Daniel Johnson

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many students (a) began and (b) completed a Childhood Practice (BA) degree in each of the last five years, broken down by institution.

Answer · Mark McDonald: ADMISSIONS Institution 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Total Aberdeen University 15 28 25 19 47 134 Ayrshire College 10 10 Dundee University 82 56 39 35 67 279 Edinburgh College 24 0 48 72 Edinburgh University 24 24 24…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many people claimed (a) the maximum and (b) below the maximum level of higher education student (i) bursary and (ii) loan in each of the last five years, also broken down by how many claims were approved, and what information it has regarding how many eligible people did not claim.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table shows the number of students, who received the maximum amount of bursary in the last five academic years, and the number who received less than the maximum. Number of Students Receiving Bursary 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 201…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average annual cost of childcare has been for parents and carers in each of the last five years, and how it calculates this.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Scottish Government does not collect data on annual costs of childcare on a regular basis and has not calculated the average annual cost to parents of childcare.

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) mean and (b) median debt for students on completion of a (a) first full-time undergraduate degree and (b) full-time postgraduate degree was in each of the last five years, broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Information on student loan debt is held and published by the Student Loans Company (SLC). http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx The latest publication, covering financial year 2015-16, showed that the aver…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, how the estimated average saving of £2,000 per child was calculated; when it will be fully delivered, and whether it will publish regular updates on progress with this.

Answer · Mark McDonald: It is estimated that by almost doubling the number of free hours of Early Learning and Childcare entitlement from current levels (600 hours) to 1140 hours by 2020 will result in an average saving of £2,000 per child. This has been calculated as the additiona…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many students from poor backgrounds were eligible for the additional £125 payment in 2015-16; how many claimed it, broken down by (a) income and (b) Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile, and what plans it has to incorporate similar payments in the future through bur…

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: A total of 37,820 students received the additional £125 bursary in 2015-16. The bursary was payable to eligible students who were already in receipt of a bursary and were from a household with an income below £24,000. 30,930 students who received the bursary …

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what maximum level of (a) bursary and (b) loan has been available to higher education students in each of the last five years.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The following table shows the maximum amount of bursary available in the last five academic years. 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 Young Students' Bursary £2,640 £2,640 £1,750 £1,750 £1,875 Independent Students' Bursary £1,000 £1,000 …

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many early learning and childcare settings have been inspected by Education Scotland in each of the last five years, broken down by type of setting.

Answer · John Swinney: ELC inspection numbers - Financial year April to March - All published April 2011 to March 2016 Inspection types Figures Full Full inspection resulting in QI evaluations Try out Try out inspections not resulting in QI evaluations Other 2 day notice in…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, when it will publish the Flexible Jobs Index for Scotland.

Answer · Mark McDonald: We will commission a Flexible Jobs Index for Scotland, which will determine the availability of flexible jobs in Scotland, by the end of 2016 and we will seek to publish as soon as practicable thereafter.

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, how it will ensure that people working in childcare settings are covered by (a) the living wage and (b) all other fair work practices.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Through our consultation, A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, we are seeking views as to how payment of the Living Wage and wider Fair Work practises can be encouraged across the Early Learning and Childcare sector…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, when it will publish its strategic plan for its programme of infrastructure development.

Answer · Mark McDonald: We will set out more details on our programme of infrastructure development in Spring 2017 as part of the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation.

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, (a) where and (b) when each delivery model trial will (i) take place and (ii) conclude; how much funding will be provided; what the focus of each trial will be, and which early le…

Answer · Mark McDonald: On 15 November I set out details for three delivery trials to be progressed from January 2017, located in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders. A news release which provides further details on the individual trials can be found at: http://news.gov.sco…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of its staff have (i) had the opportunity to access and (ii) taken-up flexible working arrangements in each of the last five years.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting all staff to have a healthy work-life balance. The Flexible Working Policy is a key part of this and in line with the Scottish Government vision for the future. Flexible working is one way we can adapt to the…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much capital investment for early learning and childcare has been provided in each of the last five years by (a) the Scottish Futures Trust and (b) local authorities.

Answer · Mark McDonald: Scottish government provided significant additional capital funding to local authorities to support implementation of the early learning and childcare elements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: £71 million in 2014-15, £69 million in 2015-1…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, when it will publish the skills investment plan for the sector.

Answer · Mark McDonald: A draft of the Skills Investment Plan for the Early Learning and Childcare sector will be produced by January 2017 and shared with partners. The final version of the Plan will be published in spring 2017.

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, when it will publish the revised statutory guidance on the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.

Answer · Mark McDonald: The statutory guidance is being revised in light of the amendments to the Additional Support for Learning Act which were brought forward through the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. The statutory guidance will be published for consultation, alongside non-statut…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children in each of the last five years have been (a) identified at birth as being disabled and (b) recognised as having additional learning support needs, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Mark McDonald: The Scottish Government does not hold information about how many children have been identified at birth as being disabled. The data that is available is from the 2011 Census, which relates to people with a long-term health problem or disability which limits t…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) universities, (b) colleges and (c) hospitals have had onsite provision for early learning and childcare in each of the last five years; how many places have been made available, and what the take-up rate has been.

Answer · Mark McDonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-04230 on 11 November 2016. 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/parliamentarybusine…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the findings of the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, what its position is on the provision of out of school care.

Answer · Mark McDonald: We are currently working closely with the Scottish Out of School Care Network to develop a new policy framework for out of school care. The framework will be developed under the auspices of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Forum, whose remit is to d…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the expansion of early learning and childcare in Scotland, what estimate it has made of the total hourly (a) term-time, (b) holiday day-time and (c) yearly capacity of the early learning and childcare sector and what impact (i) demograph…

Answer · Mark McDonald: We are currently in the process of gathering detailed information on the available capacity within the early learning and childcare sector. In line with National Records of Scotland 2014-based population projections, we do not expect any significant demograp…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the findings of the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, when it will publish its findings regarding the extent of the onsite provision of early learning and childcare in higher and further education campuses.

Answer · Mark McDonald: We are working with partners to explore the extent of on-site provision and will set out more information in the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation in Spring 2017.

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the report, Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2015-16, whether replacing grants with loans for higher education students since 2012-13 was carried out with "the aim of protecting free tuition”.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: No. The recently published Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) statistical publication contained an inaccurate statement. We apologise for this inaccuracy and will revise the relevant entry in the report. The reason for introducing a simplified higher edu…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what projection it made in 2012-13 of the (a) mean, (b) median and (c) total student debt for each year from 2012-13 to 2017-18; how this compares with the actual figures for each year up to 2015-16, and what projection it has made for each of the next five years.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not make student debt projections. However, the Student Loans Company publishes data on total student debt and average student debt: http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx Table …

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the impact of tuition fees on people from disadvantaged backgrounds being able to enter university.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Our consideration of relevant statistical information indicates that there has been clear progress on access since the reintroduction of free tuition in 2008. In 2014-15 14.0% of Scottish domiciled, full-time first degree entrants to Scottish universities wer…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will begin providing the Best Start Grant.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The timescales for delivering the Best Start Grant and the other social security benefits that are being devolved are yet to be finalised. Our consultation on the future of social security closed last week and we will use this and the information gathered fro…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested to increase the number of health visitor posts in each year since 2014-15, and how much will be invested in 2017-18.

Answer · Shona Robison: Funding of £2 million was allocated in 2014-15 and £6.8 million in 2015-16. Further funding was included in the Outcomes Framework funding that was issued to Health Boards for 2016-17. Our planned funding levels should allow us to meet the manifesto commitmen…

31 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will implement each of the recommendations of the report by the Commission on Widening Access, A Blueprint for Fairness; how much this will cost and how it will measure whether each recommendation has been fulfilled.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Responsibility for implementing the Commission's 34 recommendations is distributed across a number of education sectors and organisations. For those recommendations that are directly for Government we remain focussed on delivering within the timescales set ou…

28 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many classes have had both national 4 and 5 students in each of the last five years, broken down by the average number of students in each year group.

Answer · John Swinney: We do not collect data on classes in secondary schools so this information is not available.

27 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the comments in the publication, Enterprise and Skills Review: Report on Phase 1, what its position is on whether the alignment of functions of learning and skills agencies could result in the merger of Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council.

Answer · Keith Brown: There are currently no plans to merge Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland. Plans to better align of the functions of the two agencies will be developed as part of phase 2 of the review.

27 Oct 2016 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government further to the comments in the publication, Enterprise and Skills Review: Report on Phase 1, what the remit will be of the review of the learning journey.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: The Learner Journey review will build on the solid foundations of Getting It Right For Every Child, Curriculum for Excellence and Developing the Young Workforce to further improve young people’s experience of moving through school, college, training, universi…