Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-29177

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what guidance (a) Education Scotland and (b) the SQA has issued regarding the provision of home learning.

Education Scotland is providing a range of additional resources to support parents and practitioners with providing learning at home and to deliver continuity for learners across Scotland. This includes: a newly created resource bank of learning activities for a variety of ages; the continued provision ofa bank of online resources featuring collated materials across curriculum areas and sectors; a range of webinars to help practitioners get the most of out of Glow, and practical advice and tips for parents through the Parents’ Club online resource and the Parentzone Scotland website.

The SQA has provided Frequently Asked Questions around the provision of estimates for candidates who are studying at home or with a private tutor on their website at: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93797.html . For learners studying from home at present, within the Parent and Carer support section of their website, the SQA has referenced resources around National Courses as well links to support from partner organisations which can be found at: https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93825.9757.html .

Question reference: S5W-29180

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it monitors the provision of home learning, and whether educational outcomes have changed in light of home learning.

Responsibility for the provision and monitoring of home learning rests with schools and local authorities. However, we are working closely with local authority partners, teaching unions, parent representatives and other stakeholders through the Education Recovery Group to support home learning. The Group allows stakeholders to share their knowledge and experience on current home learning provision, building the widest possible agreement as we plan the way ahead.

The four capacities at the centre of Curriculum for Excellence remain, however, learning and teaching practice has had to adapt to ensure children and young people can continue to progress in their learning whilst at home. Our ‘Supporting Pupils, Parents And Teachers – Learning During Term 4’ guidance outlines the steps that are being taken to ensure that learning can continue during term 4 of the current academic year.

We have also recently published a strategic framework on the re-opening of schools and early learning and childcare settings, which is designed to achieve the safe reopening of schools and provides consistency and equity in a national approach for children and young people that is underpinned by local planning and delivery. A suite of supporting guidance is being published to cover the practical issues that local authorities and learning settings must consider when developing local arrangements. This will include advice and guidance on implementation measures, preparing the curriculum offer, wellbeing support, and delivery of early learning and childcare. It will also include specific considerations for each sector, based upon the health evidence relevant to each age group.

Question reference: S5O-04365

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 May 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 June 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is giving to older people who are facing increased fuel bills during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Question reference: S5O-04309

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 March 2020
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 25 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to support remote learning.

The national online learning environment, Glow, is freely available to all learners and teachers from any internet connected device. Officials are working hard to make sure the platform is able to cope with increased demand and have provided a range of advice, guidance and support to local authorities on how best to make use of the Glow services.

Over and above the technical platform, Education Scotland are currently working on collation of a wide range of curricular resources which will be located in a single online source, to help teachers find the resources they need to deliver continuity of education.

Question reference: S5W-27285

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Submitting member has a registered interest.
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 9 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with stakeholders in relation to the creation of a new abattoir in Orkney.

In the run up to and following the formal closure of the Orkney Abattoir myself and my officials met and discussed the future options available for slaughter on Orkney with many local stakeholders. This included meeting with the Council leader, council officials, local MSP’s, butchers, NFUS, livestock market and farming representatives. At these meetings it was stated that the Scottish Government stood ready to work with any party who came forward with a viable and sustainable plan for the future.

Unfortunately, and following the Orkney Island Council launch of an ‘abattoir challenge fund’, no interested party came forward to reinstate slaughter provisions in Orkney. The Scottish Government remains open to discuss options with any potential provider.

Question reference: S5O-04253

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to improve travel connectivity to and within the Highlands and Islands.

Question reference: S5W-27268

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Jamie Hepburn on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support for travel costs is available to apprentices, and how much it has spent on this in each year since 2007-08.

Travel support is based on an individual’s circumstances. This support includes rural delivery models’ eligibility for a rural uplift, and assistance with travel and/or overnight accommodation.

Skills Development Scotland have advised that their annual spend on travel and subsistence for Modern Apprentices in both of the last two full financial years is as follows:

2017-18: £1,091,538

2018-19: £1,055,840

Expenditure for the current year will be reported in due course.

Skills Development Scotland are able to provide the precise figures for travel and subsistence spend in 2017-18 and 2018-19 as the introduction of the Funding Information and Processing System in 2017-18 has given the functionality to extract this cost in isolation.

Due to a system change Skills Development Scotland are unable to provide the annual spend on travel and subsistence for Modern Apprentices in the years preceding 2017-18.

Details of what was budgeted for in the years preceding 2017/18 are available, but this does not reflect expenditure so cannot be directly compared to years after. The contract value for travel and subsistence for years 2009/10 (the first year that SDS put into place contracts for the delivery of Modern Apprenticeships) to 2016/17 is laid out below:

2009-10: £1.1m

2010-11: £940k

2011-12: £940k

2012-13: £960k

2013-14: £940k

2014-15: £950k

2015-16: £1.3m

2016-17: £1.3m

Throughout the Foundation Apprenticeship programme support has been available to fund participant travel. For the 2016-18, 2017-19 and 2019-21 cohorts, travel costs were included within the total funding awards. It is therefore not possible to provide travel costs for these cohorts. Travel costs are separate for the 2018-20 cohort. As delivery of this cohort is still ongoing and the total amount of expenditure is not yet available.

Question reference: S5W-27271

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many European nationals domiciled outside of the UK received funded places at a university in Scotland in the last year.

Question reference: S5W-27273

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has sought updated legal advice since September 2014 on the position of an independent Scotland in relation to (a) membership or accession to the EU, (b) currency, (c) involvement in the Schengen Agreement, (d) border controls or cross-border trade and (e) involvement in international defence co-operation.

Question reference: S5W-27270

Asked by: Jamie Halcro Johnston, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many university applicants domiciled in Scotland did not receive an offer from any institution in Scotland but were accepted by an institution in the rest of the UK in the last year.

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