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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.

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Question reference: S5W-05835

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which academic or research studies it considered prior to the publication of the review of school governance.

The Scottish Government is committed to taking an evidence-led approach to the reform of Scottish education. The Education Governance Review is underpinned by current evidence on the performance of Scottish education and best practice internationally of the effective governance of education systems.

The key sources and documents used to inform our approach to the review are set out in chapter 10 (“Evidence and Reference Materials”) on page 20 of “Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve excellence and equity in education: A governance review”, which is available on the Scottish Government website: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/09/1251.

Question reference: S5W-05900

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to each local authority for its 1+2 languages policy in each year since 2012, and whether this amount was ring-fenced.

£m

Aberdeen City

0.131

0.164

0.240

0.167

0.702

Aberdeenshire

0.208

0.260

0.381

0.264

1.113

Angus

0.091

0.114

0.162

0.112

0.479

Argyll & Bute

0.062

0.077

0.109

0.075

0.323

Clackmannanshire

0.041

0.051

0.072

0.050

0.214

Dumfries & Galloway

0.113

0.141

0.200

0.138

0.592

Dundee City

0.104

0.130

0.190

0.134

0.558

East Ayrshire

0.096

0.120

0.170

0.117

0.503

East Dunbartonshire

0.092

0.115

0.167

0.117

0.491

East Lothian

0.081

0.102

0.148

0.103

0.434

East Renfrewshire

0.092

0.115

0.167

0.117

0.491

Edinburgh City

0.271

0.340

0.509

0.357

1.477

Eilean Siar

0.021

0.026

0.035

0.024

0.106

Falkirk

0.125

0.156

0.229

0.158

0.668

Fife

0.290

0.362

0.523

0.364

1.539

Glasgow City

0.391

0.489

0.707

0.494

2.081

Highland

0.182

0.227

0.323

0.224

0.956

Inverclyde

0.060

0.075

0.104

0.071

0.310

Midlothian

0.071

0.089

0.128

0.090

0.378

Moray

0.070

0.088

0.128

0.088

0.374

North Ayrshire

0.110

0.137

0.193

0.133

0.573

North Lanarkshire

0.291

0.363

0.519

0.358

1.531

Orkney Islands

0.015

0.019

0.028

0.020

0.082

Perth & Kinross

0.106

0.133

0.190

0.131

0.560

Renfrewshire

0.137

0.171

0.243

0.168

0.719

Scottish Borders

0.088

0.110

0.155

0.106

0.459

Shetland Islands

0.019

0.024

0.034

0.024

0.101

South Ayrshire

0.083

0.104

0.146

0.102

0.435

South Lanarkshire

0.257

0.321

0.457

0.318

1.353

Stirling

0.072

0.090

0.128

0.088

0.378

West Dunbartonshire

0.073

0.091

0.131

0.091

0.386

West Lothian

0.157

0.196

0.284

0.197

0.834

Scotland

4.000

5.000

7.200

5.000

21.200

Question reference: S5W-05901

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many foreign language teachers have been employed by local authorities in each year since 2010-11, broken down by (a) headcount and (b) full-time equivalent.

The data provide includes only teachers whose 'main subject taught' is recorded as a foreign language in the teacher census, conducted annually in September.

Secondary school teachers whose main subject taught¹ is a foreign language² - Headcount

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	42	42	41	42	39	40	32
Aberdeenshire	81	81	80	77	83	77	74
Angus	39	39	34	33	30	32	30
Argyll & Bute	27	26	28	27	25	25	25
Clackmannanshire	12	11	11	11	11	10	10
Dumfries & Galloway	49	47	43	42	43	44	41
Dundee City	44	41	39	32	33	33	33
East Ayrshire	39	37	37	34	34	34	30
East Dunbartonshire	49	48	48	49	44	45	44
East Lothian	31	30	29	33	31	32	30
East Renfrewshire	47	45	52	53	52	50	52
Edinburgh City	117	116	116	110	109	104	101
Eilean Siar	12	12	11	8	7	7	6
Falkirk	45	45	43	40	42	41	44
Fife	108	103	100	91	86	90	91
Glasgow City	152	146	145	136	131	123	121
Grant aided	6	6	5	6	5	6	6
Highland	72	71	72	68	67	65	60
Inverclyde	33	29	25	27	27	27	25
Midlothian	30	29	28	28	29	25	24
Moray	30	30	29	26	24	23	22
North Ayrshire	51	47	45	42	42	40	36
North Lanarkshire	104	96	93	90	96	91	100
Orkney Islands	11	8	8	9	9	8	8
Perth & Kinross	42	40	38	40	44	42	42
Renfrewshire	52	54	53	44	45	39	40
Scottish Borders	35	31	31	31	29	30	29
Shetland Islands	16	14	13	14	13	14	12
South Ayrshire	30	28	27	29	26	23	28
South Lanarkshire	104	97	94	89	89	85	87
Stirling	36	35	32	34	34	35	35
West Dunbartonshire	32	29	29	29	27	25	28
West Lothian	57	58	59	57	59	56	56
Scotland	1635	1571	1538	1481	1465	1421	1402

1. Excludes head teachers and depute head teachers.

2. Foreign language includes teachers whose main subject taught is recorded as either French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Community Languages or Other Modern Languages.

Secondary school teachers whose main subject taught¹ is a foreign language² - Full Time Equivalent

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	36.56	37.01	36.13	35.46	34.07	35.3	27.72
Aberdeenshire	74.63	73.91	72.5	66.79	70.9	65.22	66.71
Angus	37.3	36.3	32.9	30.74	29	30.2	29.4
Argyll & Bute	25.3	25.1	26.11	25.51	24.4	23.7	22.83
Clackmannanshire	10.6	9.4	9.2	9.8	10.1	9	8.8
Dumfries & Galloway	45.8	43.1	40.6	40.6	40.8	40.6	38.4
Dundee City	41.53	38.93	37.51	30.7	31.17	31.8	31.8
East Ayrshire	34.7	33.9	34.3	31.9	32.1	32.4	28.1
East Dunbartonshire	42.6	40.72	41.59	43	41.88	41.1	39.9
East Lothian	26.86	26.05	25.38	28.82	25.5	27.66	26.17
East Renfrewshire	40.52	40.48	44.28	45.48	44.18	42.2	44.32
Edinburgh City	105.26	104.4	102.96	98.73	97.32	93.49	89.6
Eilean Siar	10.98	10.9	10.55	7.8	6.6	6.6	5.6
Falkirk	43.4	42.8	40.6	37.2	38.6	37.6	42.2
Fife	101.03	97.43	91.53	85.43	79.4	82.3	83.75
Glasgow City	138.07	130.9	133.9	122.67	113.87	109.7	110.7
Grant aided	4.8	5.05	4.25	5.05	4.65	5.25	5.05
Highland	65.64	65.18	65.48	60.88	62.09	59.42	54.23
Inverclyde	29.8	25.8	22.3	23.5	24.1	23.7	21.6
Midlothian	25.9	23.83	23.25	24.38	24.87	21.67	20.96
Moray	26.05	26.14	26.58	23.87	20	18.96	18.5
North Ayrshire	45.84	42.15	40.64	38.1	38.7	35.3	32.5
North Lanarkshire	94.8	87.4	84.3	82.8	83.1	81.4	88.8
Orkney Islands	10.1	8	7.19	9	9	7.46	7.24
Perth & Kinross	38.72	37.52	36.12	37.1	40.53	38.92	37.96
Renfrewshire	46.04	46.93	47.14	38.92	39.8	37	36.7
Scottish Borders	33.15	29.25	29.89	30.06	27.25	29.14	27.7
Shetland Islands	15.06	13.06	12.83	13.16	12.77	12.1	11.5
South Ayrshire	27.4	24.3	24.3	25.8	22.2	20.9	21.4
South Lanarkshire	97.9	92.7	88.2	82.8	81.4	79	80.5
Stirling	33.5	31.6	29.31	32.11	32.51	33	32.4
West Dunbartonshire	28.4	25.7	25.3	26.9	24.3	23.1	26.2
West Lothian	53.27	52.32	52.03	50.22	50.41	49.64	48.23
Scotland	1491.51	1428.26	1399.15	1345.28	1317.57	1284.83	1267.47

1. Excludes head teachers and depute head teachers.

2. Foreign language includes teachers whose main subject taught is recorded as either French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Community Languages or Other Modern Languages.

Question reference: S5W-05642

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2017

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason there has been a 65% increase in the number of requests for paper remarking or checks by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

The number of requests to the SQA’s Post Results Service in 2016 needs to be seen in the context of the introduction of a new service from 2014.

Whilst the 13,908 requests made in 2016 represents a 64.6% increase on the 8,448 requests made in 2014, it is a much smaller increase of 15.2% on the 12,077 requests made in 2015. Furthermore, in 2013, the final year of the previous Appeals system, the number of appeals lodged was 66,204 (or 6.5% of entries).

It is not unexpected that the number of review requests since 2014 should increase as schools and colleges become more familiar with the service.

The number of Post Results Service requests made in 2016 is a very small proportion of the total number of entries at 2.7%. Grades only changed for 0.5% of all eligible entries as a result of marking reviews.

Question reference: S5W-05665

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the minutes of each meeting that it had with (a) Universities Scotland, (b) Colleges Scotland and (c) the Scottish Funding Council regarding the enterprise and skills review (i) prior to and (ii) after the announcement of the review.

Question reference: S5W-05666

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with (a) Universities Scotland and (b) Colleges Scotland regarding the abolition of the Scottish Funding Council board in advance of the publication of the report, Enterprise and Skills Review: Report on Phase 1.

The Scottish Government meets regularly with both Universities Scotland and Colleges Scotland to discuss a range of matters, including the Enterprise and Skills Review. Most recently, SG officials discussed the conclusions of Phase one and preparations for Phase two of the Review at the Colleges Scotland Principals’ Group on 5 December 2016 and with Universities Scotland on 7 December 2016.

Question reference: S5W-05667

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 22 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the evidence that it has received from stakeholders that supports the abolition of the Scottish Funding Council board.

Question reference: S5W-05348

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what role further education institutions will play in the allocation of the Apprenticeship Levy.

Question reference: S5W-05444

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government when it expects to receive the final report on the consultation carried out by Peter Brett Associates on ferry fares between the Scottish mainland and Orkney and Shetland.

The recent consultation exercises carried out by consultants PBA were held to give those who use the services a voice, and an opportunity to feed into the process.

Peter Brett Associates (PBA) have now completed the Fares Consultation on ferry fares for Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS) and analysed almost 2000 responses.

Their draft Consultation Report is currently being finalised. The Scottish Government expects to receive it soon.

Question reference: S5W-05343

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2016
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 19 December 2016

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-04942 by Michael Russell on 1 December 2016, by what date it will publish each specific proposal.