- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 July 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 10 August 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to its commitment in the Programme for Government 2017-18, how many schools currently have a home-school link worker.
Answer
Based on data collected as part of the September 2017 school staff census there were 201 FTE home school link workers employed in Scotland and each worker may serve multiple schools. In addition to these staff, other local authority staff may provide similar functions to home school link workers.
The Scottish government has committed to ensuring that every school in Scotland has access to a home school link worker by the end of 2019.
In order to meet this commitment the Scottish Government has established a Home School Link Worker National Working Group with representatives from the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland, Council of Scottish Local Authorities and Education Scotland. As part of its remit the National Working Group intends to work with local authorities to build a clearer picture of the exact numbers of staff across Scotland providing a home school link worker function.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 July 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 August 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-15018 by John Swinney on 8 March 2018, when it plans to publish data on support staff in schools, which is ordinarily included in the Teacher Census Supplementary Data release.
Answer
Statistics on school support staff for 2017 were published on 31 July 2018. They can be accessed at the following page on the Scottish Government website:
https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/School-Education/SupportStaff.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 June 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the reported low uptake of coordinated support plans among pupils with additional needs.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 13 June 2018
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 June 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how its agencies support location scouting for the film and television sectors.
Answer
Creative Scotland is the public body which supports Scotland’s screen, arts and creative industries on behalf of the Scottish Government, along the ‘arms-length’ principle. The Screen Commission within Creative Scotland works directly with production companies and studios to promote locations in Scotland and support them in a variety of ways to bring productions to shoot in or base themselves in Scotland. Creative Scotland also attends events internationally to promote Scottish locations and facilities. I have made Creative Scotland aware of your question and you may contact them directly for an answer on the support they provide for location scouting for the film and television sector.
Additionally, I hosted a dinner with Creative Scotland, also attended by Scottish Government officials, on 20 April, with major US production executives who were on a familiarisation tour of Scotland, as part of a British Film Commission tour of the UK.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 1 June 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-07576 by John Swinney on 8 March 2017, what its response is to the announcement by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 27 April 2018 that it plans to include a school in Scotland in its expansion of cadet forces, and what discussions it has had or plans with the MoD regarding whether (a) the school has been identified, (b) it plans to include further schools in Scotland, (c) funds from Libor fines will be allocated towards this and (d) it has consulted other stakeholders and, if so, (i) which and (ii) when.
Answer
The announcement by the Ministry of Defence on 27 April 2018 refers to Albyn School, an independent school in Aberdeen. Independent schools are free to decide the approach they take to Cadets. Education Scotland was notified of this proposal.
Scottish Government policy remains that for publicly funded schools, any links with Cadets will be through the Linked Detachment model. These are community-based Cadet Units that work with a number of state secondary schools and local authorities with which they have a partnership, to deliver elective learning opportunities that support the curriculum. The Scottish approach differs to the UK Government model where the school ‘hosts’ a Cadet Unit which does not contribute to the curriculum.
There are currently nine Linked Detachments operating in Scotland, and if further schools pursue this it could potentially increase, up to a maximum of twelve. £500,000 LIBOR funding was allocated to support the Scottish Linked Detachment model and this is due to come to an end in 2020.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 22 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is aware of reports of delays of up to several years in the distribution of EU funding to voluntary organisations and, if so, what steps it has taken to (a) address this and (b) support the organisations affected.
Answer
Over £395 million of funding has now been approved under the 2014-20 European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund programmes with the first projects approved December 2015. The Scottish Government awards grants to lead partners (Local Authorities, SG departments and agencies), who in turn contract or award grants to delivery agents which may include voluntary organisations.
A number of voluntary organisations are delivering activity across the programmes and submit payment requests to the lead partner and not directly to the Scottish Government. Lead partners gather evidence required by EC Regulations in order to process payment requests from delivery agents and then submit claims to the SG. Payments by the lead partner to delivery agents will be made dependent on the grant offer or contract in place between the lead partner and delivery agent.
The Scottish Government is aware of some delays to payments by lead partners as the evidence required by the EU in order to allow payments to be made has not been provided at the time of requesting payment. The Scottish Government works closely with lead partners to help them understand the complex compliance regime that surrounds the funds, and encourages lead partners to support delivery agents to ensure they have the necessary structures in place to meet requirements.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 May 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the responses to the three consultations informing its Education Governance Review.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 24 May 2018
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many people have been eligible for Educational Maintenance Allowance in each year since 2006-07; how many claimed it, and what analysis it has made of the reasons why people who were eligible did not make a claim.
Answer
The Education Maintenance Allowance is an entitlement in Scotland and is available to all eligible young people, but there is no comprehensive data which allows the Scottish Government to record who is eligible for Education Maintenance Allowance.
Young people in receipt of Education Maintenance Allowance from 2006-07 to
2016-17 is as follows:
Young People in Receipt of EMA; 2006-07 to 2016-17 |
Academic Year | 2006-07 | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 | 2010-11 | 2011-12 | 2012-13 | 2013-14 | 2014-15 | 2015-16 | 2016-17 |
Total | 37,480 | 37,275 | 39,000 | 37,230 | 34,780 | 34,390 | 35,515 | 35,470 | 33,180 | 31,735 | 31,675 |
The last analysis of the impact of Education Maintenance Allowance was conducted by York Consulting LLP and commissioned by the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department, and was published in July 2007. See attached link:
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2007/07/30113243/0 .
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how it differentiates between school cadet unit/forces and linked detachment unit/forces.
Answer
The Army Cadet Force has developed a distinct Scottish approach where community-based Cadet Linked Detachments are working in partnership with a number of state schools to deliver elective learning opportunities which support Curriculum for Excellence. This differs from the UK Government model where the Cadet Unit is hosted within the school itself. All contributions negotiated by state schools with community-based Linked Detachments are elective activities. No young people have to participate if they do not wish to do so.
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 May 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 16 May 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on integrating peace education into the curriculum for excellence.
Answer
One of the benefits of curriculum for excellence is the flexibility which enables practitioners to tailor their curriculum to the needs of the learners in their own local circumstances. For example, there are opportunities to teach about peace education within: learning for sustainability, global citizenship and the Social Studies curriculum guidelines.
