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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: S5W-08806

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the 2017-18 guidance issued to the Scottish Funding Council by the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science on 30 March 2017, what role it considers this will mean colleges and universities will have in delivering the national priorities set by ministers.

Education is this Government’s defining mission. We are absolutely committed to ensuring that every young person can access learning that will provide them with the skills and qualifications to succeed in life and enable them to help create and benefit from sustainable economic growth in Scotland. The role of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) is critical to helping us achieve both excellence and equity in education. As set out in the SFC’s 2017-18 letter of guidance, Ministers expect the SFC to make decisions that ensure the funds provided to it by the Scottish Government are used to drive sustainable economic growth, deliver the priorities detailed in the letter and achieve the outcomes set out in the SFC’s 2015-2018 Strategic Plan.

Question reference: S5W-08807

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 May 2017

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) base projections of future labour market needs through a range of routes including direct engagement with employers, engagement with industry bodies and Industry Leadership Groups, and joint work with other partner agencies including Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and the Scottish Funding Council.

SDS is responsible for contributing to the Skills Planning model and we work closely with employers, industry, trade unions and others, to develop Skills Investment Plans (SIPs), Regional Skills Investment Plans (RSIPs), and Regional Skills Assessments (RSAs).

In 2016 SDS commissioned Oxford Economics to prepare a range of economic and labour forecasts up until 2024. The forecasts provide detailed information to support the decisions making sound investment in skills.

These forecasts can be found on the SDS website at https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications-statistics/publications/?page=1&topic[]=5-8&order=date-desc

Question reference: S5W-08805

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on removing unit assessments from Advanced Highers.

The Deputy First Minister’s announcement of 21 September included the removal of mandatory unit assessments from Advanced Highers.

The removal of the mandatory unit assessments will significantly reduce workload and liberate teachers to focus on teaching their pupils.

The decision was discussed with the Assessment and National Qualifications Group. The group includes a range of education stakeholders, including teacher unions, head teachers, the National Parent Forum of Scotland, COSLA, the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, college and higher education representatives, and national education bodies. Members of the Teacher Panel were also consulted prior to the announcement.

Question reference: S5O-00939

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce waiting times at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Question reference: S5W-08487

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 26 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has given to support inter-faith groups in each year since 1999, and how much it will provide in 2017-18.

Question reference: S5W-08486

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has given to the Voluntary Action Fund in each year since 1999, and how much it will provide in 2017-18.

The following table sets out how much funding the Voluntary Action Fund (VAF) has received from the Scottish Government since 2001-02; and how much it has received to date in 2017-18. We cannot comment on any on-going funding applications at this stage.

We are unable to provide data for financial years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 as our electronic records do not go back this far.

Financial Year	Total

2001-02	£289,543.00
2002-03	£1,605,858.00
2003-04	£1,627,064.00
2004-05	£1,658,600.00
2005-06	£1,455,053.66
2006-07	£2,712,488.76
2007-08	£2,620,702.87
2008-09	£4,390,395.62
2009-10	£5,311,415.25
2010-11	£5,386,558.00
2011-12	£6,165,329.63
2012-13	£7,838,589.03
2013-14	£22,889,692.49
2014-15	£16,898,943.82
2015-16	£17,522,212.55
2016-17	£16,248,617.76
2017-18 (to date)*	£2,402,888.69

*this is the amount awarded to date and further awards may be made during the year. The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a tendering exercise for the management of grants previously contracted to VAF. A total figure for funding provided to VAF in 2017-18 cannot be provided until financial year end.

This resource has supported the delivery of the following funds on behalf of the Scottish Government:

Unemployed Voluntary Action Fund
International Year of Volunteering 2001
Ethnic Minorities Grants Scheme
Valuing Volunteers
Volunteering Scotland Grants Scheme
Go4Volunteering
Race Equality Integration and Community Support Fund
Scottish Refugee Integration Fund
Community Chest
Equality Grants Programme
European Year of Volunteering
Equality Fund
Community Safety Core Grants
Community Grants
Children’s Services Fund
Rape Crisis Specific Fund
VAW National Orgs
Tackling Sectarianism Grants
Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund
Violence Against Women and Girls
Volunteering Support Fund
Fairer Scotland Engagement Fund
Healthier Scotland Engagement Fund
Social Isolation and Loneliness Fund

Question reference: S5W-08469

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is doing with the Education Endowment Foundation to provide a Scottish version of its toolkit; how much this partnership will cost; when the Scottish version will be complete, and how it will vary from the current toolkit.

The Scottish Government is in the process of finalising a contract with the Education Endowment Foundation over a three year period, at a cost of £300K including VAT, for the provision and updating of its toolkit data and application interface to support the development of a Scottish specific version. As part of the agreement there will be information sharing on research projects so that we can consider any potential interest or involvement. Education Endowment Foundation provided an initial dedicated version of their learning and teaching toolkit on 15 February 2017 that has been accessible to schools and authorities through Education Scotland’s National Improvement Hub. The next development of the Scottish version will be delivered in July 2017 with the toolkit hosted alongside the hub and links made with the Interventions for Equity examples and other practice and research materials articles on the hub. Thereafter the Scottish version will continue to evolve with links to related projects in Scotland; references to and summaries of Scottish based research; other evidence bases and exemplars. These measures will allow schools and authorities to benefit from global and national research on the impact of interventions to support learners from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Question reference: S5W-08470

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what work it is undertaking to provide schools with evidence-based information on the interventions that will most effectively reduce the attainment gap.

Online materials have been published this year through Education Scotland's National Improvement Hub to give teachers and school leaders access to effective interventions to help close the poverty related attainment gap which are based on practice examples from around Scotland. We continue to work with partners to ensure this suite of materials is continuously updated and refreshed with examples of successful approaches. This includes working with the Education Endowment Foundation to provide a dedicated Scottish specific version of its toolkit data and application interface. An initial version was launched on 15 February 2017. Additionally on 18 April 2017 A Research Strategy for Scottish Education was published which sets a framework for activity on how the most relevant evidence can be made available to all levels of the school system.

Question reference: S5W-08580

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 03 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Annabelle Ewing on 19 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported concerns of the Law Society of Scotland regarding the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission’s plan to increase their annual levy by 12.5%, and whether it will take any action to ensure that this is set at a manageble rate.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission is an independent statutory body and operates independently of both the Scottish Government and the legal profession. It is for the Commission to determine the annual levy to be paid by the legal profession, in accordance with legislation. Scottish Ministers have no statutory powers regarding the Commission and cannot intervene in operational matters.

Question reference: S5W-08208

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 30 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the information not being available at gov.scot/Publications/, whether it will confirm what the average time has been for it to respond to consultations since 2007.