Questions and answers

Question reference: S4O-01926

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 March 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what importance it places on the delivery of health services in rural locations.

Question reference: S4W-13213

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2013
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 22 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government whether there have been changes to the number of its special advisers and their responsibilities since January 2013 and what the costs are of employing the special adviser team.

The estimated costs of employing Special Advisers for the current financial year is £922,678 – a real terms decrease of £60,389 from the 12-month cost of the 2006-07 Special Adviser team which, when up-rated to 2012-13 prices, cost £983,067. Costs for 2013-14 are estimated to fall further to £912,956 in nominal terms (£895,055 in 2012-13 prices) – a real terms decrease of £88,012 below 2006-07 levels.

Stephen Gethins left the Scottish Government, on 2 January 2013. Ewan Crawford was appointed on 13 February 2013, on a part-time basis, and joins as a Senior Special Adviser supporting Ministers on Government Strategy and Constitutional Issues.

As a result of Stephen Gethins’ departure, Malcolm Fleming has assumed responsibility for Energy, Rural Affairs and Environment. Alexander Anderson has replaced him in supporting the First Minister’s Private Office and contributing to keynote speeches.

In total, there are 13 Special Advisers. They are appointed in accordance with Part 1 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 by the First Minister as a Special Adviser for the purpose of providing assistance to the Scottish Ministers.

Their specific responsibilities are as follows:

Name	Role	Appointed
Geoff Aberdein	Chief of Staff Responsible for the First Minister's strategic programme in Government First Minister’s senior intermediary with key internal & external stakeholders Coordination of the Special Adviser team Policy support on Commonwealth Games & Sport portfolio	26 May 2011
Stuart Nicolson	Head of Communications Senior Political Spokesperson	26 May 2011
Noel Dolan	Senior Special Adviser to the Deputy First Minister Policy advice on Infrastructure & Investment portfolio Policy advice on Welfare	26 May 2011
Liz Lloyd	Deputy Head of Communications & Political Spokesperson Lead on online and new media	30 January 2012
Alexander Anderson	Support to the First Minister’s Private Office Contributing to FM’s keynote speeches and new media Support on Transport Issues	8 October 2012
Malcolm Fleming	Policy advice on Energy, Rural Affairs and the Environment portfolios Policy advice on International Development portfolio	25 July 2011
John MacInnes	Lead on political research Support for First Minister’s Questions Support to the Communications Special Advisers	3 June 2011
Alex Bell	Head of Policy Development Policy advice on Culture (including Broadcasting) & External Affairs portfolio Policy advice on Defence.	26 May 2011
Ewan Crawford (p/t)	Senior Special Adviser supporting Ministers on Government Strategy and Constitutional Issues	13 February 2013
Colin McAllister	Deputy Head of Policy Development Education & Lifelong Learning portfolio overview Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio overview	3 October 2012
David Hutchison	Policy advice on the Health & Wellbeing portfolio Lead on FOI legislation	8 June 2011
John McFarlane	Policy advice on Justice portfolio Policy advice on Parliamentary Business portfolio, including engaging with Parliamentary Liaison Officers	26 May 2011
Delancy Johansson	Policy advice on Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth portfolio (other than Energy) Policy advice on the Council of Economic Advisers	8 October 2012

Notes:

1. Total costs include salary, ERNIC and employer pension contributions. The level of the employer ERNIC and pension contributions is not a matter for the Scottish Government. Estimate based on current team of 13 Special Advisers being in post for the remainder of 2012-13.

2. Salary, ERNIC, employer pension contributions and total costs figures have been converted into real terms (2012-13 prices) to adjust for inflation using HM Treasury deflators, published in December 2012. These were the latest available deflators at the time of calculation on 20 February 2013. It should be noted that the 2012-13 deflator is based on OBR forecast data from the UK Government Autumn Statement, December 2012.

3. See 2 for details on uprating.

Question reference: S4O-01831

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 February 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on ensuring that three and four-year-olds have access to 600 hours of nursery education per year.

Question reference: S4O-01740

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on direct payments being made to farmers.

Question reference: S4O-01710

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to protect and increase employment in rural areas.

Question reference: S4O-01680

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 January 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on the plans for college regionalisation.

Question reference: S4W-11753

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions are made for adults wishing to learn the Scots language.

Question reference: S4W-11754

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 17 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to introduce Scots language qualifications so that adult learners can demonstrate to employers that they have achieved a certain level of Scots.

Question reference: S4O-01606

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 December 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 December 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made under the common agricultural policy reform process on agreeing practical greening measures that could be implemented in Scotland.

Greening continues to be discussed in council and in the European Parliament and considerable progress has been made to get the European Commission’s draft proposals towards a form that could work in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe. However, there is still more to be done before we can be sure that Greening will deliver the environmental benefits that we want whilst not having any unintended consequences in Scotland.

Most recently agriculture ministers have discussed the idea of “equivalence” in October’s council. This is the idea that other measures may be able to substitute for the Commission’s three standard measures. This is potentially an attractive idea but we must also ensure that the other elements of greening are suitable for Scottish farming.

Question reference: S4O-01426

Asked by: Graeme Dey, MSP for Angus South, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to realise the potential of peatland restoration for emissions reduction purposes.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean