- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 5 March 2018
To ask the Scottish Government to what extent the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation determines the allocation of funds; what its position is on whether this adequately identifies rural deprivation, and what plans it has to review how rural deprivation is identified and better taken into account by funding formulas.
Answer
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is the Scottish Government’s official tool for identifying concentrations of deprivation in Scotland. It is a relative measure of deprivation and takes into account aspects of deprivation that affect local areas, whether rural or urban.
While resource allocation does take aspects of deprivation into account where relevant and appropriate, the SIMD ranking in itself is not used in isolation in Scottish Government without due consideration to the issues and balancing factors, such as rurality and the local economic context. For example the SIMD has a minimal role in the allocation of funding in the local government finance settlement. The vast majority of funding to local government is calculated using the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) methodology. GAE is a needs based allocation methodology which attempts to establish direct measures of the “clients” for a particular service. Within the GAE methodology, the SIMD is used only to calculate one secondary indicator (road density/area deprivation) used in Street Cleaning GAE. The indicators used in the GAE methodology are agreed in conjunction with COSLA and local authorities and kept under constant review.
The SIMD adequately identifies elements of rural deprivation. However, when developing policy or making funding decisions we always recommend that policy makers use data appropriately. The SIMD team have provided training for analysts and policy makers in central and local public sector organisations to ensure that they fully understand the implications of their data. For example, we recommend that policy makers consider the individual SIMD domains for particular aspects of deprivation. One element of SIMD with particular relevance to rural deprivation is the geographic access to services domain. This reflects the adverse effects of long travel times for basic services, which are more common in rural than urban areas, and means that this domain is a good proxy measure for the additional barriers that people in rural areas face. We also recommend that additional indicators are used to supplement SIMD, whether in an urban or rural context. To assist with this in a rural context, the Scottish Government published case studies on how SIMD can be combined with other data to further target child poverty on Orkney Islands and fuel poverty in Dumfries and Galloway.
SIMD is kept under constant review taking advice from a range of external stakeholders.
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Current Status:
Withdrawn
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Derek Mackay on 27 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has had with The Moray Council regarding a review of the local government funding formula.
Answer
The Leader of The Moray Council, Councillor George Alexander, wrote to me on 24 January regarding the 2018-19 local government finance settlement. In that letter Councillor Alexander explained that he had started a dialogue with you about how on how to improve the Council's financial outlook, including how it could increase it's per capita funding. As you know I have agreed to join you in those discussions with a delegation from The Moray Council and arrangements for that meeting are currently being put in place.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National 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 to what extent any transition period for Brexit is likely to affect Scotland’s influence on future fisheries negotiations.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 21 February 2018
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Maree Todd on 26 January 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria are used to determine who the recipients will be for each phase of the roll-out of the increase in childcare provision in Moray, and what decisions are taken by (a) local authorities and (b) ministers in this regard.
Answer
The Scottish Government published A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland - Expansion Planning Guidance for Local Authorities in March 2017, which includes guidance on the phasing in of entitlement prior to 2020. The guidance states that:
“Local authorities have flexibility to determine the most appropriate way to phase entitlement in their local area as they build capacity. In considering phasing, authorities should evidence consideration of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to ensure that the families and communities who stand to benefit most from the expansion benefit first.”
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 January 2018
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has any plans to ensure that wind farm companies deliver adequate levels of community benefit to provide income streams for local communities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 1 February 2018
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by Kevin Stewart on 22 January 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with (a) COSLA and (b) local authorities regarding when it is acceptable to use compulsory redundancies.
Answer
The Scottish Government has had no recent discussions with COSLA or any local authority about the use of compulsory redundancy. Councils as independent bodies are responsible for their own employment policies. The Scottish Government’s no compulsory redundancies policy therefore does not apply to councils, although we hope that they can take a similar approach.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to develop a national strategy for school libraries.
Answer
Development of a national strategy for school libraries, due to be launched in Summer 2018, is well underway. This has included a literature review spanning the globe to ensure Scotland's strategy reflects global best practice. This has identified a number of different successful delivery models. A series of school library visits has taken place across Scotland to inform the baseline data to be included in the strategy and to take account of best practice in the Scottish context. A survey will be issued shortly to capture the wide range of governance models which exist for school libraries in Scotland. The Scottish Government looks forward to the announcement of the Chair for the National Strategy for School Libraries Advisory Group in the coming weeks. This is likely to coincide with the announcement of the successful applications in the first round of the School Library Improvement Fund.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on every secondary school having a library and full-time qualified librarian, and how it can encourage and promote moves towards this.
Answer
We want all our children and young people to succeed in life. High quality education is critical to that aim. Decisions that shape the education of our young people should be made in classrooms, schools and establishments by people working directly with those young people, their parents and communities. We are delivering this vision of empowerment and devolution through our Education Bill. The Scottish Government recognises the valuable contribution school libraries and school librarians make to the life and work of Scotland's schools. We have demonstrated our commitment to school libraries and school librarians through endorsement of 'How good is our school library?', the £1 million investment through the School Library Improvement Fund announced in the Programme for Government, and the development of a National Strategy for School Libraries - a first for the UK. We would encourage local authorities to ensure an effective School library service is in place.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for Moray, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2018
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 January 2018
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the reported proposal by The Moray Council to reduce its number of school librarians by half as part of its 2018-19 budget.
Answer
School libraries play a vital role in developing literacy - including digital and information literacy - supporting attainment, giving access to knowledge and encouraging people of all ages to develop and maintain a love of reading. That is why the Scottish Government is funding the Scottish Library and Information Council to develop a national strategy for school libraries and is investing £1 million over three years through the School Library Improvement Fund. I also launched 'How good is our school library?', a companion guide to the 'How good is our school?' framework. Endorsed by Education Scotland, it aims to support library staff and senior managers to evaluate the specific contributions the library makes to school improvement. It is the responsibility of local authorities to determine the requirements for their school libraries, including the recruitment and deployment of school library staff, taking into account local needs. The Scottish Government believes there should be a strong library service in our Schools.
