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-01955

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Funding Council report, Learning for All: Measures of Success, which recorded that the proportion of students completing higher education courses at college fell from 84.2% in 2013-14 to 82.7% in 2014-15; what it believes the reasons are for the reduction, and what action it is taking.

Successful completion rates for students on full-time recognised Higher Education (HE) qualifications remained stable at 71.3% in 2014-15 compared to a record high of 71.4% in 2013-14. In addition, 2014-15 saw the highest number of full-time HE students successfully complete recognised qualifications (23,717). As a result, the number of students progressing from college to university with advanced standing increased by 29% between 2011-12 and 2014-15 (from 3,099 to 3,999).

Question reference: S5W-01973

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that around quarter of college students are not completing their programmes, and what it believes the reasons for this are.

Compared with 2008-09, in 2014-15 almost 11,000 more college students across Further Education (FE) and Higher Education successfully completed full-time courses that lead to recognised qualifications – an increase of 24%.

Our FE college students are supported with record levels of support. The 2016-17 budget of over £106 million in college bursaries, childcare and discretionary funds is a real-terms increase of 30% since 2006-07; and this year, FE students will be able to receive non-repayable bursary of up to £95.94 per week – the best level anywhere in the UK.

Question reference: S5W-01954

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 2 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that its current approach to funding and support to colleges is sufficient and has no negative impact on the existing college programmes.

Over the last Parliament we maintained the commitment we made in 2011 – to deliver 116,000 Full-time Equivalent college places. We will continue this commitment, focused on purposeful, job-focused learning.

In 2014-15, our colleges delivered 97% of learning hours on courses leading to a recognised qualification – an eight percentage point on 2006-07. Meanwhile, over that same period, the average hours of learning per student has increased by 63%.

Question reference: S5O-00106

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in implementing the recommendations in the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce final report.

Question reference: S5W-01917

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase the number of teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds.

While it is ultimately the responsibility of individual local authorities, as employers, to ensure they undertake fair and inclusive recruitment activity for all posts, the Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to increase the number of teachers from ethnic minority backgrounds.We have established the Strategic Board for Teacher Education which includes universities, local authorities and professional associations to oversee and evaluate reform to teacher education. We have tasked this board to investigate the barriers to wider representation in the teaching profession and to come forward with suggestions to support diversity in order to ensure that the teaching workforce within schools reflects the communities that they serve.The recently published delivery plan “Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education” details a number of actions the Scottish Government will take with its partners to address issues related to minority ethnic groups which are under-represented in teaching. This includes extending our #inspiringteachers recruitment campaign, building on the positive work of the current campaign.

Question reference: S5W-01920

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the claim by the EIS that the system of unit assessments in schools is "unsustainable in its current form".

The Assessment and National Qualifications Group was established in January 2016 to consider and make recommendations (based on emerging evidence and experience) to Ministers and the Curriculum for Excellence Management Board on (i) the policy framework (including design principles) within which qualifications are developed and operate, and (ii) on assessment policy and practice from age 3 to 18, and the best means of supporting improvements. Educational Institute of Scotland is a member of the group. As was made clear in Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education: A Delivery Plan for Scotland (June 2016), the Scottish Government will work with the Assessment and National Qualifications Group to consult on the design of assessment within the qualifications system - involving teachers, parents, young people, employers, national partners and other stakeholders. The Deputy First Minister chaired the first meeting of the reconvened group on 17 August 2016.

Question reference: S5W-01921

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to encourage an increase in the number of secondary school teachers in STEM subjects.

While it is ultimately the responsibility of individual local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers.

We have delivered our #inspiringteachers campaign to encourage more people into teaching in the Science,Technology ,Engineering and Mathematics subjects and are committed to developing on that in the recently published delivery plan. We have increased student teacher intake targets for the fifth year in a row and are setting targets to train teachers in the subjects where they are needed most, including the STEM subjects. In addition we are also supporting innovative ways to encourage more graduates to come into teaching in areas which have difficulty recruiting teachers and have asked teacher training institutions for suggestions.

Question reference: S5W-01845

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary teacher vacancies in each local authority have been filled in each year since 2010-11, also broken down by the number filled by supply teachers.

Question reference: S5W-01844

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary teacher vacancies there have been in each year since 2010-11, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S5W-01843

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 August 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 August 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) action it is taking and (b) resources and support it is providing to the relevant local authorities in light of the reported shortfall of 260 teachers in the north of Scotland.

While it is ultimately the responsibility of individual local authorities, the Scottish Government is taking a number of actions to help recruit and retain teachers.

We have delivered our #inspiringteachers campaign to encourage more people into teaching and are committed to developing on that in the recently published Delivery Plan. We have increased student teacher intake targets for the fifth year in a row and are setting targets to train teachers in the subjects where they are needed most. In addition we are also supporting innovative ways to encourage more graduates to come into teaching in areas that are have difficulty recruiting teachers. This includes Aberdeen University’s distance learning programme, which allows council employees to retrain as teachers while staying in work. Five councils are already benefiting from this. In June, we also announced that part of our £12 million Transition Training Fund will be used to enable 25 oil and gas workers to train to become Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers.