Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-22160

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) primary and (b) secondary schools are receiving support through the Scottish Attainment Challenge, broken down by the amount awarded.

The Scottish Attainment Challenge commits £750 million over the course of this parliament to close the poverty related attainment gap. This includes support for the nine Challenge Authorities and a separate Schools Programme which supports 74 schools outside the Challenge Authorities. In addition, in 2019-20, 96% of schools will receive £120 million of Pupil Equity Funding.

A table setting out the primary and secondary schools that are receiving support through the Scottish Attainment Challenge in 2018-19 is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre - BIB reference number 59793. This was previously provided to SPICE in response to question S5W-16907 on 6 June 2018.

The 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 school level allocations of Pupil Equity Funding are now available on the Scottish Government website at https://www.gov.scot/policies/schools/pupil-attainment/ .

Question reference: S5W-22158

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have been (a) built and (b) refurbished in each local authority area in each year since 2007.

Prior to 2009-10 local authorities were not asked to specify whether a school was built
or refurbished and information for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is outlined in table 1. In 2009-10
this information was collected for the first time, however, not all schools were categorised
as being built or refurbished and information for 2009-10 is therefore presented in a
separate table, table 2. Tables 3 and 4 outline the number of schools that were built and
substantially refurbished in each local authority between 2010-11 and 2017-18 respectively.

Table 1: Number of schools which have been built or substantially refurbished 1 in the financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09 by local authority
	Built or substantially refurbished 2
	2007-08	2008-09
Aberdeen City	0	1
Aberdeenshire	4	1
Angus	7	4
Argyll & Bute	9	1
Clackmannanshire	1	2
Dumfries & Galloway	0	4
Dundee City	0	6
East Ayrshire	3	6
East Dunbartonshire	0	1
East Lothian	0	5
East Renfrewshire	0	0
Edinburgh, City of	4	6
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0
Falkirk	0	5
Fife	6	0
Glasgow City	2	9
Highland	4	6
Inverclyde	1	3
Midlothian	8	0
Moray	0	0
North Ayrshire	7	1
North Lanarkshire	9	5
Orkney Islands	0	1
Perth & Kinross	0	2
Renfrewshire	5	5
Scottish Borders	2	3
Shetland Islands	0	0
South Ayrshire	1	8
South Lanarkshire	14	12
Stirling	6	7
West Dunbartonshire	0	0
West Lothian	0	2
Total	93	106
1. Only builds or refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included.
2. Information specifying whether a school was built or refurbished is not available until 2009-10.

Table 2: Number of schools which have been built or substantially refurbished 1 in the financial year 2009-10 by local authority
	Built	Substantially refurbished	Not specified 2
Aberdeen City	6	0	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0
Angus	2	0	0
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	1	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	10	1	0
Dundee City	2	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	6	1	0
East Lothian	0	1	0
East Renfrewshire	0	1	0
Edinburgh, City of	6	0	1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0
Falkirk	2	2	0
Fife	0	2	0
Glasgow City	4	2	1
Highland	1	6	1
Inverclyde	2	0	0
Midlothian	3	0	0
Moray	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	1	0
Perth & Kinross	6	2	1
Renfrewshire	0	3	0
Scottish Borders	2	1	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	9	4	0
Stirling	0	1	0
West Dunbartonshire	1	0	2
West Lothian	2	3	1
Total	65	31	7
1. Only builds or refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included.
2. The data collected did not distinguish whether it was a new build or a refurbishment.

Table 3: Number of schools which have been built 1 in the financial years 2010-11 to 2017-18 by local authority
	Built
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Aberdeen City	2	1	0	0	0	1	2	1
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	1	3	0	2
Angus	1	0	0	0	0	1	3	0
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	3
Dundee City	1	1	1	2	0	0	2	2
East Ayrshire	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	3
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	1
East Lothian	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	2
Edinburgh, City of	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	3	4	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Fife	0	1	1	1	1	0	3	1
Glasgow City	2	2	2	0	1	0	3	5
Highland	0	0	3	0	0	5	2	3
Inverclyde	0	2	0	3	0	0	1	0
Midlothian	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	2
Moray	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
North Ayrshire	0	0	1	0	1	0	2	3
North Lanarkshire	0	5	4	0	0	1	1	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	0
Perth & Kinross	2	1	0	0	1	2	1	3
Renfrewshire	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2
Scottish Borders	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	3
Shetland Islands	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
South Ayrshire	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	1
South Lanarkshire	14	11	11	16	14	4	5	1
Stirling	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
West Dunbartonshire	3	2	0	1	0	0	3	3
West Lothian	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Total	31	33	39	31	22	19	39	47
1. Only builds with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included.

Table 4: Number of schools which have been substantially refurbished 1 in the financial years 2010-11 to 2017-18 by local authority
	Substantially refurbished
	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18
Aberdeen City	1	0	0	1	0	0	1	0
Aberdeenshire	1	0	0	0	4	3	2	4
Angus	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll & Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries & Galloway	2	0	3	5	1	2	1	3
Dundee City	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	0	0	3	0	1	0	0	1
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	2	0	0	2	0	1	2	0
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Edinburgh, City of	0	0	0	6	4	8	6	2
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	1
Fife	5	1	2	1	0	1	4	2
Glasgow City	1	1	0	2	43	0	27	25
Highland	0	0	1	2	2	0	3	1
Inverclyde	0	1	3	2	0	2	1	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	1	1	4	2
North Ayrshire	3	2	0	2	0	1	0	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	4	0	0	1	1	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
Perth & Kinross	0	0	1	3	1	0	1	0
Renfrewshire	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	2
Scottish Borders	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	0
South Ayrshire	1	1	0	3	2	0	0	4
South Lanarkshire	1	0	1	0	0	1	2	0
Stirling	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
West Lothian	3	3	0	0	0	0	2	0
Total	24	13	21	32	59	25	61	49
1. Only refurbishments with a cost of £500,000 or more for primary and £1 million or more for secondary and special schools are included.

Question reference: S5W-22162

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to reduce the factors that impact on child poverty.

The Scottish Government has committed a range of concrete and ambitious actions through ' Every Child, Every Chance ', the first Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan due under the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act, to tackle and reduce levels of child poverty in Scotland.

Backed by a multimillion pound package of investment, including a £50 million Tackling Child Poverty Fund, the Plan commits to key actions including: investing £12 million in intensive employment support for parents, helping them to work and earn more; establishing a £7.5 million Innovation Fund in partnership with the Hunter Foundation to support innovative solutions to tackle poverty; a new increased minimum School Clothing Grant entitlement of £100, benefiting up to 120,000 children each year; and £3.3 million investment in the new Financial Health Check service, supporting an estimated 15,000 families each year to maximise their incomes and get the best deals for essential goods and services.

A full update on delivery of all the actions committed will be outlined within the first progress report which will be published by the end of June 2019.

Question reference: S5W-22159

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 March 2019
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has invested in (a) building and (b) refurbishing schools since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Through the £1.8 billion school building programme, Scotland's Schools for the Future, the Scottish Government has invested the below in (a) building and (b) refurbishing schools across Scotland. A new school project is being delivered in every local authority area in Scotland:

Aberdeen (a) £35.9m (b) £0

Aberdeenshire (a) £69.1m (b) £0

Angus (a) £51m (b) £0

Argyll & Bute (a) £39.6m (b) £5m

City of Edinburgh (a) £63.8m (b) £0

Clackmannanshire (a) £9.6m (b) £800k

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (a) £4.6m (b) £0

Dumfries & Galloway (a) £16.2m (b) £8.3m

Dundee City (a) £49m (b) £0

East Ayrshire (a) £44.9m (b) £0

East Dunbartonshire (a) £10.2m (b) £0

East Lothian (a) £9.5m (b) £0

East Renfrewshire (a) £32.9m (b) £7m

Falkirk (a) £11.6m (b) £200k

Fife (a) £57.4m (b) £0

Glasgow City (a) £30.4m (b) £0

Highland (a) £50.6m (b) £12.5m

Inverclyde (a) £8.4m (b) £2.1m

Midlothian (a) £50.8m (b) £0

Moray (a) £41.5m (b) £12.9m

North Ayrshire (a) £44.1m (b) £0

North Lanarkshire (a) £55m (b) £0

Orkney Islands (a) £1.4m (b) £0

Perth & Kinross (a) £35m (b) £0

Renfrewshire (a) £15.9m (b) £0

Scottish Borders (a) £39.8m (b) £4m

Shetland Islands (a) £35.9m (b) £1.3m

South Ayrshire (a) £31.4m (b) £18.5m

South Lanarkshire (a) £14.1m (b) £0

Stirling (a) £7.6m (b) £1.9m

West Dunbartonshire (a) £27.6m (b) £9.3m

West Lothian (a) £22.6m (b) £1.3m

Question reference: S5W-21854

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 13 March 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting more people into STEM teaching roles.

Question reference: S5W-21409

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 20 February 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask the Treasury to cover the costs incurred by Police Scotland in its Brexit contingency plans.

Any costs related to EU exit should not have a detrimental impact on Scotland’s public finances and should be met in full by the UK Government. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work and the Cabinet Secretary for Justice wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 8 February 2019 outlining that any additional costs for policing in Scotland associated with Brexit – in relation to additional police officers and any further resources that may be required - should fall to the UK Government.

Question reference: S5W-21344

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 31 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the review of its procedure for handling complaints about Ministers or former Ministers, and on the First Minister’s self-referral under the Ministerial Code.

The Scottish Government is committed to carrying out a review of the application of its procedure for handling complaints about Ministers or former Ministers. The review will be externally led and will examine the first application of the procedure to ensure that lessons are applied for any future complaints that are brought forward.

However, the Scottish Government does not wish to undertake any activity which may unintentionally prejudice live criminal proceedings, adversely impact the rights of anyone involved in the proceedings or affect the formal criminal process which is now under way. As a result, this review of its procedure for handling complaints about Ministers or former Ministers will not be progressed at this stage.

The First Minister’s self-referral under the Ministerial Code has been discussed with James Hamilton, the Independent Adviser on the Code. Mr Hamilton has concluded that there is a potential risk of prejudice if the First Minister’s self-referral under the Ministerial Code were to proceed at the present time. It has therefore been agreed that the inquiry under the Ministerial Code should also be deferred while criminal investigations are active.

Both the Scottish Government review and consideration under the Ministerial Code will recommence once criminal proceedings are no longer active and the risk of prejudice has been removed.

Question reference: S5O-02823

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 January 2019
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that EU citizens living in Scotland can maintain democratic participation.

Question reference: S5W-20860

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2019
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by John Swinney on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government what the outcome was of Education Scotland’s review of the Yammer service within Glow.

The review was carried out during summer 2018 and the full review document will be published later today on the Glow Connect website at the following link - https://glowconnect.org.uk/yammer-review/

The review concluded that whilst there are clear and demonstrable educational benefits for learner use of Yammer, there are significant challenges with regard to control, moderation and safeguarding. In addition, the new services of Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom have now been incorporated within Glow and provide similar functionality in a more controlled environment.

Yammer is being well used by staff for collaboration on a range of topics; is facilitating professional dialogue; and supports development of and interaction with Professional Learning Communities.

In conclusion, I have decided that Yammer access will not be reinstated for learners but will remain available to staff and that Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom will be promoted as suitable alternatives for pupil collaboration.

Question reference: S5O-02752

Asked by: Rona Mackay, MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 December 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 10 January 2019

To ask the Scottish Government whether the European Health Insurance Card will still be available for residents in Scotland following a no deal Brexit or during any transition period.

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