- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 30 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an assessment of the impact of reductions to college budgets on the provision of courses at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels 1 to 7.
Answer
For courses at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels 1 to 7, the full-time equivalent (FTE) student places was 3% higher in 2012-13 than in 2006-07.
It is for colleges to deliver a balanced curriculum that meets the needs of learners and employers in their region.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 30 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many students have enrolled for advanced higher qualifications at colleges in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Qualifications Authority provides data on candidates entered for Advanced Highers in Scotland. The latest available data for colleges is provided in Table 1.
Table 1: Candidates entered for at least one Advanced Higher by Further Education Colleges
Year | Candidates |
2008-09 | 116 |
2009-10 | 153 |
2010-11 | 208 |
2011-12 | 193 |
2012-13 | 170 |
Source: Scottish Qualifications Authority
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 30 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government whether advanced higher qualifications will continue to be available at colleges.
Answer
It is for colleges to deliver a balanced curriculum that meets the needs of learners and employers in their region.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the analysis by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) on page 29 of its briefing, Early Learning and Childcare, that “given the increased supply of labour, the modelled results would be expected to show downward pressure on real average wages. This could have wider implications for the labour market and on incentives for women to enter the workplace”.
Answer
The Scottish Government has laid out its position on childcare in Scotland’s Future and the subsequent Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis paper, which contained economic analysis of increased female activity. Evidence shows that access to childcare is a barrier to participation for many parents with young children. Norway and Sweden have universal entitlements to childcare from age one and high female labour market activity rates. In the long-term, an increase in the female participation rate to Swedish levels would be expected to increase output by £2.2 billion and revenues by £700 million.
The policy’s key aim is to encourage current and future parents of young children to enter or stay in the labour market by effectively increasing their earnings net of childcare costs. The increase in employment that could result from this would have an expansionary effect and boost overall national income.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many additional women would have to enter the labour market in order for Scotland to match the level in (a) Finland, (b) Norway and (c) Sweden, as outlined in its paper, Childcare and Labour Market Participation - Economic Analysis.
Answer
As shown on page 4 of Childcare and Labour Market Participation - Economic Analysis, the number of females that are active in the labour market would have to increase by a) 35,000 for the female participation to rise by 2.0 percentage points (broadly in line with the rate in Finland and the Netherlands) b) 68,000 to match the rate in Norway c) 104,000 to match the rate in Sweden.
This refers to changes over the long-term, as the benefits of the proposed childcare policy are not constrained to economically inactive women with young children at a single point in time. Being able to stay within the labour market whilst their children are of nursery age, would mean that the outcomes would be improved for women when the children are grown up, compared to what would have happened had they taken time out of employment.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by Michael Matheson on 25 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the stated benefits of the national heart failure audit.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to providing the best quality care and treatment for people living with heart failure in Scotland. As with all aspects of heart disease we want services that address a person’s care needs on an individual basis.
The Scottish Government’s preferred approach to improving outcomes for people with heart failure is to work with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme to deliver the Heart Failure Bundle as part of a national programme of work being taken forward in relation to heart failure.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angela Constance on 25 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government how many economically inactive women with dependent children aged from one to five there are.
Answer
The Annual Population Survey provides the preferred measure for detailed labour market information for subsets of the population in Scotland. The latest data covers the period from January 2013 to December 2013.
In 2013, there were an estimated 80,000 economically inactive women with dependent children aged from one to five.
Notes:
1. Estimates rounded to nearest thousand.
2. Estimates exclude those who gave no response to this question.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what it means by “the analysis below illustrates the impact of a boost in female participation rates rather than a specific policy" on page four of the paper, Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis.
Answer
The analysis published in the Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis paper highlights the potential effects on the Scottish economy of increasing female activity rates. It illustrates the impact of increasing the female participation rate by 2 percentage points and then of matching the rate observed in Norway and Sweden.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what modelling it carried out to calculate the suggested £2.2 billion increase in economic output as a result of the childcare policies outlined in the white paper on independence.
Answer
The Scottish Government modelled the impacts of increased female participation using a Computable General Equilibrium model of the Scottish economy. As outlined in the Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis paper, an increase in output by £2.2 billion could arise from matching Sweden’s female participation rate. Such an expansion is modelled to take place over a number of years.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 April 2014
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 24 April 2014
To ask the Scottish Government what it based its suggested 6% increase in female participation on in the paper, Childcare and Labour Market Participation – Economic Analysis.
Answer
The 6 percentage point increase in female participation referred to in the question is based on the gap between female participation in Scotland and Sweden, which has a range of policies designed to support parents into work including a universal entitlement to childcare from age 1. As outlined in the paper, closing this gap could lead to an increase in output by £2.2 billion and revenues by £700 million.