Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-36052

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the Mental Health Transformation Fund has been allocated to each NHS board since 2018, broken down by year.

Question reference: S5W-36051

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) foundation, (b) modern and (c) graduate-level apprenticeships were started in each year since 2018-19, also broken down by month.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has operational responsibility for our apprenticeship programmes in Scotland and administer them on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The annual Foundation Apprenticeship (FA) statistics are:

Cohort 3 (2018-2020) – 1,535 FA Starts
Cohort 4 (2019-2021) – 3,445 FA Starts

The annual Modern Apprenticeship (MA) statistics are:

2018-19 – 27, 270 MA Starts
2019-20 – 27,875 MA Starts
2020-21 Q3 – 10, 604 MA Starts

The annual Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) statistics are:

2018-19 – 921 GA Starts
2019-20 – 1,160 GA Starts

SDS do not report Scotland’s Apprenticeship Family statistics by month. Official Modern Apprenticeship statistics are published quarterly, including the number of starts. The Modern Apprenticeship 2020-21 Q4 (Year End) statistics will be published in June 2021. Foundation and Graduate Apprenticeship statistics are published on an annual basis.

Both Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship statistics are now formally recognised within our Apprenticeship delivery targets, opening up more opportunities in key highly skilled areas. Prior to the impacts of COVID-19, the Scottish Government consistently exceeded our annual Apprenticeship targets year on year.

COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on Scotland’s economy, creating challenges for businesses and individuals throughout Scotland. This has, and will continue to have, an impact on apprenticeship provision throughout the year.

The latest official statistics, covering April-December 2020, demonstrate the impact on apprenticeship starts following the positive steps during this period to ease restrictions and begin to open up the economy across the country.

The Quarter 3 statistics, published on 9 February 2021, show a positive increase in Modern Apprenticeship starts compared to the Quarter 2 statistics but are still lower than at the same point in previous years, reflecting the ongoing impact from COVID-19.

The table below provides a breakdown of the quarterly Modern Apprenticeship Starts since 2018-19 which are cumulative throughout the year.

Modern Apprenticeship starts by Quarter	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Q1	4,126	4,336	910
Q2	12,976	13,719	3,633
Q3	19,895	21,240	10,604
Q4 (Year End)	27,270	27,875	N/A

The table below provides a breakdown of the annual Foundation Apprenticeship Starts since 2018/19.

Cohort 3

(2018-2020)

Cohort 4

(2019-2021)

Foundation Apprenticeship starts by Year

1,535

3,445

The table below provides a breakdown of the annual Graduate Apprenticeship Starts since 2018-19.

	2018-19	2019-20
Graduate Apprenticeship starts by Year	921	1,160

Both Modern and Graduate Apprenticeship statistics are now formally recognised within our Apprenticeship delivery targets, opening up more opportunities in key highly skilled areas. Prior to the impacts of COVID-19, the Scottish Government consistently exceeded our annual Apprenticeship targets year on year.

Question reference: S5W-36056

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many accidents on the A90 between Dundee and Stonehaven have been reported in each quarter since 1 April 2016, also broken down by how many resulted in an injury.

The Scottish Government only holds personal injury accident data. The Scottish Government does not hold information resulting in damage only accidents.

Details are as follows:

Personal Injury Accident Statistics - A90 Dundee (from the Emmock Roundabout at William Fitzgerald Way) to Stonehaven (at the Slug Road overbridge).

Year – 2016	Number of personal injury accidents
April – June	5
July – September	3
October – December	7

Year – 2017	Number of personal injury accidents
January – March	6
April – June	5
July – September	4
October – December	6

Year – 2018	Number of personal injury accidents
January – March	3
April – June	2
July – September	7
October – December	3

Year – 2019	Number of personal injury accidents
January – March	6
April – June	2
July – September	5
October – December	9

Year – 2020	Number of personal injury accidents
January – March	6
April – June	0
July – September	5
October – December*	1

* data is only available until 30 October 2020

1. Source: Transport Scotland Accident Manager Database

2. Date data extracted: 16 March 2021

3. Please note that the information provided is based on the current figures available. The following are potential reasons for an accident not appearing on our system:

4. Transport Scotland only holds accident information which is provided to us by Police Scotland.

5. Transport Scotland does not hold information relating to damage only accidents (i.e. not involving an injury).

6. Transport Scotland only holds accident information for the trunk road network.

7. The accident information Transport Scotland holds is subject to change. E.g. we receive late returns from Police Scotland, who are responsible for recording details of injury accidents.

8. Annual Scottish accident figures are published by Transport Scotland on a yearly basis and can be found by entering Reported Road Casualties Scotland into your search engine.

Question reference: S5W-36050

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) companies and (b) sectors have taken on the largest numbers of modern apprenticeships in each year since 2018-19, also broken down by month.

Official Statistics are published quarterly by Skills Development Scotland, a breakdown by month is not available.

The total number of Modern Apprentices (MAs) recruited by each occupational grouping is published at the end of each year, as recruitment of apprentices is carried out throughout the year. The top three occupational groupings over the last three years have consistently been Construction, Sport, Health and Social Care and Hospitality and Tourism.

There are a large number of Small and Medium Enterprise businesses who take on smaller numbers of cohorts each year. The following table shows the top three employers who have recruited the largest number of MAs each year since 2018 and the volume of MA starts each year:

2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
BT - 372	Arnold Clark – 402	KFC – 154
Arnold Clark – 316	Asda Stores – 219	BT – 102
Asda Stores - 289	BT - 214	Scottish Fire and Rescue Service - 85

The MA quarterly starts numbers are cumulative, the Q4 statistics are year-end. The tables below show MA starts each quarter since 2018, broken down by occupational grouping:

Occupational Groupings	2018-19 Q1	2018-19 Q2	2018-19 Q3	2018-19 Q4
Administration & Related	266	730	1268	1826
Animal Care, Land & Water Based	33	151	233	290
Automotive	116	654	1000	1187
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	0	11	18	23
Construction & Related	574	3328	4925	6111
Creative & Cultural Skills	9	53	100	134
Engineering & Energy Related	60	1108	1363	1515
Financial Services	113	269	493	862
Food & Drink	352	699	1008	1221
Hospitality & Tourism	473	1105	1791	2574
Management	151	277	477	855
Other Manufacture	47	75	117	177
IT & Other Services	318	847	1374	2331
Personal Services	173	388	586	848
Retail & Customer Service	454	969	1490	2074
Sport, Health & Social Care	757	1826	2828	4019
Transport & Logistics	230	486	824	1223
			Annual Total	27270

Occupational Groupings	2019-20 Q1	2019-20 Q2	2019-20 Q3	2019-20 Q4
Administration & Related	236	714	1170	1558
Animal Care, Land & Water Based	11	101	197	238
Automotive	92	613	925	1159
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	6	10	30	31
Construction & Related	691	3737	5221	6417
Creative & Cultural Skills	15	75	101	161
Engineering & Energy Related	61	1031	1463	1604
Financial Services	114	347	521	663
Food & Drink	280	574	927	1217
Hospitality & Tourism	472	1077	1692	2388
Management	133	276	457	723
Other Manufacture	29	62	97	152
IT & Other Services	442	1038	1684	2352
Personal Services	83	242	416	606
Retail & Customer Service	369	819	1325	1708
Sport, Health & Social Care	1031	2387	3994	5446
Transport & Logistics	271	616	1020	1452
			Annual Total	27875

Occupational Groupings	2020/21 Q1	2020/21 Q2	2020/21 Q3
Administration & Related	28	93	253
Animal Care, Land & Water Based	*	16	62
Automotive	*	51	260
Chemicals & Biotechnology Related	-	-	19
Construction & Related	236	843	3057
Creative & Cultural Skills	*	8	17
Engineering & Energy Related	5	215	733
Financial Services	32	82	147
Food & Drink	6	208	472
Hospitality & Tourism	5	176	633
Management	27	121	303
Other Manufacture	*	2	19
IT & Other Services	319	629	1028
Personal Services	-	50	195
Retail & Customer Service	7	69	288
Sport, Health & Social Care	224	934	2584
Transport & Logistics	14	133	534
* Disclosure control has been applied where figures are less than 5 or where such small numbers can be identified through differencing		Total at the End of Q3 2020/21	10,604

Question reference: S5W-36053

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government by what date the Haudagain improvement project (a) was initially expected and (b) is currently expected to be open to traffic.

The construction of the A92/A96 Haudagain Improvement project is progressing. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the measures to combat the impact of the pandemic, as confirmed in the recent publication of the Infrastructure Investment Plan in December 2020 completion has changed from the original published date of Spring 2021 and is now anticipated in Winter 2021.

While this date is subject to any further impacts of the pandemic and unforeseen circumstances such as the effects of exceptional weather, Transport Scotland is working with the contractor to review the programme of work and identify any actions which may help to mitigate delays where possible.

Question reference: S5W-36054

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the current estimated cost of the Haudagain improvement project is, and how this compares with the initial estimated cost.

Question reference: S5W-36055

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 19 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many specialist (a) osteoporosis nurse and (b) radiographer positions are (i) filled and (ii) vacant in each of the NHS boards.

The information requested on how many specialist (a) osteoporosis nurse positions are filled and vacant, broken down by NHS board is not centrally collected.

The information requested on how many radiography positions are filled in each of the NHS Boards can be found in the following table:

NHSScotland Allied Health Professionals with a specialty of Radiography, staff in post by NHS Board (Whole Time Equivalent) as at Dec 2020.

NHS Boards	Staff in Post as at Dec 2020
NHSScotland	2442.3
NHS Ayrshire & Arran	172.8
NHS Borders	32.8
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	44.8
NHS Fife	109.0
NHS Forth Valley	90.3
NHS Grampian	207.3
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	769.7
NHS Highland	122.8
NHS Lanarkshire	181.0
NHS Lothian	411.4
NHS Orkney	5.8
NHS Shetland	9.8
NHS Tayside	201.7
NHS Western Isles	9.1
NHS Golden Jubilee	74.0

Source: Scottish Workforce Information Standard System (SWISS).

Information on how many radiography positions are vacant in each of the NHS Boards is not centrally available.

Scotland-level data on vacancies for Consultants, Nursing & Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals for March, June and December 2020 is not available.

Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on collation of more detailed data by Boards, reduced vacancy data was reported for March, June and December 2020.

Question reference: S5O-04856

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the claim by Victim Support Scotland that spending on offender services is more than double the amount spent on victims.

Question reference: S5O-04544

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with Dundee City Council regarding how its welfare policies address the reported widening of the SIMD gap between the least and most deprived parts of the city.

Question reference: S5O-04530

Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis the Drug Deaths Taskforce has made of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chamber and committees