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: S4W-30250

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 17 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many under-16-year-olds have attended further education colleges in each of the last five years, also broken down by the number taking (a) academic and (b) training courses.

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the most consistent and reliable measure of learning activity. The number of under-16 year olds attending college over the last five years is as follows:

Under-16 FTEs delivered at Scotland's colleges 2010-11 to 2014-15

	Total
2010-11	5,478
2011-12	4,099
2012-13	3,269
2013-14	3,024
2014-15	3,073

Source: Further education statistics

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) advised that a breakdown of this data by ‘academic’ and ‘training’ courses is not readily available. The member will wish to note that our Developing the Young Workforce programme is sharpening the focus on giving young people in the senior phase of school more and better opportunities to gain the skills and qualifications they need for future jobs. SFC data indicates that this type of provision is growing, with all college regions developing partnerships with local authorities and schools to benefit more senior phase pupils.

Question reference: S4W-30241

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government which ICT public sector projects have gone over budget in each year since 2007, also broken down by the amount by which the initial estimate has been exceeded.

Question reference: S4O-05699

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it complies with its social justice policy objectives for self-funding older people in residential care to pay more than local authorities for the same care.

Question reference: S4W-30396

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what training and support in attachment is available to everyone caring for very young looked-after children, including foster and kinship carers, adoptive parents and residential and early years staff.

As part of our programme of work to improve permanence for looked after children the Scottish Government commissioned the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and Scottish Attachment in Action, to map attachment training and attachment focussed practice in Scotland. A report on the findings was published in December 2012 and can be found at https://www.celcis.org/files/4814/3817/9734/Attachment-Matters-For-All.pdf.

The Scottish Government provide funding to organisations who support those caring for looked after children such as CELCIS, the Fostering Network, Children 1^st and Adoption UK who provide a wide range of training opportunities to foster and kinship carers and adoptive parents that includes training and support on attachment.

Question reference: S4W-30238

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that mental health is given the same priority as physical health.

The National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 states that Scottish Ministers have a duty to secure improvements in the physical and mental health of the people of Scotland. The NHS has a duty to promote the improvement of health – a duty that extends equally to the areas of physical and mental health.

The critical importance attached to mental health by this government is demonstrated by the inclusion of ‘mental health’ within a ministerial title, and announcements of additional funding for mental health. Scotland was also the first nation in the UK to introduce a target to ensure faster access to psychological therapies, for all ages.

To support health boards where there have been on-going challenges in meeting mental health targets and standards, we have announced a Mental Health Improvement programme with funding of £4.8 million.

Question reference: S4W-30247

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will take action to reverse the (a) 150,000 reduction in the number of part-time students, (b) 74,000 reduction in the number of students aged over 25 in further education colleges between 2008-09 and 2013-14 and (c) 20,000 reduction in the number of places for under 16s in further education colleges between 2008-09 and 2010-11 that was recorded by Audit Scotland in its report, Scotland's colleges 2015, and, if so, what.

Question reference: S4W-30394

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what research is being conducted in Scotland to improve practice in relation to infant mental health and how learning from this work will be disseminated.

We recognise the important role research has to play in improving services and approaches to care. The Scottish Government encourages high quality research in mental health through bodies such as the Scottish Mental Health Research Network where a number of research projects are currently supported – and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services.

NHS Education for Scotland (NES) is currently leading on the development of an Infant Mental Health learning resource, aimed predominantly at midwives, neonatal nurses, paediatric nurses, health visitors and the wider children’s workforce. This resource is being developed by both NES staff and partners from other organisations. It focuses on infant mental health, attachment, carer-infant/child relationships. The resource aims to not only increase the knowledge of its users in understanding these concepts, and how they can help promote the development of health infant mental health and positive relationships, but also to be able to recognise developing problems and instigate appropriate responses to address them.

Question reference: S4W-30392

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in developing and funding training for tier 1 and 2 staff in the use of structured tools for identification and evaluation of the parent-child relationship as outlined in Infant Mental Health: A Guide for Practitioners: A Report of the Expert Working Group on Infant Mental Health.

The Scottish Government expects NHS boards to take due cognisance of the content of all such reports. NHS boards are responsible for working with their partners to plan and provide safe, person centred and effective mental health services which meet the assessed needs of their local populations, in line with clinical guidance and Scottish Government mental health policy and legislation.

The importance of the links between mental health and early years services is a theme that is being developed as part of our ongoing engagement on the next mental health strategy.

Question reference: S4W-30391

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to audit progress on establishing infant mental health as a core topic in the (a) curriculum and (b) post-qualification training of all people who work in children’s services.

Question reference: S4W-30393

Asked by: Mary Scanlon, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 March 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 15 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it is providing to develop and implement effective interventions in infant mental health across Scotland.

Through NHS Education for Scotland, the Scottish Government has contributed towards funding the Psychology of Parenting Project (PoPP) with £774k awarded in 2016. PoPP is aimed at improving the availability of high-quality evidence-based parenting programmes for families with young children who have elevated levels of behaviour problems.

The Early Years Change Fund is supporting a number of programmes in 2015-16 to build the skills and capacity of early years practitioners. This includes funding NHS Education Scotland:

£84,762 to support the continued roll-out of the Solihull Approach, which aims to make basic infant mental health training more available to early years’ practitioners.

£112,358 to implement a training programme for early years’ practitioners in strength-based communication skills called ‘Connecting with Parents’. The Connecting with Parents programme aims to improve parental engagement and retention rates in evidence-based parenting programmes, including the PoPP.