- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what information it holds on the percentage of the total number of schools that have abolished fees for school trips and extra-curricular activities for pupils from lower-income families.
Answer
Statutory responsibility for the delivery of school education, including any school trips, rests with local authorities. Local authority data on the number of schools that have abolished fees for school trips and extra-curricular activities for pupils from lower-income families is not collected centrally.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many Gaelic-medium education teachers have been employed in each year since 2016.
Answer
The following figures, drawn from the Scottish Government’s annual school census show both the number of primary and secondary Gaelic medium teachers that have been employed in each year since 2016 and the number that would be able to teach through the medium of Gaelic.
Primary school teachers by ability to teach through Gaelic medium
| | Able to teach through Gaelic | Teaching through Gaelic |
2016 | 299 | 188 |
2017 | 313 | 208 |
2018 | 326 | 217 |
2019 | 335 | 221 |
2020 | 359 | 223 |
2021 | 370 | 244 |
2022 | 400 | 266 |
Secondary school teachers by ability to teach through Gaelic medium
| | Able to teach through Gaelic | Teaching through Gaelic |
2016 | 155 | 95 |
2017 | 154 | 89 |
2018 | 145 | 88 |
2019 | 149 | 89 |
2020 | 166 | 103 |
2021 | 174 | 112 |
2022 | 178 | 111 |
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it expects to deliver on its reported commitment to establish a new professional teaching qualification related to climate change.
Answer
In Scotland, climate change is part of the cross-curricular entitlement of Learning for Sustainability (LfS).
As part of the 2021-22 Programme for Government the Scottish Government committed to work with the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) to: “ensure the climate emergency is properly reflected through initial teacher education, growing our strong existing suite of professional development resources to ensure our teaching workforce has all the up to date knowledge and skills they require to be able to offer young people the in depth education they need on the global climate crisis.”
To achieve this, LfS was further strengthened in the refreshed and restructured General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) Professional Standards for teachers, which came into mandatory use for all teachers on 2 August 2021. In June 2023, the Scottish Government published the refreshed LfS Action Plan which contains several further actions in relation to professional learning for educators.
There are already a number of teaching accredited professional qualifications on LfS which can be found on the GTCS website at the following link: , https://www.gtcs.org.uk/professional-update/professional-recognition/accredited-professional-recognition-programmes/
The GTCS Hub also provides freely-available resources, self-evaluation tools, professional learning, professional reading, curated resources, and regular opportunities for educators to connect and network with each other.
The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the GTCS to ensure that LfS is embedded in teaching practice. The Scottish Government also continues to work with the Scottish Council of Deans of Education to develop an LfS Framework for Higher Education institutions to better support them in embedding LfS into their initial teacher education programmes.
Additionally, Education Scotland is developing a new dedicated LfS online portal to provide examples for educators on good practice approaches to embedding LfS.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to measure the success and impact of its International Education Strategy.
Answer
Implementation plans for each priority theme of the IES are currently being developed. These plans will set out specific and measurable actions that we will prioritise to drive forward our shared ambitions. We will also establish an IES Implementation Group, to provide strategic oversight and to ensure that these actions are delivering the Strategy’s overarching aims.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it has taken to devolve power and financial discretion to school teachers.
Answer
As set out in the Headteachers’ Charter and the associated empowerment guidance, the Scottish Government is fully committed to ensuring that schools are empowered and supported in taking the decisions they need to improve pupil outcomes.
The Scottish Government's Devolved School Management (DSM) scheme is intended to support improved consistency, transparency and equity in decisions on school funding, ensuring local authorities and headteachers work together so that decisions are taken at the most appropriate level. This is a matter for local decision making, and it is up to local authorities to allocate budget for their DSM scheme. I am pleased that almost all local authorities have implemented their revised DSM schemes and work is ongoing with a small number of local authorities.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the EIS and other teacher unions to discuss school-based violence.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2024
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Kaukab Stewart on 28 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the delivery of the 2021 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to "support the digital capabilities of artists and creative businesses with a £1 million programme of workshops, mentoring and courses".
Answer
The Creative Digital Initiative was a £1 million national programme which ran from April 2021 to the end of March 2022 to help the sector develop digital capabilities in response to the limitations imposed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Led by Creative Scotland and involving all the national enterprise and skills agencies as well as the Scottish Government, the programme provided support to small and medium-sized creative and cultural businesses to help them continue to build their digital capacity and provide the tools needed to respond to the limitations they currently face. This included financial support to build digital capacity as well as practical help to increase confidence, provide new creative opportunities and mentor artists and cultural organisations.
As stated in our Culture Strategy Action Plan, enabling the creative workforce to keep pace with continuing digital innovation is a priority. We will consider learning from the Creative Digital Initiative to support the development of a skilled and resilient creative workforce and meet the needs of the future.
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the First Minister’s reported comments that it “has to go further” to ensure that plans to radically reform how young people are cared for in Scotland are realised, whether it has identified what steps it will take to achieve this.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2024
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2024
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve lifelong learning in Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 18 January 2024
- Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 January 2024
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to (a) schools, (b) colleges and (c) universities, what the current average waiting time is for accessing specialised services related to additional support needs provision, including (i) speech therapy, (ii) counselling and (iii) occupational therapy, and what steps are being taken to reduce or eliminate such waiting times in each education setting.
Answer
The term additional support needs under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (the 2004 Act) applies where for whatever reason children or young people are unable to benefit from school education without the provision of additional support. Therefore, the information requested in relation to colleges and universities is not applicable. In addition, the information requested on current average waiting times is not held centrally.
To support children, young people and families, the Scottish Government has invested in a range of additional supports – including providing councils with an additional £30 million over the last two years to fund community mental health and wellbeing supports. Local authorities have reported that these supports have benefitted over 38,000 children, young people, parents and carers in the first six months of 2022 alone.
Record high investments in CAMHS, including £48.6 million of supplementary funding to health boards this year, are helping to improve the quality and delivery of mental health services to ensure all children and young people receive the right support, at the right time.
