Chamber and committees

This information is not held centrally. I have asked the interim chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council to respond directly to the member.

This information is not held centrally. I have asked the interim chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council to respond directly to the member.

The competent authorities under the Environmental Liability (Scotland) Regulations 2009 are SEPA, Scottish Natural Heritage and Marine Scotland.

SEPA has not to date received any notifications of “environmental damage” (as defined in the Regulations) from operators. SEPA has received two requests for action and review from interested persons. Both of these cases were found to be not plausible in accordance with regulation 14. SEPA has reported one case of “environmental damage” (land damage) to the European Commission. This involved the spillage of a large volume of fuel to ground following a collision between two road tankers. In respect of this incident, SEPA worked with the operator and the insurers to develop and implement a remedial strategy for the site.

On a further 15 occasions, SEPA has itself considered whether it had reasonable grounds to believe that environmental damage had occurred. SEPA did not find reasonable grounds to believe that environmental damage had occurred in any of these cases. This was either because the activity that caused the pollution did not fall within the scope of the Regulations or because the pollution did not meet the thresholds for environmental damage. SEPA is currently investigating one further case which involves the release of a large volume of fuel.

SNH issued notices of imminent threat of environmental damage to multiple operators in one case. The operators took action to prevent damage reaching the threshold of actual environmental damage. SEPA also took enforcement action (under other legislation) which led to two operators being prosecuted. Any other cases that have been identified as meeting, or threatening to meet, the threshold of environmental damage have been found to be exempt from the scope of the regulations.

Marine Scotland have not dealt with any cases.

As an employer the Scottish Government introduced direct entrant Modern Apprenticeship’s from 1 April 2011. These are in our entry level grade of A3. During the financial years 2011-12 and 2012-13 the Scottish Government’s Directorates delivered the following Modern Apprenticeship employment opportunities:

The initial assessment made to date of recent changes to postgraduate funding for educational psychology is the small reduction in numbers of students currently in training based on previous years. However, we do not yet know what impact this will have in future years. This will be monitored by the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists (NSSGEP). The group have set four initial priorities to take forward as follows:

It is recommended that the NSSGEP should explore effective models for psychological service structures including necessary management structures to address the question of appropriate supply and demand of educational psychologists across Scotland.

The NSSGEP should explore viable funding routes for a national training model to ensure that the most cost-effective mechanism for funding training is in place alongside the fulfilment of all professional accreditation criteria.

The NSSGEP should gather data regarding job vacancies including national and localised shortages of educational psychologists, destinations of psychologists leaving the profession and maternity demographics annually to inform planning.

The NSSGEP should gather data regarding salaries and conditions of service in order to support equitable remuneration and conditions with the closest comparators

The Scottish Government previously paid each student a bursary of £49,000 (£18,350 direct to universities for tuition fees and a bursary direct to students of £30,650) over two years.

The new agreed funding position with the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) is that students will be eligible to apply for a £3,400 Postgraduate Tuition Fee Loan for each of the two years (which they won’t start repaying until they are in employment earning over the current £15,000 threshold).

In addition to this students may be eligible for a Professional and Career Development Loan (PCDL). A PCDL is a deferred payment bank loan to help pay for vocational training, leading to employment in the UK or the EU. The loan can cover up to two years of learning and can be between £300 - £10,000.

As part of the recent announcement made by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning to increase bursaries and living costs, Scottish domiciled postgraduate students undertaking eligible supported courses, which are in demand from employers, will be able to apply for a loan of up to £4,500 a year to help with living costs from 2015-16, this currently includes the two year Master of Science Degree in Educational Psychology.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists to look at appropriate workforce planning at a national level.

The group consists of representation from Association of Directors of Education Scotland, Scottish Division of Educational Psychology, Strathclyde University, Dundee University, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Principal Educational Psychology, Educational Institute of Scotland, Education Scotland and relevant Scottish Government officials.

The Scottish Government is working in partnership with the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists to look at appropriate workforce planning at a national level. The impact of funding arrangements has been considered by the steering group. Applications for the postgraduate course are lower and there has been a small reduction in those starting the course. However, we do not yet know what impact this will have in future years. This will be monitored by the National Scottish Steering Group for Educational Psychologists.

The group consists of representation from Association of Directors of Education Scotland, Scottish Division of Educational Psychology, Strathclyde University, Dundee University, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, Principal Educational Psychology, Educational Institute of Scotland, Education Scotland and relevant Scottish Government officials.

Salaried general dental practitioners (SGDPs) on a dental list on 1 August 2010 were required to undertake 15 hours of clinical audit activities by 31 July 2013, or a pro-rata number of hours for those SGDPs who joined a list after 1 August 2010.

It was expected that NHS boards would require community dental officers and community dental services dentists to undertake a similar level of clinical audit as their salaried GDP peers.

The deadline for compliance with the current clinical audit period is 31 July 2016.

There has been no general extension to the deadline for compliance with the clinical audit requirements for salaried general dental practitioners.

However, for those dentists who have been given approval by NHS Education for Scotland for clinical audits where the data collection will extend beyond the 31 July 2013, it has been agreed that any audits submitted for approval up to the end of July 2013 will be counted in the 1 August 2010 to 31 July 2013 audit cycle, even though these will be undertaken in the next cycle (1 August 2013 to 13 July 2016).