Pam Duncan-Glancy

30 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment to do so in April 2023, whether it still plans to carry out and publish an audit of fracture liaison services, and, if so, when it will commence such an audit.

Answer · Jenni Minto: In 2023 Scottish Government committed to carrying out a scoping exercise across Health Boards to consider the FLS audit through Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP) with Public Health Scotland (PHS). Scottish Government committed to funding up to £150,00…

30 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it does not publish data on the coverage of fracture liaison services in each NHS board, including information on how they are performing.

Answer · Jenni Minto: Data on Fracture Liaison Services across Scotland are not centrally held by the Scottish Government.

29 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to the report of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, what steps it has taken to ensure that any barriers that women and girls face in accessing the skills system, such as gender segregation in subject choice, gender stereotypes around work, o…

Answer · Graeme Dey: An initial Equalities Impact Assessment , Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA): Purpose and Principles (www.gov.scot) for the Purpose and Principles for Post-School education, research and skills Post-school education, research and skills - purpose and princi…

29 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response to the report of the Independent Review of the Skills Delivery Landscape, what steps it has taken to embed consideration of gender in the exercise to be undertaken in summer 2024 to develop a better understanding of the specific skills needed across the country.

Answer · Graeme Dey: I refer the member to my answer to question S6W-27963 on 23 July 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-committees/…

29 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people (a) in receipt of welfare benefits and (b) on low incomes have accessed the Digital Start Fund to date.

Answer · Kate Forbes: (a) The eligibility criteria for the Digital start fund required applicants to meet at least one of the following conditions: ? Unemployed ? In receipt of a low income benefit such as Universal Credit ? Employed on an income of £16,000 or less ? Experienc…

29 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of students studying computing science at Higher level in each of the last three years were female.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The SQA publish information on the number of entries to Higher subjects by male and female candidates on the attainment statistics pages of their website: Attainment Statistics - SQA Based on this the percentage of entries to Higher computing science by fe…

29 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been paid out from the Digital Start Fund to date.

Answer · Kate Forbes: The Digital Start Fund was established in 2019 and ran for three years. Scottish Government provided SDS with £3,083,383 for the Digital Start Fund programme.

27 May 2024 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on whether teacher numbers should be maintained, in light of the reported concerns of many parents, pupils and school staff in Glasgow.

27 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what direction it provides to Glasgow City Council to make new housing developments accessible for wheelchair users and for disabled people.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Government provides guidance for local authorities to support the preparation of Local Housing Strategies including the provision of accessible and specialist housing. Separate guidance requiring local authorities to set all-tenure wheelchair acc…

23 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much money it has agreed with COSLA will be required to cover the costs of making changes to the school estate to deliver free school meals in all primary schools.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government is committed to the expansion of the free school meal programme and the next phase will support those in receipt of Scottish Child Payment in Primaries 6 and 7 from February 2025. To support this expansion we have made provision for £…

23 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to publish the number of pupils with less than (a) 90%, (b) 80% and (c) 50% attendance as part of its summary school statistics series, and, if so, how often it will do so.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Statistics on the proportion of pupils with 90% or lower attendance are published by local authority and school sector in table 4.1 of the school attendance and absence statistics 2022-23, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/school-attendance-a…

23 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what research it is undertaking to establish the reasons for the reported increase in recent years of pupils being absent from (a) primary and (b) secondary school.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Education Scotland published the results of a deep dive on attendance in November 2023, which sought to understand the current barriers and challenges which influence school attendance and make recommendations on how local authorities can support increased at…

23 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the absence rate is for (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils with additional support needs, and how these rates compare with pupils without additional support needs.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: A comparison of attendance/absence rates for pupils with and without additional support needs in 2022-23 can be found in Figure 33 of Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-schools…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any funding allocated for the development of wheelchair accessible properties also includes the development of "wheelchair exemplar properties".

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Government does not hold details relating to the funding for the development of “wheelchair exemplar properties”. In relation to the allocation of funding for homes for wheelchair users, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-27750 on …

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is on track to meet its 2040 accessible housing standard.

Answer · Paul McLennan: We continue to take forward our commitments to improving the accessibility and adaptability of new homes in Scotland. Responses to the consultation on proposals for enhancing the accessibility, adaptability and usability of Scotland's homes are currently bei…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has allocated in 2024-25 to support the development of wheelchair accessible properties.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) funding for 2024-25 is not allocated to specific properties. Funding is made available to local authority areas through Resource Planning Assumptions (RPAs) to support local authority priority projects which are …

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made on implementing the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) Scotland's Housing and Disabled People inquiry.

Answer · Paul McLennan: The Scottish Government responded to the recommendations of the 2018 EHRC report on Housing and Disabled People at that time. In that response, we set out the actions being taken forward to increase access for disabled people to accessible and adapted housing…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of college mergers in 2014 on costs, including on staffing.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government has not made any specific assessments in this regard, the Scottish Funding Council published a report on the impact of the programme of college mergers in Scotland in 2012-13 and 2013-14, available on their website here: https://www.s…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to benchmark staffing (a) costs and (b) ratios in the college sector, relative to other sectors.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Staffing costs and ratios are operational matters for colleges to determine. The Scottish Government has no locus to benchmark staffing costs and ratios in the college sector.  

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to review (a) pay structures and (b) staffing costs in colleges.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Staffing costs and pay structures are operational matters for colleges to determine. The Scottish Government has no locus to review pay structures and staffing costs in colleges.  

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Audit Scotland regarding its scrutiny of overall staffing budgets and spend in colleges.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government meets and engages with Audit Scotland regarding their annual publications on Scotland's Colleges which are published on Audit Scotland’s website. Audit Scotland’s most recent publication can be found here : https://audit.scot/publicat…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has undertaken an analysis to establish any reasons for students withdrawing from college courses between weeks five and 12 of their courses.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government hasn’t carried out analysis to establish reasons for students withdrawing from college, by week of course. Information on college withdrawals is collected by the Scottish Funding Council. Some data on the reason for withdrawing is inc…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many students have withdrawn from college courses between weeks five and 12 of their courses in each of the last five years.

Answer · Graeme Dey: Information on college withdrawals is collected and published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their annual College Performance Indicator publication. College Performance Indicators 2022-23 - Scottish Funding Council (sfc.ac.uk) The SFC publish the…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of the number of students articulating from college to university in the last financial year, and what impact this has had on universities filling their places.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government hasn’t undertaken any analysis of the number of students articulating from college to university in the last financial year. Latest data covering articulation from college to university is published in the annual Scottish Funding Coun…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether any monies received from Low Emission Zone (LEZ) fines in Glasgow are to be used on project works within the LEZ, or whether they can be spent citywide.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Glasgow City Council administers and enforces their LEZ and as such receives all penalty charge notice payments. The spending of any monies received from penalty charges in respect of a LEZ scheme is a matter for the local authority. These funds can only be u…

20 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any restrictions on what any monies received from Low Emission Zone fines can be spent on, and, if so, what these are.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Any monies received from penalty charges in respect of a LEZ scheme can be applied by a local authority only for the purposes of facilitating the achievement of the scheme’s objectives, and thus support at least air quality and/or climate change emission redu…

20 May 2024 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly withdrawn all funding for the National Parent Forum of Scotland.

15 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has set a target for the number of people accessing its teaching bursary scheme.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Whilst we do not set a public target per set, the numbers of available bursaries are published each year.  

15 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered introducing a target for the number of people accessing the teaching bursary scheme.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Every year, the Scottish Government clearly sets out how many bursaries are available. Arrangements for the 2024-25 bursary scheme are currently under consideration by the Teaching Bursary advisory group and will be publicised shortly.

15 May 2024 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have used the teaching bursary scheme to facilitate career changes into teacher training since its extension in 2023.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: In 2023, 70 bursaries were awarded to individuals wishing to change career and undertake a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE). Since the introduction of the scheme, 659 bursaries have been awarded.