- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money is guaranteed for "supporting construction of the Borders Rail Line" as referred to in the transport section of A Partnership for a Better Scotland.
Answer
For capital infrastructure projects over 10 years, we have £3 billion of investment moneys, within which we have the necessary resources to implement a Borders railway project, subject to the appraisal being conducted under the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding will be made available for the installation of rail loops at Reston and, if so, when it will be made available.
Answer
I understand that there are no current plans for funding rail loops at Reston. The Strategic Rail Authority are the lead body for the enhancement of the east coast main line.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments it is making of the operation of its care in the community policies.
Answer
The Executive sets the overall direction for community care policies. Local authorities must implement these, having regard to their statutory duties and to meeting the needs of their local residents. Central and local government work together to monitor the success of policy implementation through a variety of mechanisms and agencies. These include the collection of statistical information on inputs and outcomes; the establishment of Local Outcome Agreements for specific services; the Joint Performance Information and Assessment Framework, used to evaluate the implementation of the joint delivery of community care services by local authority/NHS Partnerships under the Joint Future Agenda; regulation and inspection of services against National Care Standards by the Care Commission; performance audits undertaken by Audit Scotland to ensure value for money, and assessment and review of services by the Social Work Services Inspectorate, either through the Chief Inspector's Annual Report or, where necessary, through a review of a particular local authority or service.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding was given by each local authority in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 to assist in the policy of inclusivity in schools of children with special educational needs, with reference to paragraph 4.7 of chapter 4 of the Auditor General's report Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools.
Answer
The costs of educating children with special educational needs are met mainly from local authorities' general expenditure. However, the Scottish Executive has provided additional funding to support inclusion and staff development and training, as set out in the following tables.Table A: Inclusion Programme (w.e.f. April 2000)
Council | 2000-01(£) | 2001-02(£) | 2002-03 (£) |
Aberdeen City | 235,081 | 559,728 | 789,565 |
Aberdeenshire | 281,989 | 671,416 | 940,276 |
Angus | 126,800 | 301,911 | 423,887 |
Argyll and Bute | 99,131 | 236,030 | 325,925 |
Clackmannanshire | 58,677 | 142,267 | 195,108 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 166,497 | 396,428 | 553,058 |
Dundee City | 169,239 | 402,958 | 558,378 |
East Ayrshire | 144,593 | 344,276 | 481,870 |
East Dunbartonshire | 127,702 | 304,058 | 423,835 |
East Lothian | 102,474 | 243,992 | 347,795 |
East Renfrewshire | 105,881 | 252,103 | 355,731 |
Edinburgh, City of | 462,733 | 1,101,767 | 1,556,880 |
Eilean Siar | 33,424 | 87,494 | 108,255 |
Falkirk | 166,180 | 395,675 | 554,271 |
Fife | 417,877 | 994,966 | 1,395,147 |
Glasgow City | 718,370 | 1,710,438 | 2,376,008 |
Highland | 250,276 | 595,908 | 830,808 |
Inverclyde | 103,703 | 246,918 | 345,629 |
Midlothian | 95,740 | 227,957 | 320,536 |
Moray | 105,549 | 251,312 | 349,302 |
North Ayrshire | 172,329 | 410,315 | 572,830 |
North Lanarkshire | 404,989 | 964,279 | 1,351,617 |
Orkney Islands | 30,000 | 66,399 | 79,021 |
Perth and Kinross | 150,918 | 359,335 | 507,760 |
Renfrewshire | 210,927 | 502,217 | 706,957 |
Scottish Borders | 116,913 | 278,370 | 390,199 |
Shetland Islands | 30,365 | 80,860 | 99,365 |
South Ayrshire | 129,646 | 308,687 | 430,454 |
South Lanarkshire | 372,467 | 886,845 | 1,246,360 |
Stirling | 98,778 | 235,190 | 336,306 |
West Dunbartonshire | 119,329 | 284,122 | 402,433 |
West Lothian | 191,423 | 455,778 | 644,434 |
| 6,000,000 | 14,300,000 | 20,000,000 |
Table B: Staff Development and Training
Council | Awarded in Each Year 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02(£) | Awarded in 2002-03 (£) |
Aberdeen City | 168,940 | 266,894 |
Aberdeenshire | 218,337 | 344,004 |
Angus | 92,601 | 146,028 |
Argyll and Bute | 84,130 | 131,463 |
Clackmannanshire | 60,746 | 95,845 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 141,743 | 223,433 |
Dundee City | 121,411 | 191,715 |
East Ayrshire | 118,789 | 187,269 |
East Dunbartonshire | 104,780 | 165,216 |
East Lothian | 65,587 | 103,339 |
East Renfrewshire | 82,928 | 130,660 |
Edinburgh | 291,189 | 461,087 |
Eilean Siar | 56,777 | 86,493 |
Falkirk | 166,148 | 261,896 |
Fife | 320,174 | 504,523 |
Glasgow | 558,920 | 887,199 |
Highland | 184,529 | 288,303 |
Inverclyde | 85,875 | 135,357 |
Midlothian | 64,810 | 102,180 |
Moray | 78,829 | 124,251 |
North Ayrshire | 136,632 | 215,399 |
North Lanarkshire | 323,869 | 510,318 |
Orkney Islands | 61,178 | 93,705 |
Perthshire and Kinross | 105,863 | 166,786 |
Renfrewshire | 166,777 | 262,761 |
Scottish Borders | 68,569 | 108,110 |
Shetland Islands | 47,606 | 72,125 |
South Ayrshire | 100,580 | 158,606 |
South Lanarkshire | 291,930 | 459,964 |
Stirling | 93,077 | 146,782 |
West Dunbartonshire | 95,434 | 150,498 |
West Lothian | 125,793 | 198,289 |
| 4,684,551 | 7,380,500 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many special educational needs therapists there were in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03, broken down by local authority area, with reference to paragraph 4.65 of chapter 4 of the Auditor General's report Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools.
Answer
This information is not available since special educational needs therapist is not a recognised post.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is issued regarding the design for school buildings under private finance initiatives and public private partnership contracts to ensure that they meet the requirements for the inclusion of children with special educational needs, with reference to paragraph 4.31 of chapter 4 of the Auditor General's report Moving to mainstream: The inclusion of pupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools.
Answer
The Scottish Executive and COSLA school estate strategy, Building Our Future: Scotland's School Estate, sets out our vision and objectives to achieve improvements in the school estate over the long term. It emphasises the importance of good design and of taking account of the differing needs of all children and young people when improving the school environment. The Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 places a duty on local education authorities in Scotland to plan progressively to improve access to education for pupils with disabilities. The Scottish Executive issued Guidance on Preparing Accessibility Strategies in September 2002, detailing how consultation with staff, pupils and parents should be undertaken, when improvements to the physical environment, to the curriculum, and to communications with pupils with disabilities are planned and implemented.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will now review the law regarding the detention of those suffering from personality disorders that place the public at risk but do not currently justify statutory detention and what consideration it will give to introducing new statutory measures in respect of this matter.
Answer
The law relating to the detention of persons suffering from personality disorders was recently reviewed as part of the work of the Millan and McLean Committees. Their recommendations informed the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003, which received Royal Assent in March and April respectively this year and will come into force in due course. Given this, we see no benefit in a further review at this time. The operation of the new legislation will clearly be very closely monitored.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it will give to amending the law on the registration and/or monitoring of sex offenders in order to include retrospective provisions.
Answer
The Scottish Executive and the Home Office jointly reviewed the Sex Offenders Act in 2000 and published the results in July 2001. That review concluded that there was no viable way of extending the act to offenders convicted before the legislation came into force, beyond the limited retrospection with respect to those serving relevant sentences on 1 September 1997.There are measures, however, to protect the public from sex offenders who have completed their sentences prior to 1997 but who continue to display risky behaviour. Chief constables can, for example, apply for a Sex Offender Order, which triggers notification and can place prohibitions on the individual.A number of changes to strengthen the existing sex offenders' regime are contained in the Sexual Offences Bill currently before the UK Parliament. No further changes to the retrospective element of the legislation are planned.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-4393 by Mr Jim Wallace on 10 January 2002, how many people have been charged with litter offences in each year since 2000.
Answer
In 2000 and 2001, 14 and 27 persons respectively were proceeded against in Scottish Courts where the main offence was categorised as a litter offence under the Scottish Executive Justice Department's classification of crimes and offences. The data for 2002 are not expected to be available until the autumn of 2003.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 May 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 10 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30208 by Ross Finnie on 16 October 2002, whether any further local authorities have now adopted formal litter plans.
Answer
No further local authorities have adopted formal litter plans since my response to question S1W-30208. The decision on whether to adopt a litter plan is one for the individual local authority.