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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 190 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S5W-00277

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has provided to the Scottish Funding Council in each of the last three years to support additional funded places at universities, also broken down by the number of places allocated.

The funding provided by the Scottish Funding Council in the last three years is set out in Table 1:

Table 1:

Year	Funding for Additional Places
2013-14	£21,246,897
2014-15	£19,998,224
2015-16	£19,482,699
Total	£60,727,820

The breakdown by the number of places allocated is set out in Table 2:

Table 2:

	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16
Widening Access	727	730	680
Articulation	1020	1089	1118
STEM	300	300	300
Taught Postgraduate	815	37	0
Undergraduate Skills	342	342	342
Community Education	30	30	10
University of the Highlands and Islands	200	700	600
Crichton	50	15	25
British Sign Language	12	12	12
Regional Coherence	10	60	80
Innovation Centres	0	105	110
‘Actual Enrolments’ based places for Widening Access	0	15	15
Optimum Music Provision	0	0	7
Deaf Performance	0	0	8
Total	3,506	3,435	3,307

Question reference: S5W-00278

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2016
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 June 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of (a) school pupils and (b) college students in deprived areas receives support from the Education Maintenance Allowance Programme.

The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) Programme aims to provide support for young people aged 16 to 19 from low income families to overcome financial barriers to stay on in post-16 education, either in school or on a further education (FE) college course.

College students aged 16 to 19 enrolled on FE courses have access to either EMA or when they reach 18 years of age, an FE bursary for financial support. A student cannot receive both EMA and an FE bursary and it is at the discretion of colleges as to which one the student receives. Students enrolled on higher education (HE) courses are not eligible for EMA or FE Bursaries and apply directly to the Student Award Agency for Scotland for support.

In academic year 2014-15:

(a) 51 per cent of all 16 to 19 year old school pupils living in the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland received EMA

(b) 26 per cent of all 16 to 19 year old FE college students living in the 20 per cent most deprived areas in Scotland received EMA

Further information on EMA recipients and deprivation background can be found in the latest Scottish Government national statistics publication on EMAs for 2014-15 released on 23 March 2016. Link to publication below:

http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2016/03/8840/0

Source: Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council.

Question reference: S4O-05665

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government how it is promoting the "Daily Mile" in schools.

Question reference: S4O-05626

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 9 March 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the impact in Scotland would be of the UK leaving the EU.

Question reference: S4O-05578

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 February 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what the police are doing to tackle noise nuisance in domestic properties.

Question reference: S4W-29259

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Marco Biagi on 19 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in encouraging the use of Scottish produce in schools.

Following the introduction of Scotland’s first national food and drink policy in 2009, the Scottish Government provided specific guidance, Catering for Change – Buying food sustainably in the public sector, which is now embedded into today’s public procurement practice for food. This clarifies that food procurement can make a significant contribution towards the public sector's economic, environmental, social, and health related objectives, including taking steps to encourage the involvement of smaller suppliers. In addition, the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 places an obligation on those public bodies required to publish a procurement strategy to include a statement of their general policy including involving the provision of food in the context of health, wellbeing and education of communities in the local authority’s area.

In 2014, the next phase of Scotland’s national food and drink policy, ‘Becoming a Good Food Nation’, was launched and recognises food in the public sector as a key priority area, including specific aims around 'championing fresh, seasonal, local and sustainable produce' and 'celebrating provenance and ethical sourcing'.

Also in 2014, the Scottish Government launched Better Eating, Better Learning – A New Context for School Food, which asks teachers, caterers, suppliers, parents, pupils and wider community to drive further improvements to school food provision and food education. One of the seven sections is titled ‘Sustainability through food’ and advocates the use of fresh, seasonal and sustainably grown food in the school meal service.

Question reference: S4W-29234

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 January 2016
Current Status: Answered by Angela Constance on 18 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of school leavers have gone on to positive destinations in each year since 2006-07.

The latest published school leaver initial destinations statistics were released by Skills Development Scotland on 16 December 2015 and can be found at the following link:

https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/40707/national-school-leaver-initial-destination-report-2014-15-dec-20152.pdf

Table 1: Proportion of school leavers who are in positive initial destinations up to approximately three months after leaving school

School leaver cohort	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15
Percentage in positive initial destinations	86.6%	86.4%	85.7%	86.8%	88.9%	89.9%	91.4%	92.3%	92.9%

The proportion of school leavers going in to initial positive destinations each year since 2006-07 is presented in table 1 above.

The latest published school leaver follow-up (approximately nine months after leaving school) destinations can be found in the Scottish Government summary statistics for attainment, leaver destinations and healthy living which was published on 17 June 2015 and can be found here:

http://www.gov.scot/Resource/0047/00479422.pdf

Table 2: Proportion of school leavers who are in positive follow-up destinations approximately nine months after leaving school

School leaver cohort	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Percentage in positive follow-up destinations	84.0%	85.1%	85.2%	87.2%	89.6%	90.4%	91.7%

The proportion of school leavers going in to follow-up positive destinations each year since 2007-08 is presented in table 2 above (reliable data for the 2006-07 school leaver cohort is not available).

Please note:

Data in table 2 for 2011-12 to 2013-14 has been linked to the pupil census to obtain characteristic information on school leavers using an updated methodology, and supersedes previously published figures for these years. This data is not directly comparable with data prior to 2011-12, and caution should be exercised when making comparisons with data prepared using the previous methodology.

2014-15 school leaver follow-up destinations will be released in June 2016.

Question reference: S4W-29158

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 January 2016
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Angela Constance on 6 January 2016

To ask the Scottish Government who it engaged with in developing the national improvement framework and whether it will publish the feedback received.

Since the publication of the draft national improvement framework, we have undertaken extensive consultation, engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, including over 5,000 teachers, parents, children and young people, local authority representatives, academics, representative groups and other interested stakeholders. Focused events were held for parents and for children and a programme of over 50 meetings and events took place over three months. Responses from an online survey and written submissions were also received. This feedback has shaped the National Improvement Framework, published on 6 January 2016.

A consultation and engagement report was published alongside the National Improvement Framework to enable stakeholders to see how their input has shaped the development of the framework. Additional information for parents and children, based on their feedback has also been produced and is available via the Scottish Government website:

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Education/Schools/NationalImprovementFramework.

Question reference: S4F-03152

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 January 2016
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 January 2016

To ask the First Minister how many children receive free school meals.

Question reference: S4O-05190

Asked by: George Adam, MSP for Paisley, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2015
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 December 2015

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle poverty.