The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S5W-23964

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether local authorities in Scotland (a) are entitled to access and (b) receive the lists that are produced by the DWP for local authorities in England, seven times per year, of parents who are potentially eligible for funded early learning and childcare for two-year-olds.

Unlike local authorities in England, local authorities in Scotland do not have access to, or receive, information from the Department for Work and Pensions which would identify families who are potentially eligible for funded early learning and childcare for 2 year olds.

In order that Scottish local authorities can also access information that will help to promote the offer to potentially eligible families, we are working with the UK Government to development new legislation under the Digital Economy Act 2017 which will create a legal data-sharing gateway for Scottish local authorities. In this matter we are reliant on the UK Government and UK Parliament and subject to their timescales.

Whilst the development of a legal gateway is underway, we are working with local government, HMRC, DWP and across the Scottish Government to establish routes for sharing data safely and securely once the legal gateway is in place.

Question reference: S5W-23963

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made with the UK Government on data sharing to help identify two-year-olds who are eligible for funded early learning and childcare, and whether difficulties on this issue relate to data protection laws preventing the DWP providing a list of just those parents who definitely are eligible.

Unlike local authorities in England, local authorities in Scotland do not have access to, or receive, information from the Department for Work and Pensions which would identify families who are potentially eligible for funded early learning and childcare for 2 year olds.

In order that Scottish local authorities can also access information that will help to promote the offer to potentially eligible families, we are working with the UK Government to develop new legislation under the Digital Economy Act 2017 which will create a legal data-sharing gateway for Scottish local authorities. In this matter we are reliant on the UK Government and UK Parliament and subject to their timescales.

Whilst the development of a legal gateway is underway, we are working with local government. HMRC, DWP and across the Scottish Government to establish routes for sharing data safely and securely once the legal gateway is in place.

Question reference: S5W-23965

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it expects uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds to exceed 70%, which is the figure in England.

The Scottish Government and local authorities are focussed on our shared commitment to increasing uptake of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) among eligible 2 year olds, whilst also nearly doubling the offer from August 2020, from 600 hours to 1140 hours.

Our multi-year funding agreement with COSLA secures the resources for local authorities to increase uptake and nearly double the offer. Our ongoing work with the UK Government to legislate for a data-sharing gateway is critical to local authorities' ability to promote the offer to potentially eligible families and ensure all eligible 2 year olds have the opportunity to benefit from extra funded ELC.

Uptake levels in England are higher due to a number of factors, including a larger cohort of eligible children, and the fact that English authorities have benefitted from a legal gateway for data sharing since 2011. The latter was cited by the Department for Education as a key reason for the significant increase in uptake of their 2 year old offer between 2015 and 2017.

Question reference: S5W-24060

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21226 by Fergus Ewing on 15 February 2019, what the total eligible hectarage claimed under agricultural and environmental support schemes in Shetland was in 2014.

Question reference: S5W-24061

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 17 July 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-21121 by Fergus Ewing on 8 February 2019, how many units in Shetland received payment in 2014 from (a) the Basic Payment Scheme, (b) the Less Favoured Area Support Scheme, (c) greening measures and (d) other agri-environmental schemes, also broken down by the amount allocated.

2014 payments to businesses in Shetland by scheme and amount:

Scheme Amount of Businesses Amount Paid

Single Farm Payment (Predecessor to BPS) 898 £3,500,000

LFASS 800 £2,538,718.44

RP 149 £1,183,217.60

LMO 144 £218,830

Please note;

BPS/Greening - Not applicable as BPS scheme only came into existence in 2015.
AECS – Not applicable as AECS scheme only came into existence in 2016.

Question reference: S5W-23728

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 24 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much (a) Historic Environment Scotland, (b) Orkney Islands Council and (c) Highlands and Islands Enterprise contributed toward the upgrade of the car parking facilities at the Stone of Stenness in Orkney.

The upgrading of car parking facilities at the Stones of Stenness was one of three pilot projects supported by the Scottish Government's Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund. The Scottish Government has provided £80,000 towards the total cost of the work which is being delivered by Orkney Islands Council. Historic Environment Scotland has contributed an additional £100,000. Highlands and Islands Enterprise has not contributed towards this project. In addition to the contribution that Orkney Islands Council are making in delivering the project, we understand that it intends to utilise a portion of the residual funding from a fund it established to support its World Heritage Sites.

Question reference: S5W-23636

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the participants on the P1 Practitioner’s Forum were (a) from organisations that are allied to schools, (b) school management staff, (c) P1 teachers in (i) 2017-18 and (ii) 2018-19 and (d) academics.

The number of participants in the Forum varied from meeting to meeting, depending on members’ availability. In total around 30-35 people were involved over the four meetings of the Forum. Details on the make-up of the P1 Practitioner Forum were provided in response to S5W-22894 n 9 May 2019. As this sets out, information on whether the teachers on the Forum were teaching P1 in 2017-18 and 2018-19 was not gathered. The published information does however make clear that the vast majority of teachers on the Forum had taught P1 classes and had been involved with SNSA within schools. 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-23607

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comment by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 26 June 2018 that “if sufficient progress is not made over the next 12 months to deliver the empowerment of schools we have agreed with local authorities, I will return to Parliament and introduce an Education Bill”, whether the Bill will be discarded.

Question reference: S5O-03389

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 June 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in developing coach park facilities for the Jarlshof site in Shetland.

Question reference: S5W-23263

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 May 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will instruct Education Scotland to carry out an assessment of the impact on pupils of (a) consortia arrangements between schools and (b) multilevel classes in schools.

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