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: S5O-01564

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that devolved benefits will not lose their value relative to inflation.

We have already made a clear public commitment to annually uprate disability benefits, and have gone further by increasing the value of payments for some benefits. The rate of Carer’s Allowance will be increased to that of Job Seeker’s Allowance through the Carer’s Allowance Supplement and our new Best Start Grant will provide significantly more financial support, with the payment to the first child increasing from £500 to £600, restoring £300 payments for second and all subsequent children, and two new payments of £250 at key transitions points in the early years for the first and all subsequent children.

Question reference: S5W-12716

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to the��Education and Skills Committee report,��Teacher Workforce Planning for Scotland's Schools,��what the timescale is of its proposal to work with the General Teaching Council of Scotland to address additional support needs in initial teacher education, and��what analysis it has carried out��regarding how this could impact on��continuing professional development.

I have invited Education Scotland to develop a new self-evaluation framework to support the universities that provide Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to evaluate their work. It will be designed to support teacher education universities in identifying what is working well, including highlighting features of their own highly-effective practice. The framework is being developed in partnership with teacher education universities and the General Teaching for Scotland (GTCS). It will focus on the quality of learning and teaching within ITE and key priorities, including literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and Additional Support Needs. The framework will be available in time for universities to start this work during academic year 2017-18.

The GTCS has instigated a review of their Professional Standards which will take into consideration developing education policy and thinking and which will include Additional Support Needs. The revised Standards will be published by January 2019.

Question reference: S5O-01497

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what areas will be prioritised for improvement when assessing the school inspection regime.

Question reference: S5O-01413

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on��schools being required to deliver specific��LGBTI-inclusive sex and relationship education.

Relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP) education is an integral part of the health and wellbeing area of the curriculum in Scotland.

We are clear about the need for children and young people to gain knowledge appropriate to their age and stage of education and this includes issues relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex young people or children with LGBTI parents.

We published guidance on RSHP education in 2014 and the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group are currently looking at what else can be done to improve the delivery of specific LGBTI-inclusive RSHP education.

Scotland does not have a statutory curriculum, learning is tailored to meet the needs of individual children and young people.

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Question reference: S5W-12081

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 2 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how its office in Washington DC supports the development of links between the film and television sectors in Scotland and the United States.

Promoting and supporting the growth and reach of Scotland’s screen sector is the responsibility of Creative Scotland. In financial year 16-17, Creative Scotland invested £10.9m to support the screen sector in Scotland.

Representatives of Creative Scotland recently attended the UK Film and TV Week held in New York this year. Arranged by the British Film Commission, the purpose of the week is for agencies from the UK nations and regions, including Scotland, to meet and pitch to a variety of US-based studios, production companies, cable providers and broadcasters and attend industry networking events. Creative Scotland will follow up the direct links made at these events to further promote the Scottish screen sector.

Question reference: S5O-01370

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to improve the school inspection regime.

A new Standards and Evaluation Framework will be published in December 2017, which will set out the focus and frequency of school inspection.

Education Scotland has also recently announced a number of steps to improve school inspections as part of its new suite of approaches to support and drive improvement in schools. This includes increasing the number of school inspections significantly and extending their team of associate assessors to include aspiring headteachers.

In addition, from April 2018, Education Scotland will set out and publish an annual programme of inspection activity across different sectors of education, including schools. These actions will strengthen the role of inspection as a crucial tool to support improvement.

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Question reference: S5W-11910

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 October 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the proposed ��£20,000 career-change bursary to attract teachers in STEM subjects will be available only to��people in specific industries or jobs and, if so, (a) which and (b)��how long a graduate would have to have been employed in��that sector to qualify.

Bursaries will be available to career changers wishing to undertake an initial teacher education course in Scotland that leads to the award of registered teacher status in one of the specified subjects, Maths, Physics, Technical Education and Computing Science.

We do not envisage that the bursary will be made available only to people from specific industries. We are currently working on the precise detail of the eligibility criteria and a delivery model. Further details will be made available shortly.

Question reference: S5W-11315

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 26 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it will��launch (a) phase one of��and (b) the consultation on its��review of personal and social education.

The review of personal and social education (PSE) commenced in July with phase one covering communications and initial exploration of PSE teaching resources. Phase two, covering the thematic review of the delivery of PSE in schools across Scotland, started this month and phase three, which will analyse findings and develop recommendations, is expected to commence in June 2018. Further information on the scope of the review is available on the Scottish Government website at . This webpage will be updated as the review progresses.

Once the recommendations have been received and considered, we will consider the merits of further consultation.

Question reference: S5O-01297

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to recent research from Bath Spa University suggesting that exposure to high levels of organisational change without listening to the views of teachers is contributing to extremely poor working conditions for teachers in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-11258

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 20 September 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03736 by Keith Brown on 31 October 2016, whether it will provide the information for 2016-17, and what information it can provide regarding which companies received funding, how much they received and the purpose of the award.

Neither Highlands and Islands Enterprise or Scottish Enterprise provide assistance directly to the arms trade. As part of the broad range of support provided some firms in receipt of that support may be engaged in activities such as research and development/ components or products which may be applicable to defence related use. I am unable to provide details of the individual amounts or purposes of the awards received by companies due to commercial sensitivity.

Financial support provided by SE and HIE to businesses where the activities may be applicable to defence related use in 2016-17 is shown in the following table:

Year	SE (£)	HIE (£)	Total (£)
2016-17	452,377	740,265	1,192,642

* Figures amended 7 June 2018 and 4 September 2018.