The Scottish Parliament

Question reference: S5W-05644

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the finding in the 2016 End of Cycle Report by UCAS that the cap on Scottish university funded places is negatively affecting Scottish applicants.

At no point does the UCAS 2016 End of Cycle Report state that a cap on Scottish university funded places is affecting Scottish applicants.

The report shows an all-time record high number of Scottish domiciled students gaining a place at our universities through UCAS, as well as recording the highest ever entry rate to our universities for 18 year olds from Scotland’s 20% most deprived areas. Since 2006, the rate has increased by 3.7 percentage points to 10.9%.

The report also underlines that these figures do not include the many students who enter Scotland’s universities direct from college.

This has been achieved while maintaining the Government’s commitment to ensure that access to university is based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.

Question reference: S5W-05640

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the Scottish Local Government Partnership that councils have “not had one single piece of information on what the capital investment” for extending childcare to 1,140 hours will be.

The Draft Scottish Budget announced on 15 December allocated £30 million of capital investment for new, expanded or enhanced early learning and childcare settings in preparation for delivery of 1140 hours from 2020. We are working closely with the Scottish Futures Trust to ensure that we invest in innovative infrastructure solutions that meet local needs. The Scottish Futures Trust has been engaging with local authorities on our behalf throughout this year to help them develop their infrastructure plans. We are also engaging directly with local authorities through our various networks and forums, including the Senior Leaders Forum which will meet again in early 2017. Scottish Government officials are engaging with local government representative bodies to consider how to deploy this funding and target it to the most appropriate schemes.

Question reference: S5W-05646

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its commitment to ensure that nurseries in the most deprived areas benefit from an additional qualified teacher or graduate by 2018.

The Scottish Government believes that children must have access to highly qualified staff with expertise in early childhood learning and development – and that this is particularly vital for those facing particular disadvantages. That is why we are committed to ensuring that nurseries in the most deprived areas will have an additional teacher or graduate from 2018.

We will set out further details as to how this commitment will be delivered later this month.

Question reference: S5W-05638

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of (a) nurseries and (b) children have had access to a GTC-registered teacher on a (i) full- and (ii) part-time basis in each year since 2007-08.

The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) census does not separate out nurseries from other settings providing the funded ELC entitlement that are covered by the census. Although information is not collected on childminders, the collection does include playgroups and childcare centres, and both local authority and partnership provider centres. Teacher access is not defined as full or part time, but by if it is a regular or non-regular support that is received. All information is based on the situation as at census week which, since 2010 has been September, and prior to this it was January.

Table 1 shows the percentage of centres that had regular or non-regular arrangements in place for teacher access from 2008 to 2016, and Table 2 shows the percentage of children who received access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week only, and does not include those who are under a regular arrangement with a GTCS registered teacher but they were not present in their centre at census week. Percentages are calculated based on the total number of children of all ages registered with early learning and childcare providers at census week, although some local authorities only ensure access for 3 and 4 year olds. Information on teacher access was not published prior to 2008.

'Regular arrangement' includes those receiving access from centre-based teachers or centrally employed teachers on a scheduled basis. 'Non-regular' refers to support received only on an occasional or ad hoc basis. Centres had difficulty recording centrally employed staff in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and often recorded them as 'non regular support'. In 2015 data on centrally employed teachers was collected directly from local authorities, leading to an balance between regular and non-regular support that is closer to that seen in 2011.

Table 1: Percentage of early learning and childcare centres with access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week 2008-2016

Percentage of centres with access to a GTCS registered teacher

	under a regular arrangement	only non-regular support from external teachers
2008	66	n/a
2009	68	9
2010	70	10
2011	66	15
2012	64	19
2013	61	21
2014	60	27
2015	83	8
2016	85	5

Table 2: Percentage of all children at early learning and childcare centres with access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week 2008-2016

Percentage of children in centres

under a regular arrangement with GTCS registered teacher(s)

with only non-regular support from external teachers

Total

January 2008	64	2	66
January 2009	69	1	70
January 2010	73	1	74
September 2010	74	1	74
September 2011	71	4	75
September 2012	66	10	75
September 2013	61	11	73
September 2014	60	14	74
September 2015	70	3	73
September 2016	71	0	71

This information is publicly available within various additional tables released alongside the 'Summary statistics for schools in Scotland' statistical bulletin.

Question reference: S5W-05807

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many interpreters each local authority has had in each year since 2007-08, and for which languages.

Question reference: S5W-05828

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the overall quayside construction costs of Global Energy's Nigg yard was met by its award of £6.5 million.

Question reference: S5W-05838

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the announcement of £120 million of funding for schools, which will be passed on to head teachers, whether the funding will (a) include a review of the devolved school management system and (b) be tied to staff costs under the devolved school management system.

In 2017-18, £120 million Pupil Equity Funding will be targeted to help children and young people overcome the barriers to learning associated with poverty. It will extend the reach of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to around 95% of Scotland’s schools and it will be a matter for schools to use the funding for additional staffing or resources that they consider will help raise attainment.

Pupil Equity Funding will be paid by means of specific grant to local authorities, indicating the allocations for individual schools. Pupil Equity Funding will be additional to core education funding and therefore separate to any funding provided under the devolved school management system.

Question reference: S5W-05837

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered the proposal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh to establish "a dedicated centre for the study of economics in education".

The proposal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) to establish a dedicated centre for the study of economics in education forms part of its response to the Government’s consultation on “Empowering Teachers, Parents and Communities to Achieve Excellence and Equity in Education, a Governance Review”. The RSE’s paper will be considered alongside all other responses to the consultation which closed on 6 January 2017.

Question reference: S5W-05901

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many foreign language teachers have been employed by local authorities in each year since 2010-11, broken down by (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent.

The data provide includes only teachers whose 'main subject taught' is recorded as a foreign language in the teacher census, conducted annually in September.

Secondary school teachers whose main subject taught¹ is a foreign language² - Headcount

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	42	42	41	42	39	40	32
Aberdeenshire	81	81	80	77	83	77	74
Angus	39	39	34	33	30	32	30
Argyll & Bute	27	26	28	27	25	25	25
Clackmannanshire	12	11	11	11	11	10	10
Dumfries & Galloway	49	47	43	42	43	44	41
Dundee City	44	41	39	32	33	33	33
East Ayrshire	39	37	37	34	34	34	30
East Dunbartonshire	49	48	48	49	44	45	44
East Lothian	31	30	29	33	31	32	30
East Renfrewshire	47	45	52	53	52	50	52
Edinburgh City	117	116	116	110	109	104	101
Eilean Siar	12	12	11	8	7	7	6
Falkirk	45	45	43	40	42	41	44
Fife	108	103	100	91	86	90	91
Glasgow City	152	146	145	136	131	123	121
Grant aided	6	6	5	6	5	6	6
Highland	72	71	72	68	67	65	60
Inverclyde	33	29	25	27	27	27	25
Midlothian	30	29	28	28	29	25	24
Moray	30	30	29	26	24	23	22
North Ayrshire	51	47	45	42	42	40	36
North Lanarkshire	104	96	93	90	96	91	100
Orkney Islands	11	8	8	9	9	8	8
Perth & Kinross	42	40	38	40	44	42	42
Renfrewshire	52	54	53	44	45	39	40
Scottish Borders	35	31	31	31	29	30	29
Shetland Islands	16	14	13	14	13	14	12
South Ayrshire	30	28	27	29	26	23	28
South Lanarkshire	104	97	94	89	89	85	87
Stirling	36	35	32	34	34	35	35
West Dunbartonshire	32	29	29	29	27	25	28
West Lothian	57	58	59	57	59	56	56
Scotland	1635	1571	1538	1481	1465	1421	1402

1. Excludes head teachers and depute head teachers.

2. Foreign language includes teachers whose main subject taught is recorded as either French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Community Languages or Other Modern Languages.

Secondary school teachers whose main subject taught¹ is a foreign language² - Full Time Equivalent

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	36.56	37.01	36.13	35.46	34.07	35.3	27.72
Aberdeenshire	74.63	73.91	72.5	66.79	70.9	65.22	66.71
Angus	37.3	36.3	32.9	30.74	29	30.2	29.4
Argyll & Bute	25.3	25.1	26.11	25.51	24.4	23.7	22.83
Clackmannanshire	10.6	9.4	9.2	9.8	10.1	9	8.8
Dumfries & Galloway	45.8	43.1	40.6	40.6	40.8	40.6	38.4
Dundee City	41.53	38.93	37.51	30.7	31.17	31.8	31.8
East Ayrshire	34.7	33.9	34.3	31.9	32.1	32.4	28.1
East Dunbartonshire	42.6	40.72	41.59	43	41.88	41.1	39.9
East Lothian	26.86	26.05	25.38	28.82	25.5	27.66	26.17
East Renfrewshire	40.52	40.48	44.28	45.48	44.18	42.2	44.32
Edinburgh City	105.26	104.4	102.96	98.73	97.32	93.49	89.6
Eilean Siar	10.98	10.9	10.55	7.8	6.6	6.6	5.6
Falkirk	43.4	42.8	40.6	37.2	38.6	37.6	42.2
Fife	101.03	97.43	91.53	85.43	79.4	82.3	83.75
Glasgow City	138.07	130.9	133.9	122.67	113.87	109.7	110.7
Grant aided	4.8	5.05	4.25	5.05	4.65	5.25	5.05
Highland	65.64	65.18	65.48	60.88	62.09	59.42	54.23
Inverclyde	29.8	25.8	22.3	23.5	24.1	23.7	21.6
Midlothian	25.9	23.83	23.25	24.38	24.87	21.67	20.96
Moray	26.05	26.14	26.58	23.87	20	18.96	18.5
North Ayrshire	45.84	42.15	40.64	38.1	38.7	35.3	32.5
North Lanarkshire	94.8	87.4	84.3	82.8	83.1	81.4	88.8
Orkney Islands	10.1	8	7.19	9	9	7.46	7.24
Perth & Kinross	38.72	37.52	36.12	37.1	40.53	38.92	37.96
Renfrewshire	46.04	46.93	47.14	38.92	39.8	37	36.7
Scottish Borders	33.15	29.25	29.89	30.06	27.25	29.14	27.7
Shetland Islands	15.06	13.06	12.83	13.16	12.77	12.1	11.5
South Ayrshire	27.4	24.3	24.3	25.8	22.2	20.9	21.4
South Lanarkshire	97.9	92.7	88.2	82.8	81.4	79	80.5
Stirling	33.5	31.6	29.31	32.11	32.51	33	32.4
West Dunbartonshire	28.4	25.7	25.3	26.9	24.3	23.1	26.2
West Lothian	53.27	52.32	52.03	50.22	50.41	49.64	48.23
Scotland	1491.51	1428.26	1399.15	1345.28	1317.57	1284.83	1267.47

1. Excludes head teachers and depute head teachers.

2. Foreign language includes teachers whose main subject taught is recorded as either French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Community Languages or Other Modern Languages.

Question reference: S5W-05900

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to each local authority for its 1+2 languages policy in each year since 2012, and whether this amount was ring-fenced.

£m

Aberdeen City

0.131

0.164

0.240

0.167

0.702

Aberdeenshire

0.208

0.260

0.381

0.264

1.113

Angus

0.091

0.114

0.162

0.112

0.479

Argyll & Bute

0.062

0.077

0.109

0.075

0.323

Clackmannanshire

0.041

0.051

0.072

0.050

0.214

Dumfries & Galloway

0.113

0.141

0.200

0.138

0.592

Dundee City

0.104

0.130

0.190

0.134

0.558

East Ayrshire

0.096

0.120

0.170

0.117

0.503

East Dunbartonshire

0.092

0.115

0.167

0.117

0.491

East Lothian

0.081

0.102

0.148

0.103

0.434

East Renfrewshire

0.092

0.115

0.167

0.117

0.491

Edinburgh City

0.271

0.340

0.509

0.357

1.477

Eilean Siar

0.021

0.026

0.035

0.024

0.106

Falkirk

0.125

0.156

0.229

0.158

0.668

Fife

0.290

0.362

0.523

0.364

1.539

Glasgow City

0.391

0.489

0.707

0.494

2.081

Highland

0.182

0.227

0.323

0.224

0.956

Inverclyde

0.060

0.075

0.104

0.071

0.310

Midlothian

0.071

0.089

0.128

0.090

0.378

Moray

0.070

0.088

0.128

0.088

0.374

North Ayrshire

0.110

0.137

0.193

0.133

0.573

North Lanarkshire

0.291

0.363

0.519

0.358

1.531

Orkney Islands

0.015

0.019

0.028

0.020

0.082

Perth & Kinross

0.106

0.133

0.190

0.131

0.560

Renfrewshire

0.137

0.171

0.243

0.168

0.719

Scottish Borders

0.088

0.110

0.155

0.106

0.459

Shetland Islands

0.019

0.024

0.034

0.024

0.101

South Ayrshire

0.083

0.104

0.146

0.102

0.435

South Lanarkshire

0.257

0.321

0.457

0.318

1.353

Stirling

0.072

0.090

0.128

0.088

0.378

West Dunbartonshire

0.073

0.091

0.131

0.091

0.386

West Lothian

0.157

0.196

0.284

0.197

0.834

Scotland

4.000

5.000

7.200

5.000

21.200

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Question reference: S5W-05644

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