Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-17213

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what arrangements have been put in place throughout the lifetime of the procurement process to ensure that investment into public sector infrastructure delivers on the Public Contracts (Scotland) 2015 regulations in support of workplace matters, including the provision of relevant collective agreements.

The Scottish Government has put in place a number of arrangements to address Fair Work practices throughout the public procurement process.

Statutory Guidance published in October 2015 requires public bodies to consider, before they undertake a procurement process whether it is relevant and proportionate to include a question on Fair Work practices, which would be evaluated along with other relevant criteria.

The public procurement Regulations permit a public body to reject a contractor’s tender, which would have otherwise won the competition, where the body has established that the tender does not comply with applicable obligations in the fields of environmental, social and labour or collective agreements. Furthermore, the Scottish Government’s standard terms and conditions of contract contain a clause permitting the contract to be terminated if, in delivering the contractor, the contractor breaches environmental, social or employment laws. We have also published a Scottish Procurement Policy Note 9/2016 which contains model contract conditions.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires public bodies in Scotland with a significant procurement spend to report on their procurement activity, which must include a review of whether those procurements complied with their policy set out in their procurement strategy on how to promote the Living Wage and progress the Fair Work agenda. The first of these annual Reports are expected to be published over the coming months.

Question reference: S5O-02289

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve out-of-hours provision at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Question reference: S5W-17095

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 20 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many posts in its social security (a) directorate and (b) agency it has (i) advertised and (ii) re-advertised.

As of 8 June 2018 the number of posts advertised in its Social Security (a) directorate was 632 which includes (b) 241 posts in the Social Security Agency Implementation Division, this data is from July 2016 when the Social Security Directorate was established. The Social Security Agency will not go live until later this year.

Data on the number of posts re-advertised is not held within the Scottish Government recruitment system. The system does not have the functionality to report on re-advertised posts. Scottish Government resourcing colleagues are currently looking at new resourcing system and will be speaking to Social Security Directorate and Agency colleagues about the specification required.

Question reference: S5W-17092

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is on Special Customer Records and whether this applies to all of its directorates and agencies and also (a) victims of domestic violence, (b) people who are transsexual or transgender and (c) other high-risk individuals.

Question reference: S5W-17091

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the DWP and HMRC regarding the transfer of Special Customer Records, including for (a) victims of domestic violence, (b) people who are transsexual or transgender and (c) other high-risk individuals, for the purposes of devolved taxes and social security, and how many of these records exist.

As part of the work to establish arrangements for wave 1 benefits, and specifically the delivery of Carers Allowance Supplement, officials from Social Security Directorate have engaged in discussion with DWP about their approach to handling Special Customer Records.

Data sharing for social security purposes is permitted by the Scotland Act 2016. DWP have advised that currently 0.04% of Scottish recipients of Carer’s Allowance have a Special Customer Records status.

Similar discussions will be necessary in relation to each of the devolved benefits.

Scottish Government has no right of access to any HMRC taxpayer records. We have had no discussions regarding the transfer of Special Customer Records in this regard, and have no current plans to do so.

Question reference: S5W-17093

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 18 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what Social Security Scotland’s policy is for handling the Special Customer Records of (a) victims of domestic violence, (b) people who are transsexual or transgender and (c) other high-risk individuals, and whether this differs from the DWP's policy.

Question reference: S5W-17094

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether the DWP and HMRC are satisfied that Social Security Scotland has sufficient procedures in place to handle the Special Customer Records of people in Scotland, with particular regard to (a) victims of domestic violence, (b) people who are transsexual or transgender and (c) other high-risk individuals.

Question reference: S5O-02210

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that educational campuses have appropriate and adequate levels of accessibility for disabled students.

Question reference: S5O-02183

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 6 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what impact it expects the diversion of funds from tourism projects, such as Love Loch Lomond, to digital and data projects will have on the visitor economy.

The Scottish Enterprise Destination Development funding for Love Loch Lomond comes to an end in October 2018. This is the end of an agreed funding award rather than a diversion of funds into other activity.

Customer expectations and demands, and ultimately the success and growth of Scotland’s visitor economy, require the tourism sector to develop stronger digital skills to support decision making and business growth. This is key to maintaining Scotland’s tourism competitive position and is an area the Scottish Government and its agencies will focus their resources on.

Question reference: S5W-16746

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 May 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 5 June 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to increase transparency regarding the salaries of black and minority ethnic people in (a) the civil service and (b) other employment.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of increasing employment rates and tackling workplace inequalities for specific groups who are disadvantaged in the labour market. We are committed to doing all we can to address the barriers that prevent people from all communities from realising their true potential, accessing employment and progressing within their careers.

The Fair Work Framework highlights the importance of transparency in the workplace. It highlights that pay transparency and defensibility should be a core organisational objective for employers and should incorporate pay levels, benefits provision and pay structures that are openly shared with workers and can provide the basis for more equal pay and more defensible pay dispersion. Although employment law is reserved to the UK Government we are using all powers at our disposal to encourage ethical business practice and drive inclusive economic growth.

Scottish Ministers have supplemented general duties through the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 which introduced a number of duties including mainstreaming equalities and publishing equality outcomes to ensure that public authorities comply with the Equality Act’s provisions. Each public authority produces reports on progress with delivery at regular intervals and those reports are regulated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The Scottish Government operate a pay and grading system which ensures equal pay for work of equal value for all of its employees. We publish information on the average salaries of black and minority ethnic staff as part of our Equality Mainstreaming Report which is available on the Scottish Government website.

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