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: S5W-07994

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the number of apprenticeships are on course to meet the annual target of 26,000 for 2016-17.

Question reference: S5W-07944

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 21 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on each of its advertising campaigns in each of the last five years, broken down by spending on (a) research, insight-gathering and audience-testing, (b) creative development and production, (c) media buying, (d) website design, construction and management, (e) public relations, (f) field activity and partnerships and (g) evaluation.

The Scottish Government publishes annual total marketing spend, broken down by services provided by the Marketing Services Framework.

The spend on each of its advertising campaigns in each of the last five years is found in the following links:

2011-12:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/People/Directorates/Communications/advertising-marketing/spend/2011-2012spend2012?refresh=0.3206473765435549

2012-13:http://www.gov.scot/About/People/Directorates/Communications/advertising-marketing/spend/publicinfosocialadspend-2012-13

2013-14:http://www.gov.scot/About/People/Directorates/Communications/advertising-marketing/spend/2013-2014

2014-15:https://beta.gov.scot/publications/advertising-spend-2014-2015

2015-16:https://beta.gov.scot/publications/advertising-spend-2015-2016

Question reference: S5W-07993

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 21 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the modern apprenticeship target of 30,000 starts will be for 2019-20 or 2020-21.

Question reference: S5W-07309

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 17 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-06401 by Mark McDonald on 1 February 2017, on what date it expects to publish its Skills Investment Plan.

Question reference: S5W-07307

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 17 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-02741 by Mark McDonald on 30 September 2016, whether it will provide (a) a timetable of the steps being taken toward providing 1,140 hours of free childcare, and (b) an update of progress made.

Question reference: S5W-07845

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 17 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will introduce revised guidance on the presumption of mainstreaming.

Question reference: S5W-07305

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) teachers and (b) graduates have worked in nurseries in the most deprived areas in Scotland in each of the last 10 years.

(a) Data is not collected for nursery settings specifically, but for all centres providing the funded entitlement of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). The following table shows the number of teachers working in ELC settings in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), based on the location of the setting. This analysis is based on data collected through the ELC census in September each year. Comparable data is not available prior to 2010 as the census process was changed in this year.

From 2014 onwards, data on centrally employed teachers in ELC was collected separately. This affects the breakdown by SIMD since these teachers work in various settings across their local authority, and therefore cannot be assigned to an SIMD area. This means that the results from 2014 onwards are not directly comparable to those from earlier years. We have therefore presented the figures in two separate tables, with table 1 covering the period 2010-2013 and table 2 covering the period 2014-2016.

Table 1: Teachers working in ELC settings in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland, 2010-2013

	2010	2011	2012	2013
Number	499	449	451	378

1. SIMD 2012 was used for analysing 2010 to 2013 data. There were a small number of teachers that worked in settings for each year (apart from 2016) that could not be assigned to an SIMD quintile.

Table 2: Teachers working in ELC settings in the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland, 2014-2016

	2014	2015	2016
Number	269	239	271

1. SIMD 2012 was used for analysing 2014 and 2015 data, and SIMD 2016 was used for 2016 data. There were a small number of teachers that worked in settings for each year (apart from 2016) that could not be assigned to an SIMD quintile.

(b) Information on the number of graduates working in nurseries in the most deprived areas is currently not available.

Question reference: S5W-07844

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 15 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of school leavers in each year since 2011-12 went on to (a) further education, (b) higher education, (c) employment, (d) training, (e) voluntary work, (f) an activity agreement, (g) unemployment and (i) seeking and (ii) not seeking work and (h) another or unknown status, broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile.

Question reference: S5F-01060

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 13 March 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 16 March 2017

To ask the First Minister how the Scottish Government will ensure that changes to unit assessments will not increase teacher workload, in light of reports that 63% of teachers believe that they will.

Question reference: S5W-07312

Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 17 February 2017
Current Status: Answered by Mark McDonald on 13 March 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the increased childcare funding necessary to provide all three- and four-year-olds with 1,140 funded hours per year it expects to recoup through increased income tax receipts as a result of parents being able to work more.

Scottish Government has not produced estimates of the likely change in income tax receipts resulting from the provision of 1,140 funded hours of early learning and childcare per year for all three- and four-year-olds. Analysis by Scottish Government in 2014 estimated that an increase in female labour market activity by wo percentage points, for example as a result of more comprehensive childcare provision, could boost the overall level of economic output by around 0.6% (£700 million) in the long-run, with total tax revenues rising by 0.5% (£200 million).