Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-01312

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 28 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support GP surgeries in Fife.

The Scottish Government is aware of the pressures facing general practice and are fully committed to supporting a model of sustainable general practice.

On 10 March, I announced an additional £71.6 million will be invested in direct support of general practice, helping to transform the way services are delivered in the community. This forms the first stage of the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide an extra £250 million in direct support of general practice per year by 2021 - increasing the overall investment in primary care by £500 million.

As part of this, I have increased the GP recruitment and retention fund this year from £1 million to £5 million, enabling expansion and continued support to existing and new initiatives across Scotland.

One existing initiative is The Scottish Rural Medicine Collaborative – a ten board collaboration involving NHS Fife. The project will bring together recruitment strategies and support networks for GPs working in remote and rural areas.

Question reference: S5O-01273

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to support the tourism sector in Fife.

The development of Fife's tourism sector is supported through the work of a range of our public bodies, for example, VisitScotland's marketing campaigns, including working with the industry to build on the success of film and TV shot there, such as Outlander; business and destination support from Scottish Enterprise; training and development through Skills Development Scotland; and promotion and protection of cultural heritage and historic properties through Historic Environment Scotland. In August I announced £500,000 Scottish Government funding for the 'Reaper' repair restoration at Anstruther which is another example of supporting tourism attractions and of course the opening of the Queensferry Crossing is putting a spotlight on Fife worldwide.

Question reference: S5T-00678

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response to the terrorist incident at Parsons Green in London.

Question reference: S5W-10956

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote the responsible selling among retailers and wholesalers of (a) quad bikes and (b) other similar single person-operated vehicles.

Question reference: S5W-10955

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 14 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many quad bikes have been registered in Scotland on the DVLA’s voluntary registration scheme, and what action it is taking to promote the scheme.

The legislation governing the registration of quad bikes has not been devolved to Scottish Ministers and remains reserved to the UK Government.

Information about the scheme is available on the UK Government website and the DVLA leaflet, INF 85, "Protect your off road vehicle". The UK Government has confirmed to the Scottish Government that it does not hold any records relating to the DVLA's voluntary registration scheme for quad bikes.

Question reference: S5W-10350

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 10 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many acid attacks there has been in each of the past five years; how many convictions there were, broken down by average length of sentence, and whether it plans to review the law on dealing with this type of crime.

Information on the number of acid attacks over the last five years is not held centrally. Where someone uses acid or other corrosive substances to attack another person, a range of general criminal offences can be used to prosecute including the common law of assault. The statistics for assault held do not differentiate when corrosive substances have or have not been used.

Depending on the facts and circumstances of a given case, anyone carrying corrosive substances in public can be prosecuted for carrying an offensive weapon and anyone who uses a corrosive substance to attack another person can be prosecuted for a number of offences such as assault. Under the common law of assault, courts have powers to sentence up to life imprisonment

The Scottish Government always keeps the criminal law of Scotland under review and will consider carefully what, if any, steps may be needed in this area.

Question reference: S5W-09977

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) mean and (b) median annual salary is in (i) Scotland and (ii) each parliamentary region, broken down by (A) gender and (B) age.

The following tables provide mean and median gross annual earnings for full-time employees in Scotland for 2016 by Scottish parliamentary region, broken down by age and gender.

Table 1a: Median annual earnings (£) for full-time employee jobs^1,2by gender/age grouping

Parliamentary Region

Median earnings

Gender

Age group

Male

Female

16-34

35-49

50-64

Scotland	27,953	29,929	25,102	24,080	30,655	28,818
Central Scotland	26,980	28,472	23,057	23,231	28,748	28,430
Glasgow	28,811	31,119	25,528	x	31,825	28,675
Highlands and Islands	27,081	29,463	24,514	24,492	28,589	28,088
Lothian	28,851	30,389	27,192	24,328	33,272	30,766
Mid Scotland and Fife	26,407	29,017	22,885	20,702	29,053	27,323
North East Scotland	28,619	31,940	25,989	25,631	30,957	30,898
South Scotland	26,328	27,966	24,647	20,781	28,586	28,443
West Scotland	27,327	29,446	24,608	23,241	29,789	27,858

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016, Office for National Statistics

Table 1b: Mean annual earnings (£) for full-time employee jobs^1,2and by gender/age grouping

Parliamentary Region

Mean earnings

Gender

Age group

Male

Female

16-34

35-49

50-64

Scotland	32,877	35,774	28,800	26,681	34,995	35,380
Central Scotland	31,314	33,352	27,803	24,761	32,189	34,900
Glasgow	34,258	37,566	29,781	x	36,438	34,551
Highlands and Islands	30,810	33,494	26,915	26,393	31,254	33,050
Lothian	35,558	38,231	31,551	26,828	40,042	38,168
Mid Scotland and Fife	29,742	32,510	26,116	22,976	32,381	31,166
North East Scotland	35,292	39,747	29,287	28,374	36,447	40,665
South Scotland	29,903	31,581	27,734	23,397	30,779	33,317
West Scotland	31,159	33,828	27,746	24,748	32,698	34,004

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016, Office for National Statistics

Notes:

- x denotes estimates which are considered unreliable for practical purposes.

1. Covers employees on an adult rate of pay who have been in the same job for more than a year.

2. The estimates are from ‘workplace’-based analysis and therefore include all those who work in the Parliamentary Region, regardless of where they live.

Question reference: S5W-09976

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 13 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) mean and (b) median annual salary is in each constituency in the Mid Scotland and Fife parliamentary region, also broken down by (i) gender, and (ii) age.

The following tables provide mean and median gross annual earnings for full-time employees in the Mid Scotland and Fife parliamentary constituencies, broken down by age and by gender.

Table 1a: Median annual earnings (£) for full-time employee jobs^1,2by gender/age grouping

Constituency

Median earnings

Gender

Age group

Male

Female

16-34

35-49

50-64

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	25,465	29,044	x	18,531	25,709	x
Cowdenbeath	31,768	32,188	x	19,563	33,542	33,758
Dunfermline	27,284	32,183	22,256	24,088	x	29,969
Kirkcaldy	25,597	x	20,937	17,991	34,324	x
Mid Fife and Glenrothes	24,679	26,967	21,306	21,251	26,976	21,755
North East Fife	24,020	25,557	23,002	x	28,596	23,002
Perthshire North	25,400	x	24,701	20,091	x	28,379
Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	26,715	30,126	22,632	20,154	29,050	32,388
Stirling	27,144	30,217	22,295	24,455	30,123	27,871

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016, Office for National Statistics

Table 1b: Mean annual earnings (£) for full-time employee jobs^1,2by gender/age grouping

Constituency

Mean earnings

Gender

Age group

Male

Female

16-34

35-49

50-64

Clackmannanshire and Dunblane	31,613	35,643	x	19,298	29,726	x
Cowdenbeath	32,045	33,520	x	21,994	32,820	34,368
Dunfermline	29,989	36,845	23,849	24,000	x	30,427
Kirkcaldy	29,591	x	25,532	18,921	31,171	x
Mid Fife and Glenrothes	26,872	28,850	24,255	23,448	28,569	27,218
North East Fife	27,979	29,015	26,425	x	31,500	26,100
Perthshire North	29,511	x	27,099	22,478	x	26,398
Perthshire South and Kinross-shire	31,956	34,474	28,027	23,225	34,907	34,883
Stirling	29,404	32,334	25,659	25,141	31,929	31,661

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2016, Office for National Statistics

Notes:

- x denotes estimates which are considered unreliable for practical purposes.

1. Covers employees on an adult rate of pay who have been in the same job for more than a year.

2. The estimates are from ‘workplace’-based analysis and therefore include all those who work in the constituency area regardless of where they live.

Question reference: S5W-09208

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to (a) ensure that a proportion of funding from the Climate Challenge Fund is channelled to more deprived communities and (b) simplify the application and monitoring process to remove any barriers to entry that face smaller organisations.

The Climate Challenge Fund is open to all eligible community-led organisations across Scotland, and there are robust procedures in place to ensure that funding is accessible to all types of communities.

A breakdown of all Climate Challenge Fund grants, since 2008, by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) decile is included in the following table.

SIMD Decile	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Number of awards	152	100	118	102	156	148	122	125	63	75
Total value (£)	12,876,055	6,838,186	8,890,813	7,632,539	10,193,246	10,240,972	8,696,364	8,116,520	5,748,181	6,579,652

In terms of application and monitoring processes, the Climate Challenge Fund works closely with grant recipients to continuously improve processes and ensure that they are straightforward and widely accessible.

Question reference: S5W-09209

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 25 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which organisations have received cumulative funding in excess of £250,000 through the Climate Challenge Fund, broken down by the (a) (i) number and (ii) amount of grants received and (b) percentage of grants allocated (A) by funding round and (B) in total.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean