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-25326

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have claimed the education maintenance allowance in each year since 2007 and how many people it expects will claim in each year of the next parliamentary session.

The number of young people in receipt of education maintenance allowance (EMA) since academic year 2006-07 is detailed in the following table. As EMA is an entitlement in Scotland and a demand led programme this means that any person who meets the eligibility criteria will receive EMA support.

In light of the First Minister’s announcement to expand the EMA programme we expect an estimated 22,000 additional students to become eligible.

Table 1: Young people in receipt of EMA by institution type: 2006-07 to 2013-14

Academic Year

Total (£)

All Institutions

2006-07	37,480
2007-08	37,275
2008-09	39,000
2009-10	37,230
2010-11	34,780
2011-12	34,390
2012-13	35,515
2013-14	34,955

Note: Figures in this table have been rounded to the nearest five.

Question reference: S4W-25327

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to change the eligibility criteria for education maintenance allowance and how it will pay for this.

In March 2015, the First Minister announced extending the education maintenance allowance (EMA) scheme. The changes will involve raising the eligibility threshold to make payments available to an estimated 10,000 additional school pupils and extending the scheme to part time college students, helping an estimated 12,000 additional young people stay on in education.

We are in the process of making the necessary changes and further details will be made available in due course.

Question reference: S4W-25300

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 6 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the legislation and rules regarding complaints about lawyers.

In consultation with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC), the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates, the Association of Commercial Attorneys, the Legal Defence Union, the Scottish Solicitors’ Discipline Tribunal, Citizens Advice Scotland, Which?, the Office of Fair Trading and Strathclyde University, we reviewed the process for handling complaints about solicitors’ services and in August 2014 made the following two Scottish Statutory Instruments: The Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 (Membership of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission) Amendment Order 2014 and The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (Modification of Duties and Powers) Regulations 2014. These improve the process by bringing procedural efficiencies to the SLCC, making the legislation a more efficient framework for dealing with legal complaints in Scotland.

Any further change would require primary legislation. We will keep this under review. The process for dealing with complaints regarding the conduct of lawyers is a matter for the Law Society of Scotland.

Question reference: S4W-25229

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has made an assessment of what impact the (a) timing and (b) quality of information on student support has on applicants or student behaviour and, if not, whether it will ask its widening access commission to do so.

Provision of high quality information for students on the level of support they can access is crucial. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) has not looked explicitly at the impact of the timing of information on student support, as this has not been raised to date as an issue by students. Generally, the quality of information available from SAAS is under continuous review with regular feedback received from online application workshops that SAAS deliver to students.

A good example involves changes made to the 2015-16 online application system to highlight the funding available to students coming from care and those with caring responsibilities. These changes were a direct result of engagement between SAAS, Who Cares Scotland and the Scottish Youth Parliament.

The Commission on Widening Access will seek to identify any barriers to accessing higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Question reference: S4W-25228

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 April 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 1 May 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to publish information on student support rates for 2015-16 and for what reason there has been a delay in doing so.

The 2015-16 funding guide, which includes details of student support rates, became available on the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) website on 2 April 2015. The SAAS events team has distributed the guide at events since 26 March 2015.

The SAAS website and online application service holds information for single academic years and application cycles to avoid confusion for students and to ensure that they receive the correct funding information for the correct academic year. The closure of an annual application cycle coincides with the opening of the next annual application cycle; it is at this time that SAAS will normally update its online information for students, as it has done this year.

The Scottish Government is committed to free tuition and providing financial support for student’s living costs. Ministers will always take the opportunity (including in-year) to further improve student support when that is affordable.

Question reference: S4O-04254

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 April 2015

To ask the Scottish Government whether health spending in Scotland has risen less than in England since 2010.

Question reference: S4O-04171

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 25 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle poverty.

Question reference: S4F-02659

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 March 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2015

To ask the First Minister what support the Scottish Government is giving to the poorest university students.

Question reference: S4O-04086

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to publish further details of its attainment fund.

Question reference: S4W-24414

Asked by: Iain Gray, MSP for East Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 24 February 2015

To ask the Scottish Government how many attainment advisers are in place and in which local authorities; when any outstanding positions will be filled, and whether each local authority will have one before May 2016.

We are committed to ensuring that all local authorities have access to an attainment advisor. We are planning to appoint 12 attainment advisors in the first instance and will keep this under review. The attainment advisors will work collaboratively across groupings of local authorities. Working across local authority boundaries is a key part of the role, encouraging sharing of best practice on a broader scale.

Education Scotland will work closely with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) to develop detailed plans for appointing and deploying the attainment advisors. Recruitment will begin shortly in collaboration with ADES and we are planning to have attainment advisors in place before May 2016.