Teacher to primary school pupil ratio in the Western Isles council area: FOI release

Information requested

Teacher to primary school pupil ratio in the Western Isles council area.

You also asked, how much has it cost to translate all Government correspondence, local and national, public signs, emergency vehicles, the name of the council to Com… etc and subsidise travel for islanders.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

Ratio of teachers to primary school pupils in the Western Isles.

The ratio of teachers and pupils is usually expressed as the pupils to teacher ratio (PTR). Statistics on the primary PTR are published in Table 7.2 of the teacher census supplementary statistics.

The ratio of teachers to pupils in the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar) in 2023 was 0.09. Below you can see a table created from information within the teacher census supplementary statistics that shows the PTR for previous years.

Year	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017
PTR	11.4	11.1	11.1	11.9	11.9	11.6	11.6

Translation Costs.

Regarding the cost to translate all Government correspondence, local and national, The Scottish Government does not hold this information. For local Government correspondence costs incurred, we do not hold information on costs incurred by individual local authorities. The publicly available link to ask this FOI request of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar is Freedom of Information – Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (cne-siar.gov.uk).

For Scottish Government translation costs of correspondence, we do not hold a specific cost as they are translated in-house by the Gaelic and Scots Division and the Scottish Government does not have a method to disaggregate this spending. Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

Public Signs.

The cost for including the Gaelic names on public signs is not entirely incurred by the Scottish Government, local road signs and other road furniture is under the remit of the local authorities, as such it is not held by the Scottish Government. Transport Scotland, which comes under the remit of the Scottish Government, is responsible for signs on trunk roads. Transport Scotland does not have the information you have asked for. While its records finance system includes costs for traffic signs the rates do not differentiate by sign type or language. Transport Scotland additionally do not hold any information to enable the cost of Gaelic road signs to be disaggregated from overall totals. Therefore, Transport Scotland does not hold any information to enable the costs associated with Gaelic road signs to be distinguished between a single language and bi-lingual sign from the overall totals.

Gaelic translation costs for emergency vehicles are not incurred by the Scottish Government. Costs for police vehicles are incurred by Police Scotland, so for requesting Gaelic translation costs for their vehicles you will have to request that directly at https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-toinformation/ freedom-of-information/.  Costs for ambulances are incurred by the Scottish Ambulance Service, so for requesting Gaelic translation costs for their vehicles you will have to request directly at https://www.scottishambulance.com/contact-us/freedom-of-information/making-an-foi-request/. Costs for Fire and Rescue vehicles are incurred by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, so for requesting Gaelic translation costs for their vehicles you will have to request that directly at Information requests | Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (firescotland.gov.uk). Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested.

Gaelic translation costs for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar are not incurred by the Scottish Government. As a local authority the Western Isles was bilingual upon inception when a standalone Western Isles Council/Comhairle nan Eilean Siar was created for the first time in 1975. It legally changed its name to just Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in 1997. This predates the establishment of a devolved Scottish Government. Therefore, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have this information you have requested.

Subsidised Travel for Islanders.

Air Subsidies for Island Communities.

The Scottish Government provides funding to support the operations of Highlands and Islands Airport Limited (HIAL). HIAL operates airports at Barra, Benbecula, Campbeltown, Dundee, Inverness, Islay, Kirkwall, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Tiree and Wick. The budget available to HIAL in 2023-24 was £59.5 million.

The Highlands and Islands Air Discount Scheme provides residents of the eligible area with a 50% discount on the core ticket price on eligible routes. The eligible area includes Colonsay, Orkney, Shetland, the Western Isles, Islay, Jura, Caithness and parts of Sutherland. In 2023-24 the scheme will cost over £12.7 million.

The Scottish Government subsidises the operation of the Glasgow to Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra air services. In 2023-24 the subsidy requirement is £6.5 million.

Bus Subsidies for Island Communities.

The Scottish Government provided £202,166.09 under the National Concessionary Travel Schemes in the financial year 2022/23. The concessionary travel payments are reimbursement payments to bus and ferry operators for carrying concessionary passengers. The cost also covers payments where island cardholders may travel on to the mainland with their entitlement card and vice versa, journeys made from mainland to islands will be included in the reimbursement.

The Scottish Government also provided £1,242,243.62 through the Network Support Grant in 2022/23. The Network Support Grant is an annual discretionary grant that subsidises both commercial and community bus operators by supporting Scotland’s bus network for the benefit of passengers, aiming to keep fares more affordable and networks more extensive than would otherwise be the case.

Ferry Subsidies for Island Communities.

The Scottish Government has invested more than £2 billion in our ferry services since 2007.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.