- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what guidance it has provided to the Care Inspectorate for the financial year 2023-24.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not provided any guidance specific to the Care Inspectorate for the financial year 2023-24. As a non-departmental public body (NDPB), the Care Inspectorate follows the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Government Financial Reporting Manual. The 2023-24 Public Sector Pay Strategy was also published in March 2023, and applies to the Care Inspectorate as a NDPB.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many school children have been given a free digital device to gain access to online learning and resources.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that every school aged child has access to a device by the end of this Parliament.
In 2020-21, we provided £25 million to local authorities across Scotland to tackle digital exclusion, resulting in over 72,000 pupils receiving a device to support their learning.
Local authorities have also invested in devices from their own budgets. Information from them indicates that up to 280,000 devices have already been distributed to learners across Scotland (including the 72,000 funded by the Scottish Government).
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding it has provided to local authorities to cover the cost of updating "when necessary" the laptops, Chromebooks and tablets that are being given to every school child.
Answer
I refer the member to answer to question S6W-10759 on 20 September 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at - https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
We continue to work with local authorities on plans to ensure every school-aged child has access to a device and connectivity by the end of this parliamentary term in 2026.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on closing the school attainment gap in each year since 2016.
Answer
Investment in the Scottish Attainment Challenge is available in a number of publications. In June of last year we published the Attainment Scotland Fund Evaluation: Fifth Interim Report - Year 6, detailing the funding streams and allocations for the first six years of the Attainment Scotland Fund: Attainment Scotland Fund Evaluation: Fifth Interim Report - Year 6 (www.gov.scot) .
Investment in 2021-22 was published in the Education, Children and Young People Committee ‘Scottish Attainment Challenge Report’, having been provided by the Scottish Government, and may be accessed here: Scottish Attainment Challenge Report .
For the 2022/23 financial year, final spend figures are not yet available. However, the Pupil Equity Funding and Strategic Equity Funding allocations to schools and local authorities are all available on gov.scot here: Pupil attainment: closing the gap - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) . 2022-23 allocations for the Care Experienced Children and Young People funding stream are provided below:
Aberdeen City | £423,850.00 |
Aberdeenshire | £323,400.00 |
Angus | £181,440.00 |
Argyll & Bute | £127,400.00 |
Clackmannanshire | £229,075.00 |
Dumfries & Galloway | £270,000.00 |
Dundee City | £319,680.00 |
East Ayrshire | £291,550.00 |
East Dunbartonshire | £126,175.00 |
East Lothian | £179,280.00 |
East Renfrewshire | £92,880.00 |
Edinburgh City | £840,350.00 |
Eilean Siar | £34,560.00 |
Falkirk | £312,375.00 |
Fife | £697,025.00 |
Glasgow City | £1,877,925.00 |
Highland | £376,075.00 |
Inverclyde | £163,080.00 |
Midlothian | £161,838 |
Moray | £158,025.00 |
North Ayrshire | £431,200.00 |
North Lanarkshire | £591,675.00 |
Orkney Islands | £31,850.00 |
Perth & Kinross | £235,200.00 |
Renfrewshire | £490,000.00 |
Scottish Borders | £149,450.00 |
Shetland Islands | £19,440 |
South Ayrshire | £222,588 |
South Lanarkshire | £628,425.00 |
Stirling | £205,800.00 |
West Dunbartonshire | £380,975.00 |
West Lothian | £327,075.00 |
Sum of local authorities | £11,543,940.00 |
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with MG Alba, the Gaelic Media Service, since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
Officials from the Scottish Government are in touch with MG ALBA every week on detailed items of business. In addition, the Scottish Government has had more formal meetings with MG ALBA on 22 June 2022 and 15 March 2023.
These meetings covered a wide range of business outcomes including staffing, funding, performance figures, programme plans, projects and wider discussions with Ofcom, BBC and DCMS. For the year ahead the Scottish Government has arranged quarterly meetings with MG ALBA and these will continue to focus on our support for the channel.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Patrick Harvie on 21 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what meetings it has had with Energy Saving Trust since May 2021, and what the agreed outcomes were of any such meetings.
Answer
The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost, due to the significant number of meetings which take place between Energy Saving Trust and the Scottish Government. Energy officials alone meet with EST a number of times a week, both ad hoc and scheduled, to discuss the programme of work they deliver on the government's behalf. A significant number of meetings have also taken place within the specified timeframe between transport and water policy officials and EST.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 20 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has allocated to spending on NHS frontline services in each year since 2016.
Answer
The annual Scottish Budget document sets out the detail of the health, including Scottish Government funding for NHS boards. Budget documents are available from the Scottish Government’s website: Scottish Budget - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .
The Scottish Government continues to prioritise investment in frontline NHS services, with funding increasing by over £1.4 billion since 2021-22 – well ahead of our trajectory to increase funding by 20% over the life of the Parliament.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what impact assessments it has undertaken regarding students' experiences in colleges in relation to any reduction in lectures in colleges over the next five financial years.
Answer
Student Satisfaction statistics are published on an annual basis. The latest Student Satisfaction statistics published by the SFC show that nine out of 10 (90.2%) full-time students were satisfied with their college experience in 2021-22. This is a positive improvement on the previous year’s statistics and similar to the figures for years preceding the pandemic. These figures will continue to be monitored.
Operational decisions are matters for colleges to determine and they must adapt and respond to the current economic needs flexibly. The future financial position remains exceptionally challenging and consequently, colleges are considering the steps that they must take in order to ensure their financial viability and sustainability. It is for each individual college to determine how best to secure its sustainability while continuing to deliver provision to meet the needs of their regions, communities and students.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress on improving data collection on college student destinations.
Answer
Data from Scottish Colleges covering Successful Completions and Destinations are collected and published as National and Official Statistics by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
Under the Code of Practice for Statistics, publications undergo systematic and periodic reviews on the strengths and limitations of the data.
As an example of the continuing work in this area, SFC has initiated collection of students’ reasons for withdrawal (RfW) from colleges. The first year of collection of the data in 2021-22 was during the Covid-19 pandemic and is therefore considered experimental data. SFC will be working with Colleges Scotland and College Development Network (CDN) to improve the capture of student withdrawal data in future years to enable publication.
Over the coming months SFC will also be undertaking a review of the definitions of college student outcomes metrics, to ensure that they provide the most appropriate measures of success for students.
- Asked by: Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 20 April 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to any concerns expressed by the Education, Children and Young People Committee regarding the impact of financial constraints placed on colleges on their ability to meet their net zero commitments.
Answer
The Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) College Infrastructure Strategy: The Approach to Delivering Scotland’s College Infrastructure, published in November 2022, supports the college sector’s ambitions for net zero with the planned production of an Infrastructure Investment Plan for the college sector being a key goal.
The strategy recognises that investment in college infrastructure is needed and presents a significant opportunity for colleges to play their part in tackling the climate emergency. SFC will support colleges to progress their Net Zero ambitions that are integral to any future infrastructure investment.