Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-18584

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it plans to publish its Student Mental Health Plan.

Question reference: S6W-18596

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the statement by the Scottish Training Federation that delays in confirming skills and employability programme budgets has resulted in 75 staff redundancies by training providers since 6 April 2023, with a further 60 expected in June.

The Scottish Government is committed to delivering a balanced budget with a focus on the renewed missions set out recently by the First Minister - to tackle poverty; to build a fair, green and a growing economy; and to improve our public services.

In 2023-24 this includes up to £108M to deliver employability services for those individuals who need it most to enter and progress in work, we remain committed to supporting a mixed economy of provision across public, private and third sectors to support delivery across Scotland.

In the unfortunate event of any employees facing redundancy, the Scottish Government will always offer and provide support through our initiative for responding to redundancy situations, Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE which aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work.

As members of the PACE Partnership, STF will be familiar with the local support available to its members and the swift response it offers to support both employers and employees dealing with redundancy and working with them to try and minimise the risk of redundancy before it happens.

Question reference: S6W-18601

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Neil Gray on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason No One Left Behind employability programme budgets are reportedly two months overdue.

In the face of rising costs and the need to deliver a balanced budget which delivers the best value for every tax payer in Scotland, funding must be prioritised and robust decisions made which are linked to the annual budget setting process and associated financial governance.

Therefore, employability funding, like all other funded programmes and services throughout government require to be assessed against the outcomes specified in the Scottish Government policy prospectus "A fresh Start for Scotland" (18 April 2023) which sets out how the government will deliver for Scotland over the next three years.

Question reference: S6W-18603

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it plans to confirm the budget for Individual Training Accounts.

Question reference: S6W-18548

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government on what date it plans to publish its Student Mental Health Plan.

Question reference: S6W-18604

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with modern apprenticeship providers in relation to any contract delays.

Scottish Government has regular engagement with the main representative body of training providers in Scotland, Scottish Training Federation (STF). I am due to meet the STF Chief Executive in the coming weeks.

Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have regular meetings with individual training providers and the Scottish Training Federation. As an example, senior members of SDS’ National Training Programmes team met with the STF Chief Executive on Thursday 25 May to provide support and answer questions from members regarding various areas including contract awards. They will continue to follow up with STF members for any additional information and support which may be required.

Scottish Government and SDS will continue to engage with our apprenticeship providers across Scotland including colleges, universities and independent providers regarding any issues with apprenticeship contracts.

Question reference: S6W-18593

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it last met the Welsh Government to discuss the Taith programme.

Question reference: S6W-18581

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 13 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the implementation timetable for its four small-scale school swimming pilot projects.

Question reference: S6W-18180

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on progress towards its commitment to increase teacher numbers by 3,500 by the end of the current parliamentary session.

We committed to support the recruitment of at least 3,500 teachers, in addition to the 1,400 recruited during the pandemic, over the course of this Parliament. The 2022 teacher census total was 54,193 teachers, which indicates an increase of 1,946 from the baseline, as measured by the 2019 census.

We are also providing £145.5m to local authorities in the 2023/24 budget to protect increased teacher numbers.

Question reference: S6W-18184

Asked by: Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2023
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 9 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported findings that the attainment gap among primary school children in South Lanarkshire has increased by a third during 2020-21.

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