- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Emma Roddick on 26 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support LGBT+ asylum seekers and refugees.
Answer
Scotland has a long history of welcoming people of all nationalities and faiths, including those seeking refuge and asylum from war and persecution. The New Scots refugee integration strategy was informed by engagement across Scotland, including refugees and people seeking asylum from the LGBT+ community. The strategy recognises that people seeking safety on the basis of their LGBT+ identity can face particular challenges within the asylum process and as refugees. We are committed to supporting the integration of asylum seekers and refugees into our communities and working with our partners to refresh the New Scots strategy.
LGBT Health & Wellbeing’s LGBT+ Refugee Project received £277,000 from the Scottish Government’s Investing in Communities Fund from 2019-2023 and an additional £30,000 from the Equality and Human Rights Fund in March 2023.
The recent report from LGBT Health and Wellbeing raises significant concerns relating to asylum accommodation. Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation and support. I hope the Home Office and its contractors will be engaging with LGBT Health and Wellbeing on their report to understand the issues people have experienced.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Emma Roddick on 26 July 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to LGBT Health and Wellbeing's LGBT Refugee Project report, Experiences of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland: Housing, houselessness, hotel detention and impact.
Answer
The Scottish Government has noted the LGBT Health and Wellbeing’s report and continues to listen to the lived experience of refugees and people seeking asylum in a variety of ways.
The New Scots refugee integration strategy was informed by engagement across Scotland, including refugees and people seeking asylum from the LGBT+ community. The strategy recognises that people seeking safety on the basis of their LGBT+ identity can face particular challenges within the asylum process and as refugees. The strategy seeks to ensure that these issues are understood when developing policy or taking action to support refugees and people seeking asylum living in Scotland. We are committed to working with our partners to refresh the New Scots strategy and more information about engagement will be available in due course.
The report also raises significant concerns relating to asylum accommodation. Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation and support. I hope the Home Office and its contractors will be engaging with LGBT Health and Wellbeing on their report to understand the issues people have experienced.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place for disabled children and young people navigating the justice system.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2023
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023
To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is responding to the ongoing industrial disputes in further and higher education.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the replacement to the publication, Learning together: national action plan on parental involvement, engagement, family learning and learning at home 2018–2021.
Answer
We are continuing to work with the Learning Together Steering group, Education Scotland and other key stakeholders to develop a refreshed policy framework for parental engagement. This work is being taken forward as part of the broader Education Recovery Strategy to further improve parental involvement and engagement in schools. The refreshed action plan will take account of the recently published findings of the National Discussion on Education, which demonstrated a significant appetite from parents and carers for involvement in their children’s education. The Learning Together Action Plan will be published later this year.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools currently have a dedicated counselling service in place.
Answer
The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.
We support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.
All school pupils aged 10 and above have access to school counselling services. It is up to local authorities to determine how they deliver the commitment to best suit the children and young people in their area, including the recruitment and allocation of counsellors. In December 2020, local authorities confirmed that access to counselling services through all secondary schools was in place across Scotland.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with skills and employability programme training providers regarding staff redundancies.
Answer
The Scottish Government continues to offer free and impartial advice to all employers and individuals affected by redundancy through Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE, which has local teams ready to respond quickly when situations arise and assist businesses to try and minimise the risk of redundancy before it happens.
As members of the PACE Partnership, STF will be familiar with the local support available to its members and the swift response it offers to support both employers and employees dealing with redundancy and working with them to try and minimise the risk of redundancy before it happens.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government when it last met representatives within the education sector to discuss a Scottish educational exchange programme.
Answer
The Scottish Government has had a number of recent meetings with a range of representatives from across the lifelong learning and educations sectors to discuss areas of mutual interest, including the Scottish Education Exchange Programme. We will continue to engage with organisations on this important programme in the coming months.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by the Scottish Training Federation that "Scottish Government delays in setting its skills and employability budgets this year is having a devastating impact on training providers".
Answer
The employability delivery landscape in Scotland remains diverse with complexity and duplication being addressed through No One Left Behind and its aim to simplify the system. We must ensure that funding is prioritised to remain focused on the needs of individuals first and foremost.
The Scottish Government funding for employability continues to support a mixed economy of provision from across the public, private and third sector and offers localised solutions to better meet the needs of people of all ages looking for support.
- Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 15 June 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how many educational psychologists there have been in post in each
year since 2007.
Answer
The full-time equivalent (FTE) number of Educational Psychologists since 2007 is shown in the following table.
Year | Educational Psychologists (FTE) |
2007 | 416 |
2008 | 413 |
2009 | 418 |
2010 | 401 |
2011 | 390 |
2012 | 411 |
2013 | 407 |
2014 | 405 |
2015 | 370 |
2016 | 363 |
2017 | 356 |
2018 | 368 |
2019 | 372 |
2020 | 378 |
2021 | 383 |
2022 | 398 |
There have been minor changes in the methodology used for calculating the full-time equivalent hours used for these statistics.
