- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of how many small and medium-sized businesses have returned to their pre-COVID-19 pandemic profit levels, and how the value of those businesses compares with pre-pandemic levels.
Answer
Answer expected on 18 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 20 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 18 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what the current total economic cost associated with autistic adults is, and what percentage of this figure is a result of underemployment or unemployment.
Answer
Answer expected on 18 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it can provide a breakdown of the employment rate by Scottish parliamentary constituency.
Answer
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish employment rate estimates for 16 to 64 year olds by Scottish parliamentary constituency from the ONS Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest available estimates are for January to December 2024:
LI02.1 Regional labour market: local indicators for constituencies of the Scottish Parliament - Office for National Statistics
ONS state that although the APS estimates are robust at headline regional level, there are concerns with the quality of the estimates in recent years for smaller groups of the population such as local authority and Scottish parliamentary constituency level estimates.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Kate Forbes on 19 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the reported decision not to fund the proposed submarine welding centre on the Clyde aligns with its commitment to supporting Scotland's shipbuilding industry and skilled workforce.
Answer
We recognise the importance of the shipbuilding sector for Scotland’s economy including its strategic importance in shaping Scotland’s future workforce. That is why we are already undertaking a major programme of reform to the skills system to ensure that it meets Scotland’s needs, including investing up to £2 million to develop engineering skills in the Glasgow City Region, designed by the Clyde Maritime Cluster in partnership with Skills Development Scotland. We are also actively engaging with the UK Government on the development of its forthcoming Industrial Strategy and its planned review of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, emphasising Scotland's strengths in shipbuilding and maritime technology. However, the Scottish Government’s long-standing policy position is that neither the Government nor its agencies use public money to support the manufacture of munitions.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how many micro-grants of £500 Business Gateway has provided in the last 12 months, broken down by (a) location of recipient and (b) what they were used for.
Answer
The Scottish Government provides direct funding for Business Gateway but does not hold information on how that funding is spent within each hub. Please contact Business Gateway on hello@bgateway.com if you would like to address this question to them directly.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 19 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what funding it has provided to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the last 12 months, and what percentage of any funding went to SMEs based outside of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Answer
The Scottish Government supports the full range of businesses primarily through its enterprise agencies, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise. As such the allocation of this direct funding to the size of businesses is held by each agency along with the number of businesses supported outside the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Please email Scottish Government Enterprise Sponsorship team on enterprisesponsorship@gov.scot if you would like to contact the agencies directly.
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have used or are seeking to use their powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to adjust non-domestic rates, broken down by financial year.
Answer
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what powers local authorities have under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to reduce non-domestic rates, and when any such powers came into effect.
Answer
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage more local authorities to consider and utilise their existing powers under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 to adjust non-domestic rates.
Answer
Answer expected on 16 July 2025
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 June 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 June 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport at the Public Audit Committee meeting on 23 April 2025 that, since the ScotRail peak fare removal pilot ended, rail use has increased, whether it will publish the data that shows this.
Answer
This information is available from the Office of Rail and Road statistics portal, published on its website. The Member may wish to access the following link, which will provide the information requested: Passenger rail usage | ORR Data Portal