Liz Smith

22 Jun 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total spend was on looked after children in each year from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2015.

Answer · Mark McDonald: FY2007-08 FY 2008-09 FY 2009-10 FY 2010-11 FY 2011-12 FY 2012-13 FY 2013-14 FY 2014-15 Gross Expenditure £685 million £721 million £765 million £773 million £792 million £837 million £858 million £887 million Source: Local Financial Return…

22 Jun 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children were taken into care from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2015, broken down by (a) year and (b) local authority, and how many of those were defined as being (i) looked after and (ii) accommodated.

Answer · Mark McDonald: The data requested is set out in the following table. It is published each March in the Children's Social Work Statistics release, from the Children Looked After data collection. We do not hold the 2007 data to this level of detail, and the data from 2008 i…

16 Jun 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it spent on (a) print and (b) broadcast advertising and marketing materials to promote the air gun amnesty between 23 May and 12 June 2016.

Answer · Michael Matheson: The Scottish Government has worked closely with Police Scotland to highlight awareness of the legislative change around licensing of air weapons, which opens on 1 July 2016. The first stage of the public information campaign has been to support Police Scotlan…

16 Jun 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many air guns were surrendered to police stations during the amnesty between 23 May and 12 June 2016, also broken down by Police Scotland division.

Answer · Michael Matheson: Police Scotland’s ‘SurrendAir’ campaign ran from 23 May 2016 to 12 June 2016, with 72 designated police offices around the country accepting unwanted air weapons in advance of licensing opening on 1 July 2016. During the three week initiative the police colle…

7 Jun 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the SQA regarding what checks are put in place to ensure that all exam papers are correctly compiled and moderated.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is responsible for the setting and marking of exam papers. It has robust processes in place to ensure that papers and marking instructions are accurate and set to the correct standard. Each year, SQA considers in d…

23 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many school teachers have other paid jobs.

Answer · John Swinney: This information is not held centrally.

23 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to recruit more school teachers in ICT subjects.

Answer · John Swinney: Recruitment of teachers is a matter for local authorities. In recognition of the challenges faced by local authorities in relation to teacher recruitment, the Scottish Government launched its 'Inspiring Teachers' recruitment campaign in September 2015, with a…

23 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what workforce planning it has carried out regarding the recruitment of school teachers in ICT subjects.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government conducts an annual teacher workforce planning exercise, in partnership with other stakeholders, to project the minimum requirements for the number of newly trained teachers. This exercise involves analysis of the teacher workforce deta…

23 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many university training places for teaching ICT subjects there have been in each of the last 10 years, also broken down by the number of places that were unfilled.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Prior to academic year 2014-15, student teacher intake targets for Professional Graduate Diploma in Education secondary programmes of initial teacher education were not set on a subject specific basis. The table indicates the targets set and intakes to comput…

23 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many university students have graduated in ICT courses in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table indicates the number of qualifiers from higher education information technology courses from 2005-06 to 2014-15. Qualifiers from higher education courses at Scottish institutions by subject of study, 2005-06 to 2014-15 Subject …

19 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what (a) action it has taken and (b) further plans it has to raise public awareness of Familial Arrhythmia Network in Scotland.

Answer · Aileen Campbell: Familial Arrhythmia Network for Scotland (FANS) aims to improve outcomes in heart disease care for people with life threatening inherited cardiac conditions and their families. FANS is a national managed clinical network comprising specialist healthcare pract…

19 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what educational evidence the decision to introduce standardised testing for primary 1 pupils was based on.

Answer · John Swinney: The approach to national standardised assessment as set out in the National Improvement Framework was developed after extensive engagement with teachers, parents, children and academics. We have drawn evidence from a range of advice and publications, particul…

12 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to carry out a review of the support provided to school pupils with additional support needs.

Answer · John Swinney: As a result of the work currently on-going to monitor, report on, maintain and support implementation of the additional support for learning legislation and policies, Scottish Ministers have a good understanding of how the system is working. This will be impr…

12 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it will use over the next four years to determine whether there has been improvement in educational attainment.

Answer · John Swinney: We will gather and analyse a range of data and evidence, through the national improvement framework, to ensure that we have a comprehensive picture of children’s progress that does not focus on one single measure of performance. The evidence will include a …

12 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanism it will use over the next four years to allocate resources from the Scottish Attainment Fund to schools.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has committed to expanding our Attainment Fund and investing an additional £750 million during this parliament to close the gap in educational attainment. To date the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation has been used to identify sch…

12 May 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will re-enter Scotland in the (a) Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and (b) Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment of educational progress in schools.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government has no plans to reintroduce the Progress in International Reading and Literacy Trends (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) studies for Scotland. The Scottish Government welcomes international scrutiny o…

14 Mar 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recommendations in the final report of the Commission on Widening Access regarding improving skills among the workforce.

29 Feb 2016 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the BBC's proposal to introduce a "Scottish Six" news programme.

17 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what criteria the national improvement framework uses to measure the extent of the attainment gap.

Answer · Angela Constance: The national improvement framework will ensure that we have more robust and consistent evidence to measure the extent of the attainment gap. For the first time, we will be collecting data on children’s progress as they move through their education from early …

16 Feb 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Scottish Prison Service’s plan to deliver smoke-free indoor prison facilities.

Answer · Michael Matheson: A ‘National Tobacco Strategy Workstream’ has been developing an evidence informed joint action plan, detailing how indoor smoke-free prison facilities will be delivered. The workstream is in the process of producing a comprehensive evidence informed options p…

11 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what organisations have received funding from the £1 million Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund, broken down by (a) memorial and (b) amount.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Centenary Memorials Restoration Fund is managed by the War Memorials Trust on behalf of the Scottish Government and Historic Environment Scotland. The following table shows the breakdown of grants offered and final grant paid to organisations where wo…

3 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has raised from charging for school pupils' music tuition in each year since 1999.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: The government's Instrumental Music Group report of June 2013, recommendation 14, noted “the Improvement Service's offer to create, maintain and provide a standard benchmarking framework to capture in a standard form data on charging policy, current charges, …

3 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-18461 by Alasdair Allan on 3 December 2013, what information it has regarding how many pupils in each local authority have been learning a musical instrument in each year since 2012-13.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: The government's Instrumental Music Group report of June 2013, recommendation 14, noted “the Improvement Service's offer to create, maintain and provide a standard benchmarking framework to capture in a standard form data on charging policy, current charges, …

3 Feb 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4W-29415 by Alasdair Allan on 2 February 2016, how the £1 million that was announced in December 2012 was allocated and what information it has regarding how many instruments were purchased, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) was charged with administering the investment and liaising with the Instrumental Music Service in each authority, on behalf of the Scottish Government. The total investment of £1 million was allocated in two phases. P…

25 Jan 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what innovative steps it is taking to help improve skills and provide training for adults.

25 Jan 2016 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what role the Scottish Government considers that cadet forces play in society.

21 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school inspectors have been employed each year since 2005, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Angela Constance: From 2005 to 2006, school inspectors were employed by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools, from 2006 to 2011 by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, and since 2011 by Education Scotland. The number of school inspectors employed each year takes into acco…

20 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to each local authority to offer free musical instrument lessons for school pupils in each year since 2007 and how many pupils have received them, also expressed as a percentage.

Answer · Alasdair Allan: The Scottish Government does not provide specific funding to local authorities to offer free musical instrument lessons. All local authorities in Scotland provide young people with a variety of opportunities to develop the skills of playing a musical instru…

18 Jan 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on how many people have been members of angling clubs over the last five years, broken down by (a) ordinary and (b) country membership.

Answer · Aileen McLeod: There is no central register of angling clubs and their membership held in Scotland.

18 Jan 2016 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the General Teaching Council for Scotland about teacher recruitment issues.

Answer · Angela Constance: I discussed teacher recruitment issues when I met with Ken Muir, Chief Executive of the General Teaching Council of Scotland (GTCS) on 10 September 2015. My officials regularly meet with the GTCS to discuss a range of issues including teacher recruitment.