Tavish Scott

14 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding whether the Air Discount Scheme will continue post-Brexit, given that it operates under the EU's General Block Exemption Regulation.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government is committed to the continuation of the Air Discount Scheme and will make a formal announcement on the continuation of the scheme in due course. The Air Discount Scheme is notified to the European Commission under the General Block Exe…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers there were in 2017-18, and how many taught (a) P1s and (b) pupils who sat the Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

Answer · John Swinney: There were 51,513 FTE teachers in 2017-18. Of those, 3558 FTE teachers were teaching P1 in September 2017. This includes those teaching composite classes of pupils from two or more years. We do not have a breakdown of the number of teachers who taught the chi…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its evidence to support the claim at paragraph 63 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18,  that “on the whole, the children found the assessments accessible and stimulating”, and what its response is to the s…

Answer · John Swinney: As set out in the User Review, Scottish Government and Education Scotland officials held a number of focus groups with teachers and observed a number of children and young people carrying out the assessments and discussed their experience with their teachers.…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment at paragraph 10 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18, that “teachers and schools are empowered to use the SNSA at a time in the year which suits children in their care and when the assessments will be most…

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has made clear that individual teachers and schools, in conjunction with their local authorities, should decide the most appropriate time during the school year for children to take the Scottish National Standardised Assessments. We wi…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by the EIS that “in relation to P1, the EIS has a view that the SNSAs [Scottish National Standardised Assessments] should be scrapped.”

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government remains committed to the P1 assessments, and the SNSA in general.

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by the EIS that “to create a narrow focus on SNSA [Scottish National Standardised Assessments] data is to create a ‘high stakes’ environment around what were meant to be diagnostic classroom tools, supporting but not supplanting teacher professional …

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has not created a narrow focus on Scottish National Standardised Assessments data. We have been consistently clear that the key measure of children and young people’s progress is teacher professional judgement. The SNSA are not “high s…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by EIS that “the Scottish Government was provided with the feedback [regarding the Scottish National Standardised Assessments] from EIS members; it does not seem to have been reflected in its review process.”

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government reflected on the comments from EIS members and others as part of our User Review of the SNSA. As the User Review makes clear, a number of enhancements are being made to the SNSA system as a result of the comments received.

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response to the statement by the EIS that the Scottish National Standardised Assessments process has resulted in some pupils experiencing “extreme anxiety”.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government fully recognises these concerns and is taking steps through the system enhancements announced in the User Review published on 28 August to help ensure that the experience for all children and young people is positive. Under no circumst…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment by the chief inspector at paragraph 44 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18, that “P1 teachers use the information the assessments provide to tailor support and to personalise approaches to ensure children…

Answer · John Swinney: The SNSA are diagnostic assessments designed to identify next steps in learning for children and young people. Identifying strengths or concerns about a child’s digital skills are very much part of everyday learning and teaching, as are the SNSA. The User Rev…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish its evidence to support the claim at paragraph 36 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18, that “feedback is clear that the SNSA are an improvement on the existing standardised assessments for children with ad…

Answer · John Swinney: This is feedback from the Accessibility Advisory Group, as well as from training events with ASN staff and discussions with local authorities. The Accessibility Advisory Group contains practitioners, local authorities and organisations involved in ASN such as…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comments at paragraph 47 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18,  that  "A number of teachers commented positively on the ease of access to the platform" and "Other user feedback suggested that the IT infrastructure…

Answer · John Swinney: We do not have specific figures on this feedback which came from the focus groups with teachers. As part of the User Review, there will be more systematic means of gathering teacher feedback from 2018-19 onwards. Teachers will have the opportunity to offer fe…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that one-to-one assistance was required by many P1s who were assessed under the Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

Answer · John Swinney: We have offered schools maximum flexibility on carrying out the assessments and there were a number of successful approaches, including through the use of one-to-one support. Working in small groups and on a one-to-one basis is part of everyday teaching and l…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment at paragraph 29 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18, that “Some teachers reported that children found the assessments upsetting. In contrast, other teachers commented that the children found them an engag…

Answer · John Swinney: A small number of teachers made these comments, through the EIS survey and first-hand discussions and observations with those carrying out the assessments. For 2018-19, we are introducing a more systematic user feedback process to hear directly from children …

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the comment at paragraph 31 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18,  that "almost all [teachers] said they had been very pleased with the reports generated and with the diagnostic information provided”, whether it will …

Answer · John Swinney: Paragraph 31 of the User Review refers to the face to face feedback provided about the assessments at all stages (P1, P4, P7 and S3) as part of focus groups with schools and local authorities and classroom observations. These 9 focus groups and 6 classroom ob…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns that the assessment were administered using varying equipment and with different levels of classroom support, whether it plans to use the data gathered by the Scottish National Standardised Assessments to compare schools.    

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has made clear that it will not gather or publish any data from the Scottish National Standardised Assessments in order to compare schools. School level Achievement of CfE Level results, based on teachers’ professional judgement, are p…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the changes set out from paragraph 64 to paragraph 77 of the report, Scottish National Standardised Assessments User Review Year 1 – Session 2017/18, were under consideration prior to the receipt of teacher feedback.    

Answer · John Swinney: The SNSA were developed in discussion with teachers and the Scottish Government has sought feedback from users as an integral part of the continuous improvement process. A number of system improvements, for example replenishment of a third of the questions, w…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it decided to conduct the Scottish National Standarised Assessments digitally, and what consideration it gave to the impact that unequal resources might have had on these.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish National Standardised Assessments are adaptive assessments and can only be provided online. It was a key requirement in the development of the SNSA that the online system is compatible with a wide variety of technical platforms, devices and inter…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to survey P1s following the Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

Answer · John Swinney: As stated in the User Review published on 28 August 2018, the assessment platform will be enhanced with a more systematic user feedback process. At the end of each assessment, a short age-appropriate survey will be available for children and young people that…

11 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is regarding whether the Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA) add to teacher knowledge, in light of feedback that stated “As a practitioner who loves nothing more than analysing data and identifying next steps in learning, the SNSA is the most useless piece…

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government recognises that there are differing views on the reports generated by the SNSA system. One teacher commented that “Data is incredibly detailed and personalised. Feedback will be very useful in looking for next steps.” We will continue …

7 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Islands Housing Fund's ring-fenced £5 million has been spent.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: £238,000 of the Islands Housing Fund has been spent to date.

7 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many affordable homes (a) have been and (b) are being built with support from the Islands Housing Fund, and where these are located.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Four affordable homes have been completed with support from the Islands Housing Fund. These are located on the Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute and Isle of Scalpay, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Four affordable homes are being built or refurbished with support from…

7 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to renew the Islands Housing Fund after 2019.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The Scottish Government has previously confirmed the Islands Housing Fund will be available until March 2021. Given the long lead-in times for housing delivery, we have already started work on developing our approach to housing beyond 2021, an important compo…

7 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government where it has advertised the Islands Housing Fund.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: Following the announcement on the Islands Housing Fund, the Scottish Government issued a news release in September 2016 to confirm availability of the Fund. Information on the Fund is also available on the Scottish Government website. Presentations have been …

7 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have been received each year for the Islands Housing Fund, and how many were approved.

Answer · Kevin Stewart: The following table provides detail of the number of applications received each year for the Islands Housing Fund and how many were approved.   Year Feasibility Fund – Number of Applications Received Feasibility Fund – Number of Applications Approved Mai…

6 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18160 by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 September 2018, in light of the last meeting taking place in March 2018, whether it plans to conclude the freight ferries review and, if so, on what date it will next meet officials to consider the conclusion.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Freight Fares Review is complex and I want to fully understand the impacts of the available options before making decisions. I met with officials recently and have asked for some further information. I will aim to bring the review to a conclusion as soon…

4 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the vote in the Parliament on 29 March 2017 on motion S5M-04920 (Official Report, c.80), for what reason it has not separated the curriculum and inspection functions of Education Scotland.

Answer · John Swinney: Education Scotland continues to play a vital role in ensuring that standards are understood and maintained at all levels of the Scottish education system. Its ability to perform this function would be significantly diminished were it not to be able to draw o…

3 Sep 2018 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister, in light of the comment by the EIS that the recent review's recommendations "will do little to allay the very serious concerns held by many teachers", whether the Scottish Government plans further changes to the Scottish National Standardised Assessments.

28 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18286 by Graeme Dey on 24 August 2018, how many written parliamentary questions it received in 2017-18, and on how many occasions it issued a holding response.

Answer · Graeme Dey: The Scottish Government provides an Quarterly Audit of Parliamentary Questions which are placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. Figures take from these audits are as follows:   Quarter Questions answered on time Questions answered after due date Ja…

24 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any reports of difficulties with schools giving staff leave for SQA duties.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is not aware of specific instances where teachers have been prevented from undertaking SQA duties. The release of teachers to undertake SQA appointee duties is a matter for local authorities and schools. SQA appointees play an invalu…

24 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people have graduated with outstanding student loans in each year since 1999; what proportion from each year has now completed their repayments, and what the (a) average and (b) highest amount is that a graduate from each year still has outstanding.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The Student Loans Company (SLC) provides statistics on loan outlays, repayments and borrower repayment status for Scotland domiciled students studying in Higher Education (HE) in the UK and EU students studying in Scotland. The figures cover Income Contingent…