Tavish Scott

17 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish teacher and head teacher vacancy statistics on a regular basis.

Answer · John Swinney: We have no plans to publish vacancy details.

17 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide updates on the work of the (a) Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Evidence Group, (b) Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Forum and (c) Early Learning and Out of School Care Workforce and Quality Group since each was established.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Forum The Early Leaning and Childcare Strategic Forum is chaired by me and has met three times since its inception. It's remit is to help develop the strategy for a high quality and flexible early learning and childcare…

17 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not published teacher vacancy statistics since 2010.

Answer · John Swinney: Teacher vacancy statistics have not been published since 2010 following results of a user consultation on proposals to cease a number of education data collections in order to minimise the response burden on schools and local authorities.

17 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to reported comments by the First Minister on 15 October 2016, how it defines (a) hard and (b) soft Brexit.

Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government is committed to protecting Scotland’s relationship with the EU, following Scotland’s unequivocal vote to retain the wide range of economic and social benefits membership provides. We are considering all possible steps to ensure Scotlan…

13 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03024 by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016, which providers would have delivered the 21% superfast broadband coverage in Shetland without the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: There was no commercial rollout out of fibre broadband planned for Shetland prior to the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme. Commercial coverage across the Highlands and Islands would have been 21% had the Scottish Government not intervened. BT w…

13 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the original target of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme with BT was too low.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government does not consider that the original target of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme with BT was too low. The approach taken across both contracts was to maximise fibre broadband coverage within the available budget. This …

13 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03024 by Fergus Ewing on 4 October 2016, whether there is a difference between the speeds described in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme and the actual speeds that customers can access.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme publishes predicted speeds that premises have access to on the Digital Scotland postcode checker. These speeds are calculated based on the infrastructure in place, namely the distance between the cabinet and …

12 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action Skills Development Scotland is taking to ensure that Shetland will be able to benefit from the recent contracts awarded under the (a) Third Sector Employability Fund and (b) Work Able Scotland programme.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: As a result of the ring-fenced element of the Highlands & Islands contract not being fully met for the National Third Sector Fund, a fresh procurement exercise is now underway which is exclusively for the Highlands & Islands area. This action has been taken t…

12 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the First Minister on 5 January 2016 (Official Report, c. 15) that figures on the uptake of entitlement to funded early learning and childcare for two-year-olds were “already out of date”, for what reason the same figures were referred to in the publications,…

Answer · Mark McDonald: The Scottish Government has previously acknowledged that because there is a staggered intake of two year olds across all three school terms, the full level of uptake for each annual cohort is not known at the time when the official census is undertaken. Regis…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Skills Development Scotland has split the country into four broad areas for the delivery of its Work Able Scotland programme.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: During 2017-18 we will operate a transitional programme where we want to start to move away from the very large prime contractor approach of the Work Programme, where Scotland was one contract package area (CPA). There were two key considerations in determini…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the survey that found that more than half of Scotland’s colleges have not met enrolment targets.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The latest year for which the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) hold official data on full-time student numbers is 2014-15. The number of college student enrolments on full-time recognised qualifications is published by the SFC in the National Statistics public…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of college students have been (a) female, (b) male, (c) in employment and (d) not in employment at the time of registration in each year since 2013-14.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Details of student enrolments in college is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and made publicly available on the SFC’s Infact database. College Student Enrolments by Gender and Category of Student*, 2013-14 and 2014-15 2013-14 2014-15 …

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have enrolled on educational psychology courses in each year since 2010-11.

Answer · John Swinney: In Scotland, the Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde offer 2 year Master of Science (MSc) courses in educational psychology with intakes in alternate years. The number of new students enrolling on the course each year since 2010 is shown in the following t…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that there are 1,770 fewer full-time students in colleges in 2016-17 compared with the previous year.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The number of college student enrolments on full-time recognised qualifications is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in the National Statistics publication ‘College Performance Indicators’. Data for 2016-17 is not available as the most recent …

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have obtained an educational psychology qualification in each year since 2010-11.

Answer · John Swinney: In Scotland, the Universities of Dundee and Strathclyde offer 2 year Masters of Science (MSc) courses in educational psychology with outputs in alternate years. The number of students obtaining an educational psychology qualification each year since 2010 is s…

7 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what financial or other support there is for people seeking to obtain an educational psychology degree.

Answer · John Swinney: Eligible students on the MSc in Educational Psychology at Strathclyde or Dundee Universities can apply for a total support package of £7,900 for each year of their course. This support package comprises a £3,400 postgraduate tuition fee loan and a £4,500 livi…

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what it understands to be the reasons for the departure of CalMac’s chief executive on 31 March 2017, which was announced on 5 October 2016.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: Mr Martin Dorchester’s reasons for departing CalMac in March 2017 were set out in David MacBrayne Ltd’s press statement of 5 October 2016. The statement indicated that Mr Dorchester has been with the company since 2012 and, having led CalMac Ferries Ltd duri…

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school head teachers there have been in each year since 2013-14, broken down by local authority.

Answer · John Swinney: The number of head teachers in publicly funded primary schools between 2013 and 2015 is shown in table 1. The number of head teachers in publicly funded primary schools between 2013 and 2015 is shown in table two. Please note the caveats presented in the foot…

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychology met in each of the last three years, and whether it will provide the minutes of those meetings.

Answer · John Swinney: The National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists met on: 11 February, 2 June and 11 October 2016; 26 January, 17 June and 18 November 2015; and 7 March and 8 September 2014. The minutes for meetings up to June 2016 are available in SPICe, …

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will provide substantive answers to questions S5W-00346, S5W-00758, S5W-00759, which received holding responses on 15 June, 29 June, and 29 June 2016 respectively, and what the reason is for the delay in providing answers.

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it consulted independent organisations before proposing an increase of the upper age limit for eligibility for a student maintenance loan from 55 to 60.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government consulted a number of independent organisations, including Universities Scotland, NUS Scotland and the Scottish Older Person’s Assembly.

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that the proposed increase of the upper age limit for eligibility for a student maintenance loan, from 55 to 60, does not breach the European Convention of Human Rights.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Having a policy which contains a blanket rule, such as an age cap, is justifiable under the European Convention of Human Rights, provided that it is shown to be a rational and proportionate response to a particular aim of the policy. The Scottish Government …

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will conduct an equality impact assessment of the proposed increase of the upper age limit for eligibility for a student maintenance loan from 55 to 60.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: An Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) was conducted as part of the policy review process that led to this increase. Going forward, it will be refreshed as required to assess the on-going impact of the new policy and to take into account any relevant matters, s…

5 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what evidence it took account of when deciding to increase the upper age limit for eligibility for a student maintenance loan from 55 to 60.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government took a wide range of evidence into account when considering its policy in this area including data from the Student Awards Agency Scotland, the Student Loan Company, and the Higher Education Statistics Agency. In addition, labour marke…

3 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many times parents who refused the advice of their child's Named Person have been subject to legal proceedings, and under what circumstances.

Answer · Mark McDonald: The Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) approach has been national policy since 2010 and as part of their existing work, public authorities in many parts of Scotland already operate a “named person” approach. Part 4 (Provision of Named Persons) of the …

3 Oct 2016 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what environmental assessment it has made of the leak from the Clair oil platform, west of Shetland.

29 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the number of medical students that are not Scottish domiciled, what it considers the challenges are in recruiting surgeons to rural and remote areas, and what action it is taking to address these.

Answer · Shona Robison: There are numerous reasons which contribute to recruitment and retention challenges in such areas of Scotland, and actions and solutions require the sustained and combined efforts of the Scottish Government, NHS boards, Medical schools and Medical Royal Colle…

29 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to increasing incentives for trainee surgeons to take up placements in rural and remote hospitals.

Answer · Shona Robison: As part of ongoing analysis of the annual outcome of Trainee recruitment and selection in Scotland, the Scottish Government discusses with NHS Education for Scotland(NES) whether different approaches may be required to make training posts more attractive, whi…

29 Sep 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with NHS boards to increase the number of surgeons working in rural areas.

Answer · Shona Robison: Consultant numbers in NHS Scotland are at a record high, with 5,202.3 WTE in place - a 43.1% increase under this Government. While the Scottish Government provides the policies, frameworks and resources for high quality healthcare, it is for each NHS board t…

26 Sep 2016 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on reports that there were 729 teacher vacancies the week before the start of the 2016-17 school term.