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: S4W-04359

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it has had, and with what organisations, concerning the reported decline in the number of foreign language assistants in schools.

The Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages met with British Council Scotland on 3 November and discussed the decline in the number of FLAs in schools. The Minister also provided a message of support for use at the Foreign Language Assistants training event on 11 November.

Scottish Government officials regularly meet British Council Scotland, as part of grant funding arrangements and at the last meeting on 29 September, British Council Scotland outlined their plans for a campaign to highlight the value and cost effectiveness of Foreign Language Assistants.

Through the Languages Working Group, the Scottish Government has also discussed Foreign Language Assistants with other bodies, including Association Directors of Education Scotland (ADES), General Teaching Council Scotland (GTCS), Scotland’s National Centre for Languages (SCILT), Headteachers, teachers and universities. Details of the membership of the Languages Working Group, as with all other curricular groups, are on the Scottish Government website.

Question reference: S4W-04357

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 15 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many foreign language assistants there have been in schools in each year since 2005.

Question reference: S4W-04356

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2011
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met (a) the UK Border Agency, (b) the Equality and Human Rights Commission, (c) Glasgow 2014, (d) the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and (e) representatives of police forces to discuss human trafficking.

The Scottish Government works in partnership with the UK Government and other agencies to ensure that effective measures are taken to combat this form of serious organised crime. Meetings with our key partners are held on a regular basis.

The Scottish Government last met with the UK Border Agency on 21 November 2011 and a further meeting will take place on 16 December 2011. Scottish Government officials met with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on 25 October 2011. The Commonwealth Games Security Committee, which includes representatives from the Scottish Government, met on 27 October 2011. A meeting was held with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service on 27 September 2011. A meeting was held with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency on 14 September 2011 and a meeting will be held with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland on 9 December 2011.

Question reference: S4W-04260

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Lesley Thomson on 12 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) permanent and (b) fixed-term (i) fiscals and (ii) depute fiscals there have been in each year since 2007.

Full-time equivalent staff figures shown in permanent and fixed term at a particular point in time:

Date

Permanent

Fixed Term

Legal Staff acting as

Procurators Fiscal or

Procurator Fiscal Deputes ¹

Procurators Fiscal Deputes

Trainee Solicitors

Overall Total

July 2007	404.4	1	41	446.4
July 2008	411.9	1.4	50	463.3
June 2009	442.8	8.8	54	505.6
June 2010	462.7	22	51	535.7
June 2011	443.2	21.7	48.6	513.5

Note: 1. The term Procurator Fiscal denotes a person who holds a commission to act in that capacity which has been granted by the Lord Advocate. There are 49 Sheriff Court Districts across Scotland. Each of these has at least one person who holds the Lord Advocate’s commission as Procurator Fiscal for that Sheriff Court District. In some instances one individual may hold more than one commission. In addition, in all instances the relevant Area Procurator Fiscal shares a joint commission to act as District Procurator Fiscal with the other commission holder. To avoid double counting the above table indicates how many permanent legal staff were employed by COPFS in each year all of whom hold a commission as a Procurator Fiscal or Procurator Fiscal Depute.

Question reference: S4W-04263

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any procurement associated with the renewal of the online schools network, Glow, will be subject to a competitive tendering process.

Question reference: S4W-04262

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Diploma in Legal Practice graduates have (a) completed a legal traineeship and (b) secured full-time employment in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-04259

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have studied for the Diploma in Legal Practice in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-04258

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 7 December 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reform (a) the funding and (b) student support for the Diploma in Legal Practice.

Currently around 2,700 postgraduate students are assisted each year under the Postgraduate Student Allowances Scheme (PSAS) and are provided with a contribution of up to £3,400 towards the cost of their tuition fees.

From 2012-13, PSAS will be replaced by a new student support model in the form of a student loan. The new arrangements will mean that up to 5,000 full and part-time postgraduate students, undertaking currently eligible courses, will be eligible for repayable student support of £3,400 towards the cost of their tuition fees.

The Diploma in Legal Practice (DLP) is currently an eligible course at Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Dundee, Stirling, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Robert Gordon universities. Three hundred funded places are currently provided under PSAS each year for DLP students across the seven Institutions.

From 2012-13, every Scottish and EU student (not from the rest of the UK) with a place on the DLP (the number is around 700) will be eligible to apply to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for the available support.

Question reference: S4F-00316

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2011

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to tackle human trafficking.

Question reference: S4W-03732

Asked by: Drew Smith, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has sought the (a) consent or (b) opinion from a member of the Royal Family on a (i) legislative or (ii) policy matter and, if so, on what occasions.

Academic Year	No. of FLAs
2005-06	284
2006-07	264
2007-08	257
2008-09	244
2009-10	191
2010-11	128
2011-12	59

Academic Year	Number of Places
2006-07	661
2007-08	685
2008-09	776
2009-10	724
2010-11	685