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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-07639

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 4 October 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6255 by Mr Jack McConnell on 10 May 2000, why the #42 million undistributed Excellence Fund has been excluded from AEF when it is included in the GSE figure for education in Investing in You and formed part of the GAE figure for education notified to local authorities in SEED finance circular No 9/1999.

Question S1W-6255 sought information on the aggregate external finance (AEF) for particular individual councils, thus my reply quoted the relevant AEF distribution figures published in the report which accompanied the Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2000, approved by the Scottish Parliament on 1 March. Although the £42 million undistributed Excellence Fund formed part of the total GSE figure for education in Investing in You; a distribution was not available for inclusion in the Order. Councils have since received their allocations for most of the funding and will be advised of their allocations of the remaining £13.45 million in due course, but the original individual AEF figures for councils are not revisited after approval of the Order. Any additional specific grants distributed during the year are paid to councils directly.

Question reference: S1W-03324

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 31 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive by what date the Working Group on Teachers' Disciplinary Procedures has been asked to submit its report.

Question reference: S1W-03277

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 31 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will quantify the savings made from the phasing out of the assisted places scheme.

Question reference: S1W-03250

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 31 August 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive in what areas of the education, culture and sport budget it has identified savings of #2.2 million to part fund a rescue package for the National Stadium.

Question reference: S1W-08832

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 31 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of its press release Children in Residential Accommodation 1998-99 of 5 July 2000, what steps it intends to take to reduce the number of children admitted into residential accommodation.

The number of children in residential accommodation is almost 25% less than it was a decade ago. At the same time, provision of holiday or respite care has increased. Both trends are welcome.

We are keen to ensure there is a community placement for every child who might benefit from one. Through the Children's Services Development Fund, we have increased funding for community placements from £2.2 million in 1999-2000 to £4.7 million for the current year. We are also working with local authorities and the voluntary sector to increase recruitment of foster carers and will be commissioning research into local authority adoption practices.

Question reference: S1W-08550

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 27 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by education authority of free school meals uptake as at the last available census day.

The information requested is shown in the table below and has been derived from the 1999-2000 Survey of School Meals conducted by the Scottish Executive Education Department.

Free School Meal Uptake in January 2000 by Education Authority

Education authority	Number of pupils recorded as entitled to free meals	Of which present and taking a meal on the Census day	Percentage Uptake
Scotland	151,042	109,905	72.8
Aberdeen City	3,542	3,001	84.7
Aberdeenshire	2,345	2,133	91.0
Angus	1,652	1,313	79.5
Argyll & Bute	1,846	1,441	78.1
Clackmannanshire	1,570	1,314	83.7
Dumfries & Galloway	2,553	2,201	86.2
Dundee City	5,522	3,279	59.4
East Ayrshire	4,119	3,249	78.9
East Dunbartonshire	1,818	1,385	76.2
East Lothian	1,904	1,235	64.9
East Renfrewshire	1,591	1,138	71.5
Edinburgh, City of	11,226	7,977	71.1
Eilean Siar	484	396	81.8
Falkirk	4,098	3,362	82.0
Fife	9,316	7,294	78.3
Glasgow City	33,263	23,892	71.8
Highland	4,869	3,135	64.4
Inverclyde	3,245	2,461	75.8
Midlothian	2,336	1,488	63.7
Moray	1,383	1,141	82.5
North Ayrshire	5,478	4,513	82.4
North Lanarkshire	13,192	8,739	66.2
Orkney Islands	259	217	83.8
Perth & Kinross	1,468	1,205	82.1
Renfrewshire¹	6,742	4,240	62.9
Scottish Borders	1,323	1,058	80.0
Shetland Islands	275	246	89.5
South Ayrshire	2,774	2,094	75.5
South Lanarkshire	9,891	6,601	66.7
Stirling	2,115	1,491	70.5
West Dunbartonshire	4,553	3,562	78.2
West Lothian	4,290	3,104	72.4

Notes:

1. This table contains January 1999 results for Renfrewshire as the January 2000 results are undergoing further scrutiny.

Question reference: S1W-08551

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 25 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the minimum entry qualifications for admission to teacher education courses have been lowered for any subjects.

Question reference: S1W-08548

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of placing requests in 1998-99 by type and outcome broken down by education authority.

The information requested is given in the attached table.

Education Authority Primary & Secondary Schools, 1998-99 - Placing Requests by Type and Outcome
Education Authority	Total Oral & Statutory Requests		Oral Requests		Statutory Requests		References to the Appeal Committee or Appeals to the Sheriff					Total Granted (at Initial Stage or on Appeal)	% Granted (at Initial Stage or on Appeal)
	Rec'd.	Granted at Initial Stage	Rec'd.	Granted at Initial Stage	Rec'd.	Granted at Initial Stage		Rec'd.		Granted
Scotland	30,941	26,888	4,334	4,005	26,607	22,883	583		42		26,930		87
Aberdeen City	682	412	0	0	682	412	36		0		412		60
Aberdeenshire	600	596	420	420	180	176	1		1		597		100
Angus	867	808	0	0	867	808	10		0		808		93
Argyll & Bute	320	272	0	0	320	272	0		0		272		85
Clackmannanshire	226	199	0	0	226	199	1		0		199		88
Dumfries & Galloway	1,063	1,061	0	0	1,063	1,061	2		0		1,061		100
Dundee City	1,287	1,046	0	0	1,287	1,046	39		6		1,052		82
East Ayrshire	436	392	0	0	436	392	4		0		392		90
East Dunbartonshire	1,418	1,244	0	0	1,418	1,244	19		8		1,252		88
East Lothian	370	334	0	0	370	334	11		7		341		92
East Renfrewshire	1,001	817	0	0	1,001	817	26		1		818		82
Edinburgh, City of	5,709	4,438	2,881	2,554	2,828	1,884	189		10		4,448		78
Eilean Siar	127	127	0	0	127	127	0		0		127		100
Falkirk	666	574	0	0	666	574	20		0		574		86
Fife	1,029	1,027	1,029	1,027	0	0	0		0		1,027		100
Glasgow City	3,965	3,274	0	0	3,965	3,274	119		3		3,277		83
Highland	483	448	4	4	479	444	7		0		448		93
Inverclyde	913	837	0	0	913	837	9		1		838		92
Midlothian	609	574	0	0	609	574	17		0		574		94
Moray	486	464	0	0	486	464	0		0		464		95
North Ayrshire	673	657	0	0	673	657	1		0		657		98
North Lanarkshire	1,476	1,328	0	0	1,476	1,328	15		3		1,331		90
Orkney Islands	6	4	0	0	6	4	0		0		4		67
Perth & Kinross	823	784	0	0	823	784	4		1		785		95
Renfrewshire	966	869	0	0	966	869	19		0		869		90
Scottish Borders	225	216	0	0	225	216	0		0		216		96
Shetland Islands	59	57	0	0	59	57	0		0		57		97
South Ayrshire	765	675	0	0	765	675	12		0		675		88
South Lanarkshire	1,325	1,239	0	0	1,325	1,239	9		0		1,239		94
Stirling	476	411	0	0	476	411	1		0		411		86
West Dunbartonshire	561	534	0	0	561	534	0		0		534		95
West Lothian	1,329	1,170	0	0	1,329	1,170	12		1		1,171		88

Question reference: S1W-08549

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 July 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 25 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a national breakdown of placing requests for pre-school education in 1998-99 by type and outcome.

Question reference: S1W-07690

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children subject to home supervision requirements by Children's Panels in the last year have not been allocated to a social worker within (a) one month, (b) six months and (c) one year of the order being made, broken down by local authority area.

Implementation of supervision requirements made by children's hearings, whether for supervision at home or in residential accommodation, is a matter for individual local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

The Time Intervals Working Group (TIWG) Blueprint for the processing of children's hearings cases is an inter-agency code of practice. It set national standards with effect from 1 April 1999 aimed at streamlining the handling of cases through the system. One of these standards requires local authorities to give effect to supervision requirements with no condition of residence within 15 working days of the date of issue by the children's hearing. The objective is to give effect to supervision requirements without delay. Monitoring is the responsibility of review groups established by each local authority. Reports on performance against the TIWG standards are currently being received.

1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02
£ million	£ million	£ million
11.7	9.7	7.5