- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools had a composite class that included pupils ranging from P1 to P7 in the same class in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19, also broken down by local authority.
Answer
Table 1: Number of schools 1 with a composite class with at least one pupil in P1 and at least one pupil in P7 2 , by local authority and year, 2016-2018
| | School year 3 |
| | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 |
Aberdeen City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Aberdeenshire | 6 | 7 | 2 |
Angus | 3 | 4 | 3 |
Argyll & Bute | 12 | 6 | 10 |
Clackmannanshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 9 | 7 | 8 |
Dundee City | 0 | 0 | 0 |
East Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
East Dunbartonshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
East Lothian | 2 | 1 | 1 |
East Renfrewshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Edinburgh, City of | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Falkirk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Fife | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Glasgow City | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Highland | 17 | 14 | 14 |
Inverclyde | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Midlothian | 0 | 2 | 0 |
Moray | 1 | 2 | 1 |
North Ayrshire | 2 | 2 | 2 |
North Lanarkshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Orkney Islands | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Perth & Kinross | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Renfrewshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Scottish Borders | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Shetland Islands | 7 | 4 | 1 |
South Ayrshire | 1 | 1 | 1 |
South Lanarkshire | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Stirling | 1 | 1 | 0 |
West Dunbartonshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
West Lothian | 0 | 1 | 0 |
SCOTLAND | 76 | 66 | 59 |
1. Schools may have more than one class fitting this criteria. |
2. Regardless of the number of pupils in P2-P6. |
3. As collected in the Pupil Census at the September at the beginning of the school year. |
4. In 2016 10 schools, in 2017 5 schools, and in 2018 4 schools had two or more teachers in at least one of their P1-P7 composite classes. |
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to review the national guidance on class size composition.
Answer
Any such review would be a matter for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. The Scottish Government has no plans to review the national guidance on class size composition.
In 2010, we legislated to reduce the maximum class size in Primary 1 to 25, its lowest ever level. Since then the number of primary one pupils in a class size of 26 or more has decreased by 93% from 6,896 in 2010 to 511 in 2018.
All local authorities are committed to maintaining the national agreement on teacher numbers at 13.7 as outlined in the Local Government Settlement letter, 12 December 2018. This is supported by continued Scottish Government funding of £88million to ensure every local authority can employ the number of teachers it requires.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what support it provides to local authorities to ensure that rural schools are sustainable.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that rural schools play a hugely important part in ensuring a vibrant and sustainable local community and economy in towns and villages across rural Scotland.
We are delivering a funding package of £11.2 billion for all local authorities in
2019-20, a real terms increase of £310 million or 2.9 per cent for essential public services in Scotland. The needs based formula used to allocate funding to individual local authorities includes a range of factors, including rurality and the percentage of pupils in small schools. This funding package was agreed with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities.
We have also taken steps to support education in rural areas through the Regional Improvement Collaborative programme. Local authorities will be working together to address issues such as the educational impact of rural deprivation.
We have also put in place specific legislative protections for rural schools. These include a requirement on local authorities to demonstrate they have considered alternatives to closure, the likely impact on the community and on pupil’s journey times to school. Local authorities are also prohibited from repeating a school closure proposal for five years.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 May 2019
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the level of new social housing building in Dumfries and Galloway.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 29 May 2019
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 16 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government under what circumstances people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), who are considered to be high-risk as they might experience airway complications before, during or after a procedure, could be recommended for a bone marrow transplant operation.
Answer
Decisions on recommendations for a bone marrow transplant operation are made on a case by case basis by a clinician, following all relevant guidelines and assessment of risk and benefits to the patient.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what the mortality rate is for people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS), and which NHS boards routinely provide this information when consulting patients regarding bone marrow transplant procedures.
Answer
Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally have responsibility for service delivery and patient treatment. For this reason NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Board would be best placed to provide this information. The contact details can be found online at https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government which NHS boards automatically put in place an airway management plan for people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) when they are admitted to hospital.
Answer
Scottish Government does not hold this information centrally. NHS Boards and healthcare professionals locally have responsibility for service delivery and patient treatment. For this reason NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde Board would be best placed to provide this information. The contact details can be found online at https://www.nhsggc.org.uk/.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 14 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what processes are followed ahead of a bone marrow transplant for people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) to ensure that there is sufficient expertise and experience available to guarantee patient safety.
Answer
Normal governance mechanisms are in place to ensure that that treatments are planned by a multi-disciplinary team who are accredited specialists and who undergo regular revalidation.
The recommendation of any medical intervention is based on risk versus benefit considerations. These risks being those actual and immediate ones and those anticipated by the anticipated progression of the underlying condition leading to complications (including limited treatment options, increased complication rates and including worsening health compromise, disability and /or further limitation of life expectancy). Benefits from successful treatment have to be viewed within the context that all treatments (or having no treatment) carries inherent risks as described and that successful treatment (partial or complete) are expected to have short and long term benefits for the individual patient. The process of consent for treatment is a culmination of a process that seeks to address the risk / benefits described above. Accepting that there is a range in the way that any individual patient will be affected by an underlying condition, the nature of MPS is such that their management and any treatment offered has to be individualised. Bone marrow transplant (BMT) is offered on the basis of these risk / benefit assessments in the context of the utility of BMT compared with other treatment options and all treatments have limitations and therefore fluctuating risk / benefits.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 9 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government what protocols are in place to ensure that the correct procedures are followed when treating people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) who are at risk of allergic reactions, including those who have recorded an antibody build up during enzyme replacement therapy.
Answer
There are established guidelines for identification and reduction of allergic reactions throughout Medical services to minimise risk. Protocols include seeking a history of allergy before medical interventions at risk of producing an allergy.
- Asked by: Colin Smyth, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 April 2019
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Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 8 May 2019
To ask the Scottish Government how many bone marrow transplants for people with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) in each of the last 10 years have led to significant complications (a) during and (b) after the procedure, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
Based on data provided to the Information Services Division of NHS Scotland, less than 5 patients in Scotland with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) who received a bone marrow transplant had a reported diagnosis of bone-marrow transplant rejection between April 2006 and March 2018. It is not possible to break the information down further because the small number of patients carries the risk that in doing so individuals are identified. Data is held by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde which hosts the designated paediatric Stem Cell Transplantation Unit and is also recognised as the lead paediatric centre for Inherited Metabolic Disorders (IMD) in Scotland.
