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-12513

Asked by: Roz McCall, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on closing the attainment gap in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

Over the course of the last Parliament, there was demonstrable progress on a number of long-term measures to close the poverty related attainment gap, with attainment gaps in literacy and numeracy narrowing pre-pandemic in primary schools. We know that the pandemic and cost of living crisis has made our ambition of achieving equity in education harder but we are committed to substantially eliminating the poverty related attainment gap and are investing
‎ £1 billion over the course of this parliamentary term in the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) – a substantial increase on last term’s £750 million funding.

The Scottish Government gathers a range of data via the National Improvement Framework, which includes 11 key measures of particular relevance to the attainment gap in both the Broad General Education and Senior Phase. A detailed breakdown of attainment and the poverty related attainment gap can be found on the Scottish Government website - Supporting documents - Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2020-21 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and Supporting documents - Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 4: 2022 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

From 2015-16 to 2021-22, £97.6 million was allocated to local authorities in Mid Scotland and Fife region, through a range of funding streams that contribute to the SAC: Pupil Equity Funding (PEF), Care Experienced Children and Young People (CECYP), Challenge Authority and Schools Programme.

From 2022-23 onwards, investment in the refreshed SAC programme is continuing with all Local Authorities now receiving direct funding for the first time through Strategic Equity Funding (SEF) along with the continuing of PEF and CECYP. In 2022-23, £16.8 million has been allocated to Clackmannanshire, Fife, Perth & Kinross and Stirling. Through the introduction of SEF, Fife, Perth & Kinross and Stirling Councils are receiving funding for the first time to develop strategic local authority plans to close the poverty related attainment gap. This funding empowers schools and Councils to drive education recovery and accelerate progress in tackling the poverty related attainment gap.

Through the SAC Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress , all local authorities are now required to set ambitious stretch aims for progress closing the gap. These should be published on local platforms as part of local authority education service improvement plans. A national aggregation of these aims will be published later this month and will be available to access here .

Question reference: S6W-12498

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how many assaults against high school teachers on school property have been recorded in each year since 2017.

Information on assaults against high school teachers on school property is not held centrally.

The biennial Attendance, Absence and Exclusions data collection gathers data on the number and reasons recorded for temporary or permanent exclusions from school. These data show that there were 779 cases of exclusion (temporary or permanent) from publicly funded schools in Scotland during 2020-21 where the reason recorded was either ‘physical assault using improvised weapon against staff’, ‘physical assault using weapon against staff’ or ‘physical assault with no weapon against staff’. This compares to 1,737 in 2018-19 and 1,960 in 2016-17.

Question reference: S6W-12495

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government by what means it decides which low-carbon infrastructure projects receive Green Growth Accelerator funding.

In June 2021, the Scottish Government and COSLA announced an open call for proposals from local authorities for pathfinder projects to be supported through the Green Growth Accelerator (GGA) programme.

The assessment of proposals was overseen jointly by Scottish Government and COSLA and proposals were scored against a set of criteria that were shared in advance with all local authorities. The assessment criteria included: carbon emissions reduction impacts, socio-economic impacts, maturity and deliverability of the project; additionality; and strategic fit with national and local net zero ambitions. Following the robust assessment process, the first tranche of GGA pathfinder projects was announced by Scottish Government in October 2021.

Question reference: S6W-12368

Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many children in each local authority area are eligible to receive a free laptop or tablet, and, of those, how many (a) have received and (b) are yet to receive a free laptop or tablet.

Our commitment is for all pupils to have access to a digital device by the end of this Parliament. The following table shows how many devices have been distributed by each local authority using the £25m digital inclusion funding made available by Scottish Government in 2020/21. This funding supported the provision of 14,000 internet connections and over 72,000 tablets or laptops in total for learners across all local authorities.

Local Authority	Devices Distributed (via SG digital inclusion funding 2020/21)
Aberdeen City	1,777
Aberdeenshire	5,008
Angus	2,420
Argyll & Bute	1,317
City of Edinburgh	2,605
Clackmannanshire	828
Dumfries & Galloway	2,371
Dundee City	2,050
East Ayrshire	1,837
East Dunbartonshire	1,015
East Lothian	1,806
East Renfrewshire	623
Falkirk	1,840
Fife	5,465
Glasgow City	7,240
Highland	4,499
Inverclyde	1,107
Midlothian	1,235
Moray	1,315
Na h-EileananSiar	357
North Ayrshire	1,734
North Lanarkshire	6,026
Orkney Islands	275
Perth & Kinross	1,507
Renfrewshire	1,800
Scottish Borders	316
Shetland Islands	475
South Ayrshire	1,512
South Lanarkshire	5,544
Stirling	1,794
West Dunbartonshire	2,084
West Lothian	2,905
Total	72,687

Individual local authorities across Scotland have also undertaken their own digital inclusion schemes and have distributed connections and devices to learners in line with their own digital strategies. The latest information we have available indicates that a total of almost 280,000 devices have been, or are in the process of being, rolled out to learners across Scotland. This includes the 72,000 funded by Scottish Government. We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term in 2026.

Question reference: S6W-12357

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Mairi McAllan on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the proposed Land Reform Bill, whom it has identified as the "key stakeholders" for the purpose of policy development, and what engagement is taking place with those stakeholders.

Land reform is a matter of longstanding public concern and there are a number of established stakeholders in this area. They cover a variety of interests, and include landowners, tenants, and community groups and their respective representative organisations, charities and third sector groups, academics, as well as solicitors and other professionals concerned with property law and taxation.

Engagement with stakeholders has so far taken place primarily through the formal consultation process. The consultation, Land Reform in a Net Zero Nation , was published on 4 July 2022, setting out our proposals for the next Land Reform Bill. During the consultation period a programme of Ministerial public meetings took place, with five in-person meetings (in Langholm, Invermoriston, Helmsdale, Stornoway, and Ballater) and an online meeting, which attracted over 100 participants from across Scotland.

Approximately 540 responses to the consultation have been received and these are currently being analysed. We remain committed to continuing to engage with stakeholders throughout the Bill process.

Question reference: S6W-12494

Asked by: Donald Cameron, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of the total amount of funding allocated from the Green Growth Accelerator programme.

The Scottish Government has provided £120,000 to each of the six local authorities that were selected to deliver Green Growth Accelerator pathfinder projects (Aberdeen City Council, City of Edinburgh Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highland Council, North Lanarkshire Council and West Dunbartonshire Council). This funding was provided for development phase of the pathfinder projects, including feasibility work and business case development.

Further to this, the Scottish Government has worked with COSLA to agree funding from the Green Growth Accelerator 2022-23 budget to support local authorities with the development of low carbon infrastructure projects this year. Each local authority has been allocated funding of £26,000 to assist them in the development of a pipeline of low carbon infrastructure projects which could be supported through the Green Growth Accelerator.

Question reference: S6W-12451

Asked by: Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-00752 by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 February 2022, what its position is on whether the decision to verbally rule out unbundling Scotland’s ferry network went against the regulations set out in the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 on consulting island communities.

Question reference: S6T-01023

Asked by: Mark Griffin, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that local government directors of finance have written to the finance secretary regarding an unprecedented £1 billion budget gap, and of COSLA stating that the current spending plans will lead to job losses.

Question reference: S6T-01018

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2022

To ask Scottish Government what its response is to comments from the Auditor General that it underspent its budget by £2 billion in the financial year 2021-22.

Question reference: S6T-01020

Asked by: Sandesh Gulhane, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 December 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on Strep A cases in Scotland, including what it is doing to mitigate any risks.