Tavish Scott

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the anticipated number of modern apprenticeship opportunities for 2017, broken down by framework.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Scottish Government will set out its target for the number of Modern Apprenticeship starts in 2017 in the coming weeks as part of our ongoing commitment to deliver 30,000 new opportunities each year by 2020. In contracting for the delivery of Modern App…

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a list of the modern apprenticeship frameworks that will be supported for apprentices over the age of 25 by April 2017.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: A list of the Modern Apprenticeship contribution rates, including those that include funding for those aged over 25 was included in the Invitation to Tender documents for bidders during the annual MA contracting process on Public Contracts Scotland https://w…

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide further details on the new Flexible Workforce Development Fund.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The Flexible Workforce Development Fund was announced in December 2016 and will be introduced in August 2017. The fund is currently in development and will be shaped by key stakeholders and employers. Further details will be released in due course.

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an updated timeline for the establishment of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: As announced in December, the Flexible Workforce Development Fund will be introduced in Autumn 2017.

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05641 by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017, whether the operational guidance has been provided to head teachers, and whether it will make a copy available to the Parliament.

Answer · John Swinney: A draft of the operational guidance for the Pupil Equity Fund was issued to all headteachers on 1 February 2017 along with indicative individual school level allocations. On the same date the operational guidance and indicative allocations were made available…

26 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05641 by Mark McDonald on 12 January 2017, what the (a) aims, (b) processes, (c) membership, and (d) distinct remit is of the (i) ELC Strategic Forum, (ii) ELC Managers Forum, and (iii) Senior Leaders Forum.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Membership of the three Forums is listed below. The remit of the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Strategic Forum is to develop and drive a strategic vision for high quality, flexible ELC in Scotland that is affordable and accessible for all. The forum prov…

20 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria, guidance or support local authorities will receive to help them make decisions about the deployment of additional graduates to nurseries.

Answer · Mark McDonald: As part of the announcement on the Additional Graduate commitment on 18January 2017 the Scottish Government set out more details and guidance as to how this commitment would be delivered. This can be found at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/ea…

20 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what planning and reporting requirements will be placed on local authorities to (a) assess how they allocate nursery places and (b) monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of additional graduates to nurseries within the authority areas, and when it will report on these findings.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Local authorities will be asked to provide plans setting out how they propose to allocate the additional places in their area. We are working closely with local authorities to progress the delivery of this commitment, and will monitor the impact on child out…

20 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter by the Minister for Childcare and Early Years to the Education and Skills Committee of 18 January 2017 on the additional graduate commitment, for each local authority area, what proportion of allocations of additional graduate places will be for (a) teachers with e…

Answer · Mark McDonald: The balance between the contribution of teachers with early years expertise and graduates with the BA Childhood Practice towards delivering the commitment will reflect a number of factors including the supply of suitably skilled professionals with early years…

20 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it expects the impact of its additional graduate policy will be on (a) the number and proportion of children attending high-quality nursery settings, (b) the number and proportion of children meeting expected developmental milestones at school entry and (c) attainment gaps at school…

Answer · Mark McDonald: By providing more children who face the greatest disadvantages with access to highly qualified staff with expertise in early childhood learning and development our Additional Graduate commitment will help support our ambition to close the attainment gap. We …

20 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the letter from the Minister for Childcare and Early Years to the Education and Skills Committee on 18 January 2017 on the additional graduate commitment, of the 432 nurseries identified, how many directly employ (a) qualified early years teachers, (b) qualified graduates, (c…

Answer · Mark McDonald: Allocations of the additional graduates to local authorities were determined by their share of the nurseries located in the 20% most deprived postcode areas. Using the Care Inspectorate data on Early Learning and Childcare settings, and the latest Scottish In…

18 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it was advised that the full processing of applications for its New Entrant Scheme for crofters from the National Reserve 2016 would not be possible until February 2017, and what measures it has introduced to mitigate delays for applicants.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government incorporated the required IT functionality to process National Reserve - New Entrant Scheme applications into its 2016 delivery schedule. Due to the delivery schedule, and upon announcement of the 2016 National Basic Payment Support Sc…

17 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity on 12 January 2017 (Official Report, c. 2 and 4) that "Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has played a significant role in supporting the achievement of our commitment to provide broadband to 95 per …

Answer · Fergus Ewing: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-06244 on 26 January 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusines…

17 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the comments by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity on 12 January 2017 (Official Report, c. 2) that “Highlands and Islands Enterprise has played a significant role in supporting the achievement of our commitment to provide broadband to 95 per cent of prem…

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Scottish Ministers have made it clear that Highlands and Islands Enterprise will continue to be locally-based, managed and directed providing dedicated support to the local economy. The new arrangements will protect the unique service that HIE delivers for ou…

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05809 by Mark McDonald on 13 January 2017, whether it will consider updating the way in which information for nursery registrations is collected in order to take account of the three terms, instead of figures just for term one as currently recorded.

Answer · Mark McDonald: We are currently reviewing the way in which information is collected for Early Learning and Childcare registrations, and are considering the most beneficial time to capture this data.

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05809 by Mark McDonald on 13 January 2017, what is meant by 395 registrations "could not be assigned to a local authority", as noted in Table (a); how many registrations in this category there have been in each of the last five years, and how the co…

Answer · Mark McDonald: For the 2011 census the information received from certain local authority run centres could not be assigned to a local authority as during the quality assurance process, the identification number provided by the centres involved had been deemed invalid. This …

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an assessment of the cost of collecting nursery registration information at the start of each new term, instead of the annual September census that it currently carries out.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has not assessed the cost of collecting nursery registration information at the start of each new term. Currently the data is collected from Early Learning and Childcare centres and although we do not have a cost for them to complete t…

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the finding in the Civil Service People Survey 2016 that records a decrease in positive responses by Education Scotland staff to 62 of the 63 questions.

Answer · John Swinney: The decrease in positive responses is clearly disappointing. Education Scotland is currently working with its trade union partners to address the issues raised in the survey.

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the finding in the Civil Service People Survey 2016 that suggests that 11% of Education Scotland's staff consider that "change is managed well in Education Scotland", what its position is on how the organisation manages change.

Answer · John Swinney: Education Scotland is currently working with its trade union partners to discuss and agree the best way of addressing the issues raised in the People Survey, including how it manages change.

13 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take in light of the finding in the Civil Service People Survey 2016 that suggests that 35% of Education Scotland staff “want to leave Education Scotland as soon as possible, or within the next 12 months”, and what its position is on whether the organisation can conti…

Answer · John Swinney: Historically, staff turnover in Education Scotland has been relatively low. In common with most organisations, Education Scotland expects a degree of turnover in staffing. To that extent, Education Scotland succession plans wherever possible to ensure that va…

11 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have taken part in an early years workforce recruitment and training apprenticeship since 2011-12 and, of those, how many were employed as early years staff after the apprenticeship.

Answer · Mark McDonald: 6,213 people have taken part in an Early Years related apprenticeship since 2011-12. Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the Scottish Government agency responsible for apprenticeship frameworks, does not hold information on how many of these apprentices were …

11 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much has been provided through apprenticeship funding for early years workforce (a) recruitment and (b) training in each year since 2011-12.

Answer · Mark McDonald: The following table provides information on Modern Apprenticeship spend drawn down by learning providers for early years related frameworks. Spend 2011-12 £4,766,889 2012-13 £4,529,871 2013-14 £4,936,317 2014-15 £4,993,634 2015-16 £4,987,672 Ple…

11 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to ensure that teachers in areas with low or negligible internet connections will be able to access new online materials aimed at addressing the attainment gap.

Answer · John Swinney: To support the use of digital technology in schools, the Scottish Government offers to fund a high speed broadband connection via the Scottish Wide Area Network to a central point in every Scottish local authority for use by education establishments. Onward c…

11 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects the full range of online materials for teachers aimed at addressing the attainment gap to be available.

Answer · John Swinney: Online materials have recently been published giving teachers and school leaders access to effective interventions based on practice examples from around Scotland. This suite of materials will be continuously updated and refreshed with examples of successful …

11 Jan 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will implement the Smith Commission's recommendations on the future management of the Crown Estate in Scotland.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Our first priority is to complete the devolution of management of the Crown Estate to the Scottish Parliament and ensure a smooth transition. In parallel, we are currently undertaking a public consultation on the long-term arrangements for management of Crown…

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-05666 by John Swinney on 30 December 2016, whether it will publish the minutes of these meetings.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not hold the minutes of these meetings.

10 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had regarding the provision of an international passenger ferry service to connect Scotland with continental Europe.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: We have not had recent discussions regarding a passenger ferry service with continental Europe. While Scottish Government encourages ferry operators to keep the option of introducing a passenger service under review, there are no firm commitments regarding a …

6 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with stakeholders regarding the proposed centre of excellence for aquaculture.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government was one of the bodies who participated in the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC) scoping study ‘Exploring the concept of a centre of innovation excellence for Scottish aquaculture’. Since the publication of the report in Dec…

5 Jan 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to (a) local authorities and (b) schools to address violence against teachers and other members of staff.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government takes the issue of violence in schools very seriously. We recognise that any violence towards staff or pupils is unacceptable and we are working with schools and local authorities to actively tackle serious indiscipline and violence. …

22 Dec 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting its commitment to protect Scotland's relationship with Europe, and what the impact on this will be of the reported 45.3% reduction in the European Strategy Fund.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government is fully committed to protecting Scotland’s relationship with Europe and we are exploring all options available to achieve this. Last month we published a detailed set of proposals in “Scotland’s Place in Europe”. We have been engaging…