Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-36020

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-33536 by John Swinney on 10 December 2020, whether it will publish an analysis of the returns before the end of the current parliamentary session.

Question reference: S5W-36077

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 24 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32314 by John Swinney on 20 October 2020, on how many occasions Ministers or their representatives have met with the SQA since that meeting; on which dates, and whether it will publish the minutes of any meetings.

Question reference: S5W-35804

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 24 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-34023 an S5W-34990 by Michael Matheson on 17 December 2020 and 17 February 2021 respectively, whether it will provide an update on whether the Air Discount Scheme will be extended beyond 31 March 2021.

The Scottish Government is committed to the continuation of the Air Discount Scheme in order to make travel for residents of the Highlands and Islands more affordable. I am happy to announce that the scheme will continue until 31 March 2026. The discount rate in 2021-22 will be maintained at 50%. The discount rate in subsequent years will be subject to Parliament’s consideration of the Budget in each of those years.

Question reference: S5W-36017

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish any (a) updated reports it has received from institutions regarding the allocation of the Higher Education Discretionary Fund and (b) information it has received in relation to (i) demand and (ii) justifications for applications.

Further analysis of spending on the 2020-21 Higher Education Discretionary Fund is due to be undertaken at the end of this financial year. Officials will arrange to share this with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre once the information is available from the sector. This analysis will show the current demand on the Fund.

There are no plans to ask the sector to provide additional interim information concerning the specific reasons behind individual applications from students. That would place further administrative pressures on college and university staff at what is an extremely busy time for them. That level of information will form part of the annual returns from universities and colleges which is scheduled for the end of October.

Question reference: S5W-36131

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27612 by Maree Todd on 23 September 2019, what percentage of the 435 equity and excellence leads are in post; how many of the posts are vacant, and on what date all posts were filled, including where the post-holder has since moved on.

As outlined in the answer to S5W-35589 on 12 March 2021, The Scottish Government provide funding to local authorities to recruit equity and excellence lead posts across all 32 local authorities. The allocation of posts and provision of funding have been set by Scottish Government and these posts are recruited and managed by local authorities.

Snapshot figures of graduate level posts in early learning and childcare (ELC) are published annually in Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2020 . Data in the tables is gathered from centres (either local authority or partner provider centres) with children registered for the funded entitlement at the time of the census. In 2020, this was collected from 14-18 September 2020.

At that point in time, there were 350 (316 FTE) Equity and Excellence leads in post which is 73% of posts, therefore 27% of posts at that time were vacant. We recognise that there will always be a degree of staff turnover in the system, particularly during this period of ELC expansion and with the further challenge of COVID-19. Ongoing recruitment campaigns are managed locally.

Question reference: S5W-36130

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-24895 by Maree Todd on 23 September 2019, how many of the eligible population it estimates to be two-years-old; whether it will provide an update on the take-up among this cohort; how this compares to the targets set in August 2020, and how it is being measured.

The Scottish Government does not have access to the full UK Government administrative data required to provide a definitive figure for the number of eligible two year olds in Scotland.

Using October 2016 data from HMRC, it was estimated that there were around 14,500 eligible 2 year olds in Scotland.

Take up of the offer is reported in 2 main sources. Both of these are snapshots of data taken at a point in time:

Schools in Scotland, Summary Statistics reports on number of registrations for funded ELC (regardless of number of hours) during ‘census week’.

The latest publication, from December 2020 ( Schools in Scotland - summary statistics: 2020 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , showed there were 4,863 registrations for 2 year olds during the week 14-18 September 2020.

Delivery Progress Reports published by the Improvement Service, provide information on the numbers of children accessing more than 600 hours of funded ELC a year at the time of reporting. The last Delivery Progress Report was published in September 2020 ( Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report, Sept 2020 (improvementservice.org.uk) . It showed:

The number of 2-year-olds reported to be receiving funded ELC in August 2020 was 4,866 children.
4,172 of these children (86%) were reported to be accessing more than the statutory 600 funded hours, and 2,865 children (59%) were reported to be accessing 1140 funded hours.

Previous reports have considered uptake against local authority forecasts for the relevant period. However, due to the impact of the pandemic these forecasts are no longer relevant, and refreshed forecasts are being developed. These will reflect the change to local delivery circumstance due to the pandemic, and the reintroduction of the statutory duty to secure 1140 hours of ELC for eligible children in August 2021.

Refreshed forecasts, and progress against these, will be published as part of regular reporting on delivery by the Improvement Service.

Question reference: S5W-36129

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what the ratio of pupils to school support staff has been in each year since 2007-08, broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government collects data on 30 categories of school support staff ranging from Pupil Support Assistants to Swimming Pool Manager/Operators. The Scottish Government does not hold data on other staff that may be employed in schools, for example, janitors, catering staff and playground assistants.

The data provided here is based on one category of school support staff – Pupil Support Assistants. This category represents around 65% of the total (next largest being admin and clerical at around 20%) and represents staff whose role predominantly involves working directly with pupils.

There has been a lack of consistency over time and between local authorities in the number of hours that determine a full time role and in the allocation of staff to categories. This means that valid comparisons cannot be made between local authorities, and comparison over time can only be made between the 2018 and 2019 data.

Furthermore, as the Pupil Support Assistant category captures a range of roles targeted at different types of pupils, caution should be exercised when interpreting this data.

The following tables below show the ratio of pupils to Pupil Support Assistants for all local authorities for 2007 to 2012 and for 2013 to 2019.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Aberdeen City	41	40	44	46	53	52
Aberdeenshire	49	46	48	46	48	48
Angus	72	68	68	65	69	65
Argyll & Bute	62	66	50	48	44	34
City of Edinburgh	65	75	75	70	70	74
Clackmannanshire	37	45	52	48	48	52
Dumfries & Galloway	64	60	69	72	69	65
Dundee City	91	80	75	77	59	79
East Ayrshire	58	74	66	67	65	68
East Dunbartonshire	38	46	47	49	54	51
East Lothian	107	112	104	94	79	74
East Renfrewshire	49	82	78	82	80	62
Falkirk	46	42	43	45	47	47
Fife	68	65	71	62	60	63
Glasgow City	40	48	51	57	58	38
Highland	63	60	52	44	49	48
Inverclyde	41	43	46	47	45	44
Midlothian	60	70	65	63	59	58
Moray	39	39	41	44	41	28
Na h-Eileanan Siar	36	35	34	42	38	40
North Ayrshire	60	55	55	58	63	61
North Lanarkshire	53	54	53	56	56	58
Orkney Islands	68	77	72	45	44	41
Perth & Kinross	71	73	54	62	58	59
Renfrewshire	59	62	67	71	80	84
Scottish Borders	80	78	70	72	67	69
Shetland Islands	33	32	33	30	29	28
South Ayrshire	59	58	65	60	60	61
South Lanarkshire	81	92	95	92	80	85
Stirling	88	64	64	63	38	39
West Dunbartonshire	47	46	47	49	47	45
West Lothian	79	62	63	70	79	78
All Local Authorities	56	58	59	59	58	55

	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Aberdeen City	51	50	52	45	44	45	42
Aberdeenshire	50	53	52	53	51	49	50
Angus	64	65	62	62	60	57	56
Argyll & Bute	45	37	39	39	40	26	27
City of Edinburgh	68	63	73	65	58	59	57
Clackmannanshire	45	58	48	49	45	45	40
Dumfries & Galloway	62	61	61	66	64	41	41
Dundee City	41	101	75	67	68	63	61
East Ayrshire	65	61	61	60	58	50	49
East Dunbartonshire	53	56	58	58	58	56	54
East Lothian	75	77	71	68	69	66	72
East Renfrewshire	75	87	81	84	84	84	107
Falkirk	49	50	53	60	58	54	55
Fife	62	62	69	68	58	59	57
Glasgow City	54	50	47	48	45	43	48
Highland	46	47	46	47	45	32	35
Inverclyde	46	44	44	42	38	31	32
Midlothian	65	62	55	51	55	52	50
Moray	23	22	46	48	46	44	47
Na h-Eileanan Siar	37	39	41	42	31	40	38
North Ayrshire	61	58	53	52	63	53	51
North Lanarkshire	57	54	56	50	60	55	53
Orkney Islands	35	35	35	35	56	60	49
Perth & Kinross	52	54	58	54	56	55	54
Renfrewshire	76	79	86	75	70	74	72
Scottish Borders	71	81	76	86	81	54	43
Shetland Islands	32	33	33	31	31	29	25
South Ayrshire	53	54	55	56	51	51	53
South Lanarkshire	82	78	77	75	67	63	60
Stirling	65	62	69	74	61	67	62
West Dunbartonshire	51	51	46	46	47	46	42
West Lothian	71	70	63	60	37	44	46
All Local Authorities	56	57	58	57	54	50	50

Question reference: S5W-35743

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Ben Macpherson on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many unexploded ordnance clearances it estimates will be required to be carried out by the Seagreen offshore development programme; whether the low-order deflagration technique (partial detonation) will be used for these and, if so, for what reason it has selected this method.

Seagreen Wind Energy Limited estimate there are approximately 10 unexploded ordnance (“UXO”) within their development area. Marine Scotland is currently considering a European Protected Species licence application for a geophysical survey to determine the actual number of UXOs on site. As such, licence applications for the final method of clearance have not yet been submitted by the developer. Once chosen, the developer’s preferred method is subject to consultation with relevant stakeholders such as NatureScot, and Scottish Ministers will make a determination on the licences based upon the best available information.

Question reference: S5W-36132

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many teaching posts that have been funded each year by Pupil Equity Funding have been (a) fixed-term or temporary and (b) permanent appointments.

The Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) has been in operation since 2017 but information on the type of employment for teaching posts funded by PEF has only been collected by the Scottish Government since 2018. The following table shows the number of permanent and temporary posts which were funded through PEF from 2018 to 2020.

Year	Employment Type	Posts
2018	Permanent	506
2018	Temporary	701
2019	Permanent	488
2019	Temporary	695
2020	Permanent	487
2020	Temporary	601

The data provided in the table is derived from the annual teacher census.

There are a number of factors that should be borne in mind when using these data:

- 'employment type' relates to the post and not the individual (i.e. an individual with a permanent contract with the local authority may hold a PEF funded post on a temporary basis)

- Teachers on the Teacher Induction Scheme are recorded under temporary employment type

- the approach to recording individuals on a temporary promotion varies between local authorities and so could be recorded as either permanent or temporary employment type

- posts may be funded by more than one funding stream (e.g. partly PEF and partly core budgets). The source which funds the majority of the post should be recorded in the school staff census.

- PEF funding may be used indirectly. For example, PEF may be used to allow a school to recruit additional probationer teachers which, in turn, enables existing staff (who are core funded) to undertake PEF related work.

Question reference: S5W-35800

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 08 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government who the members are of the Scottish Practitioner Forum; whether their names and positions have been published, and what its reasons are for its position on this matter.

The members of the Scottish Practitioner Forum are:

Tony McDaid (Chair)

Executive Director of Education Resources

South Lanarkshire Council

John Guidi

Chartered Teacher of Physics

Mearns Castle High School, East Renfrewshire

Richard Bell,

Dalbeattie High School

Dumfries & Galloway

Graham Hutton

Head Teacher

Grove Academy, Dundee

Sharon McLellan,

Head Teacher

Laurieknowe Primary School, Dumfries

Andrew Harvey

Faculty Head of English and Drama

Uddingston Grammar School, South Lanarkshire

Gerry Lyons

Head of Service

Education Services, Glasgow City Council.

John Rafferty

Assistant Principal

Glasgow Clyde College

Professor Mark Priestley

University of Stirling

Roisin Gallacher

Manager

Youth, Family & Community Learning Service,

South Lanarkshire Council

Tommy Lennox

National Improvement Framework Officer,

Forth Valley and West Lothian Region

Education Scotland

Martyn Ware

Interim Head of Policy, Standards and Research

Scottish Qualifications Authority

The OECD requested the establishment of a project advisory group to guide the work of the review and discuss its progress and deliverables. The Scottish Practitioner Forum was established in response to this. Its members are not ministerial appointments and, given the group’s role, publication of individual members’ names was not considered necessary.

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