Mary Fee

8 Nov 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the commitment made in its Programme for Government, how much it will provide to third sector organisations in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020 to deliver perinatal counselling and befriending services for women.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government have committed to providing £225,000 to third sector organisations for financial year 2019-20. There will be a further allocation to the third sector from 2020-23. The amount will be announced in due course following consideration of f…

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that working parents on low incomes with flexible childcare requirements will be able to access the proposed 1,140 hours of funded childcare.

Answer · Maree Todd: Flexibility should be driven by local demand from families regarding the nature, and type, of provision that they require. In line with their statutory duty to consult parents and carers on the provision of early learning and childcare (ELC), as set out in t…

30 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that the flexibility and availability of the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded childcare is being monitored.

Answer · Maree Todd: Flexibility of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is monitored using Care Inspectorate data. Data on flexibility in terms of opening hours and holiday provision is provided in Care Inspectorate’s annual Early Learning and Childcare Statistics publicati…

16 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has (a) budgeted for and (b) spent in each year since 2016-17 on sport, including providing support for arms-length organisations.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: This information is not held centrally by either the Scottish Government or sport scotland. To determine the amount budgeted and spent, you will need to contact each Local Authority.

14 Oct 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 10 September 2019, Doubling investment in future skills, what progress it is making in developing the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Scotland already has many of the skills required to facilitate the transition to a low carbon economy. These skills exist across many of our sectors such as energy, engineering, construction, and chemical science. Work is already underway with SDS and Zero W…

25 Sep 2019 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact has been on the rural economy of reductions to local authority services.

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects regarding the memberships of gym and leisure centre facilities that are privately-owned, including those that were previously operated by local authorities.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Neither the Scottish Government, nor sport scotland, collect date on the membership of gyms and leisure facilities which are privately owned. Due to information being deemed commercially sensitive, many privately owned facilities may not wish to publish figur…

24 Sep 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it collects regarding the memberships of gym and leisure centre facilities that are publicly-owned, including those that are operated by arms-length organisations.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: Each Local Authority, or Trust on their behalf, are responsible for the management and membership criteria for facilities within their area. The data they collect may be difficult to compare given the many variations.

20 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many qualified teachers of Mandarin in schools there are in each local authority area, and what steps it is taking to increase the number.

Answer · John Swinney: The number of secondary school teachers with Mandarin as their main subject by local authority (LA) from the 2018 Teacher Census is provided in the following table. Please note there were no teachers who listed Mandarin as their ‘other’ subject in 2018. Seco…

20 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how funding support is allocated to support the learning of Mandarin in schools.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is providing support for the teaching of Chinese culture, history and languages in Scotland through funding to: - The Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools (CISS) to provide strategic leadership of the Scotland’s Confucius Classr…

12 Aug 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Reform Scotland briefing, Closing the early years gap.

Answer · Maree Todd: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-24701 on 9 September 2019. 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/parliamentarybusines…

25 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23612 by Maree Todd on 19 June 2019, whether it will provide a further breakdown by race.

Answer · Maree Todd: A breakdown of Modern Apprenticeship starts in Early Learning and Childcare frameworks by self-declared ethnicity for the years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19, is in the following table. Modern Apprentices are asked to provide details of their ethnicity, rathe…

24 Jun 2019 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that children and young people who attempt to take their own lives have to wait weeks for specialist mental health support.

19 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-23634 by Clare Haughey on 12 June 2019, when the review by NHS Health Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland of existing mental health and suicide prevention training products is expected to conclude, and whether it still plans to fund the creation…

Answer · Clare Haughey: NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and NHS Health Scotland have been jointly commissioned by the Scottish Government to take forward a programme of work to support implementation of Action 2 of ‘Every Life Matters’, Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan. Th…

7 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken in the last year to reduce the number of rejected CAMHS referrals.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Audit of Rejected Referrals contained a range of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of CAMHS. As a direct response to the Audit’s findings, we announced the establishment of the Children and Young People’s Taskforce. Over the past year, the Task…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many female apprentices completed an apprenticeship in each local authority area in 2018-19.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Female apprenticeship achievements for 2018-19 in each local authority area are as follows: Local Authority Female Aberdeen City 207 Aberdeenshire 285 Angus 206 Argyll & Bute 98 Clackmannanshire 110 Dumfries & Galloway 169 Dundee City 270 Eas…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether its online suicide prevention online resource fulfils the commitment at Action 2 of its Suicide Prevention Action Plan that it would "fund the creation and implementation of refreshed mental health and suicide prevention training by May 2019".

Answer · Clare Haughey: NHS Health Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland have been jointly commissioned by the Scottish Government to take forward a programme of work to support implementation of Action 2 of 'Every Life Matters', Scotland's Suicide Prevention Action Plan. The onli…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date NHS Health Scotland and NHS Education Scotland will publish the knowledge and skills framework and workforce development plan for mental health and suicide prevention.

Answer · Clare Haughey: The Knowledge and Skills Framework was made available at the end of May 2019 on the NES Turas Learning Platform and is accessible by all NHS staff. The Workforce Development Plan is being finalised and will be made available on the NES Turas Learning Platfor…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many early learning and childcare partner providers are trialling the expansion to 1,140 funded hours, and how many of these have had a Care Inspectorate inspection regarding this.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not collect information on the number of funded providers involved in delivering expanded hours as part of phasing.   Delivery progress data from local authorities showed that in the period from 1 May to 30 September 2018, 935…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many childminders it expects will be required to deliver the expanded 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

Answer · Maree Todd: Childminders are playing a vital part in achieving our ambition for Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. They provide a nurturing setting for children to play and learn, and families value the flexible service they offer. The expansion in fu…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many modern apprenticeships in early learning and childcare have started in each of the last three years, broken down by (a) age and (b) gender of apprentice.

Answer · Maree Todd: The information sought is set out in the following tables. 2016-17: There was a total of 1,400 starts in ELC related Modern Apprenticeship frameworks in 2016-17. Starts by gender and framework: Framework Female   Male   Total   Social Services (Childr…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the size is of each sector of the early learning and childcare workforce, broken down by the (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent figure.

Answer · Maree Todd: The data on the headcount of the workforce working in settings delivering funded early learning and childcare is published by Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) in table 14 at the following link: https://data.sssc.uk.com/data-publications/194-the-childr…

5 Jun 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the costs associated with the early learning and childcare recruitment campaign that was launched in 2017, and what analysis and evaluation it has made of the outcomes.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government publishes its total marketing spend annually. The spend for 2017-18, including the costs related to the Early Learning and Childcare Recruitment campaign, can be found via the following link: https://www.gov.scot/publications/marketi…

29 May 2019 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that local authorities pay a sustainable rate to partner providers in early learning and childcare.

22 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer of question S5W-22712 by John Swinney on 1 May 2019, what analysis and research was undertaken to identify the figure of 350 mental health counsellors to be created in schools.

Answer · John Swinney: We want every child and young person to have appropriate access to emotional and mental well-being support in school. Our ambitious Mental Health Strategy and the commitments in this year’s Programme for Government are driving forward improvements and reform…

21 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it counts school leavers entering the workplace on a zero-hours contract as a positive destination.

Answer · John Swinney: The positive destination category included in Scottish Government school leaver destination statistics includes all school leavers identified as being in higher education, further education, training, employment, voluntary work and activity agreements. Employ…

21 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what actions it has taken in response to the recommendations of the Education and Skills Committee in its report, Young People's Pathways: a progress report on Developing the Young Workforce.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: We welcomed the recommendations, which further strengthened our initial ambition, and have adopted them across the programme. Officials are now updating their implementation plans to incorporate the Committee’s recommendations, to ensure we maximise the impa…

21 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its publication, Regional Employment Patterns in Scotland: Statistics from the Annual Population Survey 2018, what the unemployment rate has been in each of the last 10 years for 16- to 64-year-olds with (a) further and (b) higher education (SCQF level 7+) qualifications, exc…

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: The following table provides the unemployment rates for those aged 16-64 with further or higher education qualifications (SCQF 7+) for 2008 to 2018, sourced from the Annual Population Survey:   Unemployment rate for those aged 16-64 with SCQF 7+ level quali…

17 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many young people were not in work, training or education in the 2018-19 financial year, broken down by age.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Latest information published in ‘The Annual Participation Measure for 16-19 years olds in Scotland 2018’, published by Skills Development Scotland estimates that in 2018 7,242 16-19 year olds were not in education employment or training. (436) aged 16, (1,852…

17 May 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it records what sectors young people enter when going into employment or training.

Answer · Jamie Hepburn: Information is available from the Annual Population on industry of employment by age. Table 1 provides estimates of the number of 16-24 olds employed in Scotland by industry sector. Table 1: Total employment (ages 16-24) by broad industry sector, Scotland, 2…