Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-25634

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 5 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of it approaching four years since the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, First Do No Harm, was published, and that three years have nearly passed since the Scottish Government published its plan for delivering on its commitment to implement, in full, the recommendations of the review, whether it will (a) provide an update on its delivery plan and (b) confirm when it expects to implement the remaining recommendations of the review to improve the lives of those impacted by sodium valproate, Primados and mesh implants.

There has been progress in implementing the Scottish Government’s delivery plan:

the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland Act 2023 established a Parliamentary Commissioner on patient safety
the Glasgow Complex Mesh Surgical Service offers mesh removal surgery, and women can also choose an NHS England surgeon or an independent provider
25 women have had the costs of previously arranged private mesh removal surgery reimbursed
the NHS Scotland Scan for Safety Programme for implantable medical devices is planned to roll out across territorial boards by the end of March 2026
on valproate, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency introduced regulatory measures for the prescribing of valproate and we are working closely with the agency to support their implementation

The Scottish Government considers, further to the undertaking offered in 2021, that it is taking appropriate action to pursue the outcomes sought by all of the recommendations of the 2020 report insofar as they relate to devolved matters.

Question reference: S6W-25357

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason Scottish National Standardised Assessments and National Standardised Assessments for Scotland reportedly do not include a calculation of pupil reading age, in light of it being recommended during specification meetings in 2015 that a functional reading age test for P7 pupils was required.

When the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland were first being developed, it was agreed in consultation with Scottish literacy experts that the reading assessments should be based on specific organisers within the Curriculum for Excellence – these being “Tools for reading”, “Finding and using information”, and “Understanding, analysing and evaluating”. This was because the relationship between the assessments and CfE was deemed a more useful output for teachers than a notional reading age.

As learners can undertake the assessments at any time in the school year, teachers are able to compare learner outcomes against a cohort of learners who completed their assessments at a similar stage in the year, rather than by age. This comparison has been statistically validated through norming studies and provides valuable diagnostic information to teachers, helping to inform their wider assessment of learner progress in literacy.

Question reference: S6W-25364

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the total number of pupils have not completed the Scottish National Standardised Assessments and National Standardised Assessments for Scotland assessment questions for their year group, in each year since 2017.

Question reference: S6W-25358

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 4 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what percentage of the total number of pupils have left primary school functionally illiterate with a reading age of below nine and a half years, in each year since 2017.

Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels (ACEL) data for 2022-23 showed record levels of attainment in literacy with 73% of primary school pupils achieving the expected Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) level for literacy, the highest figure since records began in 2016/17.

The proportion of P7 pupils achieving the expected level were at record highs in 2022-23 for literacy, and for each of the literacy organisers including reading where 81% achieved the expected level. The literacy gap between Primary 7 pupils from the most and most deprived areas and those from the least deprived areas was the narrowest on record in 2022-23 (20.5 percentage points). More information can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/achievement-curriculum-excellence-cfe-levels-2022-23/documents/

Question reference: S6O-03174

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to support rural NHS boards.

Question reference: S6W-25359

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for how long Scottish National Standardised Assessments and National Standardised Assessments for Scotland data is retained in a pupil’s file.

NSA data is retained for the duration of a pupil’s interaction with the school system, in order to ensure that school and local authority based longitudinal analysis of individuals’ assessment history is supported.

When learners leave the Scottish school system, their personal data will be retained for a maximum of nine months and then deleted. After that nine months, pupils’ assessments are retained in anonymised format. This allows longitudinal analysis at school level, beyond the point where a child or young person is attending school.

Question reference: S6W-25363

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when the AlphaPlus annual report for 2022-23 regarding the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland will be published.

Question reference: S6W-25360

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government who took the decision to not automatically provide a copy of Scottish National Standardised Assessments pupil assessment reports to the pupil and their parent(s), and for what reason this decision was taken.

I am advised that this decision was taken jointly by the Scottish Government and Education Scotland when the assessments were introduced in 2017. This position fits within a wider policy approach, guided by Education Scotland, around discussing assessment outcomes with parents and learners.

I am advised that the view at that time was that presenting National Standardised Assessment data or reports to parents and learners on a standalone basis would run contrary to the diagnostic purpose of the assessments, and the central role of teacher judgement in considering NSA data amongst wider assessment activities.

NSA reports are designed for teachers, who have access to training and guidance on the use of these adaptive assessments and their outputs, allowing them to interpret and use the report format appropriately.

Question reference: S6W-25362

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has compared the Scottish National Standardised Assessments Curriculum for Excellence assessment level results with the equivalent teacher-derived Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels for each year since 2017.

The Scottish Government does not compare or analyse outcomes data from the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland against Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels data, as these each have a distinct purpose and should not be compared directly.

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland have been designed to provide diagnostic information to teachers, schools and local authorities on children’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy, and to inform next steps in learning and teaching. They provide teachers with a valuable additional source of nationally standardised information to add to their existing understanding of children’s progress. NSA data can be used as a part of a range of evidence when assessing children’s achievement of the relevant Curriculum for Excellence levels. However, they do not assess whether learners have or have not achieved a level within the Curriculum for Excellence.

Question reference: S6W-25361

Asked by: Oliver Mundell, MSP for Dumfriesshire, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 22 February 2024

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason ACER UK has not produced a Scottish National Standardised Assessments annual report for (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22, and, if it is the case that the Scottish Government received the data for these years, whether it has conducted its own analysis.

National level reports on the NSA were not commissioned in 2019-20 or 2020-21, due to Covid-19 related disruption. The National Report was also not commissioned in 2021-22, as the handover process from the phase one SNSA supplier (ACER), to the current phase two supplier (AlphaPlus Ltd), was underway.

The National Standardised Assessments for Scotland are designed to provide valuable diagnostic information to teachers, schools and local authorities, on children’s progress in aspects of literacy and numeracy.

Academic Year	17-18	18-19	19-20	20-21	21-22	22-23
P1	6%	11%	90%	21%	19%	13%
P4	4%	4%	57%	6%	7%	5%
P7	3%	3%	45%	7%	5%	7%
S3	9%	10%	54%	49%	22%	20%

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