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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S5W-14116

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 5 February 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its consultation paper on electoral reform of 19 December 2017, what its definition is of “legally resident”.

Question reference: S5O-01753

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 31 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to use existing medical and other evidence to determine entitlement to devolved disability benefits and reduce the need for in-person assessments.

We have made it clear from the start that we will make use of existing health and social care evidence to support better decision making. We will gather the right information at the initial stage of the process, utilising existing data to aid quality decision making and, consequently, reduce the need for face to face assessments.

A face-to-face assessment should only be required upon individual request or where evidence gathered is conflicting – and no-one will ever be forced in the Scottish system to undergo an assessment with a private company.

Question reference: S5W-13773

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-00665 by John Swinney on 16 June 2016, how many teachers there have been in each local authority in each year since 2007 who have had additional support for learning as their main subject.

Question reference: S5W-13774

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S5W-00665 and S5W-13573 by John Swinney on 16 June 2016 and 9 January 2018 respectively, for what reason the figures provided in each answer regarding the number of learning support teachers there were in each local authority from 2007 to 2015 are different.

The answers to questions S5W-00665 and S5W-13573 are different because they used slightly different definitions of learning support teachers.

The answer to S5W-00665 includes teachers in primary, secondary, special schools, and centrally employed teachers, with their main subject recorded as: Learning Support Secondary; Learning Support, Primary; Special Educational Needs (SEN) (primary) non-recorded pupils; SEN (recorded pupils); SEN (Secondary) non-recorded pupils; SEN Behavioural Support; SEN Learning Difficulties; SEN Physical Disabilities; Hearing Impairment; or Visual Impairment.

In addition to this, the answer to S5W-13573 includes teachers in special schools with their main subject recorded as primary teaching and teachers in secondary schools and centrally employed with English as an Additional Language (EAL) as their main subject.

Question reference: S5W-13775

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13573 by John Swinney on 9 January 2018, whether the number of full-time equivalent ASN teachers recorded was rounded to the nearest whole number and, if not, for what reason whole numbers were used.

Question reference: S5O-01704

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to encourage the SFA and football clubs to follow the lead of the English FA in adopting the principles of the Rooney Rule for future coaching appointments.

Question reference: S5W-13433

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to its news release of 12 December 2017, how many of the 666 full-time-equivalent teachers employed using its Attainment Scotland Fund are on temporary contracts.

Question reference: S5O-01674

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 17 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out on the impact on schools of its proposed reductions to local authority budgets.

Question reference: S5W-13514

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 10 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much revenue it expects to raise each year from the removal of non-domestic rates relief from independent schools.

The independent Barclay report broadly estimated £5 million annual savings would arise from the removal of charity relief from all independent schools. However, the Scottish Government proposes to retain relief eligibility for independent special schools and are giving further consideration to how we ensure that independent schools with exceptional circumstances – such as specialist music schools – continue to be eligible.

We will continue to engage with the sector as we finalise the detail of our proposals in time for 2020. This notice will allow time for those schools affected to plan ahead for the financial impact.

Question reference: S5W-13296

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13114 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 December 2017, by what date it will set out its next steps.

As detailed in a previous response, this Government commissioned the independent review of student support because we are committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they need to succeed.

Many of the ideas in the report would fundamentally change the way students in Scotland are supported and therefore require detailed consideration. It is only right that we now take time to consider each of the recommendations in detail.

We will set out our next steps in due course.