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 MSPs 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: S6W-10672

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what work it has undertaken to promote the Turing Scheme in Scotland.

Scottish Government officials have been working closely with officials across the Scottish Government, UK Government and stakeholders to make Turing better reflect the needs of Scotland. The Scottish Government has also engaged with national bodies of eligible sectors for funding to encourage Scottish organisations to proceed with applications in line with the application window set by the Turing scheme.

The Scottish Government’s position remains that the Turing Scheme does not match the breadth and scope of Erasmus+. This scheme offers no provision for inward mobility to the UK, no staff inward or outward mobility, or provision for Adult Learning, Youth Work or Sport, resulting in reduced opportunities for all our students, staff and young people, in particular our most disadvantaged groups.

Question reference: S6W-10365

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 August 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is the case that Confucius Classroom Hubs in Scottish schools received funding from (a) the Scottish Government and (b) the Chinese Government in 2021-22, and, if this is the case, how much was received from each body.

Confucius Classroom Hubs do not receive funding directly from the Scottish Government or the Chinese Government. Hubs in local authority schools are funded by the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) via local authorities. Specialist classrooms (such as at Edinburgh Zoo), and Jordanhill School receive their funding directly from CISS.

In 2021-22, the Scottish Government provided CISS with a grant of £490,573. CISS publishes a joint annual report with Scotland’s Centre for Languages (SCILT) which includes information about funding and spending (available at: About Us (scilt.org.uk) ) . According to the 2021-22 annual report, approximately £400,000 was allocated from China in that year.

It is the responsibility of local authorities and schools to choose which languages to teach, and to determine what resources to draw on and partners to work with in order to support learning. Schools and teachers also remain responsible for curriculum making and the teaching in the classroom.

Question reference: S6O-01341

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the number of Scottish-domiciled students attending Scottish universities.

Question reference: S6O-01309

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide on update on the roll-out of high-speed broadband to rural locations.

Question reference: S6W-08715

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 8 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement the remaining sections of the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021 that are not yet in force.

There is a range of activity necessary to allow for implementation of the provisions contained in the Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Act 2021. This includes development of civil court rules, new processes developed for ensuring the views of children are able to be received by the court in given cases, appropriate funding is able to be identified and prioritised and justice agencies are ready for the introduction of the new protection notice and protection order powers. The provisions not yet in force will be brought into force in due course.

Question reference: S6O-01153

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many Police Scotland officers have retired in this financial year.

Question reference: S6O-01131

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 May 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the roll-out of social security benefits.

Question reference: S6W-08481

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 18 May 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many funded university places it has provided in each year since 2007, and of those, how many were to (a) Scottish-domiciled and (b) EU students.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publish the number of ‘Funded Places’ and ‘Students Eligible for Funding’ in the Official Statistics release “Students Eligible for Funding” here:

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/2021/SFCST042021.aspx

with historic publications available here:

https://www.sfc.ac.uk/publications-statistics/statistical-publications/statistics-schedule/statistical-publication-schedule.aspx

No split by domicile for ‘funded places’ is available.

Question reference: S6W-08041

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 April 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 April 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what it is doing to address reported concerns about pupil behaviour in schools.

We want all pupils to respect their peers and staff, and are supporting a number of programmes to promote positive relationships and behaviour. This includes good behaviour management, restorative approaches and programmes to help develop social, emotional and behavioural skills.

There are a range of strategies and programmes which schools can and do use to improve relationships and behaviour in schools. These include a range of relationship based and trauma informed approaches including those that are nurturing and restorative, and curriculum based programmes that develop social, emotional and behavioural needs.

The National Improvement Hub provides all of our practitioners, parents and young people themselves with specific good practice models to review. We, and partners across the education sector, advocate an approach for schools and local authorities to work with pupils on the underlying reasons behind inappropriate behaviour. We published guidance in 2018 ‘Developing a positive whole school ethos and culture: relationships, learning and behaviour’ to support local authorities, education settings, practitioners and partners to further improve the ethos and culture, and relationships and behaviour in Scottish schools. This is in addition to national guidance on the prevention and management of exclusion from school which was published in 2017.

The Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools is considering the next round of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research which was delayed due to COVID-19. The research informs the further development of policy, guidance and support by providing a clear and robust picture of current relationships and behaviour, and of policy and practice in this area.

Question reference: S6F-01029

Asked by: Pam Gosal, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 April 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 April 2022

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on whether Police Scotland's procedures and training for responding to cases of domestic abuse are sufficient.