Meeting of the Parliament Thursday 2 June 2016 Session 5 © Parliamentary copyright. Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body Information on the Scottish Parliament’s copyright policy can be found on the website - www.parliament.scot or by contacting Public Information on 0131 348 5000 Thursday 2 June 2016 CONTENTS Col. FIRST MINISTER’S QUESTION TIME ..................................................................................................................... 1 Engagements ................................................................................................................................................ 1 Scottish Trades Union Congress (Meetings) ................................................................................................ 5 Cabinet (Meetings) ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Cabinet (Meetings) ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Air Weapons (Impact of Ban) ..................................................................................................................... 14 “The Lockerbie Bombing” ........................................................................................................................... 15 Rape Victims (Support during Police Investigation) ................................................................................... 16 Local Government Reform ......................................................................................................................... 17 TAKING SCOTLAND FORWARD: CREATING A FAIRER SCOTLAND ........................................................................ 19 Motion moved—[Angela Constance]. Amendment moved—[Adam Tomkins]. Amendment moved—[Alex Rowley]. The Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities (Angela Constance).................. 19 Adam Tomkins (Glasgow) (Con) ................................................................................................................ 23 Alex Rowley (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab) ................................................................................................ 28 Christina McKelvie (Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse) (SNP) ............................................................... 30 Annie Wells (Glasgow) (Con) ..................................................................................................................... 32 James Dornan (Glasgow Cathcart) (SNP) ................................................................................................. 35 Pauline McNeill (Glasgow) (Lab) ................................................................................................................ 38 Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP) ............................................................................................................ 40 Maurice Corry (West Scotland) (Con) ........................................................................................................ 42 Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP) ...................................................................................... 44 Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Lab) ................................................................................................... 47 Gail Ross (Caithness, Sutherland and Ross) (SNP) .................................................................................. 49 Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green)............................................................................................................ 51 Mairi Evans (Angus North and Mearns) (SNP) .......................................................................................... 53 Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD) .......................................................................................... 56 Rona Mackay (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (SNP) ..................................................................................... 58 Graham Simpson (Central Scotland) (Con) ............................................................................................... 59 Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab) ........................................................................................................................ 61 Bob Doris (Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn) (SNP) ................................................................................ 63 Mark Griffin (Central Scotland) (Lab).......................................................................................................... 65 Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)....................................................................................................... 67 The Minister for Local Government and Housing (Kevin Stewart) ............................................................. 70 DECISION TIME ................................................................................................................................................ 74 1 2 JUNE 2016 2 improvement framework will lead to more Scottish Parliament comprehensive school-by-school data that will allow us to target our efforts more closely. Thursday 2 June 2016 Of course, the survey predates any impact from the work that we have already started—work on [The Presiding Officer opened the meeting at the attainment challenge, focusing on literacy and 12:00] numeracy, and additional resources through the attainment fund that are targeted on schools in our First Minister’s Question Time most deprived areas. The Presiding Officer (Ken Macintosh): Good In the delivery plan that John Swinney will afternoon. The first item of business is First outline before the summer recess, we will set out Minister’s question time. As members will know, plans for further reforms—a new funding formula, having introduced a new format I would like to take more resources going directly to schools and as many contributions as possible. In that spirit, I greater empowerment of headteachers and ask all members to keep their questions short and parents. their answers as succinct as possible. I have made clear on numerous occasions—I do so again today—how important this issue is to me Engagements and to this Government and we are determined to 1. Ruth Davidson (Edinburgh Central) (Con): drive the improvements that all of us want to see. To ask the First Minister what engagements she Ruth Davidson: The view might be different has planned for the rest of the day. (S5F-00011) from this side of the chamber, but the answers are The First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon): I will still the same and they are just as long. have engagements to take forward the Let us turn to the First Minister’s plan to make Government’s programme for Scotland. this right. She mentioned data. Last year, she said Ruth Davidson: This week, we learnt that a that she was frustrated that the Government did third of secondary 2 pupils are not meeting basic not know enough about standards for younger standards in numeracy; that, in the past four pupils and that she wanted more information about years, the percentage of primary 4 pupils performance to be made available. The Deputy performing well in numeracy has fallen by 10 per First Minister—now, of course, the education cent; and that the attainment gap between children secretary—also admitted that there was a from richer and poorer backgrounds has, under “weakness” because information was not collected the Scottish National Party, got wider. nationally. In other words, no one was able to see what was going on. Their answer was We have already had one ministerial apology in standardised assessments. Will those the chamber this week for the Government’s assessments give all the information that the First performance. Are parents and pupils not due one, Minister has said the country needs? too? The First Minister: If Ruth Davidson had read The First Minister: I have made clear, as has the national improvement framework, and if she the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills this had listened closely to the debate over the week, that the findings of the Scottish survey of previous weeks and months—as I am sure she literacy and numeracy are not acceptable. The did, to be fair to her—she would know the answers duty of this Government—my duty as First to those questions. Minister—working, of course, with local authorities and others, is to ensure that we have an education Standardised assessments will be introduced system in which standards are rising and the and work is on-going to ensure that they are inequality gap is closing. That is what we are introduced later this year. Standardised determined to bring about, which is why we have assessments will, for the first time, inform the embarked on a major programme of reform and judgments that teachers make about the number improvement in our education system. of pupils who are meeting the required levels of curriculum for excellence. A key part of that is making sure that, in future, we have much better data than the data provided For the first time, we are going to publish—not for us in the SSLN. That survey is limited in its just local authority by local authority, but school by coverage—it is based on a sample that includes school—the percentage of pupils who are and, just four pupils per primary school and 12 pupils crucially, who are not meeting the required levels per secondary school. Crucially, although it gives of curriculum for excellence.