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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S6W-06255

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what specifically the recently announced funding of up to £5 million allocated to local authorities to help with classroom ventilation has been spent on.

All local authorities have been informed of their potential allocations from the up-to-£5 million fund. Our funding letter makes clear that remedial action should be undertaken in line with guidance on ventilation, with problematic spaces prioritised for action.

We have also agreed updated reporting arrangements with local authorities to ensure an appropriate understanding of how and to what extent funding is being used to support remedial action.

We will provide an update to the Education, Children and Young People Committee in due course, subject to receipt of local authority returns.

Question reference: S6O-00768

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 February 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Dundee City Council regarding the local government funding settlement for 2022-23.

Question reference: S6W-05712

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the proportion of school pupils to whom it has (a) issued a free digital device and (b) provided free internet connection at home.

In 2020-21, as a response to the pandemic and the closure of school buildings, we provided £25 million to councils across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion. This resulted in over 72,000 devices and 14,000 internet connectivity solutions being distributed to disadvantaged pupils across Scotland to support their learning. 72,000 equates to 10.3% of pupils.

These figures do not include devices that will have been distributed from local authorities via their own programmes or any additional COVID funding. However, COSLA have reported that 122,000 devices (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government) have now been distributed.

In addition, since May 2020, the Scottish Government has invested over £48 million in the Connecting Scotland programme which has resulted in 60,000 digitally excluded people being brought online.

Question reference: S6W-05713

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 14 January 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 21 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to receive the report on the consultation paper on the reform of Scottish Education, Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority: Consultation.

Question reference: S6O-00687

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 January 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what its plans are for service continuity for breast cancer oncology services in NHS Tayside, in light of reports of further resignations within the service.

Question reference: S6W-04980

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 30 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the reasoning was for the questions contained within the Health and Wellbeing Census for school pupils.

Question reference: S6W-04781

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 December 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government which review boards are involved in the development of its education policy.

The Scottish Government has established a number of groups to advise Ministers on the development of education policy. These include the International Council of Education Advisers, the Scottish Education Council, the Curriculum and Assessment Board, the Teacher Panel, and the Scottish Board for Teacher Education. In addition, there were two important reviews of aspects of Scotland's education system published recently, the Audit Scotland report Improving outcomes for young people through school education, and the findings of the OECD: Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future | en | OECD. Following on from the OECD review, Professor Ken Muir was appointed in August 2021 to act as an independent adviser to the Scottish Government, and to report recommendations on education reform early in 2022. At the beginning of his appointment, Professor Muir appointed an expert panel and an advisory group to support this work. Details of these groups including the remit and membership can be found here: Education Reform . It has also been announced that Professor Hayward will lead a reference group to advise on the reform of qualifications, and this work will begin next year.

It has also been announced that Professor Hayward will lead a reference group to advise on the reform of qualifications, and this work will begin next year.

Question reference: S6O-00549

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels statistics.

Question reference: S6W-04466

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2021
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many breast cancer oncologists are employed by each NHS board, broken down by (a) full-time equivalent (FTE) and (b) headcount figure.

This government has seen a 87.7% increase in the consultant oncologist workforce (from 69.5 WTE in September 2006 to 130.6 WTE in June 2021).

While information on numbers of oncologists according to specialist cancer fields is not centrally held, the numbers of Clinical and Medical Oncology Consultants currently employed in each NHS Board, by Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) and headcount can be found in the medical and Dental dashboard on the NES website available here: Medical and Dental | Turas Data Intelligence (nhs.scot)

Question reference: S6O-00476

Asked by: Michael Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 November 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 2 December 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the local authority funding allocations are for the Scottish Attainment Challenge, following the review of the programme.