Chamber and committees

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: S6W-25357

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scottish National Standardised Assessments and National Standardised Assessments for Scotland reportedly do not include a calculation of pupil reading age, in light of it being recommended during specification meetings in 2015 that a functional reading age test for P7 pupils was required.

When the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland were first being developed, it was agreed in consultation with Scottish literacy experts that the reading assessments should be based on specific organisers within the Curriculum for Excellence – these being “Tools for reading”, “Finding and using information”, and “Understanding, analysing and evaluating”. This was because the relationship between the assessments and CfE was deemed a more useful output for teachers than a notional reading age.

As learners can undertake the assessments at any time in the school year, teachers are able to compare learner outcomes against a cohort of learners who completed their assessments at a similar stage in the year, rather than by age. This comparison has been statistically validated through norming studies and provides valuable diagnostic information to teachers, helping to inform their wider assessment of learner progress in literacy.

Question reference: S6O-03174

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support rural NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-25362

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has compared the Scottish National Standardised Assessments Curriculum for Excellence assessment level results with the equivalent teacher-derived Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels for each year since 2017.

The Scottish Government does not compare or analyse outcomes data from the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland against Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data, as these each have a distinct purpose and should not be compared directly.

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland have been designed to provide diagnostic information to teachers, schools and local authorities on children’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy, and to inform next steps in learning and teaching. They provide teachers with a valuable additional source of nationally standardised information to add to their existing understanding of children’s progress. NSA data can be used as a part of a range of evidence when assessing children’s achievement of the relevant Curriculum for Excellence levels. However, they do not assess whether learners have or have not achieved a level within the Curriculum for Excellence.

Question reference: S6W-25359

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for how long Scottish National Standardised Assessments and National Standardised Assessments for Scotland data is retained in a pupil’s file.

NSA data is retained for the duration of a pupil’s interaction with the school system, in order to ensure that school and local authority based longitudinal analysis of individuals’ assessment history is supported.

When learners leave the Scottish school system, their personal data will be retained for a maximum of nine months and then deleted. After that nine months, pupils’ assessments are retained in anonymised format. This allows longitudinal analysis at school level, beyond the point where a child or young person is attending school.

Question reference: S6W-25363

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the AlphaPlus annual report for 2022-23 regarding the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland will be published.

Question reference: S6W-25361

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ACER UK has not produced a Scottish National Standardised Assessments annual report for (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22, and, if it is the case that the Scottish Government received the data for these years, whether it has conducted its own analysis.

National level reports on the NSA were not commissioned in 2019-20 or 2020-21, due to Covid-19 related disruption. The National Report was also not commissioned in 2021-22, as the handover process from the phase one SNSA supplier (ACER), to the current phase two supplier (AlphaPlus Ltd), was underway.

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland are designed to provide valuable diagnostic information to teachers, schools and local authorities, on children’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy.

Question reference: S6W-25360

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who took the decision to not automatically provide a copy of Scottish National Standardised Assessments pupil assessment reports to the pupil and their parent(s), and for what reason this decision was taken.

I am advised that this decision was taken jointly by the Scottish Government and Education Scotland when the assessments were introduced in 2017. This position fits within a wider policy approach, guided by Education Scotland, around discussing assessment outcomes with parents and learners.

I am advised that the view at that time was that presenting National Standardised Assessment data or reports to parents and learners on a standalone basis would run contrary to the diagnostic purpose of the assessments, and the central role of teacher judgement in considering NSA data amongst wider assessment activities.

NSA reports are designed for teachers, who have access to training and guidance on the use of these adaptive assessments and their outputs, allowing them to interpret and use the report format appropriately.

Question reference: S6W-25003

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how many patients have been prescribed cannabis-based medicines in Scotland to date.

Question reference: S6W-25005

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of private prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines in Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-25004

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 January 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 14 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve access to cannabis-based medicines to NHS patients.

There are three Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal use (CBPMs) available on the NHS in Scotland to treat specific conditions. These are:

Nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid, as an add-on treatment for adults with chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting;
Sativex ® , a combination of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol for moderate to severe spasticity in adults with multiple sclerosis; and
Epidyolex ® , a cannabidiol for treating seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome.

The biggest barrier to the prescribing of other CBPMs on the NHS is that most products remain unlicensed with a limited, or non-existent, peer-reviewed clinical evidence base for their use. We continue to engage with the manufacturers of these products, encouraging them to bring their products to clinical trial. This would allow them to go through the medicine licensing process and be available to be considered for routine availability on the NHS through standard health technology appraisal processes.