Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-13698

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2018
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce a replacement programme for school building.

Question reference: S5W-13535

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 16 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how much it will cost (a) it, (b) its agencies, (c) other public bodies and (d) local authorities to (i) set up and (ii) administer the proposed five-band Scottish income tax structure.

HMRC have estimated annual running costs of between £1.5 and £2m if income tax rates and bands remained the same as the rest of the UK. A more significant divergence between the rates and bands that apply in Scotland when compared to the rest of the UK may lead to an increase in costs of up to a total of £5m.

HMRC estimate total implementation costs of between £20m and £25m for the Scottish Rate of Income Tax, with a further £2.6m for the Scotland Act 2016 income tax powers. These costs are required to implement the income tax powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament in Scotland Acts 2012 and 2016, and are independent of the rates and bands the Scottish Parliament sets.

Question reference: S5W-13384

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the pupil teacher ratio has been, excluding the teachers funded through Attainment Scotland Fund or Pupil Equity Fund, over each of the last three years, broken down by those employed (a) in early learning and childcare settings, (b) in primary schools, (c) in secondary schools, (d) in special schools and (e) centrally and also broken down by local authority.

Information on teachers funded through Attainment Scotland Fund or Pupil Equity Fund and working in the early learning and childcare sector is not held centrally. Pupil teacher ratios (PTR) are not calculated for the centrally employed sector as no pupils are assigned to that sector. Centrally employed teachers are included in the all sector PTR.

Information on the sector of teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund (and therefore PTR) is not available for the 2015 or 2016 statistics.

Pupil teacher ratio excluding teachers funded through Attainment Scotland Fund

Including teachers in primary, secondary, special and centrally employed sectors

September 2015

Local authority	PTR
Aberdeen City	13.6
Aberdeenshire	13.3
Angus	13.2
Argyll & Bute	12.4
Clackmannanshire	13.5

Dumfries & Galloway	12.7
Dundee City	13.0
East Ayrshire	13.9
East Dunbartonshire	13.6
East Lothian	15.1

East Renfrewshire	13.7
Edinburgh City	14.9
Na h-Eileanan Siar	10.3
Falkirk	13.5
Fife	14.0

Glasgow City	13.8
Highland	13.1
Inverclyde	13.5
Midlothian	14.2
Moray	13.7

North Ayrshire	13.6
North Lanarkshire	14.4
Orkney Islands	10.4
Perth & Kinross	13.3
Renfrewshire	14.6

Scottish Borders	13.8
Shetland Islands	10.0
South Ayrshire	13.2
South Lanarkshire	13.7
Stirling	13.4

West Dunbartonshire	13.6
West Lothian	14.1

All local authorities	13.7

Pupil teacher ratio excluding teachers funded through Attainment Scotland Fund

Including teachers in primary, secondary, special and centrally employed sectors

September 2016

Local authority	PTR
Aberdeen City	14.0
Aberdeenshire	13.4
Angus	13.3
Argyll & Bute	12.3
Clackmannanshire	12.6

Dumfries & Galloway	12.7
Dundee City	13.3
East Ayrshire	14.0
East Dunbartonshire	13.5
East Lothian	15.4

East Renfrewshire	13.7
Edinburgh City	15.1
Na h-Eileanan Siar	10.5
Falkirk	13.5
Fife	14.1

Glasgow City	13.8
Highland	13.1
Inverclyde	13.5
Midlothian	14.2
Moray	14.1

North Ayrshire	13.7
North Lanarkshire	14.3
Orkney Islands	10.4
Perth & Kinross	13.6
Renfrewshire	14.3

Scottish Borders	13.9
Shetland Islands	10.2
South Ayrshire	13.4
South Lanarkshire	13.7
Stirling	13.2

West Dunbartonshire	13.5
West Lothian	14.1

All local authorities	13.7

Pupil teacher ratio excluding teachers funded through Attainment Scotland Fund

Primary, secondary and special sectors

September 2017

	PTR
Local authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	All sectors
Aberdeen City	16.8	12.1	2.9	14.0
Aberdeenshire	15.3	12.0	4.0	13.3
Angus	15.5	11.7	n/a	13.3
Argyll & Bute	14.5	11.0	2.9	12.5
Clackmannanshire	15.2	11.5	1.6	12.9

Dumfries & Galloway	15.6	11.7	1.8	12.8
Dundee City	16.9	12.0	4.3	13.8
East Ayrshire	17.2	11.9	4.8	13.8
East Dunbartonshire	17.2	12.1	3.7	13.6
East Lothian	18.9	12.5	n/a	15.2

East Renfrewshire	16.1	12.0	4.6	13.7
Edinburgh City	19.3	12.9	3.9	15.2
Na h-Eileanan Siar	11.6	9.3	n/a	10.3
Falkirk	17.1	11.1	3.2	13.5
Fife	16.6	12.7	1.6	14.1

Glasgow City	18.0	12.4	4.0	14.1
Highland	16.1	11.5	3.1	13.1
Inverclyde	16.1	12.2	4.0	13.5
Midlothian	17.5	12.6	3.5	14.2
Moray	17.2	12.2	n/a	14.0

North Ayrshire	15.9	12.3	4.8	13.5
North Lanarkshire	17.1	13.1	4.5	14.2
Orkney Islands	13.5	9.1	n/a	10.8
Perth & Kinross	15.6	11.9	3.4	13.5
Renfrewshire	17.7	13.2	4.6	14.6

Scottish Borders	17.6	13.6	n/a	14.0
Shetland Islands	11.9	8.7	n/a	10.0
South Ayrshire	15.8	12.3	4.1	13.4
South Lanarkshire	16.1	12.4	2.5	13.7
Stirling	15.6	12.8	1.3	13.6

West Dunbartonshire	16.8	11.9	3.9	13.5
West Lothian	16.4	13.0	3.1	14.1

All local authorities	16.7	12.3	3.7	13.8

Question reference: S5W-13385

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent teachers were funded by the pupil equity fund in each of the last three years, broken down by those employed (a) in early learning and childcare settings, (b) in primary schools, (c) in secondary schools, (d) in special schools and (e) centrally, also broken down by local authority.

Information on teachers funded through thePupil Equity Fund and working in the early learning and childcare sector is not held centrally.

The Pupil Equity Fund was not available until after the September 2016 census so data is only shown for 2017.

Teachers funded through the Pupil Equity Fund

September 2017

Teacher (FTE)

Local authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	All sectors
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	1	1	0	2
Angus	2	1	0	3
Argyll & Bute	2	0	0	2
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0

Dumfries & Galloway	4	1	0	5
Dundee City	0	0	0	0
East Ayrshire	19	2	1	21
East Dunbartonshire	11	0	0	12
East Lothian	1	0	0	1

East Renfrewshire	10	5	2	17
Edinburgh City	17	6	0	22
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	3	1	0	4
Fife	2	4	0	5

Glasgow City¹	113	30	0	139
Highland	7	0	0	7
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	3	0	0	3
Moray	5	2	0	7

North Ayrshire	7	2	0	9
North Lanarkshire	14	0	0	14
Orkney Islands	1	0	0	1
Perth & Kinross	4	0	0	4
Renfrewshire	27	7	0	34

Scottish Borders	6	2	0	8
Shetland Islands	1	0	0	1
South Ayrshire	13	2	0	14
South Lanarkshire	40	5	0	46
Stirling	4	1	0	4

West Dunbartonshire	20	2	0	21
West Lothian	15	2	0	17

All local authorities	348	74	3	425

All numbers rounded to nearest 1. Totals may not equal sums due to rounding.

1. Primary sector includes 50% share of 7.4 FTE teachers funded

through Attainment Challenge and Pupil Equity Fund

Question reference: S5W-13386

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government how many full-time equivalent teachers were funded by the Attainment Scotland Fund in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority of those employed (a) in early learning and childcare settings, (b) in primary schools, (c) in secondary schools, (d) in special schools and (e) centrally, also broken down by local authority.

Teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund includes those funded through the Attainment Challenge in 2015,2016 and 2017 and those funded through the Pupil Equity Fund in 2017.

Information on the sector of teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund is not available for the 2015 or 2016 statistics.

Information on teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund and working in the early learning and childcare sector is not held centrally.

Teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund

Including teachers in primary, secondary special and centrally employed sectors

September 2015

Local authority	Teacher (FTE)
Aberdeen City	0
Aberdeenshire	0
Angus	0
Argyll & Bute	0
Clackmannanshire	4

Dumfries & Galloway	0
Dundee City	0
East Ayrshire	0
East Dunbartonshire	0
East Lothian	0

East Renfrewshire	0
Edinburgh City	0
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0
Falkirk	0
Fife	0

Glasgow City	0
Highland	0
Inverclyde	0
Midlothian	0
Moray	0

North Ayrshire	0
North Lanarkshire	0
Orkney Islands	0
Perth & Kinross	0
Renfrewshire	0

Scottish Borders	0
Shetland Islands	0
South Ayrshire	0
South Lanarkshire	0
Stirling	0

West Dunbartonshire	9
West Lothian	0

All local authorities	13

Teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund

Including teachers in primary, secondary special and centrally employed sectors

September 2016

Local authority	Teacher (FTE)
Aberdeen City	0
Aberdeenshire	0
Angus	0
Argyll & Bute	0
Clackmannanshire	7

Dumfries & Galloway	1
Dundee City	11
East Ayrshire	7
East Dunbartonshire	0
East Lothian	0

East Renfrewshire	0
Edinburgh City	4
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0
Falkirk	0
Fife	3

Glasgow City	20
Highland	0
Inverclyde	1
Midlothian	0
Moray	0

North Ayrshire	32
North Lanarkshire	52
Orkney Islands	0
Perth & Kinross	0
Renfrewshire	5

Scottish Borders	2
Shetland Islands	0
South Ayrshire	0
South Lanarkshire	3
Stirling	1

West Dunbartonshire	8
West Lothian	1

All local authorities	160

Total may not equal sum of all local authorities due to rounding

Teachers funded through the Attainment Scotland Fund

September 2017

Teacher (FTE)

Local authority	Primary	Secondary	Special	Centrally employed	All sectors
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	0
Aberdeenshire	1	1	0	0	2
Angus	2	1	0	0	3
Argyll & Bute	3	0	0	0	3
Clackmannanshire	1	0	0	0	1

Dumfries & Galloway	4	1	0	0	5
Dundee City	1	7	0	1	9
East Ayrshire	25	5	1	11	41
East Dunbartonshire	11	0	0	0	12
East Lothian	1	0	0	0	1

East Renfrewshire	10	5	2	0	17
Edinburgh City	17	6	0	0	22
Na h-Eileanan Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	3	2	0	0	5
Fife	2	4	0	0	5

Glasgow City	181	33	0	0	215
Highland	7	1	0	0	9
Inverclyde	5	3	0	0	8
Midlothian	3	0	0	0	3
Moray	5	2	0	0	7

North Ayrshire	23	3	0	15	41
North Lanarkshire	39	23	0	0	62
Orkney Islands	1	1	0	0	2
Perth & Kinross	4	0	0	0	4
Renfrewshire	35	11	0	2	48

Scottish Borders	6	2	0	0	8
Shetland Islands	1	0	0	0	1
South Ayrshire	13	2	0	0	14
South Lanarkshire	53	9	0	0	62
Stirling	5	1	0	0	6

West Dunbartonshire	24	7	0	0	31
West Lothian	17	2	0	0	18

All local authorities	502	131	3	29	666

Totals may not equal sums due to rounding

Question reference: S5W-13580

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made with the commitment to invest in additional robots for prostate surgery in Edinburgh and Glasgow since the publication of Beating Cancer: Ambition and Action in 2016.

Question reference: S5W-13190

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of what the economic impact could be of Scotland ceasing to have regulatory alignment with the rest of the UK.

The Scottish Government was clear in Scotland's Place in Europe that short of full membership of the EU, continued membership of the European Single Market is the best solution for both Scotland and the UK as a whole. In such a scenario Scotland would have regulatory alignment with the rest of the European Union which would include the rest of the UK.

Scotland’s Place in Europe also proposed a differentiated solution for Scotland, should the UK Government decide to press ahead with a hard Brexit. In those circumstances Scotland would maintain membership of the European Single Market, and customs free trade with the UK, alongside a UK wide approach to ensuring regulatory compatibility.

Question reference: S5W-12948

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 8 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its commitment, when it will establish a bespoke national learning disability child and adolescent mental health inpatient unit.

The Scottish Government was pleased to publish on 10 November, the comprehensive Inpatient Needs Assessment Report which sets out the need for a specialist inpatient service for those with learning disability and/or autism and mental health conditions. We are happy to accept, in principle, the report’s main recommendation that a national LD CAMHS inpatient unit for Scotland should be established, subject to initial feasibility and planning processes. This is a significant step forward in ensuring that children and young people with learning disabilities are able to access appropriate highly specialist inpatient support in Scotland.

The learning disability and autism inpatient unit is currently in the early planning stages and being taken forward by NHS NSS. A Short Life Working Group (SLWG) has been established to: understand current expenditure, benchmark against NHS England and develop a service specification and criteria for a new service. The SLWG will then report back to the National Planning Forum with a proposal in March 2018.

Question reference: S5W-12938

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government which experts on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are employed by Education Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-12924

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will publish the code of practice to accompany the Children and Young People (Information Sharing) (Scotland) Bill.

Allowing for the nature of work that will be involved, the Scottish Government anticipates that development of a Code of practice would take until September 2018 at the earliest. In addition, time will need to be allowed for finalisation of the Data Protection Bill currently going through the Westminster Parliament, and for all bodies to digest the new GDPR that will commence in May 2018. This timeframe also considers Parliamentary recess in July 2018.

Chamber and committees