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: S4W-19999

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many university students have been subject to academic sanctions in pursuit of debts in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-20001

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2014
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 14 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take in light of concerns outlined in the Office of Fair Trading report, Universities’ Terms and Conditions, that many universities use academic sanctions in pursuit of debts.

Question reference: S4W-19933

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what SQA language courses are available, broken down by the number studying each subject.

The Scottish Qualification Authority provides a range of language qualifications to suit the diverse needs of candidates.

Courses of study include units, a Languages for Life and Work Award at Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (SCQF) 3 and 4 and national courses. Beyond these, many other learners study languages but not to a language qualification. The qualifications available broken down by the number studying each subject are contained within two tables:

Table 1 shows the number studying for each language qualification in 2012-13.

Table 2 shows the entries in 2013 for the units which make up the Languages for Life and Work Award (the incorporation of units into an award is new in 2013).

The award includes a Language for Work Purposes unit and a Languages for Life unit. These two units can be taken in one or two of the following languages: Cantonese, French, Gaelic (Learners), German, Italian, Mandarin, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Urdu at either SCQF level 3 or 4.

In addition 25 students in 2012-13 studied for the Languages Baccalaureate.

Table 1: Studying a language by level 2013 post-appeal (in publicly funded centres)

An asterix denotes fewer than five entries. Classical Greek is also available; however, there are no entries in publicly funded centres.

Subject/ Level	Access 2	Access 3	Standard Grade	Intermediate 1	Intermediate 2	Higher	Advanced Higher	Total
French	18	989	20,525	1,824	3,758	3,691	522	31,327
Spanish	31	718	3,575	927	1,701	1,327	171	8,450
German	-	170	4,182	335	802	890	91	6,470
Italian	-	43	206	41	118	199	10	617
Cantonese	-	-	-	-	*	*	*	11
Mandarin	-	60	-	-	-	-	-	60
Mandarin Simplified	-	-	-	69	32	26	10	137
Mandarin Traditional	-	-	-	-	*	7	*	16
Russian	-	*	-	17	*	22	-	49
Urdu	-	-	102	-	-	107	-	209
Latin	-	-	164	5	11	97	9	286
Gaelic Learners	-	9	309	14	37	105	21	495
Gaidhlig	-	*	196	*	30	114	19	368

Table 2: The entries in 2013 for the units which make up the Languages for Life and Work Award (in all centres). The incorporation of units into an award is new in 2013. The certification of the award is not tied to the annual diet of examinations for national courses.

Language	Unit	SCQF level	Entries
French	for Work Purposes	3	184
French	for Work Purposes	4	804
French	for Life	3	206
French	for Life	4	534
		Total French	1,728
Gaelic	Gaelic (Learners) for Work Purposes	3	13
		Total Gaelic	13
German	for Work Purposes	3	93
German	for Work Purposes	4	20
German	for Life	3	23
		Total German	136
Italian	for Work Purposes	4	*
		Total Italian	*
Mandarin	for Work Purposes	3	23
		Total Mandarin	23
Spanish	for Work Purposes	3	169
Spanish	for Work Purposes	4	149
Spanish	for Life	3	82
Spanish	For Life	4	60
		Total Spanish	460
Urdu	for Work Purposes	3	8
Urdu	for Work Purposes	4	29
Urdu	for Life	3	8
Urdu	for Life	4	29
		Total Urdu	74

This information was provided by SQA in January 2014. The units are available in all 10 languages but the table shows which languages were studied in 2013. An asterix denotes fewer than five entries.

Question reference: S4W-19932

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what new qualifications the SQA is planning to introduce at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level (a) 4, (b) 5, (c) 6 and (d) 7 and has introduced in each year since 2007.

Question reference: S4W-19930

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to introduce Arabic language courses at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework level (a) 4, (b) 5, (c) 6 and (d) 7.

Question reference: S4W-19929

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 13 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to introduce Arabic language courses in the curriculum for excellence.

It is up to schools and local authorities to decide which language courses to offer their pupils. This will be based on a variety of considerations including the availability of qualified teachers; demand for the language; routes for progression and the availability of qualifications and learning resources. As one of the main languages of the world, we would hope that in due course Arabic might be offered in some schools. The government has made an ambitious languages commitment to create the conditions over two parliaments to enable all young people to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue. We are working in partnership with local authorities and stakeholders to enable learning of the first additional language to start from primary one with a second additional language to be offered by all schools from primary five.

Question reference: S4O-03021

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how it supports the College of Piping and the wider traditional music sector.

Question reference: S4W-19716

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners there are who have a special educational needs profile or have identified as having difficulties with reading, writing or communication and how many (a) have moderate learning difficulties, (b) have language and communication support needs, (c) are physically disabled, (d) are visually or hearing impaired, (e) have autism spectrum disorders and (f) have any other special educational needs.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

‘The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) does not centrally collate data as to how many prisoners have a special educational needs profile as this is not a term we are familiar with.

In terms of difficulties with reading, writing and communication, SPS Learning and Skills Services providers offer literacy and numeracy screening to the following groups of prisoners: all prisoners serving 6 months or more; convicted young people (under 18 years old); females serving 31 days or more; and, where capacity permits, all other prisoners serving or remanded for 30 days or more.

Participation in this screening is voluntary. The results of this screening for the period 2012-13 demonstrate that 70% of prisoners who choose to participate in the screening process lacked functional literacy while 83% lack functional numeracy, as defined in Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) levels 4 and below.

The SPS does not routinely collect information as to how many prisoners have (a) have moderate learning difficulties, (b) have language and communication support needs, (c) are physically disabled, (d) are visually or hearing impaired, (e) have autism spectrum disorders and (f) have any other special educational needs. However since 7 August 2013, SPS have asked all persons on admission to our custody to self-declare any disability and this information is recorded in our prisoner records system. I have provided below details of the types of disabilities self-declared by those persons admitted to our custody from 7 August 2013 until 3 March 2014.’

Type of Disability	Number of Prisoners
Dyslexia	49
Hearing Difficulties	48
Learning Difficulties	68
Mental Illness	248
Other	30
Progressive Condition	60
Reduced Mobility	207
Reduced Physical Capacity	214
Refused To Disclose	11
Severe Disfigurement	11
Speech Impediment	7
Visual Impairment	44

Question reference: S4W-19715

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to keep records of prisoners who identify as having or have a profile of special educational needs and whether it has discussed this with the Scottish Prison Service.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

‘We are not familiar with the term “special educational needs profile”, but can advise that following discussions with Scottish Government in 2011, a decision was made to trial a new bespoke learning difficulties/disabilities profiling tool developed by the “Dyscovery Centre” at the University of South Wales. The “Do-it” profiler tool does not diagnose or label specific conditions but does provide a comprehensive profile of the individual across the spectrum or learning difficulties/disabilities and offers guidance for addressing areas of learning need. The pilot will conclude in May 2014.

SPS is also working closely with greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board to progress a pilot project across three prisons in the west of Scotland to identify prisoners with learning disabilities. The pilot is using the individually administered Hayes ability screening index screening to index incidence of intellectual abilities.Participation in both the pilots is voluntary.

For further information I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19716 on 10 March 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.’

Question reference: S4W-19717

Asked by: Kezia Dugdale, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 10 March 2014

To ask the Scottish Government how many prisoners in each year since 2007 (a) with a special educational needs profile or (b) who identified as having problems with reading, writing or communication (i) have had moderate learning difficulties, (ii) have had language and communication support needs, (iii) have been physically disabled, (iv) have been visually or hearing impaired, (v) have had autism spectrum disorders and (vi) have had any other special educational needs.

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

‘I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-19716 on 10 March 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.’