Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-00660 on 22 June 2016. 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

The Rural Payments and Inspections Division is working to validate the 1,400 applications received for around 118,000 animals claimed. As part of European Commission regulations, animals must be validated against the electronic records held by SCOT-EID (the animal identification database). As this work currently underway and not yet complete, I am not able to give an exact date when payments will be made but every effort is being made to make these payments as soon as possible.

The Scottish Government is considering the findings contained in the postgraduate working group's final report carefully, and will produce a response in due course.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of postgraduate study, and set up the postgraduate working group to identify the barriers to participation for Scottish domiciled students.

As an interim measure, while the options identified in the report are examined, all Scottish higher education institutions were invited to add an additional 10 taught postgraduate courses to the list of courses for which students are eligible for financial support, for academic year 2016-17.

<>All region review requests received under Basic Payment Scheme 2015 will be completed by Friday 24 June 2016.

The Scottish Government has delivered on our commitment to maintain 116,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) places - colleges exceeded it in 2014-15, delivering 119,078 funded FTEs. Additionally, the number of full-time students over 25 at colleges has increased by 26% since 2006-07.

The last ‘Scottish Survey of Adult Literacies’ was conducted in 2009. However, other available evidence suggests that progress in tackling adult basic skills levels is being made. The latest skills profile data (2015), collected by the Scottish Government as part of labour market trend data, shows a downward trend in the proportion of adults aged 16 to 64 with low or no qualifications. The figure has fallen from 16.3% in the 2007 baseline year to 11.1% in 2015.

The estimated 2015 expenditure for Basic Payment Scheme (including Greening measures) is approximately £334.5 million.

To date, Rural Payments and Inspections Division (RPID) has issued instalment payments of £216 million or around 65% of the planned expenditure. The breakdown of payments by RPID area office is shown in the following table:-

 

Area Office	Value
Ayr	£ 26,207,726.10
Benbecula	£ 1,042,667.15
Dumfries	£ 23,008,480.37
Elgin	£ 4,622,488.87
Galashiels	£ 31,264,559.10
Golspie	£ 1,439,323.92
Hamilton	£ 9,557,224.05
Inverness	£ 17,290,209.08
Inverurie	£ 40,259,584.49
Kirkwall	£ 5,704,218.78
Lerwick	£ 3,255,914.07
Oban	£ 6,938,155.11
Perth	£ 37,948,173.71
Portree	£ 1,240,934.69
Stornoway	£ 580,934.92
Thurso	£ 5,592,618.51
TOTALS	£ 215,953,212.92

We published information on possible costs of the new standardised assessment in the supplementary Financial Memorandum to the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. http://www.parliament.scot/S4_Bills/Education%20(Scotland)%20Bill/SPBill64AFMS042016.pdf

As the memorandum notes, the figures quoted are indicative and may change. Detailed costs will emerge as we work through the procurement process.

All local authorities will be supported by the £750 million investment during this parliamentary session. The Attainment Scotland Fund already provides support to 21 local authorities who receive funding either as a challenge authority or have schools in the schools programme.

I made a number of announcements last week about the expansion of the Scottish Attainment Challenge to increase its scope, reach and pace. Existing challenge authorities will receive up to £20 million from the Attainment Scotland Fund during this year, and we will add East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire to the Challenge Authorities Programme – both of which have significant levels of multiple deprivation. I also announced the extension of the challenge into secondary schools in challenge authority areas as well as those which are associated with the schools in the Primary Schools Programme.

The Attainment Scotland Fund will also continue to support a package of universal support which has been developed to support all local authorities across Scotland, such as the Innovation Fund. From 2017, the £100 million that will be raised each year from our local tax reforms will be allocated directly to schools, based on the numbers of children in each school who meet the eligibility criteria for free school meals. This will mean all local authorities in Scotland will receive funding from the Attainment Scotland Fund.

These assessments will replace the standardised assessments already used in schools across Scotland. Assessment is part of everyday learning and teaching – teachers use it to assess children and young people’s progress and to put in place support where it is needed. There should not therefore be any additional teacher or pupil time in preparing for the new national standardised assessments beyond usual classroom activity.

Teachers will decide the appropriate time within the school year for individual pupils to sit the assessments. The assessments will be age and stage appropriate. We expect assessments to last around 25 minutes although primary 1 assessments are likely to be shorter than that. The assessments will need to be flexible however and allow more time for those who might need it.

We will allocate £750 million over this parliamentary session to expand the Attainment Scotland Fund to close the gap in educational attainment. As well as investing £50 million each year in our established area-based approach to raising attainment, we will allocate the additional £100 million that will be raised each year from our local tax reforms directly to schools. The allocation will be based on the numbers of children in each school who meet the eligibility criteria for free school meals.

This additional funding will ensure that children affected by poverty, wherever they live, will receive additional support to ensure they can get the help they need, when they need it. We will work with key stakeholders to establish how this funding will achieve maximum benefits for eligible children and I will confirm the per pupil funding levels in due course.