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: S5W-03088

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many looked-after children went into (a) education, (b) training and (c) employment in each year since 2007.

This data has only been available since 2009-10 - it is published in the annual Education Outcomes for Looked After Children official statistics release.

It should be noted that figures are published based upon two surveys of post-school destinations - at periods of three and nine months after leaving school. It is likely that the follow-up destination (nine months after leaving school) is the more reliable figure to quote - both are provided here.

Furthermore, there are two populations of looked after children for the purposes of this publication. We normally focus on children who were looked after for the whole year in which they left school - this is the basis of the headline figures in the publication, but there is also the group of children who left school at some point during the year: They are presented separately in the publication, but are available here. All of the relevant data is available, both separately and combined.

It is recommended that for consistency with the annual publication and the most reliability, the quoted figures are those from full year looked after children in their follow-up destination - the second table.

These figures are also duplicated in the background note for clarity.

POST-SCHOOL DESTINATIONS FOR LOOKED AFTER SCHOOL LEAVERS

INITIAL DESTINATION - AFTER THREE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - looked after for the full year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	6	10	19	20	25	15
Further Education	173	148	139	168	178	157
TOTAL EDUCATION	179	158	158	188	203	172
Training	100	72	53	56	47	78
Employment	37	48	31	51	40	50
Other destination	254	213	140	154	128	127
Total number of leavers	570	491	382	449	418	427

FOLLOW-UP DESTINATION - AFTER NINE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - looked after for the full year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	4	9	18	19	21	16
Further Education	123	101	112	139	149	112
TOTAL EDUCATION	127	110	130	158	170	128
Training	56	57	49	38	46	52
Employment	39	49	39	62	54	82
Other destination	345	273	161	188	146	165
Total number of leavers	567	489	379	446	416	427

INITIAL DESTINATION - AFTER THREE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - looked after for part of the year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	7	10	5	6	15	15
Further Education	153	128	126	135	117	133
TOTAL EDUCATION	160	138	131	141	132	148
Training	92	91	64	57	45	48
Employment	43	57	40	60	56	44
Other destination	323	280	242	248	194	172
Total number of leavers	618	566	477	506	427	412

FOLLOW-UP DESTINATION - AFTER NINE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - looked after for part of the year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	7	10	6	7	12	11
Further Education	98	81	84	89	96	80
TOTAL EDUCATION	105	91	90	96	108	91
Training	57	51	61	50	40	50
Employment	56	61	50	75	67	67
Other destination	397	358	273	281	211	201
Total number of leavers	615	561	474	502	426	409

COMBINED FIGURES - full and part year
INITIAL DESTINATION - AFTER THREE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - full and part year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	13	20	24	26	40	30
Further Education	326	276	265	303	295	290
TOTAL EDUCATION	339	296	289	329	335	320
Training	192	163	117	113	92	126
Employment	80	105	71	111	96	94
Other destination	577	493	382	402	322	299
Total number of leavers	1,188	1,057	859	955	845	839

FOLLOW-UP DESTINATION - AFTER NINE MONTHS
Looked after leavers - full and part year
	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Higher Education	11	19	24	26	33	27
Further Education	221	182	196	228	245	192
TOTAL EDUCATION	232	201	220	254	278	219
Training	113	108	110	88	86	102
Employment	95	110	89	137	121	149
Other destination	742	631	434	469	357	366
Total number of leavers	1,182	1,050	853	948	842	836

Question reference: S5W-03085

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what level of funding for promotional and marketing materials will be provided for the First Minister's Reading Challenge in each year of the current parliamentary session in (a) real and (b) cash terms.

There is no dedicated budget for Scottish Government promotion and marketing of the First Minister's Reading Challenge. As mentioned in response to S5W-02390 on 22 September 2016, some of the £344,144 funding allocated to enable the Scottish Book Trust to develop, promote and administer the Challenge is being spent on teacher resources and marketing materials. The funds allocated by the Scottish Book Trust to materials aimed solely at promoting and marketing the Challenge for 2016-17 are £22,305. £29,028 has been allocated to resources that are also used for promotion and marketing, such as printed copies of 100 places to start your reading journey sent to schools, MSPs and other stakeholders. A further £89,838 has been allocated to branded resources.

No budget has been set beyond the current financial year.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Question reference: S5W-03074

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many qualified teachers there (a) are in each local authority area and (b) were in Scotland in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S5W-03086

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government who will lead the review into learning for 16- to 24-year-olds; what the review's terms of reference will be; when the review will be published, and what level of funding will be provided for the review.

The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education will lead a review of the 15-24 learner journey, a commitment set out in the Education Delivery Plan and reaffirmed in our Programme for Government.

The review will build on the solid foundations of Getting It Right For Every Child, Curriculum for Excellence and Developing the Young Workforce to further improve young people’s experience of moving through school, college, training, university or employment.

The review process, underway through the commissioning of research into the experience of young people at various points in the system, will consider five themes: careers information, advice and guidance; access; provision; transitions and progression; and funding. The Scottish Government will undertake a process of evidence gathering and extensive engagement with learners and those who work with them to identify improvements. We will publish more detail about that process later this month.

Question reference: S5W-02777

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what level of funding has been provided each year to the (a) Play, Talk, Read and (b) Read, Write, Count campaigns in (i) real and (ii) cash terms.

The following table provides the level of funding provided each year to the (a) Play, Talk, Read and (b) Read, Write, Count campaigns in (i) read and (ii) cash terms. Real terms figures are in 2015-16 prices and are calculated using the HM Treasury GDP deflator series.

Cash figures

Real terms

	Read, Write, Count	Play, Talk, Read	Read, Write, Count	Play, Talk, Read
2011-12		£708,026.85		£746,902.67
2012-13		£830,293.31		£857,873.39
2013-14		£827,736.48		£841,348.96
2014-15		£1,000,000.00		£1,000,810.00
2015-16	£1,553,231.47	£1,000,000.00	£1,553,231.47	£1,000,000.00

Question reference: S5W-03101

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will provide in (a) real and (b) cash terms over the next five years to make educational maintenance allowance an entitlement.

Question reference: S5O-00212

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 October 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the new East Lothian Community Hospital project.

Question reference: S5W-02771

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when a Commissioner for Fair Access will be appointed and what the salary will be.

Question reference: S5W-02772

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what level of funding will be provided to the Commissioner for Fair Access in (a) real and (b) cash terms in each year of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-02763

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost to operate the International Education Advisory Panel; whether it will publish the minutes of the panel's inaugural meeting, and on what future dates it is scheduled to meet.

The costs associated with each meeting of the International Council of Education Advisers, together with the minutes of the meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website at the following address: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/govscot

Members of the International Council of Education Advisers (ICEA) are appointed on a voluntary and personal basis. They do not receive any direct remuneration related to this role. All reasonable expenses incurred by members in the course of attending the ICEA are met by the Scottish Government. These include air travel, meal allowances and accommodation.

The ICEA will meet again in February and September 2017, with dates to be confirmed.