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-09133

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what recommendations it has made to local authorities regarding the building of teachers’ assessment literacy through (a) intra- and (b)inter-school discussion.

The Scottish Government issued a suite of guidance on assessment approaches, known as Building the Curriculum 5, including quality assurance and moderation, to all schools and authorities in January 2010. In addition to seminars, Education Scotland in partnership with SQA and the Scottish Government has developed the National Assessment Resource (NAR) to support teachers to develop their professional skills and a shared understanding of assessment practices for CfE. The exemplars on the NAR have been developed by teachers supported by Education Scotland. The NAR also includes case studies from several authorities on quality assurance and moderation in and across authorities. It is for headteachers and Education Authorities to advise their staff and schools respectively on their deployment of time with inter-school discussion. The Scottish Government does not set expectations on such matters.

Question reference: S4W-09137

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 20 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what best practices it has identified for joint primary and secondary school curriculum planning, and how these are shared with teaching staff.

Education Scotland support and share best practice with schools and authorities in seminars, their website and with exemplars in the National Assessment Resource on transition from early years to primary and from primary to secondary.

Local authorities also have a responsibility to encourage schools to engage in joint planning activities within their Associated School Groups and to develop curriculum structures and learning pathways which are appropriate for their local context, and the needs of individual learners.

Question reference: S4W-09116

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government when it will (a) publish details and (b) consult on the areas proposed for designation as marine (i) protected and (ii) special protected areas, and what form the consultation will take.

A progress report on the development of the Marine Protected Area network is planned for December, including locations under consideration as MPAs. Marine Scotland will finalise details on locations proposed for MPA designation prior to consultation, which we aim to start in 2013 and will run for 12 weeks. Details of locations of importance to seabirds are publicly available and this will be updated on further advice expected during 2013. This will include proposals for Special Protection Areas which will undergo public consultation, subject to approval by Scottish ministers.

Question reference: S4W-09115

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what types of marine (i) protected and (ii) special protected areas are being considered by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Question reference: S4W-09118

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how it is coordinating the processes for (a) identifying and (b) designating marine (i) protected and (ii) special protected areas.

Marine Scotland is working in partnership with SNH and JNCC at a national level to identify Nature Conservation MPA proposals for potential inclusion in a network of sites in Scotland’s seas. JNCC and SNH will provide formal advice to Scottish ministers on the identification of Nature Conservation Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to deliver duties in the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. On the basis of this advice, ministers will determine which of the Nature Conservation MPA proposals they consider should be publically consulted upon in 2013 with a view to subsequent formal designation (subject to ministerial decision) under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

The Marine (Scotland) Act makes provision for SPAs to be included in the MPA network, and Marine Scotland is working with ornithologists from SNH and JNCC to identify the most suitable territories for Scotland’s seabirds to ensure that we achieve compliance with the requirements of the EU Wild Birds Directive. Once most suitable territories are identified, and supporting scientific cases are received, Scottish ministers will consider the case for consultation and designation as SPAs.

Question reference: S4O-01227

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 August 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to progress its plans for a management fee for non-UK EU students.

Question reference: S4W-08999

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers aged between 19 and 21 have applied for guidance and assistance under Section 29(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years, broken down by age and by local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-09001

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers under the age of 21, who have left school have received financial assistance under Section 30 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.

Question reference: S4W-09000

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers aged between 19 and 21 were given guidance and assistance under Section 29(2) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years by age, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.

The numbers of young people aged 19-21 years who were eligible for aftercare services on 31 March 2007-09 and 31 July 2010-11 are detailed in the following table. We are unable to break this down further to give specific ages.

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Aberdeen City	29	13	18	19	22
Aberdeenshire	7	34	31	30	36
Angus	8	7	4	4	10
Argyll and Bute	2	2	4	22	18
Clackmannanshire	0	0		1	2
Dumfries and Galloway	58	52	53	43	47
Dundee City	19	26	16	6	16
East Ayrshire	25	24	36	23	19
East Dunbartonshire	3	9	14	10	7
East Lothian	18	17	20	11	13
East Renfrewshire	11	3	1	7	8
Edinburgh, City of	147	145	57	133	158
Eilean Siar	1	2	1	0	3
Falkirk	1	16	10	4	2
Fife	19	40	0	85	22
Glasgow	170	225	284	169	219
Highland	0	42	3	18	34
Inverclyde	20	25	21	42	28
Midlothian	7	13	6	6	4
Moray	12	11	14	6	13
North Ayrshire	36	31	40	32	33
North Lanarkshire	22	18	87	59	68
Orkney	2	2	3	2	0
Perth and Kinross	16	12	0	0	3
Renfrewshire	56	56	0	1	0
Scottish Borders	8	6	7	7	9
Shetland Islands	7	8	0	1	3
South Ayrshire	8	5	11	32	35
South Lanarkshire	43	51	54	34	31
Stirling	20	15	0	7	6
West Dunbartonshire	28	26	26	8	13
West Lothian	93	91	86	87	93
All	896	1,027	881	909	975

Source: Children Looked After Statistics.

Question reference: S4W-09002

Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Aileen Campbell on 23 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many care leavers under the age of 21, who have left school have been declined financial assistance under Section 30 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 over the last five years, broken down by (a) age and (b) local authority area.