- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2025
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 6 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken following the cross-party summit on violence amongst young people, which was held on 13 January 2025.
Answer
Answer expected on 6 March 2025
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what procedures are in place to ensure that funding for the further education sector is tailored to suit the regional needs of colleges.
Answer
It is the Scottish Funding Council’s role to work closely with the college sector to identify the best split of the available resources, taking into account Government priorities and the college sector’s needs.
Colleges are responsible for their own operational decisions, including course provision, as they are best placed to respond flexibly to emerging trends at local and regional level.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape.
Answer
The Post-School Education and Skills Reform Programme, developed in light of the recommendations of James Withers’ Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape and the Scottish Government’s own report on the Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills, is progressing well.
I provided the latest update on the progress made by the projects within this programme in the annex to my letter of 20 December 2024 to the Public Audit Committee.
Response to Public Audit Committee from Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans.
Additionally, on 22 January 2025 I announced, as the next step in delivering our plans for post-school education reform, that we will consolidate all post-school provision funding within the Scottish Funding Council and all student support funding. I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-33842.
I will update the Parliament in due course on plans for the Bill announced in the Programme for Government 2024-25.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how the proposals in the draft Budget 2025-26 might impact on the college sector.
Answer
Despite the increase in resource funding for 2025-26, the Scottish Government recognises the challenges across the college sector.
The Scottish Government has increased investment in the college sector, with more than £750m allocated in the 2025-26 draft budget to support the delivery of high-quality education and training.
The £13.2m (2.1%) increase in the 2025-26 net college resource budget allocation includes funds of £4.5m to support the college lecturer pay settlement and funds to cover increased pension costs.
In addition to this, as negotiations progressed around the budget agreement, we have now agreed a proposal to invest a further £3.5m in targeted support for the College sector. This will be used to create an Offshore Wind Skills Programme and College Care Skill Programme, supporting a pipeline of skilled workers.
Colleges continue to deliver exceptional learning to students while driving forward reforms, and the Scottish Government and the SFC will continue to work closely with the sector to diversify funding opportunities and deliver more flexible funding arrangements.
The Scottish Funding Council will now work closely with the college sector to identify the best split of the available resources, taking into account Government priorities and the college sector’s needs.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 February 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with (a) the college sector and (b) Ayrshire College regarding its draft budget 2025-26.
Answer
The Scottish Government engages regularly with the college sector on a range of issues, including the 2025-26 budget, via Colleges Scotland.
The Scottish Government has had no direct engagement with Ayrshire College on the 2025-26 budget.
With the publication of the 2025-26 budget, it is now the role of the Scottish Funding Council to engage closely with colleges to identify the best split of available resources, taking into account Government priorities and the needs of the college sector.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 28 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to
question S6W-30309 by Angela Constance on 28 October 2024, whether it
will provide an update on its engagement with the Scottish Police Authority
regarding any deployment by Police Scotland of live facial recognition
technology.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to the question S6O-03953 on 13 November 2024. All answers to Oral Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at Official Report: search what was said in Parliament | Scottish Parliament Website
I can also confirm that in autumn 2024, Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner set up a short life working group to draft and propose a live facial recognition policy within twelve months, either having found sufficient evidence of how this can support policing in a legal and ethical way, or a recommendation to the contrary. When the SPA policing performance committee met on 10 December 2024, it was confirmed that the first session of the short life working group had been held on 25 October 2024. The publicly available paper submitted to the 10 December meeting confirms the remit of the short life working group; its sub-groups; its Terms of Reference; and a high level timeline of its intended activities.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 January 2025
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much money it allocated to NHS Education for Scotland for experiential learning for undergraduate MPharm students in the financial year (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22, (d) 2022-23 and (e) 2023-24.
Answer
The following table shows how much funding the Scottish Government allocated to NHS Education for Scotland for experiential learning for undergraduate Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) students in the years requested
Year | Amount Allocated |
2019-20 | £2,160,000 |
2020-21 | £2,048,961 |
2021-22 | £2,837,000 |
2022-23 | £2,794,000 |
2023-24 | £2,837,000 |
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support and promote the use of alcohol brief interventions (ABIs) in justice settings.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.
This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.
Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide support to the Scottish Prison Service in order to upscale the provision of alcohol treatment services to individuals resident in the prison estate.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.
This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.
Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.
- Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 December 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 January 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will review its policy and guidelines regarding people with alcohol use disorder in the justice system, with a view to addressing any gaps in implementation.
Answer
The Scottish Government is currently working on a National Treatment Specification for Alcohol and Drug Treatment in Scotland.
This document will be informed by numerous sources including the forthcoming UK Clinical Guidelines for Alcohol Treatment and the recently published Public Health Scotland review into Alcohol Brief Interventions as well as key independent reports such as Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problem’s (SHAAP) paper on alcohol use disorder in the justice system.
Officials will work closely with colleagues within the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that the National Treatment Specification fully reflects the importance of the justice system including those resident in the prison estate as an integral part of Scotland’s alcohol treatment provision.