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: S6W-22303

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what role it anticipates the Centre of Teaching Excellence will have regarding the development of the school curriculum.

Question reference: S6W-22299

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the Centre of Teaching Excellence is expected to be launched, to the nearest year.

The Scottish Government’s national mission to close the poverty related attainment gap will be supported by the establishment of a Centre of Teaching Excellence.

The Centre is being progressed as part of the Education Reform programme; I updated Parliament in my statement on 6 November 2023 to that end.

With its focus on learning and teaching, the Centre will help Scotland remain at the cutting edge of teaching practice by, for example, distilling research and evidence into practical and digestible support for every teacher and practitioner in Scotland, meeting a widely recognised need in the system.

The Scottish Government is committed to co-designing the Centre with teachers and practitioners, professional associations, local government and Scotland’s national education bodies, to ensure it meets the needs of its users and stakeholders.

The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers and practitioners, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of that design process.

Question reference: S6W-22550

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21959 by Jenny Gilruth on 27 October 2023, for what reason the answer did not address the explicit point in both the original question and the follow-up question regarding what consequences there are for local authorities that do not meet its commitment to provide every school pupil with their own laptop or other digital device; what its position is on whether not addressing this point in both the previous answers meets the commitment set out in paragraph 1.3 (d) of the Scottish Ministerial Code, which states that "Ministers should be as open as possible with the Parliament and the public, reflecting the aspirations set out in the Report of the Consultative Steering Group on the Scottish Parliament [...and] should refuse to provide information only in accordance with the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and other relevant statutes"; whether it will confirm whether (a) there are, or will be, any consequences for local authorities that do not meet its commitment to provide every school pupil with their own laptop or other digital device and (b) any consequences will be retrospectively imposed; for what reason it is still in the process of developing delivery plans for this scheme, in light of it committing to it nearly three years ago, and by what date any such delivery plans will be finalised and published.

As stated in the original answer, we continue to work to develop plans on the provision of digital devices, which includes ensuring appropriate consideration of funding, monitoring and reporting. Given the extremely challenging financial climate, it is important that this is fully considered to ensure best value.

As set out in the Programme for Government, we will publish a digital strategy to support the broader aims of the education system and further details on this strategy will be provided in due course.

Question reference: S6W-22549

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21885 by Jenny Gilruth on 26 October 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what consequences local authorities will face if they do not increase teacher numbers to the levels that it requires; for what reason it did not provide this information in its answer, and whether it can confirm whether it (a) has imposed a requirement on local authorities but has not finalised any consequences for not meeting that requirement and (b) plans to decide and apply any consequences for local authorities that do not meet the requirement during or after that happening.

Further to the answer S6W-21885, we have been clear that if increased teacher numbers are not maintained, we reserve the right to withhold or recoup funding which has been given for this purpose.

That data will be available following publication of the Summary Statistics for schools in December.

In assessing whether these conditions have been met, we will consider any mitigating circumstances individual councils may wish to put forward.

Local authorities are aware of these arrangements.

Question reference: S6W-22201

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-20954 by Jenny Gilruth on 19 September 2023, whether it or local authorities will meet the cost to "update when necessary" the laptops, Chromebooks and tablets that are given to school children in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-22541

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21423 by Jenny Gilruth on 2 October 2023, whether it will provide the number of probationers that were bid for, and the number allocated, broken down by subject, as well as by local authority.

Question reference: S6W-22571

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 14 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether any funds realised from the apprenticeship levy are used to fund the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, and, if so, what proportion of such funds are used in this way.

As noted earlier in the year in a similar parliamentary question , the UK Government Apprenticeship Levy is a reserved tax on employers which was implemented by the UK Government. Scotland receives a proportionate share of tax revenues via the block grant as per the Fiscal Framework agreement with UK Treasury.

On 14 November 2016, the UK Government announced the Scottish Government’s settlement from the UK Apprenticeship Levy based on a population share of projected revenue for the first three years only. From 2020-21, the normal operation of the Barnett Formula has applied. As a result, the Scottish Government has no direct control or responsibility for its operation and we have not had a breakdown of Levy funding for Scotland since 2020-21. This means that we cannot directly link funds realised from the apprenticeship levy to any funding stream, including the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF).

Question reference: S6W-22204

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 13 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-21418 by Jenny Gilruth on 9 October 2023, what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding (a) whether pupils who have received a free laptop or other digital device will receive a replacement device should theirs break, (b) how swiftly any such replacement will be made available and (c) whether it or the local authority meets the cost of any such replacement.

Question reference: S6O-02724

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 15 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Police Scotland regarding its north east pilot not to investigate crimes if that is deemed a proportionate response by the service.

Question reference: S6W-22202

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 October 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 8 November 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-15474 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 10 March 2023, how much of the £13 million allocated in its Budget 2023-24 has been allocated to date; which local authorities have received funding; what proportion of the allocated funding each local authority received; whether there is any remaining funding to allocate, and, if so, (a) when and (b) to which local authorities any such remaining funding will be allocated.