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-21513

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed an integrated response to the education, volunteering and employment needs of people recovering from alcohol and drug problems through the No One Left Behind strategy, as included at action point 11e in the updated Rights, Respect and Recovery Action Plan 2019-2021, which was published in December 2020.

No One Left Behind is the Scottish Government’s approach to transforming employment support in Scotland. This strategy is tailored and responsive to the needs of people of all ages and backgrounds who want help and support on their journey towards and into work - particularly people with health conditions, people with disabilities and others who are disadvantaged in the labour market, including those with lived and living experience of alcohol and drug use.

In January of this year, the Scottish Government published our Cross-Government response to the Drug Deaths Taskforce, ‘Changing Lives’ final report. This response set out our commitment to progress Cross Government work to provide employment support through the No One Left Behind strategy.

Scottish Government’s forthcoming Drugs and Alcohol Workforce Action Plan will provide further information on work underway to support people with lived and living experience of drugs and alcohol use towards, and into work, including roles within the drugs and alcohol sector.

Question reference: S6W-21380

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the difference in the Preference Waiver Payment between primary and secondary probationer teachers, and whether it plans to revisit this.

The Scottish Government continues to keep Preference Waiver Payments (PWP) under review through the Teacher Induction Scheme Ongoing Review Group, and the Strategic Board for Teacher Education will also consider this issue as part of its wider work on teacher recruitment and retention.

However, it is worth highlighting the original intent of the scheme, which is to incentivise teachers to undertake their probation in those parts of Scotland where recruitment and retention is the greatest challenge. We know that those pressures are generally felt more in secondary schools than they are in primary schools.

Question reference: S6W-21372

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of its National e-Learning Offer, and, if so, what its conclusions were.

The “live” aspect of the National e-Learning Offer (NeLO), which includes interactive, online classes and study support from early years to senior phase, is evaluated via Annual Evidence of Impact Reports published by e-Sgoil. The latest report which covers academic year 2022/23 was published in June 2023, and is available at: https://www.e-sgoil.com/downloads/e-sgoil_Impact_Report_2023.pdf

Key highlights from that report included the following:

19,000 webinar registrations for evening study support

16,100 webinar registrations for Easter Study support

44,915 learner attendances at “Developing the Young Workforce Live” sessions

170 “interrupted learners” who are unable to attend school onboarded and engaging with live, interactive programmes of learning.

The “recorded lessons” offer from NeLO is hosted by West Online School (West OS) and their reports are available at: https://www.westpartnership.co.uk/evaluating-and-reporting/ . In 2022-23, 90% of schools and over 40,000 learners accessed WestOS recorded lessons, podcasts and masterclasses.

The “supported” offer is hosted by Education Scotland in the form of a repository of online resources with a single search tool and usage is captured as part of Education Scotland’s own reporting.

NeLO partners continue to gather learner and educator feedback through focus groups and questionnaires.

Question reference: S6W-21376

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support it has offered to local authorities to expand children's access to outdoor play and learning within the childcare sector.

In line with the National Standard for providers of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), it is a requirement that “children have daily access to outdoor play and they regularly experience outdoor play in a natural environment as part of their funded ELC offer ” .

To support this, we have delivered the Out to Play Improve programme and funded the Virtual Nature School programme, which supported more than 2,500 practitioners and 40,000 children and family members to have quality outdoor experiences. We also funded Inspiring Scotland through the ELC expansion to increase outdoor play and learning activities.

In 2020, the Scottish Government published ‘Out to Play’ guidance and advice for early learning and childcare settings and practitioners on how to access outdoor spaces to create safe, nurturing and inspiring outdoor learning experiences.

Question reference: S6W-21405

Asked by: Sharon Dowey, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what conditions must be met to qualify for an energy saving grant from Home Energy Scotland.

The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan Scheme was launched in December 2022 and offers homeowners in Scotland a grant, interest free loan or a combination of both to support the installation of zero direct emission heating systems and energy efficiency measures.

The scheme is open to all domestic homeowners in Scotland who live in the property they own.

Further information regarding scheme requirements is available on the Home Energy Scotland website: https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/funding/grants-loans/detail/

Question reference: S6W-21356

Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Transport Scotland’s £4 million contract with Turner and Townsend for project and programme management support for the CHFS3 project.

Question reference: S6W-20910

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government, according to the latest data, how many children (a) in Aberdeen and (b) throughout Scotland are in receipt of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland provides census data on numbers of registrations for funded early learning and childcare (ELC) at the local authority level as of September 2022. These figures are shown in the following table. The census does not currently record the number of hours being accessed by each child.

Local Authority	Number of funded registrations
Aberdeen City	3,740
Aberdeenshire	4,765
Angus	1,806
Argyll and Bute	1,290
City of Edinburgh	7,765
Clackmannanshire	897
Dumfries and Galloway	2,244
Dundee City	2,546
East Ayrshire	2,346
East Dunbartonshire	2,024
East Lothian	2,073
East Renfrewshire	1,897
Falkirk	2,699
Fife	6,452
Glasgow City	10,403
Highland	3,946
Inverclyde	1,255
Midlothian	2,196
Moray	1,521
Na h-Eileanan Siar	406
North Ayrshire	1,952
North Lanarkshire	5,855
Orkney Islands	382
Perth and Kinross	2,398
Renfrewshire	3,427
Scottish Borders	1,704
Shetland Islands	441
South Ayrshire	1,794
South Lanarkshire	5,939
Stirling	1,506
West Dunbartonshire	1,583
West Lothian	3,363
Scotland	92,615

Separately, the latest management information collected from local authorities, and published by the Improvement Service in June 2023, reported that there were 119,108 children accessing funded ELC at the end of April 2023. Of that number, 100,506 children (84.4%) were accessing 1,140 hours and 116,625 (97.9%) children were accessing more than 600 hours. The Improvement Service does not publish this management information at local authority level.

Question reference: S6W-20895

Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 August 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on rejoining international surveys on literacy and numeracy, and in what year it will be possible to make comparisons between Scotland and other European countries.

Officials have met with the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement, who direct PIRLS and TIMSS, to begin the process of rejoining the studies.

The next cycles of PIRLS and TIMSS will be in 2026 and 2027 respectively. Results for PIRLS 2026 are expected in December 2027 and results for TIMSS 2027 are expected in December 2028. At this point, comparisons can be made with participating countries from across Europe and beyond.

Question reference: S6W-21626

Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total volume, in kilograms, was of below Minimum Conservation Reference Size (a) cod, (b) haddock, (c) herring, (d) whiting, (e) sole, (f) plaice and (g) saithe that was discarded by Scottish boats in 2022, in ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) areas (i) 4 and (ii) 6a.

The total quantity of discards below Minimum Conservation Reference Size from Scottish vessels is not currently estimated. The Marine Directorate of the Scottish Government estimates the total weight of bycatch (catch that was not considered suitable for commercial sales) below Minimum Conservation Reference Size for demersal trawlers and seine netters for each year, using data collected by scientific observers on-board fishing vessels. Fishing trips by vessels using other gears are not surveyed. The estimates for 2022 are given in the table below. These estimates are for fishing trips by UK vessels landing into Scotland and Scottish vessels landing abroad, however the estimates for solely Scottish vessels are likely to be of similar magnitude.

Estimates of the total weight of bycatch (kg) below Minimum Conservation Reference Size, rounded to the nearest tonne, caught in 2022 in ICES subarea 4 and division 6a by UK vessels landing into Scotland and Scottish vessels landing abroad, fishing with demersal trawls or seines.

Species	ICES region
Species	(i) 4	(ii) 6a
(a) Cod	316,000	6,000
(b) Haddock	6167,000	630,000
(c) Herring	1,000	0
(d) Whiting	380,000	58,000
(e) Sole	0	0
(f) Plaice	139,000	1,000
(g) Saithe	12,000	0

Question reference: S6W-21507

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
Current Status: Answered by Elena Whitham on 29 September 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has developed and implemented guidance on assertive outreach specifically for alcohol use, targeting those at most risk, as included at action point 7a in the updated Rights, Respect and Recovery Action Plan 2019-2021, which was published in December 2020.

The launch of our National Mission on Drugs in January 2021 has meant that some of the commitments set out in the Rights, Respect, Recovery Strategy and the action plan for it, refreshed in December 2020, are being delivered in a different way. Many of the milestones are being delivered through the National Mission and others are being picked up as part of more recent Government commitments.

Assertive outreach is being delivered though the guidance for Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) standard 3. The aim of MAT standard 3 is to proactively identify people, including through assertive outreach, who are at high risk, and to prevent harms by rapidly providing that individual with appropriate support.

In practice, implementation of MAT standard 3 extends to all substance misuse problems. A significant proportion of support offered to people identified through outreach is for problem alcohol use. Alcohol-specific outreach guidance will feature in wider standards for alcohol and drug treatment following the publication of UK-wide alcohol treatment guidelines.