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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-19382

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what provision is made within initial and ongoing teacher training that address mental health and wellbeing issues among teachers.

The Scottish Government’s Mental Health Strategy emphasises the importance of prevention, early intervention and accessible services. We are working with employers across Scotland on how they can act to protect and improve mental health, and support employees experiencing poor mental health. A number of local authorities are providing access to specialist training programmes such as The Hive of Wellbeing which aims to support teacher health and wellbeing.

In respect of Initial Teacher Education programmes, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) requires universities to outline the variety of pastoral support strategies in place for student teachers while attending university and while on professional placement, to ensure their wellbeing and progress towards successful completion of the programme. In addition, the suite of Professional Standards managed by the GTCS is currently being revised and I anticipate that mental health of both practitioner and learner to be given greater prominence in revised versions.

Question reference: S5W-19279

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports of a lack of objective good practice benchmarks and lack of concrete measurements of efficiency throughout the Scottish college sector, and whether it would consider the merits of the benchmarking scheme run in England and Wales.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) assesses the performance of each college in its regional context using a range of statistical performance data and qualitative information – including the Outcome Agreement targets and national performance measures. This assessment is then published and provides colleges comparative information on their progress.

SFC and Education Scotland also use the How Good is our College framework, which is the framework against which all colleges self-assess the quality of learning and the student experience - these are validated independently by Education Scotland and SFC. This approach requires colleges to reflect on progress against Outcome Agreement targets as well as quality.

Starting this year, Colleges will also be required to grade their own performance and these grades will be assessed, endorsed (or not) and published by Education Scotland and SFC.

Question reference: S5W-19278

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 26 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reimbursing those colleges that harmonised their terms and conditions at the point of, or following regionalisation, in the event that money is given to those colleges that did not do so, in order to cover their harmonisation.

In the current challenging fiscal environment, the Government cannot commit to levels of additional funding on top of the already significant increase provided to colleges in 2018-19 to meet the additional costs of staff harmonisation. The current method of funding national bargaining is the most cost effective way of covering these costs in the transition period while national bargaining is implemented.

Question reference: S5W-19357

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether its restorative justice action plan will include services that divert offenders from prosecution.

Question reference: S5W-19371

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a victim's commissioner directly engaging with and listening to the views of victims and witnesses, and who is tasked with helping to improve victim services and support, is worthy of consideration.

I refer the member to the question S5O-02412 answered on 27 September 2018. The answer to the oral parliamentary question is available on the Parliaments website, the Official Report can be viewed at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=11689&i=105876

Further to this, I recently announced that I am establishing a dedicated Victims Task Force. This Task Force will drive delivery of our commitments made in Programme for Government - to ensure victims' voices are heard, to streamline their journey through the criminal justice system, and to provide wide-ranging support and accessible information throughout the process. It will be informed by direct evidence from victims on their experiences of the justice system, and the conversations I have had, and will continue to have, with victims and the families of victims of crime.

Question reference: S5W-19277

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is actively investigating the T-Level grade introduced in England and Wales and, if so, what its position is on this.

As part of our youth employment strategy Developing the Young Workforce we will continue to invest in skills, training and employability to meet the needs of our young people, employers and economy.

In line with the recommendations of the Wood Commission we are committed to the expansion of Foundation Apprenticeships which are already being introduced across Scotland. There are therefore currently no plans to introduce T-Levels in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-19102

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 September 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 25 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with (a) Police Scotland and (b) the Scottish Police Authority regarding the outline business case of the Police Scotland digital, data and ICT strategy.

Scottish Government meetings on this matter have largely been focused on information sharing, provision of advice on Scottish Government’s assurance arrangements for IT and digital projects and on financial affordability. The following table lists relevant meetings:

Date	Meeting	SG Attendees
10-04-18	Police Scotland Digital, Data and ICT presentation.	SG Chief Information Officer (CIO)
10-08-18	SG CIO met with SPA to discuss Scottish Government assurance processes and timings in relation to the Digital, Data and ICT (DDICT) Outline Business Case.	SG CIO
10-08-18	Members of Office of the Chief Information Officer met with Police Scotland representatives to share information on the emerging DDICT programme and to discuss assurance arrangements.	SG CIO staff
04-09-18	Scottish Government officials were briefed by Police Scotland officials on the Police Scotland Digital, Data and ICT outline business case.	SG Police Division and SG Finance Officials
19-09-18	Joint briefing from the Chair of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland’s Chief Constable.	Cabinet Secretary for Justice, SG Police Division officials and Private Office.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s Chief Information Officer and the SG Police Division Deputy Director have periodically participated in the by-weekly DDICT Police Scotland Directors and Ernst & Young Executive Steering Group.

Question reference: S5O-02495

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what budget it expects Social Security Scotland to have for IT for the rest of the parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-19362

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will spend on research into public attitudes to, and knowledge of, key resilience advice, and the differing community experiences of severe weather across Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s Resilience Division regularly supports first responders, local authorities, transport operators and others in their duty to warn and inform the public of major events and incidents.

A key aspect of this support is the “Ready Scotland” brand, which includes a dedicated website and social media channels. Where appropriate we also activate a short-term marketing campaign during major events, in particular in the run up to and during periods of severe weather, to ensure that as many people as possible have access to warnings and advice.

As with all communications and marketing campaigns, it is crucial that the information provided to the public through these channels is tailored to their needs and preferences, and as such we routinely conduct a range of research to support and inform the work. This includes desk-based research from a variety of relevant publications and reports, including for instance the Scottish Household Survey; analysis of user engagement with our web content and social media channels; and public consultation following our marketing campaigns.

This work is generally conducted at no cost beyond the associated staff time - the only recent exception is a spend of approximately £12,000 on a public survey following the marketing campaign over the winter of 2017-18.

In certain circumstances we may also commission limited additional research or surveys where we consider further evidence would be of value. At present we have not funded any such research this year.

Question reference: S5W-19283

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 08 October 2018
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 October 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-18692 by Humza Yousaf on 3 October 2018, in which the independent contractor, described as an "interim manager", is integrated into a wider team and produces no specific work, for what reason the role was given to an independent contractor at £600 per day rather than one of its employees, and what investigation it carried out on whether it employed suitable resource prior to engaging the consultant.