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-13296

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 11 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 9 January 2018

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-13114 by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 December 2017, by what date it will set out its next steps.

As detailed in a previous response, this Government commissioned the independent review of student support because we are committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they need to succeed.

Many of the ideas in the report would fundamentally change the way students in Scotland are supported and therefore require detailed consideration. It is only right that we now take time to consider each of the recommendations in detail.

We will set out our next steps in due course.

Question reference: S5W-13453

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 21 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on introducing legislation to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws in order to reduce environmental damage and waste.

We are committed to an ambitious target to reduce all waste by 15% by 2025. As announced in the Programme for Government, we will appoint an expert panel to advise on the use of charges for single-use items, similar to the successful plastic bag charge, with the goal of encouraging long-term and sustainable changes in consumer behaviour.

While we have no current plans to legislate to reduce the use of plastic drinking straws, we will, with the support of this panel, continue to consider the range of options available to us to reduce the use of single-use plastics that are littering our land and seas. We will also continue our work with Zero Waste Scotland to encourage businesses to reduce waste keep products and materials in high value use for as long as possible.

Question reference: S5W-13257

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the capacity of schools to carry out national standardised assessments, specifically in relation to the availability of digital devices on which the assessments must be taken.

It was a key requirement in the development of the Scottish National Standardised Assessments that the online system is compatible with a wide variety of technical platforms, devices and internet bandwidth connectivity available within Scottish local authorities and schools. The assessments can be accessed on Windows PCs and laptops, Apple Mac devices, Chrome books and tablet devices.

The assessments are widely compatible with the varied digital landscape available in local authorities. Care has been taken from an accessibility perspective to ensure that pupils who use assistive technology are able to use the system. The system will allow pupils to start the assessment on one device and then pick again on another should there be any problems with an individual device. As there is no fixed time for the assessments to be completed, they can be scheduled at a time that suits both the teacher and the availability of digital devices in schools.

Question reference: S5W-13101

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 12 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government on which date it will announce the decision on the tendering process for Attracting High-Quality Graduates into Teaching.

Question reference: S5W-13077

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 11 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of Scotland’s future participation in the European Higher Education Area after the UK has left the EU.

Membership of the European Union is not a prerequisite for membership of the European Higher Education Area. In addition to the European Commission and the EU Member States, a further twenty countries from across Europe participate, including Norway, Switzerland and the Russian Federation.

As such, should the UK leave the EU, the Scottish Government expects that there will be no change to the current arrangement whereby Scotland has distinct representation as part of the UK at official and ministerial level in the European Higher Education Area and the associated Bologna Process.

However, the Scottish Government remains concerned that the ability of the higher education sector to fully exploit opportunities for collaboration with partners across Europe may in practice be impeded if the UK Government does not secure ongoing participation in programmes such as Horizon 2020, Erasmus+ and their successors, underpinned by freedom of movement of persons, should it pursue its policy of leaving the EU.

Question reference: S5W-13114

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 7 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will issue its formal response to the findings of the Student Support Review.

This Government is committed to ensuring that all students, especially those in our most deprived communities, are provided with the financial support they need to succeed. That is why we commissioned the independent review of student support, chaired by Jayne-Anne Gadhia, CEO of Virgin Money UK.

The report sets out a number of recommendations that would fundamentally change the way students are supported. It is only right that we now take the time to consider these recommendations in detail. We will set out our next steps in due course.

Question reference: S5O-01586

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 13 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that sufficient funding is provided to local authorities to help them meet the needs of their residents.

Question reference: S5O-01564

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that devolved benefits will not lose their value relative to inflation.

We have already made a clear public commitment to annually uprate disability benefits, and have gone further by increasing the value of payments for some benefits. The rate of Carer’s Allowance will be increased to that of Job Seeker’s Allowance through the Carer’s Allowance Supplement and our new Best Start Grant will provide significantly more financial support, with the payment to the first child increasing from £500 to £600, restoring £300 payments for second and all subsequent children, and two new payments of £250 at key transitions points in the early years for the first and all subsequent children.

Question reference: S5W-12716

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of its response to the Education and Skills Committee report, Teacher Workforce Planning for Scotland's Schools, what the timescale is of its proposal to work with the General Teaching Council of Scotland to address additional support needs in initial teacher education, and what analysis it has carried out regarding how this could impact on continuing professional development.

I have invited Education Scotland to develop a new self-evaluation framework to support the universities that provide Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to evaluate their work. It will be designed to support teacher education universities in identifying what is working well, including highlighting features of their own highly-effective practice. The framework is being developed in partnership with teacher education universities and the General Teaching for Scotland (GTCS). It will focus on the quality of learning and teaching within ITE and key priorities, including literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing and Additional Support Needs. The framework will be available in time for universities to start this work during academic year 2017-18.

The GTCS has instigated a review of their Professional Standards which will take into consideration developing education policy and thinking and which will include Additional Support Needs. The revised Standards will be published by January 2019.

Question reference: S5O-01497

Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 22 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what areas will be prioritised for improvement when assessing the school inspection regime.