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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

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Question reference: S4W-09188

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s target is for answering incoming calls.

SAAS has no set target for dealing with incoming calls. At peak times, it is for the operational management of SAAS to balance processing applications with customer contact.

The primary customer service commitment is to meet, annually, the SAAS Guarantee Date. The Guarantee Date, usually 30 June each year, is not a deadline but SAAS aim to process all applications received by the Guarantee Date in time for the start of the student’s course.

This year SAAS received 105,405 applications by the Guarantee Date. All these applications have now been processed.

Question reference: S4W-09184

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the average number of monthly calls is for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Since SAAS opened for applications for the 2012-13 academic year on 4 April 2012 until the end August 2012, the total number of attempted calls is 255,235. The number of calls per month varies significantly however this gives an average of just over 51,047 calls per month. It is not possible to isolate how many of these calls are repeated attempts to contact SAAS.

The monthly breakdown of calls attempted is:

Number of Attempted Calls to SAAS Contact Centre

Month
April	20,112
May	29,645
June	64,175
July	37,425
August	103,878
Total (to date)	255,235

Question reference: S4W-09186

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what contingency action the Student Awards Agency for Scotland takes in case of an increased volume in the number of calls it receives prior to the start of an academic year.

The peak processing session for SAAS is from April to October. During this time SAAS employs additional temporary staff in its dedicated Contact Centre as well as elsewhere across the agency, including student placements.

In recent years the guarantee date has been introduced to incentivise early applications.

SAAS have also invested in technology to ensure students can complete routine tasks online. There is extensive information on the SAAS website and through social media to assist students in completing applications and to answer the most common queries.

Question reference: S4W-09185

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many staff are employed by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to answer incoming calls.

As a frontline delivery agency, all staff at SAAS have some level of customer contact including telephone contact. However the majority of calls are routed through the dedicated contact centre.

The total number of staff currently employed in the contact centre is 25 to 16 permanent staff, plus nine temporary workers recruited to assist the peak call period.

In addition, SAAS have two managers who manage the contact centre and also deal with the more complex or demanding calls.

Question reference: S4W-09187

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s average call handling time is.

Question reference: S4O-01072

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether schools in close proximity to Commonwealth Games venues will undergo refurbishment before 2014.

Question reference: S4W-06853

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 May 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4O-00887 by Derek McKay on 19 April 2012, whether it will list the (a) five councils that have confirmed that they already pay the current level of the living wage through their existing wage structures, (b) nine councils that have introduced the living wage and (c) six councils that have stated that they will implement a living wage during 2012-13.

The five councils that have confirmed that they already pay the current level of the living wage through their existing wage structures are:

East Dunbartonshire Council,

Orkney Islands Council,

Perth and Kinross Council,

Shetland Islands Council,

Western Isles Council.

The nine councils that have introduced the living wage are:

Aberdeen City Council,

Dumfries and Galloway Council,

East Renfrewshire Council,

Glasgow City Council,

North Ayrshire Council,

Renfrewshire Council,

Scottish Borders Council,

South Lanarkshire Council,

West Dunbartonshire Council.

The six councils that have stated they will implement a living wage during 2012-13 are:

Clackmannanshire Council,

Falkirk Council,

Moray Council,

North Lanarkshire Council,

South Ayrshire Council,

Stirling Council.

Question reference: S4W-06645

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 26 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many suicides have been recorded in each of the last five years, broken down by parliamentary constituency and expressed as a percentage of the national average.

Please see the following table showing the number of suicides (intentional self harm and events of undetermined intent) for each of the new Parliamentary Constituencies, for the years 2006-2010.

Figures for 2011 will be available in August.

Scottish Parliamentary Constituency

Number of Deaths

Percentage of Scottish total

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Scotland	765	838	843	746	781	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Aberdeen Central	15	9	18	17	15	2.0%	1.1%	2.1%	2.3%	1.9%
Aberdeen Donside	6	4	8	10	10	0.8%	0.5%	0.9%	1.3%	1.3%
Aberdeen South and North Kincardine	10	9	8	7	8	1.3%	1.1%	0.9%	0.9%	1.0%
Aberdeenshire East	5	8	11	9	14	0.7%	1.0%	1.3%	1.2%	1.8%
Aberdeenshire West	4	5	5	6	5	0.5%	0.6%	0.6%	0.8%	0.6%
Airdrie and Shotts	14	10	12	14	8	1.8%	1.2%	1.4%	1.9%	1.0%
Almond Valley	6	10	11	11	4	0.8%	1.2%	1.3%	1.5%	0.5%
Angus North and Mearns	8	10	11	6	8	1.0%	1.2%	1.3%	0.8%	1.0%
Angus South	8	8	9	8	8	1.0%	1.0%	1.1%	1.1%	1.0%
Argyll and Bute	5	15	12	12	7	0.7%	1.8%	1.4%	1.6%	0.9%
Ayr	7	11	11	7	7	0.9%	1.3%	1.3%	0.9%	0.9%
Banffshire and Buchan Coast	8	16	16	13	13	1.0%	1.9%	1.9%	1.7%	1.7%
Caithness, Sutherland and Ross	15	14	10	11	7	2.0%	1.7%	1.2%	1.5%	0.9%
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	4	17	3	10	9	0.5%	2.0%	0.4%	1.3%	1.2%
Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	7	8	8	4	8	0.9%	1.0%	0.9%	0.5%	1.0%
Clydebank and Milngavie	9	16	21	12	10	1.2%	1.9%	2.5%	1.6%	1.3%
Clydesdale	6	10	9	10	8	0.8%	1.2%	1.1%	1.3%	1.0%
Coatbridge and Chryston	7	11	14	4	11	0.9%	1.3%	1.7%	0.5%	1.4%
Cowdenbeath	9	10	9	13	12	1.2%	1.2%	1.1%	1.7%	1.5%
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	10	7	10	8	12	1.3%	0.8%	1.2%	1.1%	1.5%
Cunninghame North	10	9	7	11	11	1.3%	1.1%	0.8%	1.5%	1.4%
Cunninghame South	11	19	12	13	6	1.4%	2.3%	1.4%	1.7%	0.8%
Dumbarton	17	15	19	11	14	2.2%	1.8%	2.3%	1.5%	1.8%
Dumfriesshire	10	16	12	12	10	1.3%	1.9%	1.4%	1.6%	1.3%
Dundee City East	22	13	18	10	12	2.9%	1.6%	2.1%	1.3%	1.5%
Dundee City West	14	14	14	13	17	1.8%	1.7%	1.7%	1.7%	2.2%
Dunfermline	11	3	7	7	10	1.4%	0.4%	0.8%	0.9%	1.3%
East Kilbride	16	7	9	9	11	2.1%	0.8%	1.1%	1.2%	1.4%
East Lothian	7	4	10	9	8	0.9%	0.5%	1.2%	1.2%	1.0%
Eastwood	5	5	6	4	4	0.7%	0.6%	0.7%	0.5%	0.5%
Edinburgh Central	14	18	15	10	11	1.8%	2.1%	1.8%	1.3%	1.4%
Edinburgh Eastern	10	9	17	12	17	1.3%	1.1%	2.0%	1.6%	2.2%
Edinburgh Northern and Leith	10	9	18	11	17	1.3%	1.1%	2.1%	1.5%	2.2%
Edinburgh Pentlands	10	17	11	16	8	1.3%	2.0%	1.3%	2.1%	1.0%
Edinburgh Southern	5	3	9	6	13	0.7%	0.4%	1.1%	0.8%	1.7%
Edinburgh Western	6	16	13	9	8	0.8%	1.9%	1.5%	1.2%	1.0%
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	3	9	7	3	2	0.4%	1.1%	0.8%	0.4%	0.3%
Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire	15	8	12	5	9	2.0%	1.0%	1.4%	0.7%	1.2%
Falkirk East	10	10	10	9	8	1.3%	1.2%	1.2%	1.2%	1.0%
Falkirk West	6	8	9	10	8	0.8%	1.0%	1.1%	1.3%	1.0%
Galloway and West Dumfries	12	15	11	12	13	1.6%	1.8%	1.3%	1.6%	1.7%
Glasgow Anniesland	16	20	23	14	10	2.1%	2.4%	2.7%	1.9%	1.3%
Glasgow Cathcart	10	16	15	13	10	1.3%	1.9%	1.8%	1.7%	1.3%
Glasgow Kelvin	18	13	14	12	16	2.4%	1.6%	1.7%	1.6%	2.0%
Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn	16	23	17	13	16	2.1%	2.7%	2.0%	1.7%	2.0%
Glasgow Pollok	24	11	14	16	11	3.1%	1.3%	1.7%	2.1%	1.4%
Glasgow Provan	13	21	14	12	10	1.7%	2.5%	1.7%	1.6%	1.3%
Glasgow Shettleston	20	21	16	20	13	2.6%	2.5%	1.9%	2.7%	1.7%
Glasgow Southside	18	16	19	16	10	2.4%	1.9%	2.3%	2.1%	1.3%
Greenock and Inverclyde	16	13	10	10	18	2.1%	1.6%	1.2%	1.3%	2.3%
Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse	11	15	7	8	14	1.4%	1.8%	0.8%	1.1%	1.8%
Inverness and Nairn	8	12	12	8	14	1.0%	1.4%	1.4%	1.1%	1.8%
Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley	9	16	8	8	13	1.2%	1.9%	0.9%	1.1%	1.7%
Kirkcaldy	15	8	12	14	12	2.0%	1.0%	1.4%	1.9%	1.5%
Linlithgow	9	15	18	9	15	1.2%	1.8%	2.1%	1.2%	1.9%
Mid Fife and Glenrothes	7	13	7	8	14	0.9%	1.6%	0.8%	1.1%	1.8%
Midlothian North and Musselburgh	7	5	11	8	18	0.9%	0.6%	1.3%	1.1%	2.3%
Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale	11	8	12	13	11	1.4%	1.0%	1.4%	1.7%	1.4%
Moray	10	10	9	15	18	1.3%	1.2%	1.1%	2.0%	2.3%
Motherwell and Wishaw	9	15	13	18	10	1.2%	1.8%	1.5%	2.4%	1.3%
North East Fife	10	6	7	8	10	1.3%	0.7%	0.8%	1.1%	1.3%
Orkney Islands	3	1	5	2	3	0.4%	0.1%	0.6%	0.3%	0.4%
Paisley	13	22	18	15	17	1.7%	2.6%	2.1%	2.0%	2.2%
Perthshire North	10	18	8	12	4	1.3%	2.1%	0.9%	1.6%	0.5%
Perthshire South and Kinrossshire	11	11	8	2	5	1.4%	1.3%	0.9%	0.3%	0.6%
Renfrewshire North and West	8	12	6	12	6	1.0%	1.4%	0.7%	1.6%	0.8%
Renfrewshire South	7	4	18	11	7	0.9%	0.5%	2.1%	1.5%	0.9%
Rutherglen	9	14	13	15	14	1.2%	1.7%	1.5%	2.0%	1.8%
Shetland Islands	5	6	5	4	5	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%	0.5%	0.6%
Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch	17	9	16	13	19	2.2%	1.1%	1.9%	1.7%	2.4%
Stirling	16	6	5	9	11	2.1%	0.7%	0.6%	1.2%	1.4%
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	8	8	6	7	15	1.0%	1.0%	0.7%	0.9%	1.9%
Uddingston and Bellshill	14	15	15	7	10	1.8%	1.8%	1.8%	0.9%	1.3%
Not known	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	0.1%

Question reference: S4O-00887

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 19 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities are committed to paying a living wage.

The current position in local authorities regarding implementation of the living wage is as follows:

Five councils have confirmed that they already pay the current level of the living wage through their existing wage structures;

Nine councils have introduced the living wage;

Six councils have stated that they will implement a living wage during 2012-13, and

Seven councils have indicated their intention to consider introducing a living wage.

Question reference: S4O-00927

Asked by: John Mason, MSP for Glasgow Shettleston, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2012

To ask the Scottish Executive whether future legislation relating to Getting It Right for Every Child principles will take a whole-child approach and cover social work and other services as well as education services.