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-30122

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers received global citizenship/international education training in each local authority in 2015-16, and what the teacher/pupil ratio of that local authority is.

Between April 2014 and February 2015, the Development Education Centres have worked with approximately 5000 teachers across all sectors of education to provide training on topics including global citizenship, food, rights and political literacy. They are one of several providers of training in this area, and we do not have information on every course attended by teachers.

Information on teacher/pupil ratios for all local authorities is available at table 3.3 of the Scottish Government Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland. This is available at:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/SchoolEducation/Summarystatsforschools

Question reference: S4W-30126

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools in each local authority have accessed a fully-funded professional learning opportunity at a development education centre to meet the learners’ entitlement to learning for sustainability.

Question reference: S4W-30117

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that a coherent and sustained approach is taken to embedding global citizenship across schools.

Global citizenship themes are woven into Curriculum for Excellence as a whole and are highly relevant to children developing each of the four capacities.

Since 2014, the Scottish Government has provided financial support for the work of the six Scottish Development Education Centres (DECs). Their work includes the provision of training to teachers on a range of global citizenship topics, such as fair trade, refugees and human rights. The Development Education Centres are part of The International Development Education Association of Scotland network which includes several key non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved in global citizenship matters. There is also a broad NGO community in Scotland, beyond the DECs, who work with and support schools to develop these themes.

In addition, Education Scotland provides educational resources and support for schools to help implement global citizenship across the curriculum.

Question reference: S4W-30121

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has made of and what it has learned from the report by Northern Star Associates, Interim Evaluation: Core funding of DECs.

Question reference: S4W-30118

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 10 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how the delivery of the global citizenship element of the entitlement to learning for sustainability is being assessed.

The Learning for Sustainability National Implementation Group has considered how best to measure the impact of learning for sustainability and the extent to which this entitlement for learners is being met. Further details will be outlined in the final report of the group, which is currently being prepared.

Local authorities are responsible for delivery of the curriculum within their schools, including learning for sustainability and global citizenship. As with other aspects of learning, we expect local authorities, schools and practitioners to reflect on the quality of learners' experiences through their self-evaluation activities.

Question reference: S4W-30123

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided for career-long professional learning/continuing professional development for teachers in each year since 2011.

Since 2008-09 funds previously given for specific areas such as career-long professional learning/continuing professional development under the National Priorities Action Fund have been subsumed within the general revenue grant element of the annual local government finance settlement and, as such, are not separately identifiable. It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national priorities. Separately the Scottish Government has invested £4 million since 2012 to increase the opportunities for teachers to engage with Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level 11 learning.

Question reference: S4W-30033

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government by how much the budget for Student Awards Agency Scotland-funded courses delivered elsewhere in the UK has been reduced in each year since 2011 and how much this has saved the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S4W-30034

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 3 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many places the Student Awards Agency Scotland has funded on courses elsewhere in the UK that were not available in Scotland and how much this has cost, in each year since 2011.

The following table shows the number of Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) funded postgraduate students studying eligible courses elsewhere in the UK. Part of the postgraduate funding criteria is that the equivalent course cannot be offered in Scotland.

Information on the number of Scottish domiciled undergraduate students studying in the rest of the UK, because the course was not delivered in Scotland, is unavailable. This is because funding extends to Scottish domiciled students for whichever eligible undergraduate course they elect to study in the UK. They can apply to SAAS for funding for a course elsewhere in the UK, whether or not the same course was offered in Scotland.

	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Number of students	10	5	15	15
Amount (£ million)	0.02	0.02	0.09	0.10

Source: SAAS

Notes:

1. Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five.

2. Figures for 2015-16 are not included as they are provisional, with new applications still being accepted.

3. Supported students are those receiving any form of support covering living cost loans and fees (including fee loans).

Question reference: S4W-29754

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 05 February 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 29 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether a local authority that does not receive its full allocation of 2015-16 attainment challenge funding before the end of the financial year will lose any of that support and, if so, what proportion.

Question reference: S4O-05608

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether the new East Lothian Community Hospital will be fully operational by 2019 and provide at least all of the services that are currently delivered at Roodlands General Hospital.