Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-17599

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 July 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have there been for the new STEM teaching bursary.

Question reference: S5W-16182

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many colleges and universities offer (a) courses and (b) qualifications in e-commerce.

The Scottish Government and its agencies and partners are fully committed to ensuring that e-commerce is incorporated into their wider digital support across all sectors.

Due to the cross-disciplinary nature of e-commerce, many courses at colleges and universities will contribute to the skills pool supporting e-commerce. However, the Scottish Government does not hold information on each individual course which has e-commerce embedded within it.

Question reference: S5W-16063

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it had with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator between 1 January 2014 and 4 April 2018 regarding the use of charitable funds by NHS trusts.

We were in contact with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in the development of the ‘NHS Endowment Report and Recommendations on Governance and Best Practice’ guidance that was issued to NHS Boards on 6 January 2014.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16062 on 3 May 2018. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at

Question reference: S5W-16180

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 4 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the top 10 Scottish businesses are that contribute the most to the total UK e-commerce turnover of £511 billion.

The UK estimates are sourced primarily from the Office for National
Statistics (ONS) E-commerce Survey of UK Businesses which can
be found at:
. The estimates are derived from data collected from businesses under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947,
which provides businesses with assurances that the information they
provide is kept strictly confidential therefore it would not be possible for
the ONS to provide information that would identify individual businesses.

For information about the use of e-commerce amongst Scottish
businesses, you may refer to the Digital Economy Business Survey 2017,
published by the Scottish Government in March 2018. The survey report
and accompanying data tables can be found at:.

Question reference: S5W-16181

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with local businesses in Scotland to help develop an e-commerce strategy.

Scottish Government agencies and partners are currently delivering a number of initiatives that engage with businesses on a range of digital issues, including e-commerce.

The Business Gateway (BG) DigitalBoost programme provides e-commerce advice within a portfolio of digital support including workshops, 1-2-1 advice and digital health checks. In the past 12 months BG has delivered 70 workshops on
‎ e-commerce attended by 442 SME delegates. BG also offers a series of ‘free to use’ DigitalBoost online guides and the e-commerce guide within that portfolio has been downloaded 690 times in the last 18 months.

The Scottish Enterprise Digital Transformation Team work with high growth businesses on key strategic areas of digital activity which help companies to implement international e-commerce strategies and have assisted over 600 companies this past year as well as providing a number of online ecommerce insight articles on their website.

Scottish Enterprise Tourism Team have run numerous workshops to industry on
‎ e-commerce – via Digital Tourism Scotland – featuring e-commerce as a theme.

Scottish Development International have also developed a range of international
‎ e-commerce workshops on a range of subjects, to help businesses to start exporting.

While we have no current plans to produce a specific, discrete e-commerce strategy, the Scottish Government and its agencies and partners are fully committed to ensuring that e-commerce is incorporated into their wider digital support across all sectors.

Question reference: S5W-16060

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and (b) its officials became aware that there had been alleged irregularities regarding the use of charitable assets held by NHS Tayside.

Question reference: S5W-16062

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it had with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator between 24 June 2014 and 4 April 2018 regarding the use of NHS Tayside’s charitable funds.

After becoming aware of the endowment fund issue in NHS Tayside on 3 April 2018, Scottish Government officials contacted the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). On 5 April 2018, Scottish Government officials discussed with OSCR the fact that we would be seeking assurance from all NHS Boards on the use of endowment funds. NHS Scotland Chief Executive Paul Gray wrote to OSCR on 12 April 2018 to request a view from OSCR on the responses that we will receive. Once OSCR have concluded their investigation of NHS Tayside and reviewed the Board returns, we will work with them to review any lessons learned and any further actions required to strengthen the governance of endowment funds.

Question reference: S5W-16107

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each local authority area have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of (i) sheep and (ii) other livestock worrying under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 in each year since 2007.

Information on cases of sheep worrying is not held centrally. Information is available on the number of people prosecuted under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land. However as this legislation applies to all forms of livestock, these figures are not available for specific types of animal. The available information on criminal proceedings is provided in the following tables.

Number of people prosecuted for offences under Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 1 , by local authority, 2007-08 to 2016-17

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Aberdeen City	-	-	1	1	2	-	-	-	1	-
Aberdeenshire	2	3	2	1	-	1	-	-	1	-
Angus	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	1	1
Argyll & Bute	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	2
Dumfries & Galloway	-	-	1	1	2	-	4	-	1	1
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1
East Ayrshire	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1
Fife	1	-	1	-	1	4	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-
Highland	2	-	1	3	1	1	-	1	-	4
Moray	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	1	2
North Ayrshire	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	2	1
Perth & Kinross	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	2	4	-	-	-	1	-	-	4
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
South Ayrshire	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1
South Lanarkshire	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
Stirling	1	1	2	-	-	2	1	1	-	1
West Dunbartonshire	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	2	-	1	-	1	-	-
Total Scotland	11	11	16	11	11	13	10	12	18	21

Number of people convicted of offences under Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 1 , by local authority, 2007-08 to 2016-17

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
Aberdeen City	-	-	1	1	2	-	-	-	1	-
Aberdeenshire	1	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
Angus	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	2	1	1
Argyll & Bute	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	-	2
Dumfries & Galloway	-	-	1	1	2	-	4	-	1	1
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1
East Ayrshire	2	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1
Fife	1	-	1	-	-	3	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-
Highland	2	-	1	3	1	1	-	-	-	3
Moray	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	-	-	1	-	2	-	1	2	-	1
North Ayrshire	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-	1	2	-	-	2	1
Perth & Kinross	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders	-	2	4	-	-	-	1	-	-	4
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-
South Ayrshire	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	1
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
Stirling	1	1	2	-	-	2	1	-	-	1
West Dunbartonshire	-	1	-	-	1	-	-	1	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	1	-	-
Total Scotland	9	10	16	10	10	11	10	10	16	19

1. Where main charge.

Source: Scottish Government Criminal Proceedings database

Question reference: S5F-02293

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2018

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that all pupils, irrespective of social background, have full access to arts education.

Question reference: S5O-02039

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with local authorities regarding the provision of music tuition in schools.