Pam Duncan-Glancy

22 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the importance of the Trade Union Education Centre in Scotland.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government values trade unions in providing a strong and effective voice for Scotland’s workers, and believes a progressive approach to industrial relations is at the heart of a fairer, more successful society. Ensuring trade union represen…

22 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the management of the City of Glasgow College regarding the long-term future of the Trade Union Education Centre.

Answer · Graeme Dey: I raised this issue with the Principal of City of Glasgow College on 29 October 2024, who assured me the College remains committed to providing trade union education.The Scottish Government welcomes the new partnership agreement reached between the College an…

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the evidence received by the Economy and Fair Work Committee, as part of its inquiry on the disability employment gap, which stated that there are few conversations with disabled young people about getting a job once they leave school because of a perception that …

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government will provide a full response to the Committee’s report within two months of its publication as consistent with Parliamentary Guidance.Education authorities have duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 to identif…

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendation in the Economy and Fair Work Committee report, Closing the Disability Employment Gap in Scotland, regarding training for teaching staff and careers advisors on the specific needs of disabled and neurodiverse young people.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government will provide a full response to the Committee’s report within two months of its publication as consistent with Parliamentary Guidance.The Scottish Government remains committed to an all-age careers information and guidance offer …

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what processes for monitoring and measuring outcomes local authorities were required to implement to gather evidence on the effectiveness of the delivery of its school meal debt fund.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Monitoring will be expected as part of the grant award process. Successful applicants will be informed in due course.

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what processes for monitoring and measuring outcomes it has implemented to gather evidence on the effectiveness of the delivery of its school meal debt fund.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Reporting will be considered as part of the grant award process.

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) children and (b) families had their school meal debt written off as a result of its school meal debt fund, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not hold this information. We are currently analysing bids to the School Meal Debt Fund and following up with local authorities on the information provided.

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) criteria were used and (b) supporting information or evidence was requested from each local authority in order to access its school meal debt fund.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Local authorities were asked to consider whether they wished financial support to cancel school meal debt while adhering to guidance produced by COSLA on the issue. Local authorities are expected to use any grant for the purpose of clearing school meal debt a…

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities applied to its school meal debt fund, and how much funding each received.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Consideration is still being given to the bids received by local authorities. We will publish how much funding each local authority received once this has been allocated to them.

11 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding in total has been received by local authorities through its school meal debt fund.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government is currently analysing bids to the School Meal Debt Fund and is following up with local authorities on the information provided. Therefore, no funding has been issued at this time. The funding will be issued as soon as all due diligenc…

10 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group last met, and when it plans to next meet.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Working Group’s remit was to inform the development of a Student Mental Health Action Plan as set out in our 21-22 Programme for Government. The Action Plan was published in September 2024.We are considering how b…

9 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has examined the reasons for the steady decrease in the funds held for colleges in arm's-length foundations over the last decade, from £99 million in 2014 when they were first established to an estimated £9 million by the end of 2024.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government has not conducted any specific analysis of the college sector’s use of their arm's-length foundations (ALFs), however, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) maintains an overview. Colleges are only permitted to donate commercially g…

8 Oct 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-29823 by Natalie Don-Innes on 25 September 2024, when it will publish the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: Allowing sufficient time to support the meaningful engagement and participation of those the Strategy will affect, including robust analysis of their views, and ensuring that it can be published alongside a range of accessible formats to meet the needs of tho…

2 Oct 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether young people have the opportunity to study subjects that they are interested in.

27 Sep 2024 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is regarding whether teachers are essential to raising educational attainment and closing the poverty-related attainment gap.

27 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) short- and (b) long-term aims are of its Post-school Education and Skills Reform Programme Board.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Post School Education and Skills Reform is a 10-year transformation programme which will help us to achieve the ambitions set out in the Purpose and Principles for Post-School Education, Research and Skills.Early priorities include:leading a new, national app…

19 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the National Qualifications Group last met, and what was discussed.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The National Qualifications Steering Group is organised and chaired by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). The group met on 27 September 2024 and agenda items included a review of the remit and workplan; investigating the drivers of attainment; asses…

16 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the Assisted Support for Learning Project Board last met, and what was discussed.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Additional Support for Learning (ASL) Project Board last met on the 12 September 2024. The Project Board discussed the upcoming publication of the ASL Progress Report and updated Action Plan. This included discussions on how the relevant outcomes from the…

13 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to the impact on employment of any delays to interventions on chronic pain.

Answer · Jenni Minto: The Scottish Government is aware that chronic pain can impact on an individual's ability to work. While no specific work has been done to consider the impact on employment of any delays to interventions on chronic pain, work continues to improve service deliv…

13 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what advice and support it offers to self-employed people through its employability programmes.

Answer · Tom Arthur: In Scotland, employability services are delivered through the No One Left Behind approach. Through this approach, Scottish and Local Government are working together with public, private, and third sector organisations to design and deliver place-based, person…

12 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Public Sector Employmentfigures that were published in September 2024, which recorded that, between 23June 2023 and 24 June 2024, employment in Scotland's further educationcolleges decreased by 550 (-4.3%).

Answer · Graeme Dey: Operational decisions on matters such as staffing are the responsibility of individual colleges.The Scottish Government expects every effort to be made by Scotland’s colleges, in consultation with trade unions, to protect jobs, while continuing to deliv…

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports disabled women who need hoists to support their access to cervical smear tests.

Answer · Jenni Minto: GP practices are funded to provide cervical screening services as a default part of their contracts with health boards. Practices are responsible for ensuring appropriate provision.The handbook for people performing cervical screening includes guidance which …

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the need and demand for mental health support in colleges and universities.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Our new Student Mental Health Action Plan, published on 13 September, seeks to move to a mainstreamed approach to student mental health which will help students better access services.It is informed by a significant number of research sources, in particular, …

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications are for colleges and universities of the reduction in mental health services that were set out in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government to the Finance and Public Administration Committee on 3 September 2024.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The cessation of funding, referred to in the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’s letter, was extensively discussed with the sector. Since 2019/20, the Scottish Government has invested over £19 million to support student mental hea…

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it next plans to publish its Analysis of the National Performance Framework Indicators from the Perspective of Disability.

Answer · Kaukab Stewart: The upcoming Disability Equality Plan, however, will set out an intention to improve disability-specific evidence in collaboration with Disabled Peoples Organisations.The Scottish Government recognises the importance of analysing, collecting and publishing di…

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to make funding available to deliver the National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: The Scottish Government faces a very challenging situation as we continue to manage our finances through the current financial year and look to set the Scottish Budget for 2025-26.Notwithstanding the very difficult financial situation, we are delivering a ran…

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish its National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy.

Answer · Natalie Don-Innes: We recognise that the current situation in respect of disabled young people's transitions must improve, and remain fully committed to developing a strategy which recognises the urgency of the improvements we have heard are required whilst also allowing suffic…

11 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to publish the Pupil Equity Fund evaluation.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: A programme of evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF), of which Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) is a key part, has been ongoing since the inception of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC). The evaluation aims to provide learning about the overall impl…

6 Sep 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on providing pupils with free laptops and digital devices to date, and what evaluation it has carried out of the impact of its policy of providing free laptops and digital devices on the educational performance of the pupils who have received them.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-29611 on 20 September 2024. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-commit…

4 Sep 2024 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding how its procurement powers can encourage the availability of healthy, local food.