Seòmar agus comataidhean

Scotland is participating in the Teacher Questionnaire of the 2018 administration of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This will cover teacher job satisfaction and an assessment of the factors they believe are hindering instruction.

The Scottish Government has instructed no external legal advice in relation to the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill.

Details are as follows:

External Legal Advice

	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17
	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000
Total (excluding VAT)	5,309	5,769	5,162	4,485	4,041

The total number of Education Scotland inspections carried out each academic year for the last five years for Dumfries and Galloway :

Inspection Figures for Academic Years August 2012 to July 2017

Academic Years	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	Total
Total inspections	13	12	12	11	7	55*

*includesEarly Learning and Childcare settings, and Primary, Secondary, All through, Independent and Special schools.

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

Any homeowner who claims that his or her property is damaged by overflow from defective sewerage and road drainage systems has to be able to demonstrate liability on the part of Scottish Water or the relevant roads authority on account of a breach of a common law or statutory duty on the part of that authority.

The GTCS have accredited 3 programmes for aspiring headteachers. These are the Scottish Qualification for Headship, the Flexible Route to Headship and the Into Headship programmes. Only the Into Headship programme is currently operating and has recruited cohorts over the last three years.

The Into Headship programme is aimed at those teachers whose next post will be that of a head teacher, likely to be within two to three years. Details of numbers on that programme are outlined in S5W-12536 on 21 November 2017. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The following Ministers have met with Dumfries and Galloway Council in the last 12 months: Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills; Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Jobs and Fair Work; Cabinet Secretary for Justice; Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Connectivity; Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy; Minister for Local Government and Housing.

As part of the Planning Review, we established a pilot programme of Simplified Planning Zones, funding 3 housing pilot projects which will support innovative housing delivery, including self and custom build. The pilots include projects on an island context, and in rural locations, including looking at how a plot passport approach can simplify planning for those wanting to build a new home in rural areas.

Our investment through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has been a major success, extending fibre broadband access to over 800,000 premises across Scotland. This includes 25,000 premises in the constituency of Dumfriesshire, with over 22,000 of these capable of accessing speeds of 24Mbps and above.

The programme was never intended to deliver 100% coverage or to upgrade every BT exchange, but to maximise coverage with the funding available. As a result, some areas will miss out and, unfortunately, the Marrburn exchange is within one of those areas.

The Scottish Government is committed to building on the success of the DSSB programme by extending superfast access to 100% of premises by 2021. The Marrburn exchange will be included in the intervention area for the R100 programme.

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-12455 on
16 November 2017. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx