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-00158

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether the approach by the SQA for pupil assessment gives teachers the appropriate freedom required to mark pupils fairly, in light of the situation and difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The professional judgement of teachers is the key feature of this year’s National Qualifications assessment process. SQA has provided the key evidence requirements and associated national assessment standards that are critical to ensuring the fair and consistent application of standards across the country.

This guidance includes reduced evidence requirements in recognition of the disruption to learning this year, and schools have been given flexibility around the timing and nature of which assessment tools to use to inform teacher judgement of individual learners’ results.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group has agreed a later certification contingency for those who have experienced severe disruption to learning and teaching and have been unable to complete their assessment evidence within the flexibilities already provided. This is for learners who have completed the learning for their course but have not been able to complete their assessment as they have experienced extreme disruption during the centre’s evidence-gathering process.

Under these arrangements, there will be a limited opportunity for those learners to undertake assessments later and submit provisional results by 3 September 2021. These arrangements are separate and distinct from the appeals process, which learners undertaking the later certification will still be able to access.

Question reference: S6W-00155

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the SQA regarding the current assessment procedure.

The former Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills met with SQA on a number of occasions and I have had an early discussion with the SQA Chief Executive on matters relating to the delivery of SQA’s functions.

The Scottish Government is a member of the National Qualifications 2021 Group which was established to co-produce the Alternative Certification Model and oversee implementation. This, together with an associated working group, has met weekly since it was established in October 2020.

Question reference: S6W-00156

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 3 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on (a) the frequency of testing taking place in schools and (b) whether the volume of assessments set out by the SQA in a short period is a fair approach to assessing pupils grades, in light of the missed class time in the last year.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group was established in October 2020 with members from across the education system. The group is comprised of representatives of teachers, lecturers, learners and parents, working alongside Local Authorities, Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Scottish Government. The organisations on the National Qualifications Group agreed the model for this year, which has been co-produced by them, and is the fairest possible approach for our young people in the challenging circumstances resulting from the pandemic.

SQA carried out a public consultation on proposed modification to the assessment of National Courses. They received over 20,000 responses and as a result introduced reductions to the assessment of all National Courses to take account of learning disruption, whilst still maintaining the credibility of the qualifications for learners and end users. Within that context, SQA has provided subject-specific guidance documents for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher courses. These documents support teachers and lecturers in gathering key assessment evidence as the basis for provisional results. The documents also give guidance on the modifications that were made to courses, after public consultation, to streamline requirements to support teachers and learners and mitigate the impact of disruption.

The unavoidable second period of remote learning due to the pandemic has unfortunately meant that assessments are taking place over a shorter period than was first anticipated.

To help address this, the framework allows for a significant degree of local flexibility in which assessment tools are used in ways and at times which suit local circumstances and the specific needs of learners.

The deadline for submission of provisional grades has been extended to 25 June 2021 to allow for teaching and learning to be completed and to provide a longer opportunity for the gathering of assessment evidence.

The National Qualifications 2021 Group has been very clear that certification must be based on demonstrated attainment.

Question reference: S6O-00008

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 June 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 June 2021

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to improve Glasgow’s public transport connectivity.

Question reference: S6W-00072

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many tenants have received loans from the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

Question reference: S6W-00071

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 17 May 2021
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 27 May 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how much money has been paid out from the Tenant Hardship Loan Fund.

Question reference: S5W-35731

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 23 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-35219 by Michael Matheson on 1 March 2021, what information it has on how much the UK Government pays for security for each person in hotel quarantine, and what this represents as a percentage of the overall cost of quarantine.

The Scottish Government has not yet received details from the UK Government of the costs of security associated with the Managed Isolation programme, and therefore does not yet know what this represents as a percentage of the overall cost of quarantine. However, the Scottish Government is aware that costs incurred are not charged to the UK Government on a per person basis in relation to the number of guests using Managed Isolation, as numbers of security personnel required can vary from location to location depending on factors such as number of flights to be met, journey times on transport services, and numbers of floors in occupation in quarantine hotels.

Question reference: S5F-04929

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 March 2021
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 March 2021

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to reports that local authorities with the highest deprivation rates are least likely to approve Self-Isolation Support Grant applications.

Question reference: S5W-35940

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2021
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 16 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish the annual homelessness statistics before the pre-election campaign recess.

The Scottish Government has announced it will publish its annual 'Homelessness in Scotland: Update to 30th September 2020' statistical publication on 23 March 2021. This publication covers data for the period 1 April to 30 September 2020, alongside data from January to March 2018.

In addition the Scottish Government will publish annual homelessness statistics covering data up to 31 March 2021 later this year. The publication date for this release is yet to be finalised.

Publications are published on the Scottish Government Homelessness Statistics Webpage: Homelessness statistics - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Question reference: S5W-35366

Asked by: Pauline McNeill, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 19 February 2021
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 15 March 2021

To ask the Scottish Government how many people in each JCVI vaccine prioritisation group are considered to be housebound, and what proportion have received their (a) first and (b) second COVID-19 vaccination.

Vaccinations are taking place differently across Scotland to reflect the needs of local communities. NHS Scotland Heath Boards are responsible for the local delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. As such, Health Boards are responsible for making decisions regarding local delivery in line with the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation guidance. This includes how to deliver vaccines to those who are housebound.

Patient information which would indicate whether a person is housebound is not held within the Scottish Government. We are therefore unable to advise what proportion of housebound people have received their COVID-19 vaccine.

As of 11 March 2021:

• 19,252 care home residents have received 2 doses of the vaccine (64% of residents in older adult care homes and 60% of all care home residents).

• 262,621 people aged 80 or over have received their first dose (97%).

• 194,675 people aged 75-79 (99%) have received their first dose.

• 278,452 people aged 70-74 (99.9%) have received their first dose.

• 289,008 people aged 65-69 (97%) have received their first dose.

• 151,828 people aged 60-64 (44%) have received their first dose.

• 145,496 people aged 55-59 (37%) have received their first dose.

• 121,830 people aged 50-54 (30%) have received their first dose.

• 162,881 people who are Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (91% of the shielding list) have received their first dose.