Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not collect formal statistics on teacher vacancies.

However, to strengthen the annual teacher workforce planning exercise for 2017-18, local authorities were asked to provide teacher vacancy numbers as at
21 September 2016. This information was collected solely for the purpose of informing the annual teacher workforce planning exercise. It is a snapshot of the teacher vacancy situation as at 21 September 2016. The following table shows primary and secondary full-time and part-time teacher vacancies at that time:

Current teacher vacancy information is available from individual local authorities or at www.myjobscotland.gov.uk.

The Scottish Government recognises that local authorities are facing challenges in teacher recruitment in some subjects and is taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers, and widen the pool of available talent. We have committed £88 million this year so every school has access to the right number of teachers. We also announced an additional £3 million to train an extra 371 teachers next year and in February we launched a new teacher recruitment campaign 'Teaching Makes People' which focuses on STEM subjects. We are also supporting innovative new teacher education routes to attract STEM graduates into teaching.

Population level is only one of the factors taken into account by the Scottish Government when allocating funding to NHS Boards; other key factors include relative deprivation and need for healthcare of different Board areas. Since 2015-16 NHS Grampian has received additional funding of £47 million for the specific purpose of accelerating funding parity in line with the NRAC formula.

As part of the budget settlement for 2017-18, NHS Territorial Boards are receiving inflationary uplifts of £136 million (1.5%) and NRAC parity funding of £50 million. This delivers increased funding of 2.1% and takes all Boards, for the first time, to within 1% of NRAC parity.

More information on the NRAC formula is available at http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Finance/Resource-Allocation-Formula/

Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence provides a broad national framework for learning and teaching. Local authorities are responsible for developing the detailed approach to the curriculum as it relates to schools in their area. Local authorities are also responsible for the implementation of the curriculum at local level.

Formal complaints procedures for either staff or members of the public are a matter for individual local authorities. Every teacher has the right to seek redress for grievances relating to their employment and local authorities have locally agreed procedures for taking these matter forward.

Views from teachers about the design or implementation of the curriculum, as opposed to formal complaints, are typically expressed to the relevant local authority in the first instance. Teachers, parents and members of the public from across Scotland, including the North East region, write to Scottish Ministers on a range of matters. Ministerial and official correspondence is not handled as a formal complaint to be either upheld or refused.

NHS Grampian's performance against the Local Delivery Plan Standards is reported through Scotland Performs alongside that of other NHS Boards. The information can be accessed at http://www.gov.scot/About/Performance/scotPerforms/NHSScotlandperformance

The Scottish Government does not monitor teacher satisfaction. This is a matter for local authorities as employers of teachers.

The Scottish Government takes the views of teachers seriously and has a number of forums, both formal and informal, for meetings with teachers and the teacher organisations to listen to their views.

We are committed to making all eligible payments by 30 June 2018 and are working to achieve this.

The Scottish Government has no plans to open a rail line between Aberdeen and Peterhead. However, we continue to engage with Nestrans on their Fraserburgh, Peterhead to Aberdeen Strategic Transport Study (FPASTS) which is considering road, rail and public transport options.

Details of ministerial engagements are published regularly on the Scottish Government website at:

https://beta.gov.scot/publications/?term=Ministerial&publicationTypes=transparency_data.

The facts of such meetings are recorded in accordance with terms of the Scottish Ministerial Code.

The employment of teachers is a matter for local authorities and the Scottish Government does not estimate teaching vacancies.

As part of this year's teacher workforce planning exercise the Scottish Government will again undertake a teacher vacancy survey, in conjunction with COSLA, in September for the purpose of informing the workforce planning process.

Responsibility for monitoring performance in relation police call handling rests with the Scottish Police Authority. Separately, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland continue to monitor progress and performance in this area following its 2015 assurance review on the subject.

While the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) board has responsibility to scrutinise operational performance of the Service, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of the SFRS has carried out a targeted inspection on the operation of the Dundee Operational Control in order to offer assurance to Ministers that Scotland’s communities are being properly served, and to advise the SFRS as needed. The Chief Inspector is due to report on this inspection in the summer.