Parliamentary questions
Rhona Brankin
707 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
23 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils leaving school at 16 are functionally literate.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Historically the Scottish Government has not had a definition of functional literacy. </p> <p >Improving literacy and numeracy skills is at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence programme. Within the programme, literacy is defined as the set of skills …
19 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which schools are currently awaiting a new building or refurbishment under the Scottish Futures Trust, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The Scottish Government does not hold lists of schools awaiting renewal or refurbishment under different possible funding or procurement mechanisms. Strategic planning and investment priorities, consideration of funding and procurement options and the allocat…
19 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of children leave school functionally illiterate.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Historically the Scottish Government has not had a definition of functional literacy. </p> <p >Improving literacy and numeracy skills is at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence programme. Within the programme, literacy is defined as the set of skills …
18 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils who have been identified as having additional support needs do not have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The term additional support needs applies to children and young people who, for whatever reason, require additional support, long or short-term, in order to help them to make the most of their school education. Therefore, it is not possible to estimate accura…
18 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils with additional support needs who previously had a record of needs do not have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Adam Ingram: This information is not held centrally.</p>
18 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils with additional support needs have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The number of pupils with additional support needs that have a co-ordinated support plan, broken down by local authority, can be obtained from tables 6.9, 7.5 and 8.6 of the 2007 Pupil Census, available on the Scottish Government website at: </p> <p ><a href…
13 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will fund a grade-separated junction at Sheriffhall in Edinburgh.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The current trunk road investment programme up to 2012 has no provision for a grade-separated junction at Sheriffhall in Edinburgh.</p> <p >However, in examining the longer term needs of Scotland’s national strategic transport network, Transport Scotland’s S…
13 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to fund its share of the Waverley railway project.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: In my statement to Parliament on 5 March 2008, I outlined the Scottish Government’s plans for funding its share of the Waverley railway project.</p>
13 Jun 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-13230 by Fiona Hyslop on 3 June 2008, whether the two hours of quality PE per week will be delivered by specialist PE teachers.
Answer · Maureen Watt: Every primary teacher is trained to cover the whole curriculum including PE. We are also committed to increasing the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of primary teachers in the field of PE by continuing support for the PGCE in PE run by Glasgow and E…
12 Jun 2008 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what engagements the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change had on 30 May 2008.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: On 30 May 2008 I had one engagement. I attended the opening of Artemis Intelligent Power Limited, at Loanhead, Midlothian.</p>
20 May 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to monitor any changes in full-time-equivalent teachers in pre-school settings.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Scottish Government statisticians collect data on numbers of full-time equivalent teachers annually via the Pre-school and Childcare Census. Minor adjustments have been made to the 2008 census to allow more detailed information on teacher involvement in pre-s…
20 May 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils in pre-school settings currently have access to a teacher.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The most recent Scottish Government pre-school and child care statistics show that an estimated 69,930 pre-school children attended centres that had input from a teacher. This represents 63% of children registered in pre-school centres in January 2007.</p>
20 May 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time-equivalent teachers are currently employed in pre-school settings.
Answer · Maureen Watt: The most recent Scottish Government statistics on teacher numbers, based on data collected in September 2007, showed that 1,513 FTE teachers were employed in pre-school settings across Scotland.</p>
20 May 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote outdoor education.
Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-3379 on 22 May 2008. All answers to oral parliamentary questions are available in the <i >Official Report</i>.</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-…
20 May 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it remains committed to the SNP manifesto pledge of ensuring that every school pupil has two hours of quality PE each week delivered by specialist PE teachers.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We have made it clear that as part of Curriculum for Excellence, the Scottish Government expect schools to continue to work towards the provision of two hours good quality PE for each child every week. This is reflected in the Health and Wellbeing draft exper…
18 Apr 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4524 by Maureen Watt on 8 October 2007, when the target of two hours of good quality PE for each child every week by the end of the school year 2007-08 will be met and how progress towards this target is being monitored.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has not set a timescale for the provision of two hours good quality PE for each child every week. As part of Curriculum for Excellence, we expect schools to continue to work towards the provision of two hours good quality PE for each c…
18 Apr 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the health and wellbeing outcomes from Learning and Teaching Scotland will include a commitment to two hours of quality physical education per week by specialist PE teachers.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We expect schools to continue to work towards the provision of two hours of good quality PE for each child every week. This commitment will be reflected in <i >Health and Wellbeing: planning for the experiences and outcomes</i> and <i >Building the Curriculum…
18 Apr 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what links it has with universities in the United States of America.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government works with a number of universities in the United States of America on events and visits, mostly recently in relation to Scotland Week. The majority of their links with Scotland are formed through formal and informal relationships with…
18 Apr 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it still has a target of two hours of quality PE per week for every school pupil.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I refer the member to column 7693 of the official report of 17 April 2008. Reports that we intended to scrap the target are completely unfounded.</p>
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines “access” in its commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child.
Answer · Adam Ingram: The Scottish Government expects that local authorities will deliver the commitment to ensure each pre-school child has access to a teacher using flexible models of teacher deployment, based on local needs and circumstances.</p>
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what minimum number of hours of teacher contact each nursery age child must have to satisfy the commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every such child.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Research evidence indicates that greater levels of teacher involvement lead to improved outcomes for children but there is little research on the minimum level of teacher involvement needed to do so. The Scottish Government is, therefore, focused on improving…
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that local authorities using peripatetic nursery teachers in all pre-school establishments meet its commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Local circumstances will vary and it is essential that local authorities are given the flexibility to make decisions on how best to deploy teachers. It may be, therefore, that various models of teacher deployment, including peripatetic models, are part of the…
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that its commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child is being delivered by Stirling Council’s model of providing access to a nursery teacher for one-third of the school year.
Answer · Adam Ingram: We expect that local authorities will adopt different models of teacher deployment on the basis of local circumstances. The Scottish Government does, however, expect to see an overall increase in teacher involvement in pre-school.</p> a
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child means that every such child should have access to a qualified nursery teacher every day that they are present in a pre-school setting.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Local authorities will have flexibility to deploy teachers on the basis of local circumstances. This may mean that in some circumstances, access to a teacher will not be on a daily basis, although there will be expectation of an increase in the level of quali…
27 Mar 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will monitor whether local authorities have met its commitment to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child and on what basis the commitment will be deemed to have been met.
Answer · Adam Ingram: Progress towards delivering access to a teacher for every pre-school child is one of the commitments contained in the concordat signed with COSLA in November 2007. The concordat covers the period 2008-09 to 2010-11. Progress against each of the commitments in…
13 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8482 by Adam Ingram on 29 January 2008, what total amount was allocated to the National Priority Action Fund in each year from 2003 to 2007 and what percentage of the budget for children and young people this represented, excluding spending that woul…
Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8482 on 29 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
13 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8485 by Adam Ingram on 29 January 2008, what total amount was allocated to the Teacher Induction Scheme in each year from 2003 to 2007 and what percentage of the budget for children and young people this represented, excluding spending that would hav…
Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8485 on 29 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
13 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8495 by Adam Ingram on 29 January 2008, what total amount was allocated for additional teachers for early years in each year from 2003 to 2007 and what percentage of the budget for children and young people this represented, excluding spending that w…
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8495 on 29 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
13 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8499 by Adam Ingram on 29 January 2008, what total amount was allocated for continuing professional development for teachers in each year from 2003 to 2007 and what percentage of the budget for children and young people this represented, excluding sp…
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8499 on 29 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…
13 Feb 2008 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8501 by Maureen Watt on 29 January 2008, what total amount was allocated for improving discipline in schools in each year from 2003 to 2007 and what percentage of the budget for children and young people this represented, excluding spending that woul…
Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8501 on 29 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webap…