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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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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
25 Jun 2019
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
13 Jun 2019
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
13 Jun 2019
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
12 Jun 2019
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
11 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
So, you have given teachers guidance.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
Thank you. That is very fair.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
That is welcome.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
But you are not aware of it.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
That is not what I asked. Can you answer the question?
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
Indeed.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Inquiry
I have some supplementary questions to ask in this area.
Tavish Scott LD Chamber
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
05 Jun 2019
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
30 May 2019
Arts Funding
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
30 May 2019
Arts Funding
There is a lesson there.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
30 May 2019
Arts Funding
Ken Mathieson’s point was that assessors would, in his case, have been people who knew about jazz.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
30 May 2019
Arts Funding
So, you think that the previous system had considerable advantages.
Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD Committee
30 May 2019
Arts Funding
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
16 May 2019
Local Commercial Radio
Thank you.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
16 May 2019
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
16 May 2019
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
16 May 2019
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
16 May 2019
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
15 May 2019
Subject Choices Inquiry
Would it be fair to say that that has taken place at local authority level?
Tavish Scott LD Committee
15 May 2019
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
15 May 2019
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
15 May 2019
Subject Choices Inquiry
I will try asking the questions. I am the teacher here, so hold on a minute.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
15 May 2019
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
15 May 2019
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
15 May 2019
Education
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
15 May 2019
Education
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
09 May 2019
Article 50 (International Trade)
Is that fundamentally whisky and salmon farming?
Tavish Scott LD Committee
09 May 2019
Article 50 (International Trade)
It is outwith the UK.
Tavish Scott LD Committee
09 May 2019
Article 50 (International Trade)
With whom is the surplus?
Tavish Scott LD Committee
09 May 2019
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
09 May 2019
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
09 May 2019
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
09 May 2019
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
09 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
Subject Choices Inquiry
Is that the most significant issue?
Tavish Scott LD Committee
08 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
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
08 May 2019
Subject Choices Inquiry
I was not persuaded.
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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 25 June 2019

25 Jun 2019 · S5 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Education Reforms
Swinney, John SNP Perthshire North Watch on SPTV

I encourage members to look at the report that has been produced by the working group on career pathways, led by Moyra Boland of the University of Glasgow. It is a very refreshing read that covers the creation of new pathways in subject specialism, pedagogical specialism and disciplines within the education system, such as additional support needs. The review undertook work on my behalf to create alternative routes to administrative leadership within the education system, so that we could entrench outstanding classroom practice within our classrooms and celebrate it, and that is what the review has generated.

In the same item of business

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Christine Grahame) SNP
The next item of business is a statement by John Swinney that provides an update on Scotland’s education reforms. The Deputy First Minister will take questio...
The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills (John Swinney) SNP
Presiding Officer, the relentless focus of this Government is to deliver an education system in Scotland that raises attainment for all, closes the attainmen...
The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP
The cabinet secretary will now take questions on his statement. As usual, we have about 20 minutes.
Liz Smith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con
I thank the cabinet secretary for prior sight of his statement. On the programme for government, the First Minister told us in 2017 that “A new Education B...
John Swinney SNP
That question covered quite a lot of topics, Presiding Officer, so you will forgive me as I try to address them. In my statement to Parliament, I have recor...
The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP
I understand that there were a lot of questions, so that was a long answer. I also appreciate that front-bench members should get the chance to ask their que...
Iain Gray (East Lothian) (Lab) Lab
Thank you, Presiding Officer. I also thank the cabinet secretary for early sight of his statement. We have known for a year what the statement would say. Ev...
John Swinney SNP
I spend all my time focused on the real issues that face Scottish education, which is why I follow the international evidence that says that a successful edu...
The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP
There are 13 questioners and 10 minutes. You are being told.
Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green) Green
The intention behind devolving powers to schools is to empower headteachers as education leaders, but it is not clear what accountability mechanisms are in p...
John Swinney SNP
Headteachers are senior employees of local authorities and will remain so under the reforms, which means that there is a direct line of accountability in rel...
Tavish Scott (Shetland Islands) (LD) LD
Is not the reality for parents and teachers unspent pupil equity fund money, unfilled headteacher vacancies and more bureaucracy in classrooms through yet mo...
John Swinney SNP
I listened to the independent review that I commissioned on that question, which found that there was significant value in primary 1 standardised assessments...
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) SNP
The cabinet secretary has previously said—I quote—that “the best decisions about children’s education are taken by people who know them best—their teachers,...
John Swinney SNP
The quotation that Clare Adamson read out reflects my reading of the international evidence, which argues for more and more decisions to be taken in the clas...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con) Con
In his statement this time last year, the Deputy First Minister spoke of consensus building being at the heart of his approach following the shelving of the ...
John Swinney SNP
The reform is being managed through the democratic process of this Parliament, and it is being managed in collaboration with our local authority partners, wh...
Jenny Gilruth (Mid Fife and Glenrothes) (SNP) SNP
The cabinet secretary will be aware of the reduction in subject-specific principal teacher roles coupled with a movement to faculty heads in recent years, pa...
John Swinney SNP
I encourage members to look at the report that has been produced by the working group on career pathways, led by Moyra Boland of the University of Glasgow. I...
Mary Fee (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab
Provision of services for those with additional support needs is fragmented across local authorities and, similarly, we know that local authorities use a var...
John Swinney SNP
Home link staff play a valuable role in our education system. I see increasing numbers of schools opting to use pupil equity funding to establish much greate...
Rona Mackay (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP) SNP
Will the cabinet secretary expand on how his reforms will help to raise standards and close the poverty-related attainment gap?
John Swinney SNP
One of the very clear outcomes of the implementation of the Scottish attainment challenge and pupil equity funding has been an ever-sharper focus within the ...
Jamie Halcro Johnston (Highlands and Islands) (Con) Con
The Scottish Government statistics for 2017-18 show that the gap between the most and least affluent people going to university has increased in the last yea...
John Swinney SNP
On the measures that we have published, the attainment gap is clearly closing and has closed over time. On the point about access to university education, th...
Tom Arthur (Renfrewshire South) (SNP) SNP
How has the Scottish Government ensured that the voices of parents and pupils have been heard throughout the reform process, and will continue to be heard, g...
John Swinney SNP
The National Parent Forum of Scotland is a key partner in all our reform activity. We listen closely to the content of its thinking on all aspects of the edu...
Daniel Johnson (Edinburgh Southern) (Lab) Lab
The one hard figure in the statement is the £5 million for regional improvement collaboratives. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that that will be recurring...
The Deputy Presiding Officer SNP
That is more than one question.
John Swinney SNP
I cannot give Mr Johnson the head count number on new roles created through the funding for regional improvement collaboratives, but I will happily write to ...