Questions and answers

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 ��˿�� 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: S4W-23102

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 18 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle homophobia in schools, and whether it plans to take additional action in light of the findings of The Teachers' Report 2014 by Stonewall Scotland.

We want every child and young person in Scotland to grow up free from bullying and to develop mutually respectful, responsible and confident relationships with other children, young people and adults.

Our national approach to anti-bullying sets out a common vision and aims to make sure that work across all agencies and communities is jointly focussed on tackling bullying, including homophobic bullying. We are committed to refreshing the national approach to ensure that it remains current and reflects policy developments around children’s rights, Getting it right for every child, and relationships and behaviour.

In addition, we expect that all schools develop and implement an anti-bullying policy, which should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

To support this we have established and wholly fund respectme, a national anti-bullying service, to build confidence and capacity to tackle all bullying, including prejudice-based bullying, effectively. We have also developed and published resources for schools to support school staff in dealing effectively with homophobic bullying.

I will meet with Stonewall Scotland shortly to explore the issues raised in the report.

Question reference: S4O-03683

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers are in post and how this compares with May 2007.

Question reference: S4O-03654

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 6 November 2014

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the chief executive of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

Question reference: S4F-02351

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 October 2014

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on concerns regarding the impact that charging for SQA exam marking reviews could have on students.

Question reference: S4O-03618

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 October 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what it considers the skills needs are of the west of Scotland economy.

Question reference: S4W-22424

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 12 September 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many partnership nurseries there were (a) in 2012-13, (b) in 2013-14 and (c) at the start of 2014-15, broken down by local authority area.

The number of local authority funded nurseries (including partnership providers) is collected annually via the early learning and childcare census which takes place over a named week in September. The data therefore relates to a particular point in time, i.e. as at September 2012, 2013 etc., rather than across a full academic year.

Data for 2012 and 2013 is shown in the following table. The 2014 census is due to be undertaken in September 2014 with results scheduled for publication in December 2014.

Number of partnership early learning and childcare providers by local authority:

��	2012	2013
Aberdeen City	51	50
Aberdeenshire	74	78
Angus	32	33
Argyll and Bute	26	24
Clackmannanshire	4	4
Dumfries and Galloway	42	44
Dundee City	19	22
East Ayrshire	9	9
East Dunbartonshire	26	25
East Lothian	16	16
East Renfrewshire	9	9
City of Edinburgh	111	117
Eilean Siar	6	6
Falkirk	5	9
Fife	52	49
Glasgow City	76	82
Highland	67	68
Inverclyde	6	4
Midlothian	14	13
Moray	32	35
North Ayrshire	23	22
North Lanarkshire	36	33
Orkney Islands	2	2
Perth and Kinross	33	33
Renfrewshire	36	35
Scottish Borders	34	33
Shetland Islands	4	4
South Ayrshire	11	11
South Lanarkshire	57	57
Stirling	14	14
West Dunbartonshire	9	9
West Lothian	11	9
SCOTLAND	947	959

Question reference: S4W-22214

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 21 August 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will spend on its early learning and childcare advertising campaign.

Question reference: S4W-22045

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 04 July 2014
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 29 July 2014

Question reference: S4W-21685

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether ministers decided that a business regulatory impact assessment was not required for the white paper on independence and, if so, on what basis.

Question reference: S4W-21684

Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 June 2014
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 23 June 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether a business regulatory impact assessment was carried out on the white paper on independence and, if so, whether it will publish its findings.

A Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) was not required for Scotland’s Future: Your Guide to an Independent Scotland. The policies within the white paper will be subjected to scrutiny and assessment as they come forward for implementation and that would be the appropriate point at which BRIAs would be completed.

The government of an independent Scotland will be able to create a more supportive, competitive and dynamic business environment. Future Scottish Governments will have the ability to make choices over tax, use measures to boost innovation and exports, promote good industrial relations and support small and medium enterprises.