- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the milestones for the Aberdeen to Central Belt 2026 Enhancement project, as set out on page 11 of the Scotland's Railway July 2022 publication, Enhancements Delivery Plan, whether the target date for "Approval in principle" of August 2023 has been "Achieved", or whether this target has been "Missed", and whether the target date for "Entry into Service" of December 2026 remains "On Schedule".
Answer
Good progress continues to be made with this project. The Enhancements Delivery Plan is a Network Rail document and Network Rail will publish its update in due course in the normal manner.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19662 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2023, (a) when and (b) for what reason it ceased tracking the reasons for students not completing the courses on which they were enrolled at university.
Answer
The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collect information for all UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and will have taken the decision as the information collected could not adequately reflect the interlinked, complex reasons for students ending their studies.
As part of the new HESA Data Futures Collection, the Reason for Engagement Ending has been adapted to focus on whether a student has achieved any qualifications or credits when they withdraw. This will provide more robust and meaningful data.
Further information on the new variable is available from the HESA website here:
codingmanual.hesa.ac.uk/22056/Leaver/field/RSNENGEND
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Graeme Dey on 12 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19662 by Jenny Gilruth on 28 July 2023, and in light of the reported commitment by the former Minister for Higher Education and Further Education, Youth Employment and Training in 2022 to look at changing the recording of those not completing the college courses on which they were enrolled, what work has been done to fulfil this commitment.
Answer
In line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, Scottish Funding Council (SFC) publications including those reporting on college withdrawals, undergo systematic and periodic reviews on the strengths and limitations of the data.
As an example of the continuing work in this area, the SFC has initiated collection of students’ reasons for withdrawal from colleges. Experimental data has previously been collected, and SFC will be working with Colleges Scotland and College Development Network to improve the capture of student withdrawal data for publication in future years.
The SFC is also progressing an internal review of the definitions of college student outcomes metrics, to ensure that they provide the most appropriate measures of success for students.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenni Minto on 7 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to expand the eligibility for the shingles vaccine, including when those aged 65 to 69 will be able to access the shingles vaccine free of charge.
Answer
The Scottish Government has accepted the recommendation of the Joint Vaccination of Immunisations and Vaccinations (JCVI) that the age cohorts for the Shingles vaccination programme be expanded to protect individuals at an earlier age.
The vaccine will be offered free of charge to those aged 65 and 70 as defined by the patient’s age at 1 September 2023. NHS Health Boards are responsible for delivering vaccination programmes in Scotland and will invite eligible individuals forward for their appointments ahead of the programme commencing.
The changes to the programme have been outlined in the Chief Medical Officer Letter published on 31 July 2023 and can be accessed here: sehd.scot.nhs.uk/cmo/CMO(2023)11.pdf
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether zero-hours contracts are used to employ teachers in Scotland, and, if so, how many teachers are currently employed on zero-hours contracts.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information as the recruitment and employment of teachers including recruitment practices are matters for individual councils.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority of how it plans to distribute the £145.5 million in the 2023-24 Budget to secure increased teacher numbers; when the money will be paid to each local authority, and what precisely it can be used for.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided £145.5 million in this year’s budget to ensure local authorities:
- Maintain teacher numbers at 2022 census levels, as published in the Summary School Statistics in December 2022.
- Maintain pupil support staff numbers at 2022 census levels, as published on 21 March 2023 based on the data collected from local authorities in September 2022.
£100 million of this funding is distributed to local authorities as part of the 2023-24 General Revenue Grant. The remaining £45.5 million will also be distributed to local authorities following confirmation that these conditions have been met. The allocation of this funding, by local authority, is as follows.
| | £100m Distributed | £45.5m Retained |
Aberdeen City | 3.446 | 1.568 |
Aberdeenshire | 5.065 | 2.305 |
Angus | 2.094 | 0.953 |
Argyll & Bute | 1.482 | 0.674 |
Clackmannanshire | 0.938 | 0.427 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 2.743 | 1.248 |
Dundee City | 2.754 | 1.253 |
East Ayrshire | 2.278 | 1.036 |
East Dunbartonshire | 2.267 | 1.031 |
East Lothian | 2.027 | 0.922 |
East Renfrewshire | 2.306 | 1.049 |
Edinburgh, City of | 7.256 | 3.302 |
Eilean Siar | 0.494 | 0.225 |
Falkirk | 3.052 | 1.389 |
Fife | 7.076 | 3.219 |
Glasgow City | 11.314 | 5.148 |
Highland | 4.413 | 2.008 |
Inverclyde | 1.439 | 0.655 |
Midlothian | 1.869 | 0.850 |
Moray | 1.689 | 0.769 |
North Ayrshire | 2.602 | 1.184 |
North Lanarkshire | 6.868 | 3.124 |
Orkney | 0.440 | 0.200 |
Perth & Kinross | 2.478 | 1.128 |
Renfrewshire | 3.282 | 1.493 |
Scottish Borders | 2.018 | 0.918 |
Shetland | 0.518 | 0.236 |
South Ayrshire | 2.016 | 0.917 |
South Lanarkshire | 6.449 | 2.934 |
Stirling | 1.779 | 0.810 |
West Dunbartonshire | 1.740 | 0.792 |
West Lothian | 3.808 | 1.733 |
| | 100.000 | 45.500 |
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 6 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £240 million of additional investment, to support the recruitment of additional education staff to support education recovery, each local authority received; what outcomes it anticipated as a result of this funding, and what the actual outcomes were in terms of the recruitment of additional education staff.
Answer
Details on local authority funding allocations and the number of additional staff recruited are available on the Scottish Government website at the following link: Teachers - Schools - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 September 2023
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to data showing that the attainment gap has increased.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 7 September 2023
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what its understanding is of the SQA's reported “sensitive approach” to grading; what discussions it had with the SQA regarding such an approach, and what impact such an approach will have.
Answer
The package of support this year, including the "sensitive approach" to grading was agreed following discussion with stakeholders, including through the National Qualifications Group on which Scottish Government is represented.
SQA’s approach to grading the exams in 2023 was based on its established awarding processes where grade boundaries are set to determine the marks needed for each grade.
The key difference when taking a "sensitive approach" to grading is that decisions on where the grade boundaries are set at each subject and level, consider all factors that could have impacted on performance, such as the impact of course modifications, to ensure fairness to young people while maintaining national standards. Full information on SQA’s approach to awarding, including grading, is available in their National Qualifications 2023 Awarding Methodology Report .
Adjustments to grade boundaries are smaller this year than in 2022, reflecting the continuing recovery in skills, knowledge and understanding on the part of students.
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 August 2023
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Current Status:
Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has considered implementing any special support to pupils to help recover from any disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, similar to the national tutoring scheme and the Oak National Academy of curricular support elsewhere in the UK, and, if it has considered such initiatives and decided not to implement them, for what reason it decided not to do so.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the serious educational disruption that Scotland’s children and young people encountered during the pandemic. We have worked with partners to provide the following support:
- The provision of a National e-Learning Offer, was introduced in 2020, developed throughout the pandemic, and continues to support learners across Scotland, providing live, recorded and interactive online resources across the entire curriculum and age ranges including early years, primary and secondary. We continue to fund this innovative and empowering service, created and led by Scottish educators, with £1.5m support for 2023-24
- In 2020-21, we provided £25m for the procurement of over 70,000 digital devices and 14,000 connectivity packages to allow children to access learning when school buildings closed.
- Significant investment of £500 million over 2020-21 and 2021-22 to support in education recovery efforts including support for education authorities to recruit additional staff to provide additional support for learning and teaching. In addition a further £145.5m has been added permanently to the local government settlement from April 2022. This will allow local authorities to offer sustained employment of additional teachers and support staff.
In addition, our investment of £1 billion in the Scottish Attainment Challenge during this parliamentary term includes more than £520 million of Pupil Equity Funding that is issued directly to schools. Headteachers are empowered to use this funding to put in place evidence-based approaches to meet the needs of the children and young people in their schools who are impacted by poverty, including where appropriate provision of mentoring and tutoring.
We published “Education Recovery: Key Actions and Next Steps” on 5 October 2021, outlining the range of actions we are taking to support Scotland’s education system and young people to recover from the pandemic.
Every part of the education system, including Scottish Government, has sought to support children and young people through the unprecedented challenges they have faced during the pandemic. Teachers have done, and continue to do, a remarkable job and the quality of teaching during the pandemic remained strong. We know there is more still to do and will continue to prioritise and support education recovery.
