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-00407

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of hours that (a) teachers and (b) pupils will spend (i) working to prepare for and (ii) undertaking new standardised national assessments.

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.

Question reference: S5W-00411

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it will develop a fair and transparent funding formula for schools to receive money from the Scottish Attainment Fund.

Question reference: S5W-00621

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what effect the reported reduction in college places has had on the rate of adult illiteracy.

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.

Question reference: S5W-00347

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when the Rural Payments and Inspections Division will provide a written definition for region 1 and region 2 under the Basic Payment Scheme regulations.

Question reference: S5W-00349

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether there is a discrepancy in the definitions of Basic Payment Scheme region 1 and region 2 on the Rural Payments and Inspections Division website compared with the interpretation by officials assessing parcels of land and, if so, for what reason.

Question reference: S5W-00350

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 13 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many new entrants to the Basic Payment Scheme in 2016 are still awaiting a final instalment or any payment, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Division area office.

No final basic payment has been yet been made, however we are working very hard to meet the regulatory deadline.

Some new entrants shown in the following table have received a loan and have now received their Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) instalment payment, therefore there is an overlap between the two categories. Those who have not received any payment are still having aspects of their claim or business registration validated, which is an European Commission requirement, and will be paid as soon as possible.

Area Office	Total Number of Eligible Applications to the National Reserve, New Entrants Category	Total Number who have received a BPS Instalment Payment	Total Number who have received Nationally Funded Loan	Total Number who have received neither Instalment or Loan as at 7 June 2016
Ayr	19	18	4	0
Benbecula	5	4	3	0
Dumfries	22	22	1	0
Elgin	8	8	3	0
Galashiels	10	8	3	0
Golspie	5	4	2	0
Hamilton	10	8	3	0
Inverness	21	19	8	0
Inverurie	44	39	16	0
Kirkwall	14	12	4	0
Lerwick	8	5	4	1
Oban	13	9	4	1
Perth	46	38	20	0
Portree	4	4	2	0
Stornoway	9	8	2	0
Thurso	13	9	4	1
TOTALS	251	215	83	3

Question reference: S5W-00405

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy pretests involve; whether there will be a numeracy pretest in 2016, and what the reason is for its position on this matter.

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) pretesting is an important quality assurance mechanism in the development of new assessment tasks. It is one of a number of procedures employed to validate assessment tasks and to check the quality of individual assessment items. The SSLN has now been running for a number of years and sufficient and appropriate survey materials have been generated. Therefore a numeracy pretest in SSLN 2016 was not required.

Question reference: S5W-00408

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the budget for each college has been in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since 2011-12.

Question reference: S5O-00051

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives of the fishing industry to discuss the discard ban.

Question reference: S5W-00348

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2016
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when any outstanding payment reviews will be concluded under the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme, broken down by Rural Payments and Inspections Division area office.