Parliamentary questions
Liam McArthur
3,646 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many students have applied for Students Awards Agency for Scotland funding for each of the last five years.
Answer · Michael Russell: This information is published each year in SAAS’s annual report each year, which is available at: http://www.saas.gov.uk/about_saas.htm. Academic session Number of applications 2007-08 136,727 2008-09 142,677 2009-10 150,366 2010-11 155,364 2011-12…
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has given to the Students Awards Agency for Scotland regarding the opening hours of phone lines for students seeking support.
Answer · Michael Russell: The opening hours for the phone lines at the Student Awards Agency for Scotland is an operational matter. SAAS advertise their opening times on their website and through the phone system.
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how long it expects the Students Awards Agency for Scotland to take to process a claim for living expenses.
Answer · Michael Russell: The primary customer service commitment is the SAAS ‘Guarantee Date’. The Guarantee Date, introduced in 2010, guarantees to process all applications received by the Guarantee Date in time for the start of a student’s course; the point at which funds are requi…
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what provisions are in place to ensure that students who have not yet received living expenses payments from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland do not incur commercial debts to cover their costs.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government provides 18m in Discretionary Funds to institutions which can be used for students in hardship. Students who feel they have financial difficulties should always speak to their institutions about access to these funds.
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has given to the Students Awards Agency for Scotland on acceptable waiting times for students phoning its enquiry lines.
Answer · Michael Russell: The operational management of SAAS is responsible for balancing processing of applications with customer contact. The primary customer service commitment is to meet, annually, the SAAS ‘Guarantee Date’. SAAS guarantee to process all applications received b…
31 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to ensure that all students receive their support payments in a timely manner.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government has asked Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to process all applications as quickly as possible. SAAS are working extended hours, have postponed activities and re-allocated staff. Payments are released following confirmation…
30 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Annex 1 of ‘Your Scotland, Your Referendum': An Analysis of Consultation Responses does not include (a) quantitative analysis and (b) tables for all of the consultation questions.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The approach to the Your Scotland, Your Referendum consultation analysis is explained in chapter 3 of the analysis report, available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/10/3849/downloads. The main purpose of the consultation was to gather the …
25 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been provided to colleges from the 2012-13 College Transformation Fund; to which colleges, and for what projects.
Answer · Michael Russell: To date, some £4.2 million has been provided to colleges from the 2012-13 College Transformation Fund (CTF). My response to the Convenor of the Education and Culture Committee, issued on 30 October, and published as part of the Committee’s papers for its mee…
25 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £8 million brought forward by the Scottish Funding Council to 2012-13 from 2013-14 and 2014-15 has been allocated, broken down by college and by weighted student units of measurements.
Answer · Michael Russell: Decisions on the allocation of funding to individual colleges are the responsibility of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council. I have asked the Chief Executive of the Funding Council to write to the Member.
25 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £13.1 million set aside by Skills Development Scotland for the New College Learning Programme has been allocated to colleges.
Answer · Michael Russell: This question relates to operational matters for Skills Development Scotland. I will ask the Chief Executive to respond.
25 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many people are using the New College Learning Programme and at which colleges.
Answer · Michael Russell : This question relates to operational matters for Skills Development Scotland. I will ask the Chief Executive to respond.
22 Oct 2012 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Orkney Islands Council since May 2012 about how the shortfall in local government funding for Orkney, compared to Shetland and the Western Isles, might be addressed.
8 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the Early Years Change Fund (a) has been allocated and (b) is available.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Early Years Change Fund consists of contributions from Scottish Government, Local Government and Health. The Scottish Government, NHS Scotland and COSLA have agreed minimum contributions to the Scottish Government Early Years Change Fund as set out in th…
8 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much new money it will allocate to the Early Years Change Fund in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2013-14 and (c) 2014-15 and from what budget line.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: New monies allocated by Scottish Government, held in the Positive Futures (Early Years) are as follows: 2012-13 £m 2013-14 £m 2014-15 £m 2015-16 £m Total £m 10.5 14.5 16.5 8.5 50 Please note, 2015-16 is beyond the period of the current spendin…
8 Oct 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much the Early Years Change Fund will amount to over the current spending review period and from what sources, also broken down by year.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The breakdown of the Early Years Change Fund is as follows: 2012-13 £m 2013-14 £m 2014-15 £m 2015-16 £m Total £m Scottish Government 10.5 14.5 16.5 8.5 50 Health 36 39 42 - 117 Local Government 20 35 50 - 105 Total 272 Please …
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to pilot an extension of free early years education and childcare to two-year-olds in deprived areas.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: I refer the member to the answer to questions S4W-09595 and S4W-09596 on 24 September 2012. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.…
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to explore the possibility of using the Early Years Change Fund, European Structural Funds or other funding to extend the provision of early years childcare for two-year-olds.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: Scottish Government officials are currently engaged in developing the key themes and priorities for European Structural Funds from 2014 onwards. Officials from the early learning and childcare team are actively involved in this process.
11 Sep 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to pilot an extension of free early education and childcare to deprived two-year-olds in addition to its plans to extend provision to looked-after two-year-olds.
Answer · Aileen Campbell: The Scottish Government has no current plans to pilot an extension of free early learning and childcare to deprived two-year-olds. We intend to include proposals in the Children and Young People Bill to deliver a minimum of 600 hours per year of early learni…
29 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on formulating papers for the new National 4 and National 5 exams and when sample papers will be available.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) published the final course, unit and assessment specifications for the new National 2-5 and Higher qualifications on 30 April 2012. From October 2012 to April 2013, SQA will be publishing a package of assessment suppor…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the expected experiences and outcomes at each key points of pupils' educational progress are and what is required to achieve these.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government issued comprehensive advice in April 2009 to all teachers setting out, through a national framework of experiences and outcomes, the expected knowledge and skills that should be developed across primary and secondary sectors.
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support is provided for teaching staff to assist with (a) making judgements about and (b) maintaining pupils' portfolios.
Answer · Michael Russell: In addition to guidance published in December 2010 (Building the Curriculum 5), Education Scotland has had a number of seminars for authorities and schools to provide advice and guidance on profiling and the development of profile. In addition they worked wit…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much time is allocated per year for interaction between the primary and secondary school sector to discuss (a) curriculum planning, (b) approaches to teaching and (c) assessment.
Answer · Michael Russell: It is for education authorities to provide advice to their schools on the nature and time spent on transitional arrangements between their primary and secondary schools. Funding of £6.7 million in 2010-12 and a further three years funding of £3.762 million f…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of pupils move to secondary school with a P7 profile, broken down by local authority.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government does not gather this information. All primary 7 pupils will develop a profile with support from their teacher which will build an accurate and comprehensive account of their progress and achievement. The profile is developed as an on-g…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many hours per year are set aside for teachers to discuss with peers annotated portfolios of pupils’ work.
Answer · Michael Russell: Guidance on profiling and the development of profiles was published in December 2010 as part of the Building the Curriculum series. It is for education authorities and schools to manage and agree the time to be spent by teachers to discuss with peers on annot…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what best practices it has identified for joint primary and secondary school curriculum planning, and how these are shared with teaching staff.
Answer · Michael Russell: Education Scotland support and share best practice with schools and authorities in seminars, their website and with exemplars in the National Assessment Resource on transition from early years to primary and from primary to secondary. Local authorities also …
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it gives to local authorities regarding how much time should be allocated to primary and secondary teachers visiting each other’s schools in order to facilitate pupils moving to secondary.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government has not issued any guidance on this issue. It is for education authorities to provide advice to their schools on the nature and time spent on transitional arrangements between their primary and secondary schools.
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information is given to (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers that sets out the expected knowledge and skills of pupils and how best to illustrate pupils' progress, including examples of teacher assessment, as they move to secondary schools
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government issued comprehensive advice in April 2009 to all teachers setting out, through a national framework of experiences and outcomes, the expected knowledge and skills that should be developed across primary and secondary sectors. Advice o…
16 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations it has made to local authorities regarding the building of teachers’ assessment literacy through (a) intra- and (b)inter-school discussion.
Answer · Michael Russell: The Scottish Government issued a suite of guidance on assessment approaches, known as Building the Curriculum 5, including quality assurance and moderation, to all schools and authorities in January 2010. In addition to seminars, Education Scotland in partner…
15 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it is coordinating the processes for (a) identifying and (b) designating marine (i) protected and (ii) special protected areas.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: Marine Scotland is working in partnership with SNH and JNCC at a national level to identify Nature Conservation MPA proposals for potential inclusion in a network of sites in Scotland’s seas. JNCC and SNH will provide formal advice to Scottish ministers on th…
15 Aug 2012 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it will (a) publish details and (b) consult on the areas proposed for designation as marine (i) protected and (ii) special protected areas, and what form the consultation will take.
Answer · Richard Lochhead: A progress report on the development of the Marine Protected Area network is planned for December, including locations under consideration as MPAs. Marine Scotland will finalise details on locations proposed for MPA designation prior to consultation, which we…