- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00691 by John Swinney on 21 June 2016, whether it will provide a breakdown of the figures by local authority.
Answer
The number of practising trained educational psychologists (full time equivalent), broken down by local authority and year since 2010, is shown in the following table:
|
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
|
Aberdeen City
|
16
|
20
|
22
|
22
|
20
|
15
|
|
Aberdeenshire
|
23
|
23
|
23
|
22
|
22
|
20
|
|
Angus
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
6
|
|
Argyll and Bute
|
9
|
7
|
7
|
8
|
6
|
7
|
|
Clackmannanshire
|
4
|
4
|
6
|
6
|
5
|
4
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dumfries and Galloway
|
11
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
8
|
|
Dundee City
|
8
|
10
|
11
|
10
|
10
|
9
|
|
East Ayrshire
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
|
East Dunbartonshire
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
|
East Lothian
|
7
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
East Renfrewshire
|
12
|
13
|
12
|
12
|
12
|
10
|
|
Edinburgh, City of
|
33
|
28
|
37
|
42
|
38
|
30
|
|
Eilean Siar
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
|
Falkirk
|
10
|
11
|
10
|
8
|
7
|
7
|
|
Fife
|
27
|
19
|
24
|
26
|
26
|
25
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Glasgow City
|
45
|
46
|
51
|
46
|
47
|
46
|
|
Highland
|
13
|
12
|
12
|
10
|
14
|
11
|
|
Inverclyde
|
10
|
8
|
7
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
|
Midlothian
|
7
|
7
|
7
|
6
|
7
|
6
|
|
Moray
|
4
|
7
|
6
|
4
|
7
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
North Ayrshire
|
13
|
14
|
12
|
12
|
13
|
9
|
|
North Lanarkshire
|
28
|
28
|
28
|
28
|
27
|
25
|
|
Orkney Islands
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
|
Perth and Kinross
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
|
Renfrewshire
|
11
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
10
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scottish Borders
|
9
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
|
Shetland Islands
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
|
South Ayrshire
|
6
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
7
|
|
South Lanarkshire
|
26
|
25
|
26
|
25
|
24
|
23
|
|
Stirling
|
8
|
8
|
8
|
9
|
8
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
West Dunbartonshire
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
9
|
11
|
8
|
|
West Lothian
|
14
|
13
|
14
|
14
|
12
|
13
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Scotland
|
401
|
390
|
411
|
407
|
405
|
370
|
Source: From 2012 onwards, this information is available in table 10.3 of the supplementary tables of the annual Teacher Census, http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/teachcenssuppdata
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many pupils, on average, each educational psychologist has supported in each year since 2010.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. Educational psychologists are employed directly by education authorities; it is for authorities to take decisions around the numbers they need and employ, and how they fulfil their duty to provide an educational psychology service.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many students have been offered a place for an MSc in Educational Psychology in each year since 2010.
Answer
The number of students offered a place for an MSc in Educational Psychology in each year since 2010 is shown in the following table.
| Intake Year | University | Number of Places Offered |
| 2016 | Dundee | 19 |
| 2015 | Strathclyde | 12* |
| 2014 | Dundee | 24 |
| 2013 | Strathclyde | 22 |
| 2012 | Dundee | 24 |
| 2011 | Strathclyde | 24 |
| 2010 | Dundee | 22 |
Source: Data provided by the University of Dundee and University of Strathclyde.
*Note: In 2015 Strathclyde University made 17 conditional offers initially which were subsequently reduced to 12 confirmed offers.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 25 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what mental health professionals and organisations were invited to the Education Summit on 15 June 2016.
Answer
Driving up attainment levels across Scotland’s schools is this government’s priority, and we will seek out and listen to all new ideas and innovative approaches to deliver results in education for all young people.
The summit brought together a small group of experts from across Scotland and beyond including politicians, teachers, parents, pupils and other representatives of the education sector. The purpose of the summit was to discuss the practical steps to drive forward our plans to close the attainment gap to ensure our schools are world leading. The summit discussions informed the Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education – A Delivery Plan for Scotland which I published on 28 June 2016. It sets out clear milestones for our next steps towards closing the attainment gap and can be viewed at:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools.
The summit was attended by a number of organisations representing children’s rights and interests including the Commissioner for Children and Young People, Children in Scotland, Young Scot and Youthlink. The delivery plan is the beginning of a wider process in which we would welcome engagement with any organisation or professional wishing to contribute to raising attainment and closing the equity gap.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 22 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government when it will produce its final report on the outcomes of the Mental Health Strategy for Scotland 2012-15; what progress it has made toward meeting each of the 36 commitments in the strategy, and when each commitment (a) has been and (b) will be fulfilled.
Answer
Progress updates on the last Mental Health Strategy are available on the Scottish Government’s website at the following link:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/Mental-Health/Strategy
We will publish a new ten-year Mental Health Strategy later in 2016, following a further phase of public engagement. It will build on the successes of the previous Mental Health Strategy 2012 to 2015, with ongoing work on existing commitments being included where appropriate. We therefore have no plans to publish a separate report.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 July 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 22 July 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what the timetable is for the (a) development and (b) publication of its updated mental health strategy.
Answer
We will shortly begin a further phase of public engagement to inform the next Mental Health Strategy. This will involve a series of public events, together with the publication of an engagement paper on which we will seek comments. Following this public engagement, we will publish the new ten-year Mental Health Strategy later in 2016.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 June 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has regarding how many teachers or graduates with speech and language expertise are employed in nurseries in each local authority area, and what support it can provide to increase this.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect this data centrally. All practitioners working within the early learning and childcare sector are required, as part of their training, to gain knowledge and understanding about speech and language development and are expected to undertake career-long learning to further augment the skills obtained during their initial training.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 28 June 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support language development in pre-school age children.
Answer
Curriculum for excellence is setting higher standards than ever before in literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing. Results from a recent Growing Up in Scotland study show improvement in three-year-olds’ vocabulary but our ambition is to close the attainment gap altogether. We will bring forward a programme of work focusing on early intervention and improving attainment. This includes the £750 million Scottish attainment fund to boost literacy and numeracy in our most deprived areas, the new national improvement framework, attainment advisers for every local authority and the raising attainment for all programme with over 50 literacy-based school projects.
The Scottish Government recognises that parents also have a key role in supporting their children’s speech and language development and we provide support through campaigns such as Play Talk Read and Bookbug.
We know that a skilled early years workforce is also key to supporting young children’s learning, and that the most disadvantaged children benefit most, which is why First Minister announced in October 2015 that nurseries in the most deprived areas of Scotland will, from 2018, benefit from an additional graduate or teacher in nurseries with early learning expertise.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Aileen Campbell on 24 June 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address the "downward trend" in the take up of cervical screening that was reported in its news release of 6 June 2016, Women urged to go for smear test.
Answer
We fully support the objective of increasing uptake in the Scottish Cervical Screening Programme and work has been taking place to help address the fall in cervical screening uptake rates.
Scottish Government officials meet cervical screening coordinators from all NHS boards on a quarterly basis to discuss a range of issues relating to the national screening programme, including increasing uptake of screening. NHS boards have responsibility for publicising screening within their local area and for working closely with their communities to increase screening uptake. Work of this nature is continually taking place within NHS boards. Recent local initiatives have included development of a toolkit which allows GP practices to benchmark their current practice and develop action plans to improve their uptake and an ongoing pharmacy prescription bag pilot which involves pharmacists targeting key cervical cancer screening promotional messages to those eligible to participate.
Following recent changes to the eligible age range and frequency of screening in the cervical screening programme an awareness raising campaign will soon be launched, this will aim to highlight to all women the importance of attending cervical screening and to address some of the barriers which prevent women attending. Furthermore, our on-going ‘Detect Cancer Early’ social marketing campaigns aim to raise awareness and encourage participation in the national cancer screening programmes.
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it is giving to reviewing the planning guidelines on the proximity of waste management facilities to residential areas and community facilities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 29 June 2016
