- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 23 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish or make available the annual environmental assessments submitted to it as part of the Basic Payment Scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government will consider the practicalities, including the cost, and the Data Protection Act implications of making these assessments more readily available in due course.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 20 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 27 January 2016, Common Land to be reviewed, what progress it is making with the review of the Division of Commonties Act 1695, and what discussions it has had with the Scottish Law Commission regarding the matter.
Answer
Following a request by the Scottish Government, the Scottish Law Commission has agreed to consider the Division of Commonties Act 1695 as part of its next tranche of statute law repeals work. General information on the statute law repeals work is on the Commission’s website at: http://www.scotlawcom.gov.uk/law-reform/law-reform-projects/joint-projects/statute-law-repeals/. In line with the Commission’s normal practice, the Commission will undertake research and then consult formally on the repeal proposal. I have asked the Commission to ensure that when it sends out its consultation covering the 1695 Act it includes the member as one of the people receiving the consultation.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 15 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in meeting the target it set in 2007 of raising the rate of new housing supply to 35,000 per year by the middle of the current decade.
Answer
After 2007, the financial crisis completely changed both private and affordable housing markets. This included a collapse in private housing output from 20,641 in 2007 to 9,350 in 2009. Since then we have demonstrated a very strong track record in helping both housing output and the industry to recover.
In every year since 2007 we have maintained higher build rates in both social and private-led housing than England and Wales and in 2015 we had the highest all-sector build rate in the UK.
Our assistance for private housing has included £0.5 billion Help To Buy (Scotland) to support homebuyers and the industry with access to lower deposit mortgages. Alongside this the LIFT schemes have helped over 22,000 households into homeownership since 2007 and in Highlands area the pilot self build loan fund is helping households design and build a home of their choice while supporting the SME house building industry. The £50million infrastructure fund will remove blockages for both affordable and private housing on strategic sites and the ongoing review of planning has workstreams looking at additional innovative housing delivery.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 September 2016
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure the long-term future of mountain weather-forecasting.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 September 2016
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is evaluating the success of the Work Choice programme in advance of assuming responsibility for employability support programmes.
Answer
In addition to examining all available literature on Work Choice, the Scottish Government has had a series of meetings with DWP and current providers, including sub-contractors, to gain a clear understanding of the current service, its cost and its efficacy.
During the consultation on future services which ran during the summer of 2015, a number of stakeholder events, including those specifically for disabled people and their representatives were held. Inclusion Scotland were key partners in these events. As new services are being developed, we are again working with small groups of disabled people to understand their views on the on the nature of new employment support for disabled people. In addition to this, we will be undertaking a programme of customer insight in the coming months to help shape the delivery of devolved employment programmes.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what role it anticipates not-for-profit and social enterprise service providers having in the delivery of its employability programmes.
Answer
The Scottish Government is aware that social enterprises, the third sector, SME business and other partners make a significant contribution to their communities and the economy by supporting people into work – either as employers in their own right or as providers of employment support and training.
In March 2016, we published “A New Future for Employability Support in Scotland” which sets out our vision and principles for the delivery of employability programmes that are devolved to Scotland. Our commitment to work with partners, supporting the development of partnership and collaborative approaches to the delivery of devolved employability programmes, means that social enterprises and others will have the opportunity to engage and bid to deliver these services either as part of supply chains or consortia. This will be actively encouraged to help ensure better local integration and alignment and will help enable social enterprises to feature in the future service delivery landscape.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what measures it is considering in relation to its employability programmes to avoid the so-called parking of participants with high support needs.
Answer
Evidence from the Work Programme, and to a lesser extent Work Choice, shows that those further from the labour market have not been adequately supported to help enter work. A National Audit Office report on The Work Programme published in July 2014 (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/The-work-programme.pdf) highlighted that average DWP spend on those who were harder to help was less than on those who were deemed closer to the labour market.
Evaluation of the Work Programme has indicated that the payment model – which rewarded providers only for sustained job outcomes - skewed provider behaviour and resulted in parking of clients who needed additional support. The Scottish Government is clear that addressing this is a priority for the new services.
We are considering a range of options to ensure that those who need the support and can benefit from it will be able to access the new devolved employment services. We recognise the challenges and will monitor this aspect of delivery carefully from the outset.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether Individual Placement and Support will be part of its employability programmes to help people with mental health conditions into lasting employment.
Answer
It is important we consider all options for new services which might help people with mental health conditions into work. Scottish Government officials are meeting with mental health employment support providers to learn more about delivery of Individual Placement and Support and examine outcomes from existing services in Scotland.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what international best practice in helping disabled people and people with health conditions into work it is examining in advance of assuming responsibility for employability support programmes.
Answer
In 2015, the Scottish Government carried out a consultation on future devolved employment support and in March 2016, we published our response to that consultation - A New Future for Employability Support in Scotland (http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/03/3009) which sets out our vision for future employability services in Scotland.
A literature review conducted for the Scottish Government by the Learning and Work Institute in 2015 (http://www.employabilityinscotland.com/media/519601/scotlands_future_employment_services_-_literature_review_-_cesi_-_january_2016.pdf) points to the value of highly skilled advisers with small caseloads to successfully support those with disabilities into work. We are keen to understand more about this and in our transitional year, have asked providers to gather data on adviser caseloads.
- Asked by: Andy Wightman, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 1 August 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering "distance travelled" systems of performance management, in which intermediate steps to employment are recognised in paying providers and assessing success, in relation to its employability programmes.
Answer
The option of measuring distance travelled for customers accessing the new services was a feature of the 2015 consultation.
For the transition services in 2017-2018, we will ask providers to gather and share collated and anonymised customer data on distance travelled to help inform future planning.
