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 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.

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Question reference: S6W-19828

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2023
Current Status: Answered by Emma Roddick on 26 July 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to LGBT Health and Wellbeing's LGBT Refugee Project report, Experiences of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland: Housing, houselessness, hotel detention and impact.

The Scottish Government has noted the LGBT Health and Wellbeing’s report and continues to listen to the lived experience of refugees and people seeking asylum in a variety of ways.

The New Scots refugee integration strategy was informed by engagement across Scotland, including refugees and people seeking asylum from the LGBT+ community. The strategy recognises that people seeking safety on the basis of their LGBT+ identity can face particular challenges within the asylum process and as refugees. The strategy seeks to ensure that these issues are understood when developing policy or taking action to support refugees and people seeking asylum living in Scotland. We are committed to working with our partners to refresh the New Scots strategy and more information about engagement will be available in due course.

The report also raises significant concerns relating to asylum accommodation. Asylum is reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office. This includes provision of asylum accommodation and support. I hope the Home Office and its contractors will be engaging with LGBT Health and Wellbeing on their report to understand the issues people have experienced.

Question reference: S6O-02434

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 28 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what support is in place for disabled children and young people navigating the justice system.

Question reference: S6F-02272

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 June 2023

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government is responding to the ongoing industrial disputes in further and higher education.

Question reference: S6W-18547

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how many secondary schools currently have a dedicated counselling service in place.

The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is an absolute priority for the Scottish Government.

We support our local authority partners with £16 million in funding to ensure that every secondary school has access to counselling services.

All school pupils aged 10 and above have access to school counselling services. It is up to local authorities to determine how they deliver the commitment to best suit the children and young people in their area, including the recruitment and allocation of counsellors. In December 2020, local authorities confirmed that access to counselling services through all secondary schools was in place across Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-18501

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 16 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the replacement to the publication, Learning together: national action plan on parental involvement, engagement, family learning and learning at home 2018–2021.

We are continuing to work with the Learning Together Steering group, Education Scotland and other key stakeholders to develop a refreshed policy framework for parental engagement. This work is being taken forward as part of the broader Education Recovery Strategy to further improve parental involvement and engagement in schools. The refreshed action plan will take account of the recently published findings of the National Discussion on Education, which demonstrated a significant appetite from parents and carers for involvement in their children’s education. The Learning Together Action Plan will be published later this year.

Question reference: S6W-18596

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by the Scottish Training Federation that delays in confirming skills and employability programme budgets has resulted in 75 staff redundancies by training providers since 6 April 2023, with a further 60 expected in June.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a balanced budget with a focus on the renewed missions set out recently by the First Minister - to tackle poverty; to build a fair, green and a growing economy; and to improve our public services.

In 2023-24 this includes up to £108M to deliver employability services for those individuals who need it most to enter and progress in work, we remain committed to supporting a mixed economy of provision across public, private and third sectors to support delivery across Scotland.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will always offer and provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE which aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

As members of the PACE Partnership, STF will be familiar with the local support available to its members and the swift response it offers to support both employers and employees dealing with redundancy and working with them to try and minimise the risk of redundancy before it happens.

Question reference: S6W-18589

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has conducted an analysis of any benefits of Erasmus+ to relevant sectors in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s position is that the Erasmus+ programme had a major impact in Scotland. Scotland received a total of 143.2 million euros during the previous Erasmus+ cycle between 2014-2020.

Scotland welcomes international students and recognises the important and valuable contribution they make to the Scottish economy, our educational environment and Scottish society.

The European Commission Erasmus+ higher education impact study (European Commission, Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Erasmus+ higher education impact study – Final report , Publications Office, 2019, https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2766/162060 ) has shown that participants in Erasmus+ have reported: higher levels of self-confidence, goal orientation, and social openness. The commission observed a relevant increase in several personality dispositions, attitudes, and behaviours, as measured by the memo© psychometric tool. This indicator also correlates with future income, job security, and career perspective. Furthermore, in the same report, a large share (>75%) of students interviewed after the mobility reported that they had a better idea of what they want to do in their career, they had re-oriented their study plans, and have higher academic ambitions. Also, on average, they are more satisfied with their jobs and social status.

Under the Erasmus+ programme funding in Scotland, a range of sectors benefited including higher and further education, vocational education and training, youth work, adult education and sports. The table below indicates the funding received by different sectors in Scotland from Erasmus+ between 2014-2020.

Sector	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total
Sector	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()	Grants ()
Adult Education	724,920	266,195	672,529	1,618,917	1,068,962	1,519,231	3,030,393	8,901,147
Higher Education	7,214,229	10,142,762	9,892,951	11,383,764	15,750,830	13,634,293	16,625,927	84,644,756
Schools	1,476,629	804,698	1,831,859	2,302,010	1,952,353	3,390,662	2,262,164	14,020,375
Vocational education and training	2,437,241	2,150,942	2,210,127	4,750,020	6,283,083	7,172,353	5,251,086	30,254,852
Youth	363,171	982,542	491,572	1,487,440	1,009,616	399,260	656,062	5,389,664
Total	12,216,190	14,347,139	15,099,038	21,542,151	26,064,845	26,115,799	27,825,632	143,210,794

Question reference: S6W-18600

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting training providers in any absence of confirmed budgets for skills and employability programmes.

Question reference: S6W-18603

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to confirm the budget for Individual Training Accounts.

Question reference: S6W-18584

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it plans to publish its Student Mental Health Plan.