- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 11 December 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the assessment of teaching performance in schools.
Answer
Ensuring the best possible performance of our teachers is an important issue to pupils, parents, teachers, local authorities and the Scottish Government alike. It is up to schools and local authorities to manage performance issues appropriately.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 9 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the promise to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for nursery age children entails full-time or part-time contact with the child by the teacher.
Answer
The Scottish Government expects that local authorities will deliver on the commitment to deliver access to a teacher for all pre-school children, on the basis of local needs and priorities.
There is evidence to show that the quality of provision is higher in centres where a teacher is involved in pre-school education and, where the quality is high, there is evidence that children have increased chances of success in their primary education and reduced chances of problems with attainment, relationships and behaviour.
The key issue in driving up quality of provision is that children benefit from the input of a qualified teacher to their programme of activity and child development. However, there is no evidence to support the setting of a specific minimum level of access needed to achieve that quality of provision.
We are clear that we do expect to see an overall increase in the level of teacher involvement in pre-school in all local authorities.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to maintain service industry apprenticeships that have been abolished for people aged 16 to 19.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not abolished service industry apprenticeships for people aged 16 to 19.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 26 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 8 October 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost to retain the service industry apprenticeships that have been abolished for people aged over 20 as well as maintaining the 50% increase in apprenticeships in the construction industry.
Answer
Service industry apprenticeships have not been abolished for people aged over 20. Employers are still able to use the modern apprenticeship frameworks to train their staff if they so choose. Not all apprenticeships can or should be funded by taxpayers.
The Scottish Government has refocused public sector contributions for adult modern apprenticeships to construction and engineering related sectors where investment delivers economic results. Skills Development Scotland have been tasked to develop and deliver improvements in Scotland''s skills performance for the benefit of individuals and employers, ensuring that our skills interventions continue to meet the needs of the economy, individuals and employers in Scotland.
It is not possible to cost a notional programme of activity given the complexity of modern apprenticeship funding. In any case, specific funding of the modern apprenticeship programme is an operational matter for Skills Development Scotland.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 18 September 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the OECD report that states that the largest educational attainment gap in Scotland exists at P4 and P5.
Answer
We have made it clear that we see the OECD report as a seminal document for Scottish education. In the debate on the review in Parliament on 16 January this year I said that the report will continue to be a catalyst for change as it challenges all of us, including this government, about educational thinking.
The report does not in fact state that the largest educational attainment gap in Scotland exists at P4 and P5. The report discusses the need to reduce the achievement gap that the authors state opens up about P5 and continues to widen during junior secondary school.
In my day of discussion with the OECD Education Policy Committee they agreed that this government''s attention to and focus on the early years and early intervention in nursery and P1 to P3 will help build better foundations and resilience to prevent that gap from opening in the first place.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields have been developed on since May 2007, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many playing fields there (a) are and (b) were in May 2007, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many cheap lets have been made available to sporting and activity groups in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide free year-round access to council swimming pools.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 25 August 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many school buses are fitted with seatbelts, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information.
