- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 25 November 2019
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to members of the University and College Union who are striking over pay, working conditions and pensions.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 26 November 2019
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2019
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what action it takes to support the training of pupil support assistants on working with pupils with additional needs.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 28 November 2019
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 October 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in implementing the recommendations of the paper, Review of Personal and Social Education: preparing Scotland's children and young people for learning, work and life, and by what date all of the recommendations will be implemented.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the importance of personal and social education in providing the foundations for successful learning. The recommendations of the Review of Personal and Social Education, published in January 2019, set out our plan to strengthen and enhance existing provision and support consistency in delivery.
Since January, we have made excellent progress across a number of the recommendations – we, in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders, are reviewing the current guidance on the Conduct of Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood Education in Schools; we are also collaborating with colleagues in local authorities through a PSE Lead Officers Network and are collaborating with colleagues on the Learner Journey Review to support and empower young people in the delivery of relevant and engaging personal and social education in the senior phase.
All of the recommendations will be delivered by March 2021.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 9 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what recent meetings it has had with representatives of Turkey, and whether the issues of human rights and the rule of law in that country were raised.
Answer
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs met with the Turkish Ambassador to the UK on 27 June 2019. I also met with the Turkish Consul General on 14 May 2019. I can confirm that human rights issues were raised during both of these meetings.
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring Scotland is a modern, inclusive nation that protects, respects and realises internationally recognised human rights. We embed equality, dignity and respect in everything we do, and take action to secure the progressive implementation of all human rights.
The Scottish Government Human Rights Framework sets out recommendations for how the Scottish Government can consider human rights issues as part of our international engagement, including in meetings with representatives of foreign governments.
In addition to the meetings above, I attended the Turkish National Day event in Edinburgh on 29 October 2018 to demonstrate the Scottish Government's support for the Turkish community in Scotland.
I also met with representatives of the Kurdish-Turkish community in Scotland on Wednesday 18 September 2019 and discussed a number of matters including human rights issues.
The Scottish Government are very concerned by the US decision on 6 October 2019 to withdraw support from their Kurdish allies in Northern Syria and that this could lead to human rights abuses. We have raised concerns with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03736 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016, whether it will provide the information for 2018-19; what information it has regarding which companies received funding; how much they received, and the purpose of the awards.
Answer
As this is an operational matter relating to grant information, I have asked the Chief Executives of both Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to respond to you directly.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 October 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-25320 by John Swinney on 23 September 2019, by what date it expects to reach a joint agreement with COSLA.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects to reach a joint agreement with COSLA by the end of the year.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 26 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24236 by John Swinney on 18 July 2019, whether it will provide an update on progress with the review, including what its parameters will be; who will be consulted; when it will (a) begin and (b) conclude, and when its findings are expected to be published, and whether it expects to implement any of the recommendations before the end of the parliamentary session.
Answer
We have committed to review the use of Co-ordinated Support Plans to ensure that children and young people with the most significant additional support needs are receiving the support that they need to reach their full learning potential. We are continuing to take forward work with partners to scope out this work and will provide an update in due course.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 9 September 2019, Additional support for learning, which pledged the recruitment of 1,000 extra pupils support assistants to work with children with additional support needs, what specialist training or qualifications in supporting pupils with additional needs will be required by those recruited.
Answer
The Additional Support for Learning Act 2004 (as amended) places duties on education authorities to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs of their pupils.
It is for individual authorities to determine the training and qualifications required by those staff providing support to children and young people to help pupils reach their full potential.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 9 September 2019, Additional support for learning, which pledged the recruitment of 1,000 extra pupils support assistants to work with children with additional support needs, by what date it expects all 1,000 assistants to be (a) recruited, (b) fully-trained and (c) in post.
Answer
£15 million will be made available in this academic year and Ministers expect that local authorities will move to recruit additional pupil support assistants.
Decisions about the recruitment and training of these assistants will be made by individual local authorities.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2019
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 9 September 2019, Additional support for learning, which pledged the recruitment of 1,000 extra pupils support assistants to work with children with additional support needs, how it will it will measure the success of this policy in light of its decision in 2018 to no longer record the number of specialist additional support needs assistants.
Answer
The Scottish Government will invest an additional £15 million to improve implementation of additional support for learning across Scotland.
We will engage with CoSLA to agree monitoring and reporting arrangements.