- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it had (a) completed all the work required to produce and (b) finalised a draft action plan on behaviour in schools, prior to the commencement of the purdah period for the 2024 General Election.
Answer
The relationships and behaviour action plan had been agreed by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) at its meeting on 15 May 2024, subject to some identified drafting changes. The guidance was in the process of being finalised when the need to consider whether or not it could be published during the pre-election period arose. The guidance would otherwise have been published prior to the end of school year.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on when it will publish its response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment.
Answer
The Scottish Government will publish its response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment as soon as practically possible in the new school year.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with teaching organisations regarding increasing the timetabling of computing science at Higher level, and what the outcomes were of any such discussions.
Answer
The timetabling of Computing Science in the senior phase is the responsibility of individual schools who have discretion to deliver a curriculum that best meets the needs of their pupils and the wider community.
Since September 2022, Education Scotland has overseen a national timetabling group bringing school leaders and local authority representatives together to focus on innovative approaches to timetabling across all curricular areas.
The Scottish Government also continues to fund and engage with the organisation, Scottish Teachers Advancing Computing Science (STACS), to support Computing Science as a subject area. One of the key aims of STACS is to promote Computing Science as a desirable career option to young people and their parents/carers.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many discussions it has had with teaching organisations regarding its plans to deliver a national digital academy in 2024, and what the outcomes were of any such discussions.
Answer
Scottish Government and Education Scotland have begun user engagement around the development of a National Digital Academy. A survey capturing the views of 2,229 learners has been undertaken, and a series of interviews and focus groups have been held with learners, parents and virtual learning environment providers. Education Scotland will continue this engagement with teaching organisations and other national bodies over the next few months, with overall findings from engagement being shared in due course.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills held, between 1 April and 22 May 2024, to discuss the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
As part of routine government business, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills met with officials between 1 April and 22 May 2024. The Scottish Government response to the Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment was discussed and refinements were made to the draft response.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills held, between 1 April and 22 May 2024, to discuss its guidance on mobile phones in schools, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
Between 1 April and 22 May 2024 I held three meetings to discuss the revised guidance on use of mobiles phones in schools:
? Two meetings with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) on 16 April 2024 and 15 May 2024. Minutes of these meetings are available at: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
? A meeting with the Head Teacher Taskforce on 22 May, the minutes of which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/head-teacher-taskforce-minutes-may-2024/
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills held, between 1 April and 22 May 2024, to discuss its action plan on behaviour in schools, and what the outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
Between 1 April and 22 May 2024 I held four meetings to discuss the relationships and behaviour action plan:
? Two meetings with the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) on 16 April 2024 and 15 May 2024, the minutes of which are available at: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
? A meeting with Opposition Party Spokespeople on education on 16 April to discuss their priorities for the development of the action plan, with actions to provide further information and further explore some of the issues discussed.
? A meeting with the Head Teacher Taskforce on 22 May, the minutes of which can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/head-teacher-taskforce-minutes-may-2024/
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason the data regarding River Garden Auchincruive is absent from Public Health Scotland's Interim monitoring report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements, which was published on 18 June 2024.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) follows statistical disclosure control (SDC) when publishing data, including those submitted for their most recent report on statutory-funded residential rehabilitation placements.
PHS applies the SDC to data due to the sensitive nature of the topic, and to reduce the risk of identifying individuals, (especially those from small geographic areas) who in this case were the number of people accessing residential rehabilitation for substance use in River Garden.
The data was therefore suppressed and an asterisk used to denote this in the published report.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Christina McKelvie on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government how it will address any impact of the closure of facilities,
such as Turning Point 218 in Glasgow, on the availability and accessibility of
addiction recovery services for women.
Answer
The Scottish Government will address the impact of changes to service provision on access and availability to alcohol and drug recovery services by continuing to ensure that the specific needs of women are considered in the design and delivery of services, and that a gendered approach is taken in all new or developing initiatives across the National Mission to reduce deaths and improve lives.
The Scottish Government provided specific funding of around £1.5m per year to Glasgow City Council to support the 218 Service. As a result of that funding relationship, Glasgow informed the Scottish Government of its plans to re-tender the service last year and discussions took place to confirm that the funding would still be available following that exercise.
Glasgow City Council has provided assurances that it worked closely with Turning Point Scotland to support individuals in transitioning to other support arrangements and that other services, including residential placements, are available to support people with similar needs. In particular, it has confirmed that all 218 service residents had moved on from the service as of 31 January 2024 – some residents naturally came to the end of their stay, while others moved back to their own tenancy or to accommodation with support.
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 July 2024
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Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 31 July 2024
To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to fulfil the Scottish National Party 2021 manifesto commitment to "legislate to ensure equal rights of succession for women in agriculture, and reform trust law that enables avoidance of legal obligations like the pre-emptive right to buy for tenants".
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to equality in agriculture, which is set out in the Agricultural Reform Route Map and in our 2023-2024 Programme for Government.
In line with the 2023-2024 Programme for Government, we are co-developing a gender strategy for agriculture. The strategy will be developed in partnership with women living and working in agriculture and through a ministerial roundtable with stakeholders. The results of these discussions will inform the development of the strategy and any future legislative needs. We are also continuing to fund training opportunities for women, new entrants, and young farmers as part of increasing business resilience, just transition, and equality of opportunity for all.
We will to bring forward a consultation on how trust law interacts with the pre-emptive right to buy for tenant farmers within the next year. This will draw on the views of the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum.
The Scottish Government remains committed to supporting everyone living and working in Scottish agriculture and empowering them to play their role in making our Vision for Agriculture a reality.