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: S5W-34830

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 8 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many Modern Apprenticeship places have been created in the Clackmannanshire local authority area for each year since 2015.

Question reference: S5W-34838

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many families in the Clackmannanshire local authority area have received the (a) Best Start Grant and (b) Best Start Foods.

Social Security Scotland routinely publish information as part of the quarterly Official Statistics release ‘Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods’. This includes information at Local Authority level.

The latest Official Statistics, covering the period from 10 December 2018 to‎ 30 November 2020, show that 1,725 Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods applications were authorised for payment in the Clackmannanshire local authority area.

The value of these payments, by 30 November, was over £429,000 for Best Start Grant, and over £119,000 for Best Start Foods.

Information on Best Start Grant and Best Start Foods was last published on the‎ 26 January 2021 and provided information up to the 30 November 2020. This publication is available from:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/best-start-grant-and-best-start-foods-high-level-statistics-to-30-november-2020/

Question reference: S5W-34836

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 5 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in the Clackmannanshire local authority area have received the Carer's Allowance Supplement since it was introduced.

Since Carers's Allowance Supplement was introduced in April 2018 payments have been made to 1,170 carers in the Clackmannanshire local authority area who were eligible on at least one eligibility date from April 2018 to April 2020.

The most recent statistics were published on 11 August 2020 and covered carers in receipt of Carer’s Allowance to the April 2020 eligibility date. This information is available from: https://www.gov.scot/publications/carers-allowance-at-february-2020-and-carers-allowance-supplement-to-april-eligibility-date-2020-statistics/ The next publication of Official Statistics is due to be released on 23 rd February 2021, and will include information to the October 2020 eligibility date.

Question reference: S5W-34834

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils in the Clackmannanshire local authority secured a positive destination on leaving school in each year since 2007.

The percentage of pupils in Clackmannanshire local authority who secured a positive follow-up destination on leaving school is available on a consistent basis for 2009-10 to 2018-19 in table L2.1 of the Summary Statistics for Follow-up leaver Destinations publication: Summary Statistics for Follow-up leaver Destinations, No. 2: 2020 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . The figures relate to the destinations of school leavers from publicly funded schools 9 months after the end of the relevant school year.

For 2009-10 onwards positive destinations are: Further Education, Higher Education, Employment, Training, Voluntary Work, Personal Skills Development and Activity Agreements.

Figures for 2007-08 and 2008/09 are available in archived publications but were produced using a different methodology and so are not directly comparable to those provided for 2009/10 onwards. For example, for these years school leavers undertaking Personal Skills Development activity could be recorded either as being in a positive destination or in an other destination depending on the details of the activity being undertaken.

Percentage of school leavers from publicly funded schools in Clackmannanshire in a positive follow-up destination

Year	Percentage of school leavers in a positive follow-up destination
2018-19	90.8
2017-18	91.7
2016-17	89.7
2015-16	87.7
2014-15	87.3
2013-14	88.5
2012-13	*
2011-12	87.7
2010-11	79.6
2009-10	81.1
---------	-------------------------------------
2008-09	79.3
2007-08	78.8

Note: The * symbol in 2012-13 indicates that the value has been suppressed to protect against the risk of disclosure of personal information.

Question reference: S5W-34833

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 January 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils left high school with one higher or more in the Clackmannanshire local authority area in each year since 2007.

The percentage of pupils in the Clackmannanshire Council area leaving school having achieved one or more pass in National Qualifications at SCQF Level 6 or better is available on a consistent basis for 2009-10 to 2018-19 in table A2.2 of the Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations publication: Summary Statistics for Attainment and Initial Leaver Destinations, No. 2: 2020 Edition - gov.scot (www.gov.scot). The figures relate to school leavers from publicly funded schools.

Figures for years prior to this are available in archived publications but were produced using a different methodology and so are not directly comparable to those for 2009-10 onwards.

Percentage of school leavers from publicly funded schools in Clackmannanshire attaining 1 pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or better

Year	Percentage of school leavers with 1 pass or more at SCQF Level 6 or better
2018-19	54.4
2017-18	49.7
2016-17	53.5
2015-16	51.7
2014-15	49.4
2013-14	52.6
2012-13	50.0
2011-12	48.8
2010-11	45.5
2009-10	48.4
-------	-----------------------------
2008-09	40.8
2007-08	36.7
2006-07	40.3

Question reference: S5O-05008

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 February 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 February 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how Scotland’s International Environment Centre could contribute to meeting the country's climate change ambitions.

Question reference: S5O-04962

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of children and young people are accessing places at school and nursery during the current lockdown period.

Question reference: S5O-04939

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 January 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has produced regarding the provision of education in prisons under the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Question reference: S5W-33930

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 22 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of people in each local authority area have received a COVID-19 test.

The following table sets out the percentages of the population in each local authority who have received a COVID-19 test at least once as at 14 December.

Local Authority Area	Percentage of the population who have been tested at least once
Aberdeen City	22%
Aberdeenshire	19%
Angus	20%
Argyll & Bute	19%
City of Edinburgh	21%
Clackmannanshire	29%
Dumfries & Galloway	21%
Dundee City	25%
East Ayrshire	25%
East Dunbartonshire	26%
East Lothian	20%
East Renfrewshire	26%
Falkirk	22%
Fife	20%
Glasgow City	28%
Highland	16%
Inverclyde	25%
Midlothian	22%
Moray	16%
Na h-Eileanan Siar	15%
North Ayrshire	23%
North Lanarkshire	27%
Orkney Islands	12%
Perth & Kinross	21%
Renfrewshire	28%
Scottish Borders	19%
Shetland Islands	20%
South Ayrshire	23%
South Lanarkshire	27%
Stirling	25%
West Dunbartonshire	28%
West Lothian	22%

The percentages in the table have been calculated based on the total number of people tested in each local authority area as reported at 14 December 2020, i.e. the number of individuals who have had a positive or negative test result to date. Each person is only counted once regardless of repeat tests. The data has been taken from the Public Health Scotland and National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates 2019.

People are allocated to a Local Authority area based on the postcode attached to their test. Where this is not available, the postcode on the central CHI register is used. Where no valid postcode is available then the person is not allocated to a Local Authority area – so the total number of people tested for Scotland is higher (1,263,656 at 14 December as published on Coronavirus (COVID-19): daily data for Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) ) than the total adding together all the Local Authorities (1,257,291).

The data by local authority are published as open data by Public Health Scotland here: Daily COVID-19 Cases in Scotland - Datasets - Scottish Health and Social Care Open Data (nhs.scot)

Question reference: S5O-04872

Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 December 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the supermarket sector regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clackmannanshire Local Authority Area	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20
Number of MA Starts	297	289	346	319	327	309