Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-02741

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 30 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is over the next five years for the delivery of the 1,140 hours of free early learning and childcare for three- and four-year-olds referred to in the Programme for Government.

We are committed to ensuring that the necessary infrastructure, workforce and delivery models are in place to meet our commitment to expand early learning and childcare entitlement to 1140 hours per year by 2020. As I announced to Parliamentary on 29 September 2016, we will shortly be publishing a Policy Blueprint consultation document which will seek views on the Scottish Government’s vision and principles for the expansion, and will set out a timetable for key next steps.

Question reference: S5W-02371

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many STEM subject (a) pupils aged 14 to 18 and (b) teachers there have been in each year since 2011, broken down by (i) gender and (ii) subject.

The number of entries into SQA qualifications in STEM subjects, broken down by gender since academic year 2010-11 are shown in table one. The number of teachers whose main subject is STEM, broken down by gender, over the same time period, is shown in table two. Please note the caveats presented in the footnotes for each table when interpreting figures.

Table 1: SQA entries into STEM¹ subjects² by gender, 2010-11 – 2015-16, all candidates³, all centers.


Female
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	31,308	31,509	31,766	30,187	29,149	26,602
Human Biology	2,894	2,995	3,006	2,879	3,281	4,216
Chemistry	20,289	20,471	20,388	19,581	18,687	17,949
Physics	8,939	9,235	9,303	8,804	8,202	7,795
Computing Science	6,768	6,508	5,614	3,940	3,182	2,871
Mathematics	54,676	55,051	53,442	47,632	44,793	44,494
Science	1,084	937	974	284	316	303
Male
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	17,108	17,947	18,032	16,543	15,924	14,223
Human Biology	1,372	1,415	1,267	1,277	1,444	1,775
Chemistry	20,649	20,971	21,049	19,984	18,886	17,841
Physics	24,695	24,874	24,863	24,610	24,359	23,475
Computing Science	15,347	15,402	14,423	13,507	13,293	13,221
Mathematics	57,940	58,639	56,489	50,613	46,719	45,789
Science	1,285	1,149	1,151	403	499	424
All
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	48,416	49,456	49,798	46,730	45,073	40,825
Human Biology	4,266	4,410	4,273	4,156	4,725	5,991
Chemistry	40,938	41,442	41,437	39,565	37,573	35,790
Physics	33,634	34,109	34,166	33,414	32,561	31,270
Computing Science	22,115	21,910	20,037	17,447	16,475	16,092
Mathematics	112,616	113,690	109,931	98,245	91,512	90,283
Science	2,369	2,086	2,125	687	815	727

1. STEM comprises biology, human biology, chemistry, physics, computing science and mathematics. Other subjects may be considered STEM but the ones chosen here give the best continuity across time

2. Subjects are across SCQF levels 3 to 7 and include Standard Grades, Access 3, National 3, Intermediate 1, National 4, Intermediate 2, National 5, Previous Higher, Higher, Previous Advanced Higher and Advanced Higher qualifications.

3. The data include entries by third, fourth, fifth and sixth year school candidates, Other School candidates (which includes first year, second year and adults attending school), Further Education Colleges, and Other (which covers candidates outwith school or college, for example workplace candidates).

Table 2: Secondary school teachers¹ - STEM subjects - Main subject taught² - FTE – 2010-11-2015-16.


Female
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	820	823	832	865	854	854
Chemistry	521	538	557	568	584	587
Physics	244	244	239	240	246	247
Computing	300	304	291	290	276	265
Mathematics	1,451	1,390	1,389	1,359	1,347	1,326
Science (general)	88	90	85	66	64	67

Male
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	342	334	337	325	325	311
Chemistry	415	390	378	367	353	345
Physics	624	605	598	582	576	560
Computing	398	371	369	359	359	336
Mathematics	1,193	1,143	1,115	1,082	1,055	1,024
Science (general)	55	52	58	50	65	61

All
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Biology	1,162	1,157	1,169	1,190	1,179	1,165
Chemistry	936	928	935	935	937	932
Physics	868	850	837	822	823	807
Computing	699	675	660	649	636	601
Mathematics	2,644	2,533	2,504	2,441	2,403	2,350
Science (general)	143	141	143	116	129	128

1. Excludes head teachers and depute head teachers.

2. Note that some teachers also teach an 'other subject', but this split is not collected by FTE. This data assumes that each teacher spends all of their time teaching their main subject.

Question reference: S5W-02742

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) three- and (b) four-year-olds are on waiting lists for access to early learning and childcare, broken down by local authority.

Information on waiting lists to early learning and childcare is not held centrally. Local Authorities are under a duty to provide early learning and childcare places to all three and four year olds from set times following their 3^rd birthday under the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Order 2014. It is for local authorities to manage their own registration and admission policies.

Question reference: S5W-02775

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it will provide for the targeted marketing campaign to recruit additional Early Learning and Childcare workers referred to in the 2016-17 Programme for Government, when it will begin and what form it will take.

Ahead of any recruitment campaign, the Scottish Government is currently working with delivery partners to explore all existing routes to recruit a high quality and diverse early learning and childcare workforce. A Skills Investment Plan is being developed and research is currently being conducted with target audiences. This work will inform the cost and scope of the recruitment campaign. We will start to target our marketing activity from spring 2017.

Question reference: S5W-02747

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will provide in (a) real and (b) cash terms each year toward the pledge in the Programme for Government that "by 2018, nurseries in our most deprived areas will benefit from an additional qualified teacher or childcare graduate".

Question reference: S5O-00193

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 28 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it will implement the recommendations arising from its consultation on the Apprenticeship Levy.

The Apprenticeship Levy was announced by the UK Government without any prior consultation with the Scottish Government, or indeed others who will be liable for paying the levy.

The consultation undertaken by the Scottish Government closed on 26 August 2016 and independent analysis of the near 400 responses is now underway, once that concludes we will form our response in Scotland. However, initial analysis does suggest broad support from employers and stakeholders to the areas proposed in the consultation.

We are acutely aware of the need to provide employers and training providers with clarity over our approach to the Levy in Scotland and will be looking to do so as quickly as we can.

Question reference: S5W-03190

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-02740

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will provide in (a) real and (b) cash terms each year toward the provision of the additional 20,000 qualified early learning and childcare workers by 2020 referred to in the Programme for Government.

Ahead of any recruitment campaign, the Scottish Government is currently working with delivery partners to explore all existing routes to recruit a high quality and diverse early learning and childcare workforce. A Skills Investment Plan is being developed and research is currently being conducted with target audiences. This work will inform the cost and scope of the recruitment campaign. We will start to target our marketing activity from spring 2017.

Question reference: S5W-02767

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 26 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional qualified teachers or childcare graduates it expects to be in place in nurseries in the most deprived areas by 2018.

The Scottish Government is currently working with partners to identify target nurseries for the rollout of the additional graduate or teacher commitment from 2018. This is drawing on new SIMD data published on 31 August 2016 and locally held information, to ensure that the highest possible number of the most disadvantaged young children can benefit from an additional graduate or teacher. We will set out more information autumn 2016.

Question reference: S5O-00180

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 September 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether all of its and its agencies’ employees receive at least the Scottish living wage.

All public bodies covered by the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy are required to pay their employees the Scottish Living Wage as part of their annual pay settlements. This requirement has been an integral part of our public sector pay policy since 2011. The policy covers the Scottish Government, its agencies, and the non-departmental public bodies for which we are responsible. It also covers the subsidiaries of these bodies.

There may be a small number of staff in public bodies subject to Minister’s pay policy still to benefit from the 2016 Scottish Living Wage increase, but this is due to the fact that these bodies are still to conclude pay negotiations with members of staff and their unions this year and Scottish Ministers cannot intervene while these negotiations continue.

We have also made sure that since [April] 2011, all NHS staff in Scotland earn above living wage rate. All teachers, police officers and Fire Service personnel already earn above the living wage rate.

The Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy does not extend to local authorities. Local authorities are self-governing bodies and set the terms and conditions under which local government staff are employed. However, I welcome the fact that local authorities do pay the living wage as part of their current pay settlement and the Scottish Government will encourage them to continue to do so for future pay awards.

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