of the MA programme in Scotland is, and has always been, that all apprentices must be employed. As a result, this limits the influence that this government can have as recruitment decisions rest with employers, providing they act within the appropriate laws.

The Scottish Government appreciates, however, that we need to do more to ensure all people understand the nature and opportunities available across the labour market, and that employers recognise the economic and social value of a balanced workforce. This requires a cross-Government approach.

Part of this work requires us to challenge employers on their own perceptions of what it means to be a member of an under-represented group working in their industries. Scottish Ministers are strongly encouraging employers to consider all people regardless of disability, ethnicity, gender, or other factors, when recruiting and offering MAs and we are reinforcing this message through our Make Young People Your Business campaign.

In support of this, in July 2012 we launched the Employer Recruitment Incentive for targeted young people which offers funding to employers to support young people aged 16-24 who are care leavers, disabled people, young carers or ex-offenders to sustain employment including undertaking a MA. This incentive can also be used with our Youth Employment Scotland funding.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) already works to promote equal opportunities in line with the Equalities Act 2010. In addition the Scottish Government recently agreed with the Equal Opportunities Committee’s recommendation to launch an awareness campaign to better promote inclusion throughout all levels of the MA programme. We will continue to work with SDS to take this forward including a specific focus on under-represented groups during Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2014.

You will also be aware that the recent interim report from the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce made a number of recommendations relating to MAs, and we are currently considering these. An important stage in the second half of the Wood Commission will be a focus on equality issues, looking to make meaningful recommendations to improve employment outcomes in relation to gender, disability and ethnicity.

Question reference: S4W-19921

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many disabled people aged between 16 and 24 have enrolled in modern apprenticeships in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Question reference: S4W-19561

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 3 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether all men aged 50 and over have a right to a free prostate-specific antigen test from the NHS provided they have first been given sufficient information on the pros and cons to enable them to make an informed choice about taking the test.

We fully expect GPs to discuss prostate cancer with people who are at risk and recommend Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) testing where appropriate.

Guidance in the form of a Prostate Cancer Risk Management Pack which supports the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Programme was issued to NHS boards (urologists, histopathologists, PSA testing laboratories) and all general practitioners in Scotland.

The programme provides guidance to medical practitioners on the situations in which it is suitable to offer PSA testing, the information and guidance that should be provided to patients before PSA testing is undertaken, and the support that may be required by men as they deal with the consequences of the PSA test and any resulting diagnosis.

Details of the programme and copies of the Prostate Cancer Risk Management Pack can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/health/cancer/publications

Question reference: S4O-02976

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what impact the proposed abolition of honorary sheriffs will have on access to justice in rural and island areas.

Question reference: S4O-02938

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when the Island Areas Ministerial Working Group will next meet and what will be discussed.

Question reference: S4O-02889

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 February 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with SSE regarding options for reinforcing the electricity grid in Orkney.

Question reference: S4W-19169

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 10 January 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 24 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time (i) disabled students and (ii) students with additional support needs have attended further education college courses in each of the last five years.

Data on the number of students who attended colleges in Scotland are produced by the Scottish Funding Council. The latest data are for academic year 2012-13.

Table 1 shows the number of students who attended college broken down by mode of study, recorded disability and those receiving additional support.

In recent years, we have asked colleges to concentrate on delivering courses that focus on employability. The shift from part-time to full-time students shown in Table 1 is the result of this re-focusing, and reflects a move away from funding very short programmes of study (under 10 hours), and leisure programmes. Table 1 also makes clear that full-time equivalents (FTEs), a better measure of the volume of learning, have remained largely unchanged over the period in question

Table 1-Students at Scottish colleges, 2006-07 to 2012-13

	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13
Full-time students	68,884	68,290	71,319	77,456	80,248	81,373	78,970
Part-time students	294,713	310,943	303,667	269,880	225,721	176,540	159,835
Full-Time Equivalent Students (FTEs)	129,378	131,423	133,374	134,918	134,547	133,199	131,421
Students with a Recorded Disability (FTEs)	17,132	18,118	19,194	19,512	20,058	20,920	21,477
Students receiving additional support (AS) /on programmes for those with AS needs (FTEs)	20,428	21,886	23,540	23,940	25,188	25,077	24,090

Source: Scottish Funding Council

Question reference: S4W-19003

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 December 2013
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 16 January 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to change the repayment threshold for student loans during the current parliamentary session.