Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-19924

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will conduct an assessment, in line with the Fair Work Framework, of levels of bullying and harassment of staff employed by Rail Gourmet to service contracts with companies operating trains from Edinburgh Waverley.

The Scottish Government is not actively seeking to conduct an assessment concerning staff employed by Rail Gourmet.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

Question reference: S5W-19923

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding improving protections from bullying and harassment for rail catering staff working (a) on trains and (b) in stations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not had specific discussions with the UK Government regarding improving protections from bullying and harassment for rail catering staff.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

Question reference: S5W-19925

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what recent assessment it has made of levels of bullying and harassment of staff employed by SSP Group in food outlets at mainline railway stations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government has not made a recent assessment concerning staff employed by SSP Group as we have no direct involvement in employer/employee relations of rail companies or their contractors.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

Question reference: S5W-19926

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with employers in the rail catering industry regarding the (a) respect at work and (b) bullying and harassment sections of the Fair Work Framework.

The Scottish Government has not had discussions specifically with employers in the rail catering industry regarding respect at work and bullying and harassment and is not directly involved in employer/employee relations of rail companies or their contractors.

The Scottish Government however has a Fair Work agenda and expects any company operating in Scotland to adopt fair and ethical business practices. We strongly oppose the use of exploitative practices and the unfair treatment of workers. Any form of bullying and harassment in the workplace is wholly unacceptable and we would expect employers to tackle any such instances professionally and timeously.

Our own franchise agreement with ScotRail recognises the value and importance of employees and has a number of obligations for the benefit of staff. These include trade union representation on ScotRail's board, Investors in People, that at least £1m should be spent each year on training and development and that all ScotRail employees and contractors are paid at least the living wage.

Question reference: S5O-02598

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the use of bogus self-employment to avoid employment protections.

We strongly oppose the use of exploitative business practices. While employment law is reserved to the UK Government, we are using all powers at our disposal to promote fair work.

On 9th October the First Minister announced our Fair Work First approach, harnessing the financial power of the Scottish Government. This will extend fair work criteria to as many funding streams, business support grants and public contracts as we can by the end of this parliament.

This builds on our Programme for Government commitment to introduce fair work criteria to Scottish Enterprise job-related grants in 2019-20 and our existing procurement guidance.

Question reference: S5W-19849

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19625 by John Swinney on 6 November 2018, whether it will provide the information that was requested regarding how much funding it is providing to each local authority to provide mental health first aid training (a) in schools and (b) to teachers in each year since 2014.

In 2014-15 the Scottish Government provided £12,000 for 5 local authorities - West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Clackmannanshire and North Lanarkshire to target support and training to school communities in most need.

In 2015-16 the Scottish Government provided £12,000 for 5 local authorities – Shetland, Highland, Argyll and Bute, Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to target support and training to school communities in most need.

In 2016-17 the Scottish Government provided £6,000 for 3 local authorities – Dundee City Council, South Lanarkshire Council, Inverclyde Council to target support and training to school communities in most need.

In 2017-18 the Scottish Government provided £10,000 for 5 local authorities – East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Fife, Glasgow, Inverclyde and Stirling to target support and training to school communities in most need.

In 2018-19 the Scottish Government will provide £14,000 for 7 local authorities – East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian, Falkirk and South Ayrshire to target support and training to school communities in most need.

In 2019-20 the Scottish Government will provide £14,000 for 7 local authorities – Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Western Isles, Moray, Orkney, Angus, Perth & Kinross to target support and training to school communities in most need.

Question reference: S5W-19850

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19625 by John Swinney on 6 November 2018, whether the grant funding offered to local authorities for mental health first aid training is (a) ring-fenced for that purpose and (b) for the delivery of such training to teachers only.

Question reference: S5O-02607

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 November 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what measures it takes to protect the Parliament from cyberattacks.

Question reference: S5W-19766

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18505 by Ivan McKee on 28 September 2018, whether its definition of munitions covers laser guidance components.

Question reference: S5W-19678

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 14 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-19092 by Ivan McKee on 27 September 2018, what proportion of (a) Scottish Enterprise and (b) Highlands and Islands Enterprise funding to business the human rights due diligence requirements apply to.

Chamber and committees