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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: S5O-01674

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out on the impact on schools of its proposed reductions to local authority budgets.

Question reference: S5W-13514

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue it expects to raise each year from the removal of non-domestic rates relief from independent schools.

The independent Barclay report broadly estimated £5 million annual savings would arise from the removal of charity relief from all independent schools. However, the Scottish Government proposes to retain relief eligibility for independent special schools and are giving further consideration to how we ensure that independent schools with exceptional circumstances – such as specialist music schools – continue to be eligible.

We will continue to engage with the sector as we finalise the detail of our proposals in time for 2020. This notice will allow time for those schools affected to plan ahead for the financial impact.

Question reference: S5W-13296

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13114 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 December 2017, by what date it will set out its next steps.

As detailed in a previous response, this Government commissioned the independent review of student support because we are committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they need to succeed.

Many of the ideas in the report would fundamentally change the way students in Scotland are supported and therefore require detailed consideration. It is only right that we now take time to consider each of the recommendations in detail.

We will set out our next steps in due course.

Question reference: S5W-13573

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support for learning (a) teachers and (b) classroom assistants there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

(a) Additional Support Needs (ASN) Teachers - Full Time Equivalents

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	218	213	220	196	187	196	176	146	136	136
Aberdeenshire	214	227	289	304	300	289	275	252	274	273
Angus	90	101	98	97	103	95	85	81	82	82
Argyll & Bute	28	31	47	46	45	44	47	47	48	49
Clackmannanshire	16	32	37	33	35	34	27	34	34	35

Dumfries & Galloway	80	108	126	135	128	136	128	121	107	104
Dundee City	173	170	163	170	160	166	152	155	147	134
East Ayrshire	69	74	125	123	120	122	122	119	122	128
East Dunbartonshire	67	74	78	71	72	76	81	75	75	87
East Lothian	38	43	60	56	58	55	49	50	45	43

East Renfrewshire	52	58	59	56	62	62	61	60	59	64
Edinburgh, City of	206	229	239	243	238	224	226	208	188	184
Na h-Eileanan Siar	18	19	25	23	23	22	22	15	15	23
Falkirk	120	133	166	147	153	144	143	130	122	119
Fife	227	227	251	240	217	218	221	179	203	208

Glasgow City	488	507	418	416	415	428	393	368	331	289
Highland	232	212	219	195	178	171	161	144	177	175
Inverclyde	60	64	69	63	60	64	64	59	60	65
Midlothian	60	50	52	49	48	51	69	70	63	68
Moray	80	81	102	103	103	106	97	93	92	83

North Ayrshire	113	127	126	124	131	128	134	133	134	127
North Lanarkshire	213	236	229	226	225	220	212	207	194	234
Orkney Islands	21	20	20	21	26	26	33	30	29	28
Perth & Kinross	39	76	73	76	64	72	87	95	94	92
Renfrewshire	101	101	86	76	85	86	90	83	77	79

Scottish Borders	84	75	80	67	91	88	83	88	85	79
Shetland Islands	40	39	50	49	44	39	41	37	41	39
South Ayrshire	79	79	81	110	106	112	110	105	102	95
South Lanarkshire	126	143	160	163	169	162	184	174	166	159
Stirling	34	34	41	50	45	42	43	46	49	44

West Dunbartonshire	47	43	58	57	62	61	60	68	62	56
West Lothian	101	109	105	111	98	112	109	104	105	102

All local authorities	3,527	3,727	3,942	3,887	3,836	3,840	3,767	3,563	3,506	3,459

(b) Classroom Assistants, Additional Support Needs Auxiliaries and Care Assistants - Full Time Equivalents

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	507	550	485	497	401	410	428	439	429	502
Aberdeenshire	717	746	718	742	702	703	687	665	673	668
Angus	221	227	228	236	219	232	236	232	240	242
Argyll & Bute	194	176	229	234	254	317	236	287	267	265
Clackmannanshire	187	151	129	139	137	127	147	114	137	135

Dumfries & Galloway	317	330	288	273	281	293	305	311	306	281
Dundee City	195	221	232	228	295	219	423	175	237	270
East Ayrshire	294	227	248	243	246	237	245	260	264	267
East Dunbartonshire	434	357	343	326	295	310	303	288	281	281
East Lothian	125	117	127	141	168	182	182	179	194	206

East Renfrewshire	227	198	207	200	201	259	215	189	206	200
Edinburgh, City of	695	592	591	634	636	611	674	743	656	744
Na h-Eileanan Siar	105	106	107	87	94	88	94	87	80	79
Falkirk	449	494	475	456	443	449	433	431	407	362
Fife	721	744	672	765	791	764	783	787	709	721

Glasgow City	1,330	1,390	1,273	1,136	1,119	1,685	1,197	1,320	1,409	1,385
Highland	514	529	603	716	640	638	669	649	672	655
Inverclyde	270	250	231	223	229	230	220	226	225	233
Midlothian	200	166	181	186	197	205	183	194	224	244
Moray	337	322	305	274	292	423	531	543	258	248

North Ayrshire	326	350	343	323	292	302	300	313	343	353
North Lanarkshire	943	907	913	865	874	841	857	905	876	968
Orkney Islands	43	37	39	61	60	64	75	77	77	77
Perth & Kinross	254	243	326	279	297	299	338	326	310	336
Renfrewshire	417	392	357	335	293	279	307	295	270	310

Scottish Borders	193	195	216	206	222	212	205	182	192	169
Shetland Islands	103	104	101	110	114	117	102	97	98	104
South Ayrshire	256	255	224	242	240	233	267	262	256	252
South Lanarkshire	443	474	459	468	537	505	529	552	567	582
Stirling	144	196	196	198	330	315	188	199	180	168

West Dunbartonshire	278	275	266	255	261	276	241	246	269	269
West Lothian	327	413	409	368	326	335	370	377	420	450

All local authorities	11,766	11,734	11,545	11,451	11,495	12,160	11,972	11,951	11,736	12,030

Question reference: S5W-13575

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many school mental health counsellors there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S5W-13597

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the work conducted so far of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group.

Information on the work of the group and its progress is provided online at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/HLivi/sex-education/LGBTIWG. This includes information from each meeting, including the actions from the meeting, the workplan for the group, the terms of reference.

This information is updated regularly and includes information on progress against the workplan as it is developed and reaches conclusions.

Question reference: S5W-13576

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many school librarians there have been in each year since 2007, broken down by local authority.

The following table shows the number of library staff employed in publically funded primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland between 2007 and 2016.

Library Staff (Full Time Equivalents)

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	14	14	14	14	13	11	13	13	13	13
Aberdeenshire¹	19	20	20	20	21	20	20	21	18	20
Angus	12	13	12	12	12	12	11	12	11	11
Argyll & Bute¹	8	9	10	9	9	10	10	9	9	0
Clackmannanshire	3	4	3	3	2	3	2	3	2	2

Dumfries & Galloway	11	8	11	11	11	9	10	7	8	8
Dundee City	11	10	11	9	9	9	9	9	10	8
East Ayrshire	8	6	8	7	6	8	9	6	8	9
East Dunbartonshire	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	7
East Lothian	6	6	6	6	7	6	5	5	6	6

East Renfrewshire	6	7	5	7	6	7	6	7	7	6
Edinburgh, City of	24	19	23	22	23	20	22	24	23	21
Na h-Eileanan Siar¹	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Falkirk	9	9	9	10	9	9	8	9	9	5
Fife	22	20	20	22	20	17	17	18	19	16

Glasgow City	28	28	26	21	21	21	21	21	21	21
Highland¹	17	19	21	22	20	12	16	16	15	16
Inverclyde	8	6	7	6	5	5	5	4	4	4
Midlothian	6	5	5	6	5	6	4	4	5	5
Moray	9	9	8	9	9	8	8	8	8	8

North Ayrshire	9	10	9	9	9	8	9	9	9	9
North Lanarkshire	25	21	22	23	19	19	17	20	14	19
Orkney Islands	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Perth & Kinross	18	19	18	13	11	12	12	11	11	11
Renfrewshire	11	10	10	10	7	7	7	7	7	7

Scottish Borders	8	7	7	8	8	7	8	8	8	8
Shetland Islands	9	7	7	8	8	6	6	6	5	7
South Ayrshire	7	7	7	8	7	7	8	3	5	6
South Lanarkshire	15	16	14	15	15	14	12	11	12	10
Stirling	5	6	5	6	5	5	5	4	4	2

West Dunbartonshire	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	4	5
West Lothian	14	14	13	13	11	11	11	10	10	10

1. Staff in libraries that share a site with a school and serve both the public and pupils have been excluded.

Question reference: S5W-13598

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government by what date it will report the conclusions of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group.

Question reference: S5W-13453

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing legislation to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws in order to reduce environmental damage and waste.

We are committed to an ambitious target to reduce all waste by 15% by 2025. As announced in the Programme for Government, we will appoint an expert panel to advise on the use of charges for single-use items, similar to the successful plastic bag charge, with the goal of encouraging long-term and sustainable changes in consumer behaviour.

While we have no current plans to legislate to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws, we will, with the support of this panel, continue to consider the range of options available to us to reduce the use of single-use plastics that are littering our land and seas. We will also continue our work with Zero Waste Scotland to encourage businesses to reduce waste keep products and materials in high value use for as long as possible.

Question reference: S5W-13257

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the capacity of schools to carry out national standardised assessments, specifically in relation to the availability of digital devices on which the assessments must be taken.

It was a key requirement in the development of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments that the online system is compatible with a wide variety of technical platforms, devices and internet bandwidth connectivity available within Scottish local authorities and schools. The assessments can be accessed on Windows PCs and laptops, Apple Mac devices, Chrome books and tablet devices.

The assessments are widely compatible with the varied digital landscape available in local authorities. Care has been taken from an accessibility perspective to ensure that pupils who use assistive technology are able to use the system. The system will allow pupils to start the assessment on one device and then pick again on another should there be any problems with an individual device. As there is no fixed time for the assessments to be completed, they can be scheduled at a time that suits both the teacher and the availability of digital devices in schools.