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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: S4W-10601

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 26 October 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 November 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £13.1 million set aside by Skills Development Scotland for the New College Learning Programme has been allocated to colleges.

Question reference: S4O-01399

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with Orkney Islands Council since May 2012 about how the shortfall in local government funding for Orkney, compared to Shetland and the Western Isles, might be addressed.

Question reference: S4W-09595

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 28 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to pilot an extension of free early education and childcare to deprived two-year-olds in addition to its plans to extend provision to looked-after two-year-olds.

The Scottish Government has no current plans to pilot an extension of free early learning and childcare to deprived two-year-olds.

We intend to include proposals in the Children and Young People Bill to deliver a minimum of 600 hours per year of early learning and childcare for three and four-year-olds, and looked after two-year-olds. It is proposed that the entitlement for looked-after two-year-olds could include work with parents or carers where possible and appropriate.

These proposals are a vital step towards realising the Scottish Government’s longer term ambitions to deliver high quality, flexible, accessible, affordable early learning and childcare that meets the needs of all children, parents, families and employers. A sub-group of the Early Years Task Force is working to develop this longer term vision for Family Support, Family Centres and Integrated Early Learning and Childcare.

Question reference: S4W-09596

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to explore the possibility of using the Early Years Change Fund, European Structural Funds or other funding to extend the provision of early years childcare for two-year-olds.

Question reference: S4W-09597

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to calls to pilot an extension of free early years education and childcare to two-year-olds in deprived areas.

Question reference: S4W-09306

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making on formulating papers for the new National 4 and National 5 exams and when sample papers will be available.

The Scottish Qualifications Agency (SQA) published the final course, unit and assessment specifications for the new National 2-5 and Higher qualifications on 30 April 2012. From October 2012 to April 2013, SQA will be publishing a package of assessment support covering the Units for each Course at National 2,3, 4 and 5. Finalised National 5 specimen question papers and course work will be available by April 2013.

Education Scotland is also working closely in partnership with Directors of Education and others to provide a comprehensive package of course materials for every National 4 and National 5 course to help teachers move forward with confidence. These will be available on-line by end of April 2013.

Question reference: S4W-09136

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it gives to local authorities regarding how much time should be allocated to primary and secondary teachers visiting each other’s schools in order to facilitate pupils moving to secondary.

Question reference: S4W-09140

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much time is allocated per year for interaction between the primary and secondary school sector to discuss (a) curriculum planning, (b) approaches to teaching and (c) assessment.

It is for education authorities to provide advice to their schools on the nature and time spent on transitional arrangements between their primary and secondary schools.

Funding of £6.7 million in 2010-12 and a further three years funding of £3.762 million from 2012-15 has been made available to local authorities to support additional local activity associated with introducing and operating a quality assurance and moderation system. This will allow time for teachers to build their expertise and amongst other practitioners in sharing, understanding and applying standards.

Question reference: S4W-09133

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations it has made to local authorities regarding the building of teachers’ assessment literacy through (a) intra- and (b)inter-school discussion.

The Scottish Government issued a suite of guidance on assessment approaches, known as Building the Curriculum 5, including quality assurance and moderation, to all schools and authorities in January 2010. In addition to seminars, Education Scotland in partnership with SQA and the Scottish Government has developed the National Assessment Resource (NAR) to support teachers to develop their professional skills and a shared understanding of assessment practices for CfE. The exemplars on the NAR have been developed by teachers supported by Education Scotland. The NAR also includes case studies from several authorities on quality assurance and moderation in and across authorities. It is for headteachers and Education Authorities to advise their staff and schools respectively on their deployment of time with inter-school discussion. The Scottish Government does not set expectations on such matters.

Question reference: S4W-09134

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what information is given to (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers that sets out the expected knowledge and skills of pupils and how best to illustrate pupils' progress, including examples of teacher assessment, as they move to secondary schools

The Scottish Government issued comprehensive advice in April 2009 to all teachers setting out, through a national framework of experiences and outcomes, the expected knowledge and skills that should be developed across primary and secondary sectors.

Advice on assessing pupils’ progress is given on the Education Scotland website :

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/thecurriculum/howisprogressassessed/index.asp.

The National Assessment Resource also contains exemplification from a range of schools on how they are developing arrangements to share pupil progress at the point of primary/secondary transition.