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-09430

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many additional support needs teacher places (a) were filled and (b) remained vacant in each year since 2007, broken down by (i) local authority and (ii) parliamentary region.

Information on the number of additional support needs teachers which are filled (Full Time Equivalent) by local authority since 2007 is provided in the following table below:

Additional Support Needs Teachers by Local Authority, 2007-2016

Full Time Equivalents

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Aberdeen City	191	204	212	191	181	187	167	136	128	135
Aberdeenshire	209	230	284	297	292	284	272	248	269	269
Angus	94	105	97	97	103	94	83	80	83	83
Argyll & Bute	29	36	42	42	42	43	41	40	45	46
Clackmannanshire	29	33	35	30	30	26	24	30	30	30
Dumfries & Galloway	83	125	126	136	128	136	127	122	107	103
Dundee City	185	172	163	165	154	157	146	147	137	126
East Ayrshire	55	64	115	110	109	111	111	107	107	112
East Dunbartonshire	46	73	64	59	57	63	64	56	61	71
East Lothian	41	44	60	56	58	55	49	50	46	43
East Renfrewshire	46	49	45	36	34	44	43	42	41	45
Edinburgh City	166	193	189	189	182	173	170	155	139	135
Eilean Siar	16	20	26	23	24	23	23	16	15	22
Falkirk	112	125	152	134	136	127	127	118	110	104
Fife	233	235	248	236	210	209	212	173	194	199
Glasgow City	341	373	332	324	280	311	293	260	230	200
Highland	225	214	216	191	172	164	151	130	165	166
Inverclyde	50	58	55	49	44	48	46	37	41	46
Midlothian	44	40	43	40	38	40	60	57	51	52
Moray	79	101	103	103	103	104	97	92	92	82
North Ayrshire	104	119	119	117	123	121	125	125	126	117
North Lanarkshire	186	209	195	190	180	167	145	146	134	166
Orkney Islands	19	22	20	22	26	27	32	29	29	28
Perth & Kinross	39	79	70	73	62	69	84	92	90	89
Renfrewshire	85	78	62	53	58	55	58	53	49	43
Scottish Borders	78	81	80	66	90	89	83	87	85	78
Shetland Islands	40	45	52	50	44	41	41	37	41	39
South Ayrshire	83	76	77	106	101	109	106	103	100	94
South Lanarkshire	119	146	151	156	158	152	150	137	130	115
Stirling	27	35	36	44	40	36	39	41	42	38
West Dunbartonshire	28	45	52	48	51	50	48	60	55	47
West Lothian	92	90	87	88	76	76	73	71	66	62

1. Centrally employed teachers not included in 2007

Source: Staff Census 2007-2016

Information on the number of additional support needs teachers which are filled (Full Time Equivalent) by Parliamentary region since 2011 is provided in the following table. Information is only available from 2011 onwards:

Additional Support Needs Teachers by Scottish Parliament Region, 2011-2016

Full Time Equivalents


	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Central Scotland	408	375	354	342	305	325
Glasgow	322	351	332	295	279	243
Highlands and Islands	388	379	363	322	363	359
Lothian	298	293	306	284	258	247
Mid Scotland and Fife	341	341	360	336	357	356
North East Scotland	745	736	682	623	630	625
South Scotland	508	528	502	493	463	451
West Scotland	375	387	392	381	382	382

Source: Staff Census 2011-2016

Information on vacancies by local authorities and Parliamentary regions is not held.

Question reference: S5W-09453

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 13 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government where residential patients at the Mulberry Unit at Stracathro Hospital have been transferred to since it was temporarily closed in February 2017.

Question reference: S5W-09434

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what the average length of time classroom teachers remain in the profession after qualification, and what analysis it has carried of how many leave (a) before one year, (b) between one and five years and (c) after five years.

Question reference: S5W-09432

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has carried out of the reasons given by (a) classroom and (b) additional support teachers for leaving the profession.

Question reference: S5W-09436

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 June 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it takes to raise classroom teachers’ esteem and morale.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting teaching as a high status profession that plays a critical role in society.

We are aiming to raise moral and esteem through our inspirational ‘Teaching Makes People’ recruitment campaign which aims to generate a longer term shift in perception about teaching as a career and has drive a 19% increase in PDGE student intakes to Scottish universities. We are also investing in high quality professional leaning for teachers through the Scottish College for Educational Leadership and by supporting teachers to undertake professional learning at masters level.

Allied to this we have also announced concrete proposals to address workload issues designed to allow teachers to focus on teaching.

Question reference: S5W-09151

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 12 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether a procedure is in place to ensure that all planning appeal reporters are issued with specific timescales for issuing decisions.

Question reference: S5W-08879

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 2 May 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent fatal accidents, what its position is on installing street lighting at the Toll of Birness junction on the A90.

In the last five years, no injury accidents at the A90 Toll of Birness junction have occurred in the hours of darkness, therefore there is no evidence to suggest that street lighting would reduce the risk of accidents occurring and we have no plans to install it.

The recent tragic fatal accident on 5 April 2017 did not occur at the junction itself and took place in daylight. There have been no other fatal accidents at the junction in the last ten years.

Question reference: S5W-08753

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 April 2017
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 25 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what action it took to ensure that transport (a) to, (b) from and (c) within the United States for the First Minister's recent visit was completed in the most environmentally sustainable way possible.

The First Minister visited the United States between 2 and 7 April attending events and meetings in California and New York.

The visit focused on promoting trade and investment, boosting tourism, sharing best practice across the public and private sector and promoting Scottish innovation and entrepreneurship. I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-08856 on 20 April 2017 for more details on the visit. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

Transport arrangements for the visit were made in line with Scottish Government's sustainable Travel Strategy.

Question reference: S5F-01182

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 April 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 April 2017

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is on the accuracy of the GERS figures.

Question reference: S5W-08471

Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2017
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 19 April 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5T-00479 by Keith Brown on 28 March 2017 (Official Report, c. 5), on what date the cabinet secretary was advised of the possible delay to the opening of the Queensferry Crossing; how much the delay will add to the overall cost of the project, and what the economic impact will be.

I met with the contractor, Forth Crossing Bridge Constructors, on Monday 27 March 2017 when they advised me that, due to the continued impacts of wind on the construction operations, they were unlikely to be able to achieve an opening date in May for the Queensferry Crossing.

As I stated at the Rural Economy Connectivity Committee any increase in delivery time will not result in any increase to the overall cost to the taxpayer which stands at £1.35 billion as before. The £245 million of savings that have been released since the construction started are secure.

The Forth Road Bridge is operating well. Consequently, there will be no further economic impact as a result of the revised timescales.