Questions and answers

Question reference: S4F-02465

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 December 2014

To ask the First Minister what engagements she has planned for the rest of the day.

Question reference: S4W-23268

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 5 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to encourage all public bodies to measure the extent of any equal pay gap and publish their findings.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 were made by Scottish Ministers in May 2012 and are designed to enable the better performance of the public sector equality duty at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The regulations require listed public authorities with more than 150 employees to publish gender pay gap information and to publish an equal pay statement containing details of the organisation’s equal pay policy and occupational segregation.

The regulations also place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to publish proposals for activity to enable listed authorities to better perform the public sector equality duty.

Scottish Ministers’ proposals were published in December 2013 and include a commitment that the Scottish Government will work with Close the Gap, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, relevant Scottish public authorities and others to support better pay gap and occupational segregation reporting.

Scottish Ministers will report on progress on their proposals by the end of 2015.

Question reference: S4W-23269

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 4 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to monitor equal pay gaps in public bodies.

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 were made by Scottish Ministers in May 2012 and are designed to enable the better performance of the public sector equality duty at section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. The regulations require listed public authorities with more than 150 employees to publish gender pay gap information and to publish an equal pay statement containing details of the organisation’s equal pay policy and occupational segregation.

The Regulations also place a duty on the Scottish Ministers to publish proposals for activity to enable listed authorities to better perform the public sector equality duty.

Scottish Ministers’ proposals were published in December 2013 and include a commitment that the Scottish Government will work with Close the Gap, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, relevant Scottish public authorities and others to develop better pay gap and occupational segregation reporting, and support national training to build skills specific to pay gap calculation and occupational segregation reporting.

Scottish Ministers will report on progress on their proposals by the end of 2015.

Question reference: S4W-23437

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 4 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what support it can provide to assist the development of the project, Helensburgh Heroes.

The Scottish Government does not directly support projects like Helensburgh Heroes and their plans for a digital academy and entertainment centre. Where such projects contribute to economic development, skills or culture they are eligible to apply for support from agencies such as Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland and Creative Scotland. Helensburgh Heroes applied for support from Creative Scotland but were unsuccessful. Creative Scotland work on the ‘arms-length’ principle, whereby ministers are prevented by legislation from intervening in artistic decisions.

Creative Scotland is currently accepting applications for open project funding for projects which meet the published funding guidelines.

Question reference: S4W-23336

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has contributed to allow blind or visually impaired people to travel free on the Edinburgh trams.

Question reference: S4W-23332

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to expand any concessionary travel scheme for disabled and older people to include travel on the Edinburgh trams.

Question reference: S4W-23333

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out a financial analysis on expanding the national concessionary travel scheme to include (a) other forms of transport and (b) the Edinburgh trams.

Question reference: S4W-23455

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not yet published the redrawn data zone boundaries based on the 2011 census, which were due to be published in mid-2014.

Question reference: S4W-23334

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered implementing a voucher system similar to that for Scotland’s island residents for disabled or older people to travel on (a) ScotRail, (b) the Glasgow Subway, (c) the Edinburgh trams or (d) similar services.

Question reference: S4W-23337

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 3 December 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has had discussions with the City of Edinburgh Council about extending the national concessionary travel scheme to the Edinburgh trams.

In early 2013, the Scottish Government confirmed in discussions with the City of Edinburgh Council that the National Concessionary Bus Travel Scheme would not be extended to include the Edinburgh trams.

This was on the basis that such an extension would have to be financed from funds intended to support bus services, including concessionary bus travel, across Scotland. It was also noted that destinations served by the tram would continue to be served by conventional bus services, on which national concessions would be available.

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