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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: S5O-01140

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and what issues were discussed.

Question reference: S5O-01113

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 14 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what support it will provide to ensure that private sector and voluntary partners have the capacity required to meet its proposed expansion of early years and childcare services.

The Scottish Government has allocated £30 million of capital funding to local authorities in 2017-18 to invest in infrastructure developments which will expand capacity in the provision of Early Learning and Childcare. The funding letter issued to local authorities in March 2017 highlighted that one of the purposes of this capital funding is to provide capital grants to delivery partners, including third sector and private providers, in particular to support infrastructure developments in Scotland’s most deprived areas.

Question reference: S5W-09337

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many HM Inspectorate of Education inspections were carried out in (a) early years establishments, (b) primary schools and (c) secondary schools in each academic year since 2006-07, broken down by local authority; how many reports were published, broken down by the average length of report, and how many reports commented on (i) literacy and (ii) numeracy standards.

Aberdeen City
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	11	16	11
Primary^2,3,4	8	5	3
Secondary^2,3,4	3	2	1
Aberdeenshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	18	28	21
Primary^2,3,4	15	21	17
Secondary^2,3,4	4	3	2
Angus
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	13	12	8
Primary^2,3,4	7	5	7
Secondary^2,3,4	1	3	0
Argyll & Bute
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	15	6	5
Primary^2,3,4	7	9	3
Secondary^2,3,4	0	3	1
Clackmannanshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	1	2	3
Primary^2,3,4	2	2	2
Secondary^2,3,4	0	1	0
Dumfries & Galloway
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	7	12	10
Primary^2,3,4	10	14	10
Secondary^2,3,4	1	4	1
Dundee
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	9	1
Primary^2,3,4	5	3	4
Secondary^2,3,4	0	2	1
East Ayrshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	4	7	6
Primary^2,3,4	6	6	6
Secondary^2,3,4	2	2	1
East Dunbartonshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	9	5	6
Primary^2,3,4	5	4	3
Secondary^2,3,4	1	2	0
East Lothian
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	8	3
Primary^2,3,4	4	5	3
Secondary^2,3,4	1	1	1
East Renfrewshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	2	6
Primary^2,3,4	4	4	3
Secondary^2,3,4	2	1	1
Edinburgh
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	35	26	20
Primary^2,3,4	10	13	10
Secondary^2,3,4	4	4	3
Eilean Siar
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	7	8	3
Primary^2,3,4	5	6	4
Secondary^2,3,4	1	2	2
Falkirk
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	13	6
Primary^2,3,4	5	8	5
Secondary^2,3,4	2	1	1
Fife
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	18	28	13
Primary^2,3,4	15	21	16
Secondary^2,3,4	2	3	1
Glasgow
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	34	15	31
Primary^2,3,4	18	17	14
Secondary^2,3,4	4	5	2
Highland
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	22	30	27
Primary^2,3,4	17	31	17
Secondary^2,3,4	3	6	1
Inverclyde
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	3	3
Primary^2,3,4	4	2	1
Secondary^2,3,4	1	2	1
Midlothian
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	4	4	6
Primary^2,3,4	3	5	5
Secondary^2,3,4	2	1	0
Moray
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	11	10	4
Primary^2,3,4	8	7	1
Secondary^2,3,4	2	1	1
North Ayrshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	11	12	6
Primary^2,3,4	6	8	5
Secondary^2,3,4	1	1	1
North Lanarkshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	13	20	12
Primary^2,3,4	14	19	15
Secondary^2,3,4	3	4	2
Orkney Islands
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	3	3	2
Primary^2,3,4	3	3	2
Secondary^2,3,4	1	0	2
Perth & Kinross
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	9	12	10
Primary^3,4,5	11	11	8
Secondary^3,4,5	2	1	0
Renfrewshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	9	4	13
Primary^2,3,4	6	7	6
Secondary^2,3,4	2	1	1
Scottish Borders
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	13	11	9
Primary^2,3,4	7	9	5
Secondary^2,3,4	1	2	1
Shetland Islands
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	5	5	4
Primary^2,3,4	6	5	4
Secondary^2,3,4	2	0	2
South Ayrshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	6	6	6
Primary^2,3,4	6	5	5
Secondary^2,3,4	3	0	0
South Lanarkshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres ^1,4	15	16	14
Primary^2,3,4	19	18	11
Secondary^2,3,4	3	3	0
Stirling
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	8	7	4
Primary^2,3,4	7	5	5
Secondary^2,3,4	1	2	1
West Dunbartonshire
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	7	0	4
Primary^2,3,4	5	5	2
Secondary^2,3,4	1	1	0
West Lothian
Academic Years	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	15	4	9
Primary^2,3,4	12	7	7
Secondary^2,3,4	1	1	2

1. ELC includes Local authority & grant-aided Primary School nursery classes, All Through Nursery Classes and Early Learning and Childcare centres (no Independent

2. Local Authority & Grant Aided schools only (no Independents or Guernsey)

3. Primary and Secondary figures include All through schools

4. All figures include short model inspections resulting in QI evaluations and 'try out' inspections not resulting in QI evaluations

2. The number of HM Inspectorate of Education reports published, broken down by the average length of report

Inspection reporting has reflected changes to inspection approaches over the period.

2008-09 and 2010-11

Early learning and childcare centres –11 pages - 978 publications
Primary and secondary schools - approximately 10 pages – 914 publications

Scotland - number of inspection reports published by sector

Academic Years	2008-9 - 2010-11
Early Learning and Childcare centres^1,4	978
Primary^2,3,4	759
Secondary^2,3,4	155

1. ELC includes Local authority & grant-aided Primary School nursery classes, All Through Nursery Classes and Early Learning and Childcare centres (no Independents)

2. Local Authority & Grant Aided schools only (no Independents or Guernsey)

3. Primary and Secondary figures include All through schools

4. All figures include short model inspections resulting in QI evaluations and 'try out' inspections not resulting in QI evaluations

These figures are based on a sample of reports.

3. The number of HM Inspectorate of Education reports published which comment on (i) literacy and (ii) numeracy standards.

Subsequently there has been a change to the terminology used between 2008 and 2011:

All reports for Early learning and childcare settings, Primary and Secondary schools contained information about children’s progress in literacy
In primary this may have been referred to as English Language
All reports for Early learning and childcare settings, Primary and Secondary schools contained information about children’s progress in numeracy
In primary this would have been referred to as Mathematics

Question reference: S5W-09336

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) inspectors and (b) other staff have been employed by HM Inspectorate of Education in each calendar year since 2006.

The following table provides the calendar year information, broken down as requested up until HM Inspectorate if Education ceased to exist and merged with Learning and Teaching Scotland to create Education Scotland in July 2011.

	Inspectors	All other staff	Total
2006	87	125	212
2007	79	128	207
2008	81	117	198
2009	83	131	214
2010	87	131	218
2011	87	121	208

Question reference: S5W-08672

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 19 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether its ChargePlace Scotland scheme will now charge £1 for every occasion on which a free at the point of use car charging point is used and, if so, what discussions it has had with Charge Your Car Ltd on this and what business case was presented for it.

Question reference: S5W-08416

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 18 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to reports of delays in the media, when the Queensferry Crossing will be open to the public.

Question reference: S5O-00781

Current Status: Withdrawn

Question reference: S5W-07515

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 8 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution on 21 February 2017 (Official Report, c. 18), how much each NHS board will pay in increased business rates; what compensation it will offer to mitigate this, and what discussions it has had or plans with each board to discuss whether the increase will lead to a reduction in services.

The following table shows the expected change in total gross rates bills for each NHS Board from 1 April 2017. Reliefs awarded, which may include disabled person relief, charity relief and small business bonus scheme will reduce these gross bills.

The NHS has worked closely with Scottish Assessors Association (SAA) to understand the impact of the Rating Revaluation 2017 and this has been factored into the financial plans of all NHS Boards. NHS funding will increase by almost
£2 billion by the end of this Parliament and the impact of these changes will be managed from within that increase. £6.4million equates to around 0.05% of the total 2017-18 health budget in Scotland.

NHS Board	Number of properties	Current gross bills total* (£000)	2017 gross bills total** (£000)	Change in gross bills (£000)
Ayrshire and Arran	172	5,489	5,873	384
Borders	39	1,594	1,610	16
Dumfries & Galloway	115	2,290	2,487	197
Fife	164	5,954	5,377	- 577
Forth Valley	118	4,953	6,108	1,155
Grampian	242	10,449	11,378	930
Greater Glasgow & Clyde	386	28,278	33,153	4,875
Highland	150	2,090	2,117	27
Lanarkshire	187	8,176	8,104	- 72
Lothian	316	9,507	8,993	- 514
Orkney	20	273	268	- 5
Shetland	23	411	449	38
Tayside	133	8,428	8,336	- 91
Western Isles	14	69	66	- 3
All Scotland	2,079	87,960	94,319	6,359
*as at 1st October 2016

**based on provisional values as at 4th Oct 2016

Question reference: S5W-07520

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution on 21 February 2017 (Official Report, c. 18), for what reason it has not offered providers of childcare and early years services similar support to that offered to the hospitality sector, and whether it will consider doing so.

Question reference: S5W-07519

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 7 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Constitution on 21 February 2017 (Official Report, c. 18), what impact increased business rates will have on childcare and early years services; what the cost of this will be to (a) local authorities and (b) parents, and whether it considers that the service providers should meet the increase in rates through increased charges or reducing their cost base.