Liam Kerr

25 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many individuals attained newly qualified teacher (NQT) status in summer 2023.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Teachers attain Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) status on completion of their teaching qualification. Information on the number of UK domiciled students qualifying from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes at Scottish Higher Education Institutions is pub…

25 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on what role it and/or its agencies should play in matching newly qualified teachers (NQTs), who have not been offered a teaching post in their "home" local authority, with local authorities that have a shortage of teachers, such as those in the north east.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The allocation of places on the Teacher Induction Scheme (TIS) is based on students selecting a preference of five local authorities in which they wish to undertake their probationary year. The system is set to ensure that all newly qualified teachers are, in…

25 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are employed in Scottish state schools, as at June 2023.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: All newly qualified teachers in Scotland must complete a period of probationary service to show that they meet the Standard for Full Registration. In the September 2022 Teacher census there were 2,889 full-time equivalent probationary teachers employed in pu…

25 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it encourages teachers in training to consider undertaking their probationary year outside of their "home" local authority, including through marketing or presentations, and, specifically, how it seeks to encourage probationary teachers to carry out their probationary year in areas s…

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) is responsible for administering the Teacher Induction Scheme and as such undertakes seminars and information sessions with prospective probationary teachers. This includes encouraging probationary teachers to …

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what mechanisms teachers can utilise to officially raise concerns about pupils who are persistently absent from school without explanation; whether a system for raising such concerns exists in Scotland that is similar to the Early Help Scheme in England; how many cases of persistent …

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government’s guidance ‘Included, Engaged and Involved Part 1: a positive approach to the promotion and management of attendance in Scottish schools’ makes clear the need for schools to follow up absence immediately, and to continue to follow up a…

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils were recorded as (a) persistently and (b) severely absent in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in the last five years, broken down by year and local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not produce any statistics on persistently or severely absent pupils. This is because it is the responsibility of local authorities, not Scottish Government, to monitor attendance locally within their own school estate. The Scotti…

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many children were home-schooled in each year since 2016-17, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Scottish Government does not hold information on the numbers of children who are home educated in Scotland.

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many out-of-catchment applications have been submitted for pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in the last five years, and what proportion of these applications were successful, broken down by year and local authority area.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government does not routinely collect data on out-of-catchment applications and does not hold information about the number of applications that have been submitted for pupils in primary and secondary schools or what proportion of those were succe…

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it (a) has provided and (b) will provide for any remedial action in relation to reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in school buildings

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Building safety is a matter for the owner - who in this case would be individual local authorities - acting in accordance with the relevant health and safety legislation. Before any decisions can be taken on funding, it is important to understand the scope an…

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it last carried out risk assessments on each school building for which it is responsible and that contains reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete; whether it has published the outcomes of any such assessments, and if this is not the case, whether it plans to do so, and how regul…

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Building safety is a matter for the owner - who in this case would be individual local authorities - acting in accordance with the relevant health and safety legislation. Moreover, health and safety legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government.

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in each case where a risk assessment has been carried out of school buildings that contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, whether any recommendations made as part of the assessment have been undertaken and completed, and if this is not the case, what the reasons are for this…

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Building safety is a matter for the owner - who in this case would be individual local authorities - acting in accordance with the relevant health and safety legislation. Moreover, health and safety legislation is not devolved to the Scottish Government.

18 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has published all minutes of any discussions that relevant ministers have had with (a) officials and (b) local authorities regarding the issue of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in school buildings.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The issue of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete was discussed at the Building and Fire Safety Ministerial Working Group in both January and June of this year. The minutes can be accessed at: Building and Fire Safety: Ministerial Working Group - gov.scot …

13 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many loans and grants Home Energy Scotland provided in 2022-23; for what amount, and for which technologies.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The following table provides a breakdown of measures installed and the number and value of grants and loans paid in full through the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme (formerly HES Loan and Cashback Scheme) for domestic properti…

13 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it (a) has reportedly stopped offering interest-free loans for residential solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems and (b) decided not to accompany the cessation with any press release or publicity; what consultation was undertaken before withdrawing the loa…

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The Scottish Government has not stopped offering interest free loans for residential solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems. The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan currently provides grant funding of £1250 for the installation of each of…

13 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason solar PV and storage is not considered to be an installation that “will maximise decarbonisation of heat or reduce heat demand”, as stated in the announcement on the Home Energy Scotland website, in light of reported analysis stating that it can provide consumers with sig…

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The Home Energy Scotland (HES) Grant and Loan scheme aims to decarbonise the way we heat our homes by helping with the costs of installing zero direct emissions heating systems (ZDEH) such as a heat pump and installing energy efficiency measures in homes. Wh…

11 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many visiting specialist teachers (a) are currently employed and (b) were employed in each year from 2007 to 2023, to visit and practise in Scottish primary schools, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The number of visiting specialist teachers is recorded in September of each year as part of the teacher census. Data for 2023 is not yet available. Visiting specialists are centrally employed by local authorities and data on the school sector in which they wo…

11 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many support for learning teachers were employed in state schools as at April (a) 2023, (b) 2007, (c) 2012 and (d) 2017.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The number of support for learning teachers employed in state schools is shown in Table 1. The Scottish Government collects data on teachers through an annual census in September, so the following information refers to teachers employed in September rather th…

5 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-17171 by Neil Gray on 4 May 2023, whether the current contract between Ferguson Marine and BAE Systems, which was scheduled to end on 30 June 2023, did so, and what the current status is of the £25,000 working capital loan.

Answer · Neil Gray: Although most staff returned to Ferguson Marine by 30 June 2023, eight members of staff continue to be seconded to BAE Systems. As regards the £25,000 working capital loan, the loan agreement is still extant. To date, the loan has not been repaid.

3 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it has on the number of people enrolling on courses of education at Scottish (a) colleges and (b) universities who complete those courses within the intended length of time for their course, and what information it has on what the reasons were for any people not completing the …

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: Information on the outcomes of students enrolled at Scottish colleges is published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) in their annual college performance indicators release. College Performance Indicators 2021-22 (sfc.ac.uk) The SFC are continuing to de…

3 Jul 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what data it has on the number of hours of paid work, unrelated to the course being studied, that students in further and higher education are undertaking during term time of their course.

Answer · Jenny Gilruth: The Scottish Government is in the process of conducting the Student Finance and Wellbeing Study which will provide data on paid work undertaken by students.

29 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it considered exempting hydrogen-ready boilers from its proposed ban on gas boilers in new build properties.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The New Build Heat Standard ( Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2023 ) prohibits the installation of direct emissions heating systems that produce more than a negligible amount of direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This is to ensure that new bui…

29 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has completed an assessment of how many homes in Scotland will be able to run a heat pump and use two electric car chargers simultaneously.

Answer · Patrick Harvie: The requirements of individual homes will likely depend on a number of factors such as overall power demand for the home, the size of the home and its general energy efficiency. We are currently conducting research with CXC, which includes looking at the impa…

29 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact taking a so-called "heat pump first" approach will have on grid capacity and supply.

Answer · Neil Gray: As set out in the Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, we are taking a ‘zero emissions first’ approach in our heat and energy efficiency delivery programmes, where it is technically feasible and will not increase fuel poverty. The main solutions …

21 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18367 by Angus Robertson on 8 June 2023, which states that "Ministerial Engagements, travel and gifts are published within 3 months in line with the Scottish Ministerial Code", in light of this information reportedly not being published as stated, m…

Answer · George Adam: As set out in the Ministerial Code, the Scottish Government publishes ministerial engagements, travel and gifts three months in arrears, and publishes the whole month at one time, taken from the end of the relevant month. The Scottish Government plans to publ…

21 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost was of balancing the electricity grid in each year from 2018 to 2022.

Answer · Gillian Martin: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19389 on 4 July 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/…

21 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its policy is to reduce electricity grid balancing costs.

Answer · Gillian Martin: The responsibility for the balancing of grid costs lies with the National Grid ESO, not the Scottish Government. Information on their work on this can be found here: Balancing Services Use of System (BSUoS) charges | ESO (nationalgrideso.com) .

21 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasons are for the reported change in the cost of balancing the electricity grid.

Answer · Gillian Martin: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19389 on 4 July 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/…

21 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how the cost of balancing the electricity grid in Scotland is paid for.

Answer · Gillian Martin: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-19389 on 4 July 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/…

19 Jun 2023 · Topical Question

To ask the Scottish Government what work is being done to support local communities that have recently been affected by water shortages.

13 Jun 2023 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-18273 by Mairi McAllan on 6 June 2023, whether it will provide the information requested regarding what data it has on the number of sewage discharges, broken down by (a) incidence and (b) hours of discharge, into the North Sea from any point within…

Answer · Mairi McAllan: As the Scottish Government is not required to hold information on operational matters related to Scottish Water, I again refer the member to the published data available on Scottish Water’s website at https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/docume…