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: S5O-02786

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to a recent EIS survey, which found that 75% of teachers experience stress due to their workload.

Question reference: S5O-02749

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress has been made on ensuring that the six unlicensed weirs on the River Tyne in East Lothian are properly authorised and provided with fish passages, and for what reason this work did not start in 2017 as planned.

Question reference: S5W-20428

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of appeals to the SQA post-results service for 2017-18 from (a) local authority and (b) independent schools was successful.

Question reference: S5W-20427

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of students sitting the 2017-18 SQA exams were from (a) local authority and (b) independent schools.

Question reference: S5W-20421

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 December 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of appeals to the SQA post-results service for 2017-18 was from (a) local authority and (b) independent schools.

Question reference: S5W-20098

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 December 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its review into the presumption of mainstreaming in schools.

As set out in my letter of 30 October to the Education and Skills Committee, I have paused the publication of the revised presumption of mainstreaming guidance and research into the experiences of children receiving additional support for learning. I have taken this step to enable further reflection following the recent publication of the report Not Included, Not Engaged, Not Involved: A report on the experiences of autistic children missing school . As set out in my letter, I will write to the Committee in due course with plans for publication of the guidance and the research.

Question reference: S5O-02619

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-19662

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Ash Denham on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to stop people from trying to gain access to individuals' bank accounts through fraudulent telephone calls.

The Scottish Government is committed to raising awareness and introducing appropriate preventative measures to ensure people do not become victims of vishing or telephone scams.

We have implemented an action plan to protect people from scam callers following a report by the Nuisance Calls Commission on empowering and protecting individuals. This includes the funding of call-blocking units for vulnerable individuals.

There are a number of awareness raising campaigns in place such as Take 5 To Stop Fraud and The Little Book of Big Scams, recently launched by the Royal Bank of Scotland in partnership with Police Scotland and the Scottish Business Resilience Centre. I would encourage everyone to take on board the valuable advice available and to report any incidents to Police Scotland by telephoning 101.

Question reference: S5W-19416

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have applied each year for student loans for postgraduate taught degrees, and how many loans were awarded.

The following table shows the number of applications and awards for a postgraduate living cost loan from academic years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018.

Academic year	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
Number of Applications	1,640	2,255	3,925
Number of Awards	1,525	2,125	3,890

Source: Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)

Note: Student numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.

The following table shows the number of applications and awards for a postgraduate fee loan from academic years 2012-2013 to 2017-2018.

Academic year	2012-2013	2013-2014	2014-2015	2015-2016	2016-2017	2017-2018
Number of Applications	1,860	1,725	1,645	2,005	2,585	5,215
Number of Awards	1,735	1,685	1,620	1,960	2,545	5,110

Source: Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)

Note: Student numbers are rounded to the nearest 5.

Question reference: S5W-19415

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 November 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to extend the provision of student loans to postgraduate research degrees.

The Scottish Government has no immediate plans to extend the provision of student loans to postgraduate research degrees.

We will always seek to make improvements to the student support package where we can, however in doing so we have to be mindful of the overall affordability of the higher education system, with decisions on future funding taken within the context of wider Scottish Government budget considerations.