Liz Smith

3 Dec 2018 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that student access to Scotland's universities is based on the principles of equity and excellence.

13 Nov 2018 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recent Purple Tuesday, what action it is taking to support the improvement of retail experiences for disabled people.

5 Nov 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many farmers have received payments under the National Basic Payment Support Scheme since August 2018.

30 Oct 2018 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the NHS integration joint board structure.

25 Oct 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many communications it has received from teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools who have responded to the First Minister’s offer on 4 October 2018 (Official Report, c.9) to report to her any serious concerns they have about work pressures in the classroom.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has received a total of 120 letters from teachers in response to the First Minister's offer. It is not possible to provide a breakdown as most of the teachers have not identified which sector they work in.

28 Sep 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on “essay mills”, in light of Universities UK's comment that they should be banned in the UK in order to protect the integrity of university education.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: While all universities have disciplinary procedures to tackle cheating students, any potential legislation to ban essay writing companies is a reserved matter for the UK Government. Protecting the integrity of our higher education sector is vital and we will…

10 Sep 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has carried out of traffic flows on the Queensferry Crossing since it opened.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Transport Scotland will be undertaking an evaluation of the Forth Replacement Crossing Project, one, three and five years after opening in line with Scottish Trunk Road Infrastructure Project Evaluation, against both the transport planning objectives and wide…

10 Sep 2018 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to improve the implementation of the 1+2 modern languages policy in broad general education.

23 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether parents of P1 pupils are entitled, in law, to withdraw their children from standardised national tests.

Answer · John Swinney: As set out in the joint statement with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, the SNSAs, in common with virtually all aspects of the Scottish curriculum and its delivery, are not provided for in legislation. This means that they cannot be seen…

10 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the analysis by Professor Jim Scott, which states that the narrowing of subject choice options in the senior phase of many schools is partly responsible for the weaker trends in attainment in National 4 and National 5 qualifications.

Answer · John Swinney: During the Senior Phase (from S4 to S6), young people will look to acquire a range of qualifications and awards over that 3 year period. The freedom and flexibility that schools have in the design of their senior phase is entirely in keeping with the Scottish…

10 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will reform the structure of National 4 and National 5 qualifications.

Answer · John Swinney: National 4 and National 5 are robust qualifications that accurately reflect the achievement of learners at the appropriate SCQF level. No changes to the structure of National 4 or National 5 are being considered at this time. This is the first year in which …

10 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to address the decline in total SQA entries for Modern Languages.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to implementing the 1+2 language learning policy. We have invested an additional £27.2 million since 2013 to assist local authorities with the implementation of this policy. There are more young people than ever before le…

10 Aug 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to continue the Scottish Baccalaureate qualification in 2019.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has no plans to discontinue the Scottish Baccalaureate. The Scottish Baccalaureate is a valued component of the qualifications framework, providing a route to qualification for some of our most able learners.

4 Jul 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many applications have there been for the new STEM teaching bursary.

Answer · John Swinney: As at 17 July 2018, the STEM bursary scheme has received 94 applications.  

30 Apr 2018 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to ensure that all pupils, irrespective of social background, have full access to arts education.

25 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many colleges and universities offer (a) courses and (b) qualifications in e-commerce.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Scottish Government and its agencies and partners are fully committed to ensuring that e-commerce is incorporated into their wider digital support across all sectors. Due to the cross-disciplinary nature of e-commerce, many courses at colleges and univer…

25 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it is engaging with local businesses in Scotland to help develop an e-commerce strategy.

Answer · Keith Brown: Scottish Government agencies and partners are currently delivering a number of initiatives that engage with businesses on a range of digital issues, including e-commerce. The Business Gateway (BG) DigitalBoost programme provides e-commerce advice within a po…

25 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the top 10 Scottish businesses are that contribute the most to the total UK e-commerce turnover of £511 billion.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The UK estimates are sourced primarily from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) E-commerce Survey of UK Businesses which can be found at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/ecommerceandictactivity/2016 . The …

24 Apr 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it is having with local authorities regarding the provision of music tuition in schools.

20 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each local authority area have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of (i) sheep and (ii) other livestock worrying under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 in each year since 2007.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Information on cases of sheep worrying is not held centrally. Information is available on the number of people prosecuted under the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 – which relates to dogs worrying livestock on agricultural land. However as this legisl…

18 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it had with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator between 1 January 2014 and 4 April 2018 regarding the use of charitable funds by NHS trusts.

Answer · Shona Robison: We were in contact with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator in the development of the ‘NHS Endowment Report and Recommendations on Governance and Best Practice’ guidance that was issued to NHS Boards on 6 January 2014. I refer the member to the answ…

18 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what communications it had with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator between 24 June 2014 and 4 April 2018 regarding the use of NHS Tayside’s charitable funds.

Answer · Shona Robison: After becoming aware of the endowment fund issue in NHS Tayside on 3 April 2018, Scottish Government officials contacted the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). On 5 April 2018, Scottish Government officials discussed with OSCR the fact that we w…

18 Apr 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when (a) the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport and (b) its officials became aware that there had been alleged irregularities regarding the use of charitable assets held by NHS Tayside.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-15972 on 3 May 2018. 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/parliamentarybusiness/288…

11 Apr 2018 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the performance of integrated joint boards since their creation.

27 Mar 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what qualifies as an "exceptional circumstance" to allow Attainment Scotland Fund allocations to (a) local authorities and (b) schools to be carried over into the next financial year.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government expects schools and local authorities to plan carefully for the use of their Pupil Equity Funding allocations, reviewing their plans throughout the year to reduce the risk of the underspend. It is a matter for schools to work with thei…

19 Mar 2018 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister for what reason £15 million of the £52 million Attainment Scotland Fund provided to local authorities and schools has reportedly not been spent.

23 Jan 2018 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with ScotRail regarding train punctuality and stop-skipping in the Mid Scotland and Fife region.

22 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with local authorities regarding their statutory requirement to provide adequate assistance for pupils with additional support needs.

Answer · John Swinney: To support local authorities to carry out their statutory duties under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended), the Scottish Government regularly engages, through appropriate networks, with local authority representatives including CoSLA, AD…

17 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what modifications have taken place in the last five years to upgrade central reservation barriers on motorways and dual carriageways to allow sections to be temporarily removed in bad weather to assist with clearing stranded vehicles.

Answer · Humza Yousaf: The provision of crossover points on a dual carriageway is dictated by national standards (Design Manual for Roads and Bridges). We continue to review our network to assess the merit of introducing new crossovers at strategic locations and wider incident resp…

16 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers have left the profession in each of the last three years for reasons other than retirement.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of leavers from the teaching profession.