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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: S6F-03628

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 December 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 December 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s response is to reported comments from the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland that “children are being let down” by an education system that needs “radical reform”.

Question reference: S6W-31685

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it had at the UK Education Ministerial Council meeting on 20 November 2024, and what representations it made on behalf of (a) pupils, (b) teachers and (c) the (i) further and (ii) higher education sector in Scotland.

The Scottish Government engaged directly with the other UK nations at the UK Education Ministers’ Council on a range of matters within education. This included detailed discussions on teacher professional learning and teacher recruitment and retention, which were the main focus of the meeting. These discussions provided an opportunity to showcase some of the work underway in Scotland in these areas, including on professional update for teachers, and guaranteed induction placements. There was also some discussion of UK Government policy towards international students relating to further and higher education.

Question reference: S6W-31677

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to CALL Scotland's 2023-24 annual report.

We welcome CALL Scotland’s 2023/24 annual report and value the ongoing work they do to provide specialist expertise in support of children and young people with additional support needs who need Inclusive Digital Technology and/or Augmentative and Alternative Communication.

The Scottish Government grant fund CALL Scotland £367,177 per year to have a positive and enabling impact on the provision of support to children and young people with these specific learning needs.

CALL Scotland are represented on the ASL Network and the National Strategic Commissioning Group, and we value their input and expertise in this important area of support for children and young people.

Question reference: S6W-31489

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which of its policies contribute to its goal of closing the attainment gap, and how much it has spent on such policies in each year since 2016.

The Scottish Government’s vision for education is to achieve excellence and equity. Therefore, consideration of equity, which includes in terms of poverty, is a factor in all education policy. However, the Scottish Attainment Challenge is the principal policy and investment to address the poverty related attainment gap. The Scottish Attainment Challenge began in 2015, when funding was distributed to targeted local authorities through the Schools Programme and Challenge Authorities. In 2017, the Pupil Equity Fund (PEF) was introduced, providing funding direct to schools. In 2018, the Care Experienced Children and Young People fund (CECYP) began, providing funding to local authorities to enable them to target initiatives, activities, and resources that will improve the educational outcomes of this group of young people.

In 2022, the Scottish Attainment Challenge was refreshed, and the ‘Schools Programme and ‘Challenge Authorities’ funds were replaced by Strategic Equity Funding (SEF) which provided grants to all 32 local authorities.

The National Programmes include a range of initiatives to policies to close the poverty related attainment gap, including support for various third sector organisations including Young Scot, Child Poverty Action Group and Youth Link; investment in Education Scotland attainment advisors, CELCIS work in co-ordination the virtual school headteachers network, teacher leadership training, training of educational psychologists.

There is a further suite of policies, outwith SAC, which contribute to both the government’s vision of excellence and equity and the ambition to eradicate child poverty by reducing the cost of the school day and improving readiness to learn. These have contributed to reducing the poverty related gap by 60% (or three-fifths) since 2009-10 for young people leaving school and going on to a positive destination, such as work, training or further study 9 months after leaving school. So, regardless of socio-economic background, most young people leaving school today are going on to a positive destination.

Programme	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend	Spend
Pupil Equity Funding	£ -	£ -	£ 120,176,584	£ 122,213,775	£ 122,517,320	£ 122,539,980	£ 147,001,246	£ 130,416,035	£130,537,358
Challenge Authorities	£ 5,907,923	£ 24,977,288	£ 34,979,317	£ 40,516,358	£ 41,731,213	£ 42,454,170	£ 42,692,377	£ -	£0
Schools Programme	£ 2,329,113	£ 3,993,678	£ 6,140,383	£ 6,865,926	£ 6,853,700	£ 6,934,355	£ 6,979,808	£ -	£0
CECYP	£ -	£ -	£ -	£ 705,889	£ 15,187,742	£ 11,736,270	£ 11,574,478	£ 11,103,762	£10,617,843
National Programmes	£ 639,885	£ 4,933,612	£ 4,844,047	£ 5,111,211	£ 5,392,290	£ 5,370,063	£ 6,091,808	£ 8,820,344	£2,045,152
SEF								£ 44,635,398	£43,318,610
Total	£ 8,876,921	£ 33,904,577	£ 166,140,331	£ 175,413,159	£ 191,682,265	£ 189,034,838	£ 214,339,718	£ 194,975,539	£186,518,962

Question reference: S6W-31488

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2024

To ask Scottish Government whether it will provide further details of the methodology used to provide the "independent, external scrutiny and challenge of the review" of the marking of Higher History in 2024, including the conclusions and wider reflections, as set out in the SQA's Higher History Review 2024 report, and whether the individual responsible for the review spoke to any teachers who were not employed by the SQA as markers.

Marking of exams, and quality assurance of the associated processes, is an operational matter for the SQA in its independent role as an examination body.

The Scottish Government did not instruct the review into the marking of Higher History in 2024 carried out by SQA and the detail of the methodology (including who the reviewer spoke to) were operational decisions for the SQA.

The Scottish Government notes that the SQA has undertaken a substantial review which has demonstrably considered a wide range of evidence in reaching its conclusions. These findings have been independently peer reviewed by the Executive Director of Qualifications and Assessment at the Welsh Joint Education Committee (WJEC), who agreed that its conclusions and recommendations are supported by evidence.

Question reference: S6W-31493

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it (a) asked the SQA to undertake an independent review of the marking of Higher History in 2024 and (b) set the parameters for the independence of that review.

Question reference: S6W-31492

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 5 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it instructed the SQA to carry out a review of the marking of Higher History in 2024, and, if so, whether it will provide details of its instructions.

Question reference: S6W-31445

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government which member of the Short Life Working Group has responsibility for considering quality assurance across education and the qualifications system, and the scope of accreditation.

To help ensure that qualifications awarded in Scotland are of a consistently high standard, the Short Life Working Group (SLWG) was established to develop and consider the options and implications of any potential changes to the scope of accreditation.

The SLWG is chaired by the Scottish Government’s Director for Education Reform and all members have a responsibility to share their expertise from their roles within the Scottish qualifications system. This is with a view to developing an evidence base that will support informed decision making on all aspects relating to the scope of accreditation.

The responsibility for quality assurance within the education and qualifications system is a shared responsibility across Scottish Government, a range of public bodies including the SQA, as well as other institutions.

Question reference: S6W-31446

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 3 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Short Life Working Group, which is considering quality assurance across education and the qualifications system, and the scope of accreditation, will report on its findings.

Question reference: S6W-31491

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 November 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 2 December 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on work to develop its National Transitions to Adulthood Strategy since 23 November 2023.

To support the development of the Strategy since 23 November 2023, we have spent approximately £19k on engagement, and on the publication costs of our analysis of engagement on the Statement of Intent. In addition, staffing costs to develop the Strategy have continued to be met from our operating costs budget for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

During this timescale, the Scottish Government has also continued to provide funding to a number of organisations whose work supports transitions and the development of the Strategy including, but not limited to, the Association for Real Change (ARC) Scotland, Capability Scotland, Enable Scotland, and the Independent Living Fund Scotland.