- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what estimate it has made of any additional revenues in the Scottish budget as a result of the immigration health surcharge for visa holders.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16054 on 1 May 2018. 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 .
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has decided to end Electric Vehicle Loans after March 2019, and what communication it has had with those affected.
Answer
On the contrary, our Switched on Scotland roadmap clearly states that we will provide loans until at least 2020. The level of funding is agreed on an annual basis subject to the overall Scottish Government budget.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 1 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what impact assessment it has undertaken on its commitment to phase-out the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2032, in light of its decision to end Electric Vehicle Loans after March 2019.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-16029 on 1 May 2018. 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 .
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 26 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on doubling the immigration health surcharge for non-European Economic Area visa holders to £400 a year.
Answer
The Scottish Government strongly opposed the introduction of the immigration health surcharge, which does not take account of Scotland's very different needs with regards to migration. The charge constitutes an additional financial burden on those wanting to come to live, work and study in Scotland, and is yet another measure imposed by the UK Government to try to control migration through access to healthcare.
We remain deeply concerned that doubling the cost of the surcharge will make Scotland a less attractive destination for skilled workers and international students, who generate considerable income for our higher education establishments and the economy generally. I have made this clear to the UK Government in a letter of 11 April to the Minister of State for Immigration.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 26 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing a separate public service ombudsman for canals and waterways, similar to that in England and Wales.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans to establish a separate public service ombudsman for canals and waterways. Scottish Canals is a public body with statutory obligations and is answerable to Scottish Ministers, rather than an independent charity as is the case in England and Wales. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman already has powers to consider process and decisions relating to Scottish Canals.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 April 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its answer to question S5W-13573 by John Swinney on 9 January 2018, whether it will provide the information for 2017 regarding the number of (a) teachers and (b) classroom assistants there were in each local authority.
Answer
(a) Additional Support Needs (ASN) Teachers*
(whose main subject is ASN, English as an Additional Languages or primary teaching in special schools)
Full Time Equivalents
| 2017 |
Aberdeen City | 137 |
Aberdeenshire | 262 |
Angus | 77 |
Argyll & Bute | 43 |
Clackmannanshire | 35 |
| |
Dumfries & Galloway | 96 |
Dundee City | 121 |
East Ayrshire | 130 |
East Dunbartonshire | 77 |
East Lothian | 37 |
| |
East Renfrewshire | 58 |
Edinburgh, City of | 178 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 21 |
Falkirk | 122 |
Fife | 205 |
| |
Glasgow City | 267 |
Highland | 182 |
Inverclyde | 57 |
Midlothian | 59 |
Moray | 88 |
| |
North Ayrshire | 123 |
North Lanarkshire | 218 |
Orkney Islands | 29 |
Perth & Kinross | 93 |
Renfrewshire | 79 |
| |
Scottish Borders | 74 |
Shetland Islands | 38 |
South Ayrshire | 91 |
South Lanarkshire | 158 |
Stirling | 44 |
| |
West Dunbartonshire | 54 |
West Lothian | 102 |
| |
All local authorities | 3,358 |
* 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; Visual Impairment; or English as an Additional Language (EAL). It also includes teachers in special schools with their main subject recorded as primary teaching.
(b) Initial quality assurance of the data on support staff revealed some issues that have required more extensive quality assurance to be carried out in conjunction with local authorities. As a result this data is not yet ready for publication. Statistics on teachers are not affected by these issues.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether Scotland participated in the 2015 Programme for International Student (PISA) field trials, in which pupils were randomly assigned computer- and paper-based PISA tests, and, if so, what data it holds regarding the outcome.
Answer
The field trial for PISA 2015 took place in March 2014. Scotland participated, along with all countries administering computer-based assessment in the PISA 2015 survey. The field trial involved assignment of students within participating schools to groups taking computer or paper-based assessment. The processing of raw assessment data was carried out by the PISA 2015 international consortium of contractors, appointed by the OECD, who have determined that it is not technically possible to draw conclusions about an individual country’s outcome. Consequently, the Scottish Government do not hold the results of the trial on mode effects.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Humza Yousaf on 15 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-14650 by Humza Yousaf on 28 February 2018, when the audit will be completed and when the information from it will be released.
Answer
The legacy audit is now complete. Charge Your Car, which manages the charge point back office function on Transport Scotland’s behalf, is currently reviewing the data for discrepancies. Information from the audit has been used to update charge point information as it becomes available and this is published on the ChargePlace Scotland website.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 March 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 8 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has not yet published the Teacher Census Supplementary Data, which it believes is normally published each December, but which was not not published in December 2017, and when it proposes to do so.
Answer
Teacher census supplementary data provides a further breakdown of the headline statistics published in each edition of the statistics bulletin Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland and they have previously been published at varying intervals in the months following the headline statistics.
Teacher census supplementary data based on the 2017 edition of Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland was published on 6 March 2018. More time was required to verify data given errors that came to light in the submission of information by local authorities.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 6 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that there is adequate funding to expand the early years practitioner workforce to meet its commitment to expand free childcare to 1,140 hours by 2020.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to fully funding the almost doubling of funded early learning and childcare to 1140 hours by 2020. We are continuing to work with COSLA, and local authorities, and we are confident that we will agree a multi-year funding package by the end of April.
We are already providing substantial investment to support the expansion of the early years workforce including:
- Providing local authorities with an additional £21 million in revenue in
2017-18, and a further £52 million in 2018-19 to support the ELC workforce expansion. - Increasing capacity in early years courses in colleges and universities in 2017-18 to support the first phase of the workforce expansion.
- We are working with the Scottish Funding Council to offer 1,500 additional places on a one-year higher national certificate course in 2018-19, as well as over 400 additional graduate-level places.
- Funding 435 additional graduates to work in nurseries in our most deprived areas and island councils by August this year.
- Skills Development Scotland has committed to increasing the number of modern apprenticeships in the early learning and childcare sector by 10 per cent year on year, up to 2020. Although take up is dependent on employer demand, the increase will see a record number of ELC modern apprenticeships in employment and working towards a relevant qualification.
- Launched phase one of our national recruitment marketing campaign in October 2017, focussing on school leavers. We are developing phase two for summer 2018, focussing on career changers and parental returners.
- Providing local authorities with the additional funding to enable payment of the Living Wage to all childcare staff delivering the funded entitlement by 2020.