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: S5W-15810

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01927 by Maree Todd on 22 March 2018 (Official Report, c.1) and, in light of its comment in the Programme for Government that "improving the education and life chances of children and young people is the defining mission of this Government", what discussions it has had with Glasgow City Council regarding the decision to increase childcare fees.

Question reference: S5W-15814

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01927 by Maree Todd on 22 March 2018 (Official Report, c.1), whether it considers that the decision by Glasgow City Council to increase charges for childcare is in line with its comment in the Programme for Government that "improving the education and life chances of children and young people is the defining mission of this Government", and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S5W-15816

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01927 by Maree Todd on 22 March 2018 (Official Report, c.1), what discussions it has had with nursery providers in Glasgow regarding childcare funding, and when these took place.

The Scottish Government has not held specific discussions with nursery providers in Glasgow regarding childcare funding.

Officials have however engaged extensively with private and third sector providers (both individual providers and representative bodies) across the country in the development of the recently published Scottish Government and COSLA joint consultation Early Learning and Childcare Service Model for 2020: Consultation Paper . The joint consultation sets out the Funding Follows the Child approach and seeks views on the proposed National Standard that underpins it. The new Funding Follows the Child model will ensure financially sustainable funding across all sectors, which more accurately reflects the costs of delivering the funded entitlement and reflects the delivery of national priorities including payment of the ‘real’ living wage to all care workers delivering the funded entitlement.

Question reference: S5W-15809

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 3 May 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-01927 by Maree Todd on 22 March 2018 (Official Report, c.1) and, in light of its comment in the Programme for Government that "improving the education and life chances of children and young people is the defining mission of this Government", what (a) advice and (b) support it can provide to parents in Glasgow who will have to pay the increased childcare fees.

My strong belief is that this expansion will have an overwhelmingly positive impact on Scottish families – both in money saved upfront as well as improved outcomes in the future.

Any increase in funded hours will reduce the need for wrap-around hours and we estimate once the expansion to 1140 hours is fully rolled out, this will save Scottish families around £4,500 a year.

As set out in my previous answers on this issue however, local policy decisions are a matter for the local authority and I would encourage any families who are concerned about the impact of these changes, to contact the local authority.

Information on the funded entitlement (including links to local authority information) and other sources of support with childcare can be found on the mygov.scot site: https://www.mygov.scot/childcare-costs-help/funded-early-learning-and-childcare/

Question reference: S5W-15985

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 25 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £10 million that it has announced for local authorities to help pay for road repairs will be allocated to Glasgow City Council.

Question reference: S5O-02025

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has received any representations from Glasgow City Council seeking additional resources to avoid increasing charges for early learning and childcare.

Question reference: S5O-01986

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 18 April 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what animal welfare policies it has regarding pets of rough sleepers.

Question reference: S5W-15083

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2018
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 20 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in delivering an additional qualified teacher or childcare graduate to every nursery in the most deprived communities.

On 22 February 2018 we wrote to local authorities to confirm that we are allocating up to £18 million in 2018-19 to support delivery of the commitment to have an additional graduate in nurseries in Scotland’s most deprived areas by August 2018. This funding will meet the additional salaries of these graduates. This will see 435 graduates allocated across authorities based on their share of nurseries in the 20% most deprived postcodes (whilst the island authorities do not have a nursery located in the 20% most deprived postcodes they will each receive one additional graduate).

We are working with local authorities to support delivery of the commitment. In July 2017 we wrote to local authorities to commission the preparation of an Action Plan setting out how they intended to deliver the commitment. To support this we provided an accompanying guidance note, which was developed with the input of local authorities. Each local authority is currently working towards delivering this Additional Graduate Action Plan.

In 2017-18 we also provided additional funding to expand capacity in colleges and universities in order to support delivery of this commitment through 126 additional teacher training places from August 2017 to enable 100 additional teachers to be available for ELC settings by August 2018 and an additional 270 BA Childhood Practice places from August 2017.

Question reference: S5O-01927

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 March 2018
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that Glasgow City Council has increased charges for childcare.

Question reference: S5O-01820

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 1 March 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to promote and improve access to buses for young people.

The National Concessionary Travel Scheme for Young People provides discounts on bus and rail travel within Scotland for all young people living in Scotland aged 16 to 18. Using the Young Scot smart card, the Scheme offers a one-third discount off the adult single fare on any registered bus service in Scotland, one third off most rail journeys in Scotland and a 50% discount on rail season tickets. Eligible island residents also receive vouchers for 4 free ferry journeys a year.

In addition, the Scottish Government is aiming to introduce free bus travel for young Modern Apprentices and for young carers in receipt of the planned Young Carer Grant as well as three months free bus travel for recipients of the proposed Job Grant aged between 16 and 24 once these benefits come into force.