- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement on 21 September 2016, which subjects at National 5 and Higher level will have externally assessed coursework; how will this be administered, and what impact it will have on teacher workload.
Answer
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) will take forward the new approach and will publish more detail for teachers in due course. As this is an operational matter for SQA, I have asked the Chief Executive of SQA to write to you.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement on 21 September 2016, how it will strengthen final exams for qualifications at National 5 and Higher level.
Answer
The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) will take forward the new approach and will publish more detail for teachers in due course. As this is an operational matter for SQA, I have asked the Chief Executive to write to you.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government how many local-action research-based projects regarding closing the attainment gap have been established, and where they are located.
Answer
Local action research projects to close the attainment gap are driven locally and no central register is kept.
The Scottish Government through its improvement agency, Education Scotland, promotes the use of action research based approaches across all local authorities and is actively engaged in supporting this work, for example through opportunities for local authorities to share their projects and the learning from them. This will build upon a conference held earlier in the summer.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government whether all schools have clear strategies in place across the curriculum to reduce the vocabulary gap.
Answer
It is the responsibility of individual schools to develop the most appropriate approach to reducing the vocabulary gap, as they best understand their local needs, context and priorities. However, the Scottish Government have set out in Delivering Excellence and Equity In Scottish Education – A Delivery Plan for Scotland an expectation that all schools have clear strategies in place across the curriculum in school session 2016-17 to reduce the gap in their context. This should include the vocabulary gap where appropriate.
The Scottish Government, through its education improvement agency, Education Scotland, is working with schools and early years settings to focus the curriculum to meet children’s needs fully including work to close the vocabulary gap. As part of this work, a number of professional learning resources related to education leadership as well as support materials on how schools can develop a literacy-rich curriculum in Primary one to Primary three to help to close the vocabulary gap have been published on the Education Scotland National Improvement Hub. These will support schools in developing their approaches.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the commitment in its document, Delivering Excellence and Equity in Scottish Education; A Delivery Plan for Scotland, whether it has created a "national forum for academics and practitioners to come together to ensure that cutting-edge evidence is being implemented in practice" in order to close the attainment gap and, if so, how this has been advertised and how many people have used the forum.
Answer
The national forum forms part of the activity associated with our proposed Research Strategy for school education. The Strategy is being drawn up following engagement with the academic community and stakeholders within the education system, and in light of the deliberations of the International Council for Education Improvement Advisers, which first met on 31 August 2016.
As part of the process, consideration is being given to the shape of engagement with practitioners and the academic community that will be required to implement the strategy’s objectives in the future, including the structure and role of a national forum.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 13 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what action it (a) takes and (b) has taken to support the retail sector.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the value of a successful and vibrant retail sector and regularly engages with the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and its members across a wide range of policy priorities.
We provide various mechanisms of support to the sector, including zero or reduced rates for around 100,000 properties under the Small Business Bonus Scheme; almost two-thirds of shops benefit from some form of rates relief. The annual cost of the Small Business Bonus Scheme is estimated at around £178 million.
We also provide skills support for the sector through Skills Development Scotland, with over 2,000 Modern Apprenticeships having started in the sector during the last financial year 2015-16: and wider business advice via Business Gateway. Furthermore, the Scottish Government supports work with the grocery sector through a partnership approach with the food and drink industry. We remain focused on maintaining Scotland’s position as the most competitive environment for business and will continue to work closely with the retail sector.
The Scottish Government works closely with the independent Regulatory Review Group (RRG) to actively promote an improved regulatory landscape and reduce unnecessary burdens on business. The RRG has members drawn from the main business organisations in Scotland and the retail sector is represented by the Scottish Retail Consortium.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 6 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Brexit, what steps it is taking to assess and protect the body of Scots law that is underpinned or connected to EU law, and what (a) timescale and (b) resources it proposes for this work to be carried out.
Answer
The result of the EU referendum clearly has considerable potential consequences for Scots law. For example, the Faculty of Advocate’s recent evidence to the European and External Relations Committee of the Parliament identified a number of legal issues that will need to be addressed. Consideration of the impact on Scots law is therefore a key element of the Scottish Government’s work on the options for Scotland’s future relationship with the EU and the rest of the UK following the EU referendum.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
Submitting member has a registered interest.
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Current Status:
Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 6 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the number of jobs in Scotland’s retail sector.
Answer
The following table shows the number of jobs in the Scottish retail sector from
2009 - 2015.
The figures are the latest retail jobs figures as published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday 28 September.
Table 1: Retail Jobs, Scotland, 2009 to 2015
Year
|
Full-time employee jobs
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Part-time employee jobs
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Working proprietors
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All Retail Jobs
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2009
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98,300
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140,900
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12,100
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251,300
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2010
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95,300
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142,600
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8,500
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246,400
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2011
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93,000
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144,600
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12,900
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250,500
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2012
|
87,400
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142,000
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11,500
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241,000
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2013
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89,500
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139,100
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12,400
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241,000
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2014
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100,200
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144,400
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9,000
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253,600
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2015
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101,500
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134,300
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8,700
|
244,400
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Source: Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) Office for National Statistics
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 6 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government who it has met from the European Commission since the decision by the UK to leave the EU; when the meetings were held, and what was discussed.
Answer
The First Minister met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on 29 June 2016 to raise awareness of the result of the EU Referendum vote in Scotland and to highlight Scotland’s desire to protect its relationship with the European Union. In addition, discussions between the European Commission and the Scottish Government take place regularly at both Ministerial and official level. Routine discussions have continued since the EU Referendum to ensure continuation of EU related business and to underline the Scottish Government’s commitment to working with the European Commission.
- Asked by: Daniel Johnson, MSP for Edinburgh Southern, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2016
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 October 2016
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on the average age of Scotland's (a) roads, (b) pavements, (c) hospitals, (d) schools and (e) colleges was in each year since 2007.
Answer
Responsibility for the management of these assets is for a number of delivery partners, including Transport Scotland, local authorities and NHS boards. This information is not held centrally.