- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what initiatives it has planned to promote tourism in the South Scotland region.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 28 February 2018
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 21 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how many schools have reduced their teaching of arts subjects in terms of (a) lesson time, (b) staff, (c) resources and (d) facilities.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold information on lesson times, resources or facilities.
Between 2015 and 2016 there were 118 secondary schools where the number of arts teachers (those whose main subject is Art, Drama, Media Studies, Music or Speech and Drama) decreased. This compares to increases in 128 schools and no change in a further 112.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what empirical evidence there is that the Pupil Equity Fund will improve achievement and attainment in schools.
Answer
Schools have been allocated Pupil Equity Funding, according to pupil need, in order to help close the poverty related attainment gap. The funding allows schools to invest in evidenced based activities and interventions that will lead to improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing, based on their local context. This can include the recruitment of additional teachers and building the capacity of the existing workforce.
There is extensive evidence from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD), the Education Endowment Foundation and others that the interventions that improve the quality of learning and teaching can make a significant impact on improving educational outcomes.
There is a package of national and local support available to assist schools in how to use their additional funding effectively, including resources on the National Improvement Hub, the Scottish specific version of the Education Endowment Foundation’s Learning and Teaching toolkit, and support from Attainment Advisors.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported comments by the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association that the Pupil Equity Fund is not sufficient to tackle the attainment gap.
Answer
Local Authorities have a statutory duty to improve educational outcomes for all and to reduce inequalities in educational outcomes. The Scottish Attainment Challenge, backed by the £750m Attainment Scotland Fund, provides additional resources, over and above existing school funding, to prioritise improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and well-being of those children adversely affected by poverty in Scotland’s schools.
The £120 million Pupil Equity Funding allocated for 2018-19 forms part of a wider coordinated programme aimed at tackling the poverty related attainment gap. In 2018-19, we will also provide £59 million to continue the Attainment Challenge Authorities and Schools Programmes, alongside a small number of national programmes , targeting funding and support to schools and local authorities with the highest level of deprivation.
The Scottish Government is also committed to tackling child poverty. We have set ambitious income-based 2030 targets in our Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017, which was unanimously passed by Parliament last November. The first Delivery Plan setting out how we will work towards the targets will be published by April 2018 and will be underpinned by a £50 million Tackling Child Poverty Fund.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how the (a) Attainment Scotland Fund and (b) Pupil Equity Fund is specifically being used to support transitions from early learning and childcare to primary school.
Answer
A key priority for this government is to substantially close the gap between the attainment of children from the most and least disadvantaged areas. Addressing the attainment gap in the early years of a child’s life is fundamental to achieving this ambition.
Whilst local Authorities and schools are targeting their funding in different ways there is a clear focus on the importance of the early years of a child’s life. In recognition of the importance of providing additional support early, particularly throughout the first years of transition to primary school, a significant part of the Attainment Scotland Funding continues to be targeted at children who need it most in P1-P3. There are also examples of the funding being used to target younger children such as through engagement with early years establishments, training for staff in early years centres and exploring early years approaches to raising attainment from birth to age 5.
Although The Attainment Scotland Fund has primarily been targeted at school age children this should be seen in the context of the Scottish Government’s commitment to providing our children with high quality early learning and childcare. By 2020, parents of 3 and 4 year olds (as well as some eligible 2 year olds) will be entitled to 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare per year, up from the current 600 hours per year. Those children are already being cared for by well qualified practitioners, trained to help them reach their potential and to help them transition in to primary school.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 20 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to tackle the reported rising number of assaults on NHS staff in the Borders, in light of figures that show almost three assaults were recorded every day between 1 August 2016 and 31 July 2017.
Answer
Any violence or aggression against NHSScotland staff is unacceptable and we have policies in place to provide a continuously improving and safe working environment. We encourage NHSScotland Boards to commit to supporting appropriate action, including pursuing criminal prosecution where appropriate, against anyone who assaults a staff member. Specific legislation is in place to protect clinical staff working both in our hospitals and in the community from harm.
NHS Borders has advised that they have robust and effective local incident reporting procedures supported by regular training and daily safety briefings for staff. NHS Borders has confirmed they take any form of aggression against their staff very seriously and the Board will take all steps necessary to protect staff and pursue issues with the appropriate authorities.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2018
To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the recent Audit Scotland report, which states that its childcare plans face "significant challenges".
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 February 2018
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government how it supports environmental protection in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2018
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the finding by the Making Maths Count review, which suggested that there were gaps in the provision of the teaching of the subject nationally, whether it will facilitate the upskilling of teachers, as recommended by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to progressing all of the ten recommendations in the Making Maths Count report.
I have asked Education Scotland to develop a new self-evaluation framework to support the universities that provide initial teacher education 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. Numeracy and mathematics will be a key part of this.
The Scottish Government is streamlining and enhancing professional learning so that there is a coherent learning offer to teachers which is focused on curriculum area and sector-specific issues such as numeracy and mathematics. More professional learning will be provided by teachers, for teachers, through the regional improvement collaboratives.
The upskilling of teachers is an ongoing priority of Education Scotland's National Numeracy and Mathematics Hub. This supports teacher professional development at every level.
- Asked by: Michelle Ballantyne, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation by the Making Maths Count review, whether it will conduct a comprehensive assessment for Education Scotland to share examples of what works well in terms of teaching practice in the subject.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to progressing all of the ten recommendations contained in the Making Maths Count report.
Education Scotland's National Numeracy and Mathematics Hub provides a platform to share effective practice of learning and teaching in the subject. The Hub is an interactive, virtual learning environment which offers practitioners:
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professional learning in different aspects of numeracy with a focus on progression, numeracy and mathematics skills, numeracy across learning, assessment and moderation, and teaching;
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career-long professional learning opportunities in various forms including broadcasts, professional reading and action research; and
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an easy-to-use environment where they can share and work with colleagues from across Scotland.
Hub 'Champions' representing each local authority meet together and share practice 3 times a year.
The Hub has been supported by Scottish Government investment of £1.3million since 2014.
