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Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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1999–2026

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Official Report

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

Education Reforms

Is not the reality for parents and teachers unspent pupil equity fund money, unfilled headteacher vacancies and more bureaucracy in classrooms through yet more guidance? If the education secretary wants to work with teachers, as he has said to Parliament today, why does he not...

Tavish Scott LD Chamber

General Question Time · Jarlshof (Coach Parking)

Sumburgh hotel, local bus businesses and the cruise line industry have been told for three years that Historic Environment Scotland, the agencies and the Government would sort out those coach park facilities, but all that we have had has been endless buck passing. Why?

8. Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

General Question Time · Jarlshof (Coach Parking)

To ask the Scottish Government what progress is being made in developing coach park facilities for the Jarlshof site in Shetland. (S5O-03389)

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3

As others have observantly noted, the bill is somewhat short, with only three sections, so I am more confident than usual that everyone in the debate will genuinely have read the whole thing, which is possibly not something that we will be able to say about the Planning (Scotl...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

Primary 1 Standardised Assessments

I thank the cabinet secretary for his statement. Will he explain to Parliament why he hired an academic from the English educational regime that nationalists condemn, and from a country where high-stakes testing is the norm, to produce the arguments that he wanted? How many mo...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

But that does not involve giving Susan Boyd the support that she needs, which involves extra assistance in her class to get those kids out of school.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

So, you have given teachers guidance.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

What is Education Scotland doing to break down the barriers that exist in terms of risk?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

Are there some practical things that you would like to be done that would help that to happen? You mentioned the Care Inspectorate. Does it have to do a bit more in that regard? Could other agencies do something?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

In your submission, you made a good point about taking children outside the school and into the wider world. I come from a farming background, and when I was farming—long before I was in politics—we used to get primary classes coming to the farm around lambing time. The childr...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

Thank you. That is very fair.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

I want to go back to the point that Susan Boyd made about her union’s submission on initiatives. It helpfully sets out five initiatives—I can think of six, if we include languages in schools—that primary school teachers are being asked to implement, if that is the right expres...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

That is not the point that Susan Boyd was making. She was talking about support for teachers in primary classes.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

That is welcome.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

That is not what asked. I wonder whether Andrew Bruce can give us some context to this issue.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

But you are not aware of it.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

But you have just explained to Jenny Gilruth that you are in charge of STEM for Education Scotland. Are you telling us that you are not aware of this issue being flagged up?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

That is not what I asked. Can you answer the question?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

As far as you are aware, the teaching of STEM has never been flagged up in an inspection report as being affected by the pressure that Susan Boyd and thousands of teachers across Scotland have been reporting.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

Ian Menzies, is there one school inspection report that demonstrates that this is an issue in Scottish education?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

According the Government’s own figures, class sizes in primary schools are rising significantly in most parts of Scotland, so the general pressures are clear and, I assume, affect all aspects of teaching.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

I wonder whether our teachers can tell us whether the rising class sizes in primary schools are helping or hindering the teaching of STEM subjects.

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry

I have some supplementary questions to ask in this area.

Tavish Scott LD Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Teachers Pay Agreement (Implications for Public Sector Pay Policy)

As the minister will be aware, exactly the same circumstances apply to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd with regard to the pending air traffic controllers strike, which has been suspended for next Wednesday but is still threatened for the future. Will she bring the same flex...

5. Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

Portfolio Question Time · Teachers Pay Agreement (Implications for Public Sector Pay Policy)

To ask the Scottish Government what the implications are for its public sector pay policy of the agreement reached with the teaching profession. (S5O-03328)

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

Sustainable Aquaculture

The cabinet secretary will be aware that the Norwegian industry is trialling a mechanism to filter fish medicines out of the water that is used to treat fish. Will he immediately ensure that those trials are replicated in Scotland, to the benefit of the marine environment and ...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Will Richard Demarco give us a perspective on assessment of artistic quality? Is there a role for that in funding of arts?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

There is a lesson there.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Ken Mathieson’s point was that assessors would, in his case, have been people who knew about jazz.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

So, you think that the previous system had considerable advantages.

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

I am very tempted to get into that philosophical discussion, but perhaps I had better not. David Leddy has already touched on this issue. The really interesting bit in your submission, in the context of peer review, is your observation that “Organisations should not receive ...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Local Commercial Radio

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Local Commercial Radio

So you do not think that, five years hence, the consumer will have made much of a switch to other platforms—apart, of course, from Spotify and the other radio services that we have mentioned. Broadly speaking, we will still be listening to FM radio.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Local Commercial Radio

I do not want to steal George Adam’s thunder, but I just want to understand this point. Is the view that you have just expressed that of commercial radio not just in Scotland but across the whole of the UK?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Local Commercial Radio

When you say short to mid-term, what do you mean? Is it 10 years?

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

Local Commercial Radio

First, I thank Mr Findlay for mentioning Ian Anderson and the SIBC. Forgive me for the daft-laddie question, but why do you want to expand on FM?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Would it be fair to say that that has taken place at local authority level?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

As a committee, we found that to be one of the most difficult exercises. I do not know whether any of you sat on the implementing the curriculum group, but when we looked at it we found that it was not covered in success. There were nine years of it going around in circles.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

No kidding. What Larry Flanagan said relates to Alasdair Allan’s question about the agencies. The clarity that we would all expect from the system is not there from Education Scotland, the senior advisor to the Government. That is the part that I am interested in. You have al...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

I will try asking the questions. I am the teacher here, so hold on a minute.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Thank you for that, but you have kind of made my point: you all gave a range of different answers. You are all raising your hands now, but you have just given your answers.

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

I apologise for my lateness. It is not every day that a primary school from Shetland comes down to the Parliament, so I was showing the children around. They had a lot of questions that they would ask you guys, but I will resist saying what they were, because Alasdair Allan mi...

Tavish Scott LD Chamber

I entirely take the point that the cabinet secretary has just made about the three-year senior phase, but is not that one of the aspects that could be carefully considered in the OECD review? Parliament considered that last week. In fairness, I point out that the Government ac...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

We are debating education on the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament, after 12 years of Scottish National Party Government and four years on from the First Minister’s speech saying that education policy is number 1. Why do teachers, parents and young people see little ...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

Is that fundamentally whisky and salmon farming?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

It is outwith the UK.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

With whom is the surplus?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

My last question is related to Tony Mackay’s briefing paper, which was sent to your office. I thought that giving you a fair chance to look at it was a courteous thing to do. He made an interesting point about import substitution, which I had not thought about, and the context...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

In relation to your point about your agencies, do I gather from your published documents that you are thinking of making plans for Scottish Development International in the context of what you have discussed this morning? Could you lay those plans out for the committee?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

I agree. Related to that, is it important whether businesses that operate out of Scotland are foreign owned or domestically owned? The two obvious examples in food and drink are the whisky industry and the salmon farming industry, which are predominantly foreign owned but are ...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

Article 50 (International Trade)

Minister, are you prepared to concede that although we talk up trade deals, they have their limitations? Bombardier has just announced the closure of its operation in Northern Ireland regardless of the Canada-EU trade deal. Do you accept that although they are important for bu...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Chamber

First Minister’s Question Time · Private Nurseries

The Central private nursery in Shetland will close in a month’s time. The nursery failed to recruit staff because public sector nurseries are paying more and recruiting to fulfil the expansion of childcare. Twenty families will be directly affected by the loss of the nursery, ...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Thank you. I am trying not to put words in your mouth, but I think that the panel has argued in favour of moving forward, not going back. I get that. There must be two or three aspects to that argument that we should see as a committee. What are the two or three aspects—maybe...

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

I am very interested in the take that it is about two, two, two versus what we now have. That is not necessarily the issue. You think that there are other pressures that are causing teacher shortages in your disciplines.

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Is that the most significant issue?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Why are we failing in spite of the very sensible collegiate cross-party support for STEM subjects and getting more women into science and so on? Do we not have enough teachers? What is your diagnosis of what is the main problem?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

Do you think that fewer girls and boys who want to take a science discipline are able to go into the senior phase now than was the case some years back? Has that narrowing of choice made it more difficult to pursue a science career?

Tavish Scott LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

If it is any consolation, Francisco, my son’s nine year-old class can all pronounce the Christian names and surnames of the Barcelona first team immaculately, as they were doing last night—they can also sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, but not in Spanish. I want to ask Tess W...

Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee

Subject Choices Inquiry

I was not persuaded.

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Committee

Education and Skills Committee 15 May 2019

15 May 2019 · S5 · Education and Skills Committee

Item of business

Subject Choices Inquiry

Scott, Tavish LD Shetland Islands Watch on SPTV

As a committee, we found that to be one of the most difficult exercises. I do not know whether any of you sat on the implementing the curriculum group, but when we looked at it we found that it was not covered in success. There were nine years of it going around in circles.

In the same item of business

The Deputy Convener (Johann Lamont) Lab

Welcome to the 16th meeting of the Education and Skills Committee in 2019. We have received apologies from the convener, Clare Adamson, and from Ross Greer a...

Jenny Gilruth (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP) SNP

Good morning. I want to start by taking you all back in time to the development of the senior phase in schools and your involvement in that. Having been a de...

Gerry Lyons (Association of Directors of Education in Scotland)

ADES was involved with the stakeholder groups that existed and the groups that were having discussions about the development of the curriculum at that time. ...

Tony McDaid (South Lanarkshire Council)

At that time I was a headteacher in a local authority, and I remember it quite well. As schools and as a local authority, we worked together to shape some of...

The Deputy Convener Lab

I will come back to you in a minute. Does anybody else on the panel want to respond from their experience?

Gerry Lyons

Also speaking as someone who was a headteacher at the time, I remember that one of the interesting discussions that were taking place was on the support mate...

Jenny Gilruth SNP

I will move on to how the senior phase looks now compared with how it looked five or 10 years ago. Vincent Doherty’s submission says that curriculum for exce...

Vincent Docherty (Aberdeenshire Council)

The words “it could be argued that” should probably have gone before the words “the S5/6 timetable” in the submission. I was a headteacher in Maryhill for a...

Gerry Lyons

I support that completely. The senior phase concept that I was trying to take forward and that I am still taking forward is that it is a learner journey for ...

Jenny Gilruth SNP

I take Vincent Doherty’s point about the five-column structure being suitable for the most able but not really meeting the needs of kids who were not able to...

Gerry Lyons

One thing that we must continue to do is get better at telling that story to people who came through a five-column structure, for example, and give them that...

Mark Ratter (East Renfrewshire Council)

I think that I agree with Gerry Lyons. The issue is very much about ensuring that we have a senior phase that meets the needs of all our learners. In East Re...

Pauline Stephen (Angus Council)

I agree with my colleagues. One of our biggest challenges is communicating with parents about all the options that are available to our young people and enab...

Jenny Gilruth SNP

Finally, on the point that Mark Ratter made about raising attainment, I guess that, in the past, local authorities were responsible for looking at how to do ...

Mark Ratter

I can talk about East Renfrewshire. We still have the expectation and focus that the central team, along with our headteachers and schools, has responsibilit...

Tony McDaid

Within the local authority, there is still a need for that degree of support, and we would base that centrally. However, our headteachers definitely see them...

Gerry Lyons

From a Glasgow perspective, and a local authority one, I reflect that view completely. Something that was, and remains, incredibly positive is the networking...

The Deputy Convener Lab

You could provide those to us in a paper. 09:45

Gerry Lyons

The message is that we want people to be empowered and to work together, and schools are very much in that space.

Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab) Lab

I have a follow-up question for Pauline Stephen. You spoke about pupils and parents understanding the potential routes through the different pathways that ar...

Pauline Stephen

My earlier statement was not necessarily about consistency but about finding better ways of explaining to people what their choices are and what the implicat...

Iain Gray Lab

But is the problem not usually the course choice booklets? If the course choices are so complex and diverse that people have trouble navigating them, I am no...

Pauline Stephen

Nationally, there are very good examples of excellent course choice booklets, which we, in Angus, are looking at to help us to improve our offer. I go back t...

Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con

I draw the panel’s attention to the evidence that has been presented to us in previous sessions, and specifically to that from academics and the Educational ...

Gerry Lyons

My first comment is that there should not be. There is an iterative element to the issue. Such a disconnect might have been in place three, four or five year...

Liz Smith Con

I will pick up that issue. Some argue strongly that, with the BGE, progression for languages and the first taste of science subjects is weak, because there i...

Gerry Lyons

I do not accept that, although I understand where the question comes from. Because I was coming here today, I have taken time to check in with modern langua...

Liz Smith Con

Given the pretty dire statistics for modern languages and the uptake at higher and advanced higher, is your point that the senior phase as now designed will ...

Gerry Lyons

I have seen that evidence. I am very interested in it, and two things occurred to me about it. Curriculum for excellence was designed to give our young peopl...

Liz Smith Con

It will not get them SQA qualifications if they have to drop those subjects.