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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-12081

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how its office in Washington DC supports the development of links between the film and television sectors in Scotland and the United States.

Promoting and supporting the growth and reach of Scotland’s screen sector is the responsibility of Creative Scotland. In financial year 16-17, Creative Scotland invested £10.9m to support the screen sector in Scotland.

Representatives of Creative Scotland recently attended the UK Film and TV Week held in New York this year. Arranged by the British Film Commission, the purpose of the week is for agencies from the UK nations and regions, including Scotland, to meet and pitch to a variety of US-based studios, production companies, cable providers and broadcasters and attend industry networking events. Creative Scotland will follow up the direct links made at these events to further promote the Scottish screen sector.

Question reference: S5O-01370

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the school inspection regime.

A new Standards and Evaluation Framework will be published in December 2017, which will set out the focus and frequency of school inspection.

Education Scotland has also recently announced a number of steps to improve school inspections as part of its new suite of approaches to support and drive improvement in schools. This includes increasing the number of school inspections significantly and extending their team of associate assessors to include aspiring headteachers.

In addition, from April 2018, Education Scotland will set out and publish an annual programme of inspection activity across different sectors of education, including schools. These actions will strengthen the role of inspection as a crucial tool to support improvement.

Question reference: S5W-11910

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed £20,000 career-change bursary to attract teachers in STEM subjects will be available only to people in specific industries or jobs and, if so, (a) which and (b) how long a graduate would have to have been employed in that sector to qualify.

Bursaries will be available to career changers wishing to undertake an initial teacher education course in Scotland that leads to the award of registered teacher status in one of the specified subjects, Maths, Physics, Technical Education and Computing Science.

We do not envisage that the bursary will be made available only to people from specific industries. We are currently working on the precise detail of the eligibility criteria and a delivery model. Further details will be made available shortly.

Question reference: S5W-11315

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will launch (a) phase one of and (b) the consultation on its review of personal and social education.

The review of personal and social education (PSE) commenced in July with phase one covering communications and initial exploration of PSE teaching resources. Phase two, covering the thematic review of the delivery of PSE in schools across Scotland, started this month and phase three, which will analyse findings and develop recommendations, is expected to commence in June 2018. Further information on the scope of the review is available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/HLivi/PSEreview. This webpage will be updated as the review progresses.

Once the recommendations have been received and considered, we will consider the merits of further consultation.

Question reference: S5O-01297

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to recent research from Bath Spa University suggesting that exposure to high levels of organisational change without listening to the views of teachers is contributing to extremely poor working conditions for teachers in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-11258

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2017

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 2016-17, and what information it can provide regarding which companies received funding, how much they received and the purpose of the award.

Neither Highlands and Islands Enterprise or Scottish Enterprise provide assistance directly to the arms trade. As part of the broad range of support provided some firms in receipt of that support may be engaged in activities such as research and development/ components or products which may be applicable to defence related use. I am unable to provide details of the individual amounts or purposes of the awards received by companies due to commercial sensitivity.

Financial support provided by SE and HIE to businesses where the activities may be applicable to defence related use in 2016-17 is shown in the following table:

Year	SE (£)	HIE (£)	Total (£)
2016-17	452,377	740,265	1,192,642

* Figures amended 7 June 2018 and 4 September 2018.

Question reference: S5W-10811

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 6 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 13 June 2017, Next steps on tackling hate crime, what action it has taken to address anti-Catholic hate crime that does not take place within football stadiums.

Question reference: S5W-10525

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 31 July 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its response of 26 July 2017 to the Education and Skills Committee report on additional support for learning, who will conduct the independent research into additional support for learning noted in point 9, and what the (a) timescale and (b) remit of the research will be.

The Scottish Government is developing a research specification which will be used to tender the independent research into the experience of mainstreaming for those with additional support needs. This process will be completed as soon as possible and will run concurrently with the consultation on revised guidance on the presumption of mainstream. The consultation responses and the independent research will be brought together to inform the final guidance on presumption of mainstream.

Question reference: S5W-10565

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to ensure that the new PGCE (Secondary) with Supported Induction Route announced by the General Teaching Council Scotland on 11 July 2017 will prepare trainee teachers to address additional support needs.

This programme will prepare student teachers in all aspects of teaching to meet the needs of all learners. It is the responsibility of the GTCS to accredit individual programmes and they are satisfied that additional support needs are adequately covered and benchmarked against the Professional Standards. The programme is underpinned by the principles of inclusive practice and informed and supported by documentation such as the National Framework for Inclusion and Getting it right for every child.

Question reference: S5W-10564

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 August 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 August 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to research by the National College for Teaching and Leadership, which highlights that schemes designed to fast track graduates into teaching have among the lowest long-term retention rates, and what action it has taken to ensure that the new PGCE (Secondary) with Supported Induction Route announced by the General Teaching Council Scotland on 11 July 2017 does not lead to low retention rates for new teachers.

The report of the National College for teaching and Leadership clearly relates to schools in England. Developing new routes into teaching and making training available to people from a whole range of backgrounds is key to attracting more teachers into the profession. The pilot programme being developed by the University of Dundee has been accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland as meeting the criteria for Initial Teacher Education Programmes and will be subject to on-going evaluation. Retention rates for teachers are influenced by factors such as support during probation and early career stages. This programme will offer coaching support based on a strong research evidence base. Scotland has a world class Induction Scheme and we are currently revolutionising the offer of professional learning to teachers including developing new career pathways.