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: S3W-16610

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to retain the service industry apprenticeships that have been abolished for people aged over 20 as well as maintaining the 50% increase in apprenticeships in the construction industry.

Service industry apprenticeships have not been abolished for people aged over 20. Employers are still able to use the modern apprenticeship frameworks to train their staff if they so choose. Not all apprenticeships can or should be funded by taxpayers.

The Scottish Government has refocused public sector contributions for adult modern apprenticeships to construction and engineering related sectors where investment delivers economic results. Skills Development Scotland have been tasked to develop and deliver improvements in Scotland''s skills performance for the benefit of individuals and employers, ensuring that our skills interventions continue to meet the needs of the economy, individuals and employers in Scotland.

It is not possible to cost a notional programme of activity given the complexity of modern apprenticeship funding. In any case, specific funding of the modern apprenticeship programme is an operational matter for Skills Development Scotland.

Question reference: S3O-04178

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the OECD report that states that the largest educational attainment gap in Scotland exists at P4 and P5.

We have made it clear that we see the OECD report as a seminal document for Scottish education. In the debate on the review in Parliament on 16 January this year I said that the report will continue to be a catalyst for change as it challenges all of us, including this government, about educational thinking.

The report does not in fact state that the largest educational attainment gap in Scotland exists at P4 and P5. The report discusses the need to reduce the achievement gap that the authors state opens up about P5 and continues to widen during junior secondary school.

In my day of discussion with the OECD Education Policy Committee they agreed that this government''s attention to and focus on the early years and early intervention in nursery and P1 to P3 will help build better foundations and resilience to prevent that gap from opening in the first place.

Question reference: S3W-15380

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields have been developed on since May 2007, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-15379

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields there (a) are and (b) were in May 2007, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-15381

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cheap lets have been made available to sporting and activity groups in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-15382

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide free year-round access to council swimming pools.

Question reference: S3W-15075

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 August 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many school buses are fitted with seatbelts, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-11367

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 March 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what safeguards are being put in place to ensure that university applicants from Scottish schools, who have been given unconditional offers, will not in any way be disadvantaged by new UCAS regulations, which take effect in academic session 2009-10, allowing pupils holding conditional offers the automatic right to upgrade to universities not listed on their UCAS application forms if their exam results exceed the conditions asked for.

Question reference: S3W-11737

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 15 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many emergency calls originating from (a) public payphones and (b) mobile phones were made to raise the coastguard in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3O-02062

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 31 January 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it is making to improve the quality of training provision for teachers and trainee teachers.

The Scottish Executiveencourages and supports partnership working between local authorities and teachereducation universities to ensure that initial teacher education courses and inductionarrangements provide the best possible preparation for student and probationer teachers.

We are also committedto ensuring that all teachers engage in relevant, high quality continuing professionaldevelopment opportunities that enable them to meet their full potential.

A recent example ofhow discussion about how a particular issue should be covered in initial teachereducation and reinforced by continuing professional development was a constructivemeeting involving Ministers, Deans of Faculties of Education and Sir Jackie Stewartabout dyslexia.