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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S4F-02248

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 August 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 14 August 2014

To ask the First Minister how many two-year-olds from workless families will receive free childcare at the start of the new school session.

Question reference: S4W-21985

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 30 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, following the coming into force of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, how many hours per month it expects named persons who are teachers to spend fulfilling their obligations as a named person; what additional resources it will provide to schools to provide a named person service, and what opt-outs there will be for professionals who do not wish to act as a named person.

The additional resources for local authorities implementation of named person duties are set out in the financial memorandum, including the additional time associated with the role. This can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_Bills/Children%20and%20Young%20People%20(Scotland)%20Bill/b27s4-introd-en.pdf .

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has confirmed that the Scottish Government will fully fund the additional costs of the Act to local authorities.

The Act does not place duties on individuals, but on organisations to ensure that the named person functions are carried out. Arrangements for individuals to ‘opt out’ of the role would be covered by existing arrangements in each of these organisations.

Question reference: S4W-21987

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 25 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government which (a) NHS boards and (b) local authorities are operating a named person scheme.

Community Planning Partnerships across Scotland are currently implementing a non-statutory version of the named person role on a voluntary basis, with positive results and experiences. Our understanding is that some of the local authorities and NHS boards who have committed to implementing the named person include Highland, Edinburgh, Angus, Stirling and Ayrshire.

The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, which puts the named person role into statute, received royal assent on 27 March 2014. The named person provisions of the Act are likely to be commenced in August 2016.

Question reference: S4W-21946

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 14 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it will inform parents from workless households of the expansion of childcare provision.

Question reference: S4W-21945

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 14 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what discussion it had with COSLA regarding the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Order 2014 [draft] and when the need for a three-month delay in the legal duty was first raised with Scottish Government officials.

There have been ongoing discussions with COSLA on this issue, and assessment of local authorities’ progress towards delivering the funded early learning and childcare entitlement to eligible 2 year olds.

On 19th June 2014, the Scottish Government agreed with COSLA that, in order to enable local authorities to address any unforeseen issues with provision that may arise, and to fully test the implementation of local authority plans, the legal duty in relation to eligible two year olds will now come into force on 31October.

This will protect councils from legal challenge in the event that any adjustments are required to local delivery plans.

Question reference: S4W-21942

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 14 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many of the 3,440 two-year-olds in workless families will be guaranteed a childcare place at the start of August 2014.

Question reference: S4W-21943

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 14 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what the “outstanding and unresolved issues” are that are referred to in paragraph 15 of the policy note accompanying the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Order 2014 [draft] and how many local authorities it expects to experience them.

A joint assessment by the Scottish Government and COSLA has confirmed that every local authority has plans in place to deliver the new provision for eligible 2 year olds in August 2014.

To ensure they are ready to deliver this new provision, local authorities have been making alterations to buildings to make them ready for a higher number of young children, recruiting more suitably trained and experienced staff and negotiating with partner providers and childminders.

However, there remains a risk that practical issues may appear during the initial stages of implementation.

The extra time before the legal duty commences allows local authorities more flexibility to resolve any unforeseen challenges around implementation.

Question reference: S4W-21840

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 10 July 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many two-year-olds from workless households will be eligible to receive free childcare provision from August 2014.

We estimate that 3,400 two year olds from workless households will start their entitlement from the beginning of the autumn term in August.

This is in addition to an estimated 1,184 two year olds whose entitlement is set out on the face of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, those who are looked after, under a kinship care order or have a parent-appointed guardian. In total more than 8,000 disadvantaged two year olds are expected to benefit from this enhanced provision across the forthcoming school year.

A joint assessment by the Scottish Government and COSLA has confirmed that every local authority has plans in place to deliver the new provision for eligible 2 year olds in August.

Question reference: S4W-21740

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S4O-03321 by Shona Robison on 5 June 2014 (Official Report, c. 31883), how the £800,000 notionally committed from the special reserve satisfies the "exceptional circumstances" criteria referred to at paragraph 39 of the paper, Commonwealth Games 2014 Progress report 2: Planning for the delivery of the XXth Games.

Question reference: S4W-21739

Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 13 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 26 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what its definition is of the “exceptional circumstances” referred to at paragraph 39 of the paper, Commonwealth Games 2014 Progress report 2: Planning for the delivery of the XXth Games, under which the special reserve for the Commonwealth Games can be drawn down.