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-17547

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government which minister has responsibility to ensure that the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-17 is delivered.

Question reference: S4W-17549

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure the visibility of Gaelic at major events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Year of Homecoming and the Ryder Cup.

Question reference: S4W-17548

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to strengthen the delivery of the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-17.

The National Gaelic Language Plan is key to the delivery of the Scottish Government’s ambitions for Gaelic in Scotland. We will ensure that National Gaelic Language Plan priorities are at the centre of our Gaelic activity and, along with other key partners, we will seek to improve effectiveness and strengthen delivery in key areas such as early years, school education and promotion in communities. The delivery of the priorities in the plan is a demanding task and cannot be delivered by one body working in isolation. It is essential that all public bodies work in a coordinated manner to ensure the commitments highlighted in the Plan are met. I have asked Bòrd na Gaidhlig to review progress with these commitments and that this is reported to me at our Quarterly meetings.

Question reference: S4W-17550

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what role single outcome agreements play in the delivery of the National Gaelic Language Plan 2012-17.

Question reference: S4W-17560

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to bring forward legislation offering a statutory entitlement to Gaelic education.

Question reference: S4W-17557

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how many teachers trained to teach Gaelic-medium education have moved to teaching in English at the conclusion of their probationary period since 2007 because there was no full-time post available in Gaelic.

Question reference: S4W-17559

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that a course, similar to Ceumannan, is made available to students fluent in the Gaelic language.

Ceumannan is an excellent course for Gaelic learner education at secondary level. A multi-year project is on the current Stòrlann Niseanta na Gidhlig publishing programme. The aim is to produce a suite of graded materials comprising of new and existing material. A comprehensive language framework will be a key feature of the new resource. The rationale for such a framework was the focus of practitioner workshops at An t-Alltan in Aviemore.

The language framework articulates with CfE and existing grammar resources such as Mìrean. Materials and resources will be linked to the framework at the various levels. Stòrlann will develop the resource in close collaboration with the teaching profession, Education Scotland, SQA, and local authority advisors.

The materials will be made available to schools and students fluent in the Gaelic language as they are developed and produced. More information can be found at:

http://www.storlann.co.uk/ceumannan/.

Question reference: S4W-17562

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 29 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to ensure that, in addition to French, German and Spanish, the SCHOLAR programme provides for Advanced Higher Gaelic.

SCHOLAR, a Heriot-Watt University programme providing online learning resources for National Qualifications courses to Scottish secondary schools, is receiving Education Scotland funding to align existing resources with the new Curriculum for Excellence developments. This includes updating the existing provision for Gaelic (Learners) at Higher. It does not currently include provision for Gaelic at Advanced Higher but, as a member-led independent body, subscribed to by all 32 local authorities, SCHOLAR keeps its development programme and demand under regular review. SCHOLAR is also currently developing Gaelic Sciences at Curriculum level 3 with a grant from Bord Na Gaidhlig/Storlann.

Question reference: S4O-02528

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 31 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve safety for cyclists.

Question reference: S4W-17486

Asked by: John Finnie, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Independent
Date lodged: Friday, 27 September 2013
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 October 2013

To ask the Scottish Government how much each NHS board has spent on chaplaincy and spiritual care in each year since 2007.