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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5O-00092

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Constitution has had with Colleges Scotland and Universities Scotland regarding the forthcoming spending review.

Question reference: S5W-01831

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 23 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the City of Edinburgh introducing a citywide 20mph speed limit and the reported support of the Minister for Transport and the Islands for a national 20mph speed limit, whether all local authorities should include consideration of such a speed limit in their road safety plans.

Question reference: S5W-01143

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of speech and language therapists working on a full time equivalent basis by each local authority in each year from 2011.

Question reference: S5W-01144

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many speech and language therapists have been trained in each year from 2011.

Information on how many speech and language therapists have been trained in each year from 2011 is not centrally held.

Information on the number of speech and language therapists working in NHSScotland is published by Information Services Division Scotland and can be found at the following link:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/Publications/2016-06-07/Non-Medical_Trend_M2016.xls

Question reference: S5W-01145

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much is in its Access to Education Fund; how many schools have applied; how many awards have been made, and how many children have benefited from the fund.

<>The Access to Education Fund has been replaced in 2016 with the new Scottish Attainment Challenge Innovation Fund. The Innovation Fund received a total of 541 applications and has allocated a total of £3,611,532 to 219 projects, benefitting over 400 schools. This is more than double the £1.5 million funding that was originally planned, due to the high quality of applications received and to enable the funding to benefit as many children as possible. The fund will be used by schools to target those children who need it most.

Question reference: S5W-00978

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 8 July 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has carried out or plans on the (a) incidence and (b) impact of term-time working by full-time students.

Question reference: S5W-00381

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when updated unit assessments for SQA mathematics qualifications are due to be introduced in schools and what discussions it have had with teaching staff about the implementation timescale.

Question reference: S5W-00386

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to provide older survivors of historic abuse with urgent financial and practical support.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00384 on 15 June 2016. 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.

To adequately respond to the individual and often unique needs of survivors, the survivor support fund will contain a discretionary element. This will not provide compensation or redress payments to survivors, but will provide real flexibility in the provision of a range of ad hoc needs that cannot be readily met by or commissioned from existing statutory or non-statutory services.

All in care survivors that meet the criteria to access the survivor support fund, including older survivors, will also be eligible to apply for need-based and outcome-focused support from the discretionary element of the support fund, which will become fully operational in the autumn.

The Scottish Government will continue to explore all possible means of further support for survivors of all ages, including older survivors.

Question reference: S5W-00383

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) it and (b) the SQA is doing to ensure that there are no mistakes in future mathematics exam papers and what steps are being taken to improve marking instructions and guidance in consultation with markers.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is responsible for the setting and marking of exam papers. It has robust processes in place to ensure that papers and marking instructions are accurate and set to the correct standard.

Each year, SQA considers in detail the experience of the exam diet across all qualifications, and introduces any modifications considered necessary. The SQA board, appointed by Scottish Ministers, receives regular updates on all aspects of the diet.

In 2015, the former Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning wrote to the Chair of SQA to seek additional assurances on SQA processes, and subsequently met with the Chief Executive of SQA to review progress.

Scottish Government officials regularly meet with SQA to discuss progress throughout the year on a range of SQA activities.

Question reference: S5W-00387

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider making payments to the older survivors of historic child abuse prior to or following the completion of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S5W-00384 and S5W-00386 on 15 June 2016. 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.

The Scottish Government will carefully consider the report and any recommendations made by the Chair of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry following its completion.