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: S5W-09888

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the current extent of cross-subsidising by early education providers between the provision of free government-funded places and the rates charged to parents of other children, and what it anticipates the value of this cross-subsidy will be in each of the next three years.

The Scottish Government values the key role that providers in the private and third sectors play in delivering the funded early learning and childcare entitlement, and we have provided the resources to ensure that the current entitlement of 600 hours per year is delivered in a way which is financially sustainable.

The value of any cross-subsidy is jointly determined by the costs faced by providers in the private and third sector delivering the funded entitlement and by the funding rate that they receive from the local authority to deliver this entitlement. Research for the Scottish Government by Ipsos MORI in 2016 estimated that the average rate paid by local authorities would be insufficient to cover the costs of around 40% of private and voluntary setting currently delivering the funded ELC entitlement. This implies that for these providers some element of cross subsidy may be necessary.

The Scottish Government has not produced an estimate of the overall value of any cross-subsidy.

Question reference: S5W-09846

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 19 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the cost of upgrading existing (a) nursery sites and (b) childminders' facilities to meet the expanded provision that they are anticipated to deliver.

We are currently working with local authorities to produce estimates of the potential capital costs associated with delivering the expansion to 1140 hours by 2020.

To aid this process a funding letter was issued to local authorities on 19 May 2017 indicating that ELC expansion plans, which are due for submission to the Scottish Government by 29 September 2017, should be prepared on the assumption that £400 million of capital funding will be available at national level across the next three financial years (2018-19 to 2020-21 inclusive). This indicative figure will help to initiate the necessary iterative process needed to generate a robust estimate of overall capital costs.

I have lodged copies of the 19 May funding letter to local authorities, and also the preceding letter of 19 March 2017 on funding allocations, with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib number 58900).

Question reference: S5W-09790

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have operated in each year since 2007, and how many of those (a) had and (b) did not have school building certificates.

The number of schools operational in each year since 2007 are as follows:

Number of local authority schools^1,2 as at 1 April, 2007-2016


	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
All schools	2730	2704	2708	2666	2617	2596	2567	2558	2538	2524

1. Excludes independent and grant aided schools.

2. These figures do not include local authority special schools that do not have a separate building and therefore do not provide school estates information.

The reason for decline in the total number of schools since 2007 is that many local authorities have chosen to rationalise their school estate. We have seen poor condition schools replaced with multi school campuses to enable local authorities to operate a more sustainable school estate.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to hold information about which schools have building certificates.

Question reference: S5W-09792

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been spent on school repairs in each year since 2010, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S5W-09902

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 6 July 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-09864 by Keith Brown on 22 June 2017, who the members are of the implementation board and who chairs it.

Following publication of the report on Phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review on 22 June 2017, an Implementation Board has been established to lay the groundwork for the creation of the Strategic Board that will co-ordinate the activities of Scotland's skills and enterprise agencies.

The Implementation Board is chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, and met for the first time on 28 June 2017. Further information on the Implementation Board, including a full list of membership, can be found at https://beta.gov.scot/groups/enterprise-and-skills-review-implementation-board/.

Question reference: S5W-09745

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment at E.14 of the executive summary of the report, Education Governance: Next Steps - Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for our Children, that "respondents would welcome greater clarity around the rationale for creating regions, in particular, what would the benefits be of the new structure", what it considers the benefits of the new structure will be.

As we have set out in section 4 of Education Governance: Next Steps - Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for our Children, new Regional Improvement Collaboratives will deliver a range of benefits for Scotland's schools, children and young people. They will provide dedicated improvement support to Scotland's schools, support collaboration and the sharing of best practice and learning across the system, and will provide enhanced professional learning support for our teachers and headteachers. Delivering this within a regional framework, which brings together local authorities and national bodies, will ensure that our schools and education professionals receive consistent, high-quality support and advice which is centred on local needs.

Question reference: S5W-09748

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 15 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), how the regional improvement collaboratives will be structured, including which local authority areas each will cover.

Question reference: S5W-09728

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it collects data on the eligibility of P1-S3 pupils for free school meals.

The Scottish Government does not collect data on the eligibility of pupils for free school meals. It does collect data on the number of pupils registered for free school meals through the Attainment, Leaver Destinations and Healthy Living survey.

The survey is conducted in all publicly funded schools in Scotland in February each year and the data is published.

The latest dataset was published on the Scottish Government's website on 20 June 2017. Information on the number of pupils registered for free school meals is available on the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/9699/6.

Question reference: S5W-09732

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 15 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), what its position is on whether the ministerial appointment of regional directors to manage the regional improvement collaboratives, which will then report directly to Education Scotland and ministers, has taken account of the observation in the report, Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective, that "Curriculum for Excellence needs to be less managed from the centre".

The establishment of Regional Improvement Collaboratives and the appointment of Regional Directors are key elements in the devolution of decision making to our schools, headteachers and teachers. Regional Directors will work with partners in ensuring that the support and guidance provided to schools by Regional Improvement Collaboratives is tailored to local needs and supports school improvement plans. It is therefore our position that the appointment and the role of Regional Directors is entirely consistent with a system which empowers our education professionals in taking decisions on children’s learning and strengthens the middle to support them in that role.

Question reference: S5W-09733

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills on 15 June 2017 (Official Report, c. 46), what its response is to the comment by COSLA that the announcement "erodes local democratic accountability and most certainly will not close the attainment gap".

As we have set out in the June 2015 Scottish Government publication Education Governance: Next Steps, councils will remain democratically accountable for schools in their area and will continue to have a crucial role in providing a wide range of education services. Our governance reforms are based on international evidence about what works, including on the impact of empowered, high quality teaching and leadership on improving outcomes. These reforms are one element in the range of actions the Scottish Government is taking to close the attainment gap and delivery excellence and equity for our children and young people.