Ross Greer

31 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-03736 and S5W-11258 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016 and 20 September 2017 respectively, in light of its commitment to UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, what assessment it has carried out on the impact …

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government has not used public money to support the manufacture or export of munitions from Scotland. However, we recognise the vital role that Aerospace, Defence and Marine engineering sectors play in Scotland’s economy, and aims to create an …

31 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-03736 and S5W-11258 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016 and 20 September 2017 respectively, how much it has provided each year to companies that export arms to Turkey.

Answer · Paul Wheelhouse: The Scottish Government have provided support, through our enterprise agencies, to companies operating in the defence market but has not used public money to support the manufacture or export of munitions from Scotland. Our Enterprise agencies do not systemat…

25 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its consultation paper on electoral reform of 19 December 2017, what its definition is of “legally resident”.

Answer · Joe FitzPatrick: We welcome interest in this issue and will carefully consider all responses to the consultation before taking next steps. We believe ‘legally resident’ includes those who have a legal right to live in Scotland and can meet electoral registration requirements.…

25 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its Draft Budget 2018-19 that it will provide £10 million to organisations that provide support to children and young people with complex support needs, how it proposes to distribute this funding.

Answer · John Swinney: As I indicated to the Education Committee in my letter of 26 January 2018 on the Scottish Government’s draft education and skills budget, the £10million to support organisations that provide support to children and young people with complex needs will be prov…

24 Jan 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to use existing medical and other evidence to determine entitlement to devolved disability benefits and reduce the need for in-person assessments.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We have made it clear from the start that we will make use of existing health and social care evidence to support better decision making. We will gather the right information at the initial stage of the process, utilising existing data to aid quality decision…

17 Jan 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the SFA and football clubs to follow the lead of the English FA in adopting the principles of the Rooney Rule for future coaching appointments.

10 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13573 by John Swinney on 9 January 2018, whether the number of full-time equivalent ASN teachers recorded was rounded to the nearest whole number and, if not, for what reason whole numbers were used.

Answer · John Swinney: In the answer to question S5W-13573 the numbers of full time equivalent ASN teachers were rounded to the nearest whole number.

10 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-00665 and S5W-13573 by John Swinney on 16 June 2016 and 9 January 2018 respectively, for what reason the figures provided in each answer regarding the number of learning support teachers there were in each local authority from 2007 to 2015 are dif…

Answer · John Swinney: The answers to questions S5W-00665 and S5W-13573 are different because they used slightly different definitions of learning support teachers. The answer to S5W-00665 includes teachers in primary, secondary, special schools, and centrally employed teachers, w…

10 Jan 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00665 by John Swinney on 16 June 2016, how many teachers there have been in each local authority in each year since 2007 who have had additional support for learning as their main subject.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to S5W-05579 on 30 December 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/parliamentarybusiness/28877.a…

10 Jan 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out on the impact on schools of its proposed reductions to local authority budgets.

20 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will report the conclusions of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group.

Answer · John Swinney: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

20 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work conducted so far of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group.

Answer · John Swinney: Information on the work of the group and its progress is provided online at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/HLivi/sex-education/LGBTIWG. This includes information from each meeting, including the actions from the meeting, the workplan for the gr…

19 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school librarians there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Answer · John Swinney: The following table shows the number of library staff employed in publically funded primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland between 2007 and 2016.   Library Staff (Full Time Equivalents)2007200820092010201120122013201420152016Aberdeen City1414141…

19 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many school mental health counsellors there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

19 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support for learning (a) teachers and (b) classroom assistants there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Answer · John Swinney: (a) Additional Support Needs (ASN) Teachers - Full Time Equivalents 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Aberdeen City 218 213 220 196 187 196 176 146 136 136 Aberdeenshire 214 227 289 304 300 289 275 252 274 273…

18 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue it expects to raise each year from the removal of non-domestic rates relief from independent schools.

Answer · Derek Mackay: The independent Barclay report broadly estimated £5 million annual savings would arise from the removal of charity relief from all independent schools. However, the Scottish Government proposes to retain relief eligibility for independent special schools and …

14 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing legislation to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws in order to reduce environmental damage and waste.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: We are committed to an ambitious target to reduce all waste by 15% by 2025. As announced in the Programme for Government, we will appoint an expert panel to advise on the use of charges for single-use items, similar to the successful plastic bag charge, with …

13 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 12 December 2017, how many of the 666 full-time-equivalent teachers employed using its Attainment Scotland Fund are on temporary contracts.

Answer · John Swinney: Statistics on the number of teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund that are on temporary contracts are not held by the Scottish Government.

7 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13114 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 December 2017, by what date it will set out its next steps.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: As detailed in a previous response, this Government commissioned the independent review of student support because we are committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they …

6 Dec 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the capacity of schools to carry out national standardised assessments, specifically in relation to the availability of digital devices on which the assessments must be taken.

Answer · Shona Robison: It was a key requirement in the development of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments that the online system is compatible with a wide variety of technical platforms, devices and internet bandwidth connectivity available within Scottish local authorit…

6 Dec 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that sufficient funding is provided to local authorities to help them meet the needs of their residents.

29 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue its formal response to the findings of the Student Support Review.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: This Government is committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they need to succeed. That is why we commissioned the independent review of student support, chaired by Jayn…

29 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government on which date it will announce the decision on the tendering process for Attracting High-Quality Graduates into Teaching.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is currently considering the bids received in respect of the tendering process for Attracting High-Quality Graduates into Teaching. We expect to announce the contract award in January 2018.

29 Nov 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that devolved benefits will not lose their value relative to inflation.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We have already made a clear public commitment to annually uprate disability benefits, and have gone further by increasing the value of payments for some benefits. The rate of Carer’s Allowance will be increased to that of Job Seeker’s Allowance through the C…

28 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland’s future participation in the European Higher Education Area after the UK has left the EU.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Membership of the European Union is not a prerequisite for membership of the European Higher Education Area. In addition to the European Commission and the EU Member States, a further twenty countries from across Europe participate, including Norway, Switzerl…

15 Nov 2017 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what areas will be prioritised for improvement when assessing the school inspection regime.

13 Nov 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to the Education and Skills Committee report, Teacher Workforce Planning for Scotland's Schools, what the timescale is of its proposal to work with the General Teaching Council of Scotland to address additional support needs in initial teacher education, and wha…

Answer · John Swinney: I have invited Education Scotland to develop a new self-evaluation framework to support the universities that provide Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to evaluate their work. It will be designed to support teacher education universities in identifying what is …

30 Oct 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on schools being required to deliver specific LGBTI-inclusive sex and relationship education.

Answer · Shirley-Anne Somerville: Relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the curriculum in Scotland. We are clear about the need for children and young people to gain knowledge appropriate to their age and stage of…

18 Oct 2017 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how its office in Washington DC supports the development of links between the film and television sectors in Scotland and the United States.

Answer · Derek Mackay: Promoting and supporting the growth and reach of Scotland’s screen sector is the responsibility of Creative Scotland. In financial year 16-17, Creative Scotland invested £10.9m to support the screen sector in Scotland. Representatives of Creative Scotland r…

17 Oct 2017 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the school inspection regime.

Answer · John Swinney: A new Standards and Evaluation Framework will be published in December 2017, which will set out the focus and frequency of school inspection. Education Scotland has also recently announced a number of steps to improve school inspections as part of its new s…