- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many early learning and childcare settings have been inspected by Education Scotland in each of the last five years, broken down by type of setting.
Answer
ELC inspection numbers - Financial year April to March - All published April 2011 to March 2016
Inspection types
|
Figures
|
Full
|
Full inspection resulting in QI evaluations
|
Try out
|
Try out inspections not resulting in QI evaluations
|
Other
|
2 day notice inspections resulting in QI evaluations
|
Sector
|
Figures
|
Pre-school
|
Local authority & grant-aided Primary School, All Through Nursery Classes and Early Learning and Childcare centres
|
PSNC
|
Local Authority Primary School Nursery classes and All Through Nursery Classes
|
ELC
|
Private, Voluntary, Other LA/Family centre, LA Nursery class-special, LA Nursery school-not special
|
Independent School Nursery
|
Independent-in-partnership-with-LA Nurseries & Independent-not-in-partnership-with-LA Nursery
|
|
Inspection type
|
2011-12
|
Inspection type
|
2012-13
|
Inspection type
|
2013-14
|
Inspection type
|
2014-15
|
Inspection type
|
|
|
2015-16
|
Sector
|
Full
|
Total
|
Full
|
Total
|
Full
|
Total
|
Full
|
Total
|
Full
|
Try out
|
Other
|
Total
|
Pre-school (PSNC + ELC)
|
199
|
199
|
162
|
162
|
194
|
194
|
130
|
130
|
130
|
4
|
0
|
134
|
PSNC
|
92
|
92
|
65
|
65
|
90
|
90
|
64
|
64
|
60
|
4
|
0
|
64
|
LA Nursery Class
|
87
|
87
|
62
|
62
|
87
|
87
|
63
|
63
|
58
|
4
|
0
|
62
|
LA Nursery Class (All through)
|
5
|
5
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
ELC
|
107
|
107
|
97
|
97
|
104
|
104
|
66
|
66
|
70
|
0
|
0
|
70
|
LA Nursery Class - Special
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4
|
4
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
LA Nursery School - Special
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
LA Nursery School - Not Special
|
15
|
15
|
20
|
20
|
21
|
21
|
11
|
11
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
Other LA/Family Centre
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
3
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
7
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
Private
|
59
|
59
|
49
|
49
|
50
|
50
|
29
|
29
|
38
|
0
|
0
|
38
|
Voluntary
|
28
|
28
|
23
|
23
|
27
|
27
|
18
|
18
|
16
|
0
|
0
|
16
|
Grant Aided
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Independent School Nursery
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
In partnership
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
Not in partnership
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
Grand total (PSNC, ELC & Independent)
|
201
|
201
|
162
|
162
|
194
|
194
|
131
|
131
|
131
|
4
|
0
|
135
|
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many children in each of the last five years have been (a) identified at birth as being disabled and (b) recognised as having additional learning support needs, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information about how many children have been identified at birth as being disabled. The data that is available is from the 2011 Census, which relates to people with a long-term health problem or disability which limits their day-to-day activities. This data, broken down by age and sex, can be accessed here: www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-web/standard-outputs.html
People with a long-term disability or health problem may have responded in their census questionnaire that their day-to-day activities were not (or, in the case of under 5 year olds, likely judged by their parent/ carer not to be) limited as a result of their disability or health problem.
Under the Education(Additional Support for Learning) Scotland Act 2004 education authorities are required to provide appropriate additional support for certain disabled children under school age (generally children under 3 years of age) belonging to their area who have been brought to the attention of the authority as having additional support needs arising from their disability.
The number of children attending publically funded schools who are reported as having additional support needs is published each year as part of the pupil census. This information is available from Table 1.6 of the pupil census supplementary datasets: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus Note that those recorded as having Additional Support Needs includes a broad range of reasons for additional support, from ‘learning disability’ and ‘autistic spectrum disorder’ to ‘bereavement’ and ‘more able pupil’. See Table 1.8 of the supplementary tables for a full list of Reasons for Support.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 22 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-03783 by Mark McDonald on 3 November 2016, in light of the requested information not being held centrally, what the evidence is for its claim in the report, Financial Review of early learning and childcare in Scotland: the current landscape, that there was "likely to be some overlap of children who are registered with more than one provider (estimated at around 2 per cent)".
Answer
We do not routinely collect information on the number of children who are registered with more than one provider. We contacted local authorities in June 2015 to ask them to provide data which would allow us to estimate the double count of registrations for 3 and 4 year olds. From the information received, we estimated that around 2 per cent of children are registered with more than one provider.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2016
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2016
To ask the First Minister, following the recent call by Save the Children, what action the Scottish Government will take to increase the number of teachers and other staff working in nurseries with specialist training in speech and language development.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2016
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 17 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many of its and its agencies' staff earn below the Scottish Living Wage.
Answer
The Scottish Government and its agencies are covered by the Scottish Government’s public sector pay policy and as such are required to pay their employees the Scottish Living Wage as part of their annual pay settlements. This requirement has been an integral part of our public sector pay policy since 2011. The policy covers the Scottish Government, its agencies, and the non-departmental public bodies for which we are responsible. It also covers the subsidiaries of these bodies.
There may be a small number of staff in public bodies subject to Minister’s pay policy still to benefit from the 2016 Scottish Living Wage increase, but this is due to the fact that these bodies are still to conclude pay negotiations with members of staff and their unions this year and Scottish Ministers cannot intervene while these negotiations continue.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what maximum level of (a) bursary and (b) loan has been available to higher education students in each of the last five years.
Answer
The following table shows the maximum amount of bursary available in the last five academic years.
|
2011-12
|
2012-13
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
|
Young Students' Bursary
|
£2,640
|
£2,640
|
£1,750
|
£1,750
|
£1,875
|
Independent Students' Bursary
|
£1,000
|
£1,000
|
£750
|
£750
|
£875
|
Students' Outside Scotland Bursary
|
£2,150
|
£2,150
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
The following table shows the maximum amount of living cost loan available in the last three academic years.
Analysis for 2011-12 and 2012-13 is not available because there were a large number of fluctuations on the maximum loan available, with amounts being based on the actual term length of each course and the location of study for students.
Maximum loan level
|
|
|
|
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
|
Young students
|
£5,500
|
£5,750
|
£5,750
|
Independent students
|
£6,500
|
£6,750
|
£6,750
|
Source: SAAS
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what the total accumulated level of higher education-student debt has been in each of the last five years.
Answer
Information on student loan debt is held and published by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx
The latest publication, covering financial year 2015-16, showed that the total balance outstanding (including loans not yet due for repayment) was £4.0 billion.
Total loan balance at the end of financial years 2011-12 to 2015-16
|
|
Outstanding Student Loans Debt (£ billions)
|
|
2011-12
|
2012-13
|
2013-14
|
2014-15
|
2015-16
|
Scotland
|
2.6
|
2.7
|
3.1
|
3.5
|
4.0
|
Source: Student Loans Company
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what the average annual cost of childcare has been for parents and carers in each of the last five years, and how it calculates this.
Answer
Scottish Government does not collect data on annual costs of childcare on a regular basis and has not calculated the average annual cost to parents of childcare.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 16 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) mean and (b) median debt for students on completion of a (a) first full-time undergraduate degree and (b) full-time postgraduate degree was in each of the last five years, broken down by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) quintile.
Answer
Information on student loan debt is held and published by the Student Loans Company (SLC).
http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx
The latest publication, covering financial year 2015-16, showed that the average student loan debt for the 2016 cohort, which just entered repayment, was £10,500. The publication does not contain the other information requested.
Average Loan Balance on entry into repayment by repayment cohort
|
|
Average balance on entry to repayment (£)
|
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
Scotland
|
6,470
|
6,860
|
7,440
|
9,410
|
10,500
|
Source: Student Loans Company
|
|
|
|
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 November 2016
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mark McDonald on 16 November 2016
To ask the Scottish Government further to the publication, A Blueprint for 2020: the Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, how the estimated average saving of £2,000 per child was calculated; when it will be fully delivered, and whether it will publish regular updates on progress with this.
Answer
It is estimated that by almost doubling the number of free hours of Early Learning and Childcare entitlement from current levels (600 hours) to 1140 hours by 2020 will result in an average saving of £2,000 per child.
This has been calculated as the additional number of funded hours multiplied by the hourly price of early learning and childcare using the latest figures estimated by the Family and Childcare Trust for privately purchasing early learning and childcare for children over age 2 (estimated to be £4.16 per hour).
The Scottish Government will provide updates on progress toward delivery of 1,140 hours.