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-27729

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 29 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether there are any restrictions on what any monies received from Low Emission Zone fines can be spent on, and, if so, what these are.

Any monies received from penalty charges in respect of a LEZ scheme can be applied by a local authority only for the purposes of facilitating the achievement of the scheme’s objectives, and thus support at least air quality and/or climate change emission reduction activities, and/or the operational running costs of the scheme. The specifics of how these monies are spent is a matter for the local authority.

Question reference: S6F-03176

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 May 2024

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on whether teacher numbers should be maintained, in light of the reported concerns of many parents, pupils and school staff in Glasgow.

Question reference: S6W-27512

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 28 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its Programme for Government 2021-22 commitment, whether it still plans to recruit 3,500 teachers and 500 classroom assistants, over and above the 1,400 teachers recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the current parliamentary session.

We remain committed to sustained investment to strengthen provision of education in Scotland and we are offering local authorities £145.5m in this year’s budget to protect teacher numbers.

The commitment to increase the number of classroom assistants has already been exceeded, with 725 additional staff recruited in 2022-23 alone. In addition, since 2019 the number of teachers in Scottish schools has increased by 1,786 from 52,247 to 54,033.

We will continue to work with local authorities to deliver our shared education commitments, with the approach we are able to take being dependent on the resources we have available and ensuring we deliver value for money, during an era where budgets continue to be under pressure as a result of UK Government austerity measures.

Question reference: S6W-27299

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 May 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering reviewing the funding model for Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) in order to provide greater certainty.

Question reference: S6T-01995

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 20 May 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason it has reportedly withdrawn all funding for the National Parent Forum of Scotland.

Question reference: S6W-27000

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what it discussed in its meetings with Glasgow City Council on (a) 19 and (b) 27 February 2024 regarding teacher numbers, and whether a minute of each meeting exists.

Question reference: S6W-27082

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-26786 by Jenny Gilruth on 25 April 2024, what its position is on Glasgow City Council's reported plan to substantially reduce the number of teacher posts.

The Scottish Government has a longstanding commitment to protecting teacher numbers, and we are offering local authorities £145.5m in this year’s budget for that purpose. This funding will allow councils to protect teacher numbers in order to support children’s education.

We have informed councils that we will issue this funding in the form of grants and councils will be required to commit to maintaining teacher numbers as part of those grant conditions.

Question reference: S6W-26654

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what powers it has to amend the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 to reduce or amend the distances from home to school before free school transport is provided.

Question reference: S6W-27083

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 10 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the Strategic Board for Teacher Education last met, and what was discussed.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education last met on 21 March, to discuss progress against the three workstreams contained in the Board’s workplan.

These are:-

Workstream 1 – Workforce Planning and Increasing Diversity of the Profession
Workstream 2 – Improving the Promotion of Teaching as a Valued Career
Workstream 3 – Continuum of Teacher Education

The agenda, minutes and papers from this meeting and future meetings will be published on the Scottish Government website in due course. The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for 15 May.

Question reference: S6W-27117

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 29 April 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 May 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered providing the Good Governance Steering Group, whose mandate is currently advisory, with decision-making powers.