- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 14 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any meetings with Her Majesty's Government Minister for School Standards and if so, what were the outcomes of the meetings.
Answer
Neither my Deputy Minister nor I have had any such meetings. Officials of the Scottish Executive Education Department have regular contact with their counterparts in the Department for Education and Employment.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the membership and terms of reference of the committee of inquiry into teachers' pay and conditions announced by the Minister for Children and Education on 17 September 1999.
Answer
Details of the membership and terms of reference of the Committee of Inquiry are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it is making to Her Majesty's government regarding Kvaerner Govan's bid for a Ministry of Defence contract for six roll-on, roll-off ferries.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Ministry of Defence on a wide range of issues, including defence contracts.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what the proposed budget is for the committee of inquiry into teachers' pay and conditions announced by the Minister for Children and Education on 17 September 1999.
Answer
Our estimate for core expenditure relating to running costs for the Secretariat, committee meetings and the publication of a report is £160,000. In addition, resources will be available to the Committee to commission any research it considers necessary to assist its deliberations. At this early stage it is difficult to provide an estimate for the research work. However, we expect that the total cost of the Inquiry will not exceed £500,000. I will provide Parliament with a full breakdown of costs when the work of the Committee is complete.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the cost of extending free school meal provision to all school-aged children in Scotland whose parents receive the new tax credits.
Answer
The Working Families Tax Credit already contains an element designed to cover the cost of school meals hence no estimate has been made.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of how many children are eligible to receive free school meals at the present time, and how many would be eligible if entitlement was extended to include all those children whose parents are in receipt of new working families tax credit.
Answer
153,177 pupils in Scotland were entitled to receive free school meals in 1997-98 at a cost of £52.3M.I refer to my answer as given in Written Answer S1W-1601.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 30 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to issue guidelines governing nutritional standards for school meals.
Answer
Each education authority is responsible for the nutritional standards in the school meal service which they administer.The Scottish Diet Action Plan "Eating for Health" made a large number of recommendations and included nutritional guidelines for catering specifications for the public sector, targeted primarily at pre-school and school age children.The Scottish Executive has initiated discussions with Directors of Education and progress in this area is being monitored through inspections by HM Inspectors of Schools. We will be considering the need for any further action in the light of inspection reports.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 14 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will devise and issue a good practice guide to advise local authorities in their dealings with children with epilepsy.
Answer
A short-life Working Group comprising health, education and local authority professionals together with representatives from the Scottish Executive will oversee the publication of a good practice guide on the administration of medicines in schools by teachers. This guide will include a specific section relating to children with epilepsy, providing examples of types of seizures and medication and control measures. The guide is likely to be available for issue in December 1999.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive to provide an estimate of pre-school grant payments to each local authority in (a) 1998-1999 and (b) 1999-2000.
Answer
The payment to local authorities of pre-school grants for 1998-99 and the estimated allocation for 1999-00 are set out in the following table:
Local Authority | Total Grant Payments 98-99 (£) | Total Grant allocations 99-00 (£) |
Aberdeen City | 1,883,948 | 3,988,916 |
Aberdeenshire | 2,780,280 | 5,824,567 |
Angus | 1,225,069 | 2,389,088 |
Argyll and Bute | 1,252,472 | 2,081,683 |
Clackmannanshire | 591,903 | 1,112,597 |
Dumfries and Galloway | 1,565,842 | 3,539,200 |
Dundee City | 1,436,993 | 3,203,851 |
East Ayrshire | 1,196,307 | 2,547,125 |
East Dunbartonshire | 1,139,141 | 2,500,537 |
East Lothian | 1,541,507 | 2,259,119 |
East Renfrewshire | 1,007,493 | 1,850,811 |
City of Edinburgh | 3,718,488 | 8,628,588 |
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar | 329,610 | 747,166 |
Falkirk | 1,557,861 | 2,972,320 |
Fife | 3,586,080 | 6,816,991 |
City of Glasgow | 5,707,072 | 12,077,938 |
Highland | 2,580,878 | 5,284,943 |
Inverclyde | 1,041,936 | 1,805,817 |
Midlothian | 1,198,505 | 1,709,030 |
Moray | 1,389,007 | 2,052,818 |
North Ayrshire | 1,545,917 | 2,813,640 |
North Lanarkshire | 3,759,779 | 7,100,107 |
Orkney Islands | 238,026 | 612,206 |
Perth and Kinross | 1,414,612 | 2,976,752 |
Renfrewshire | 1,735,205 | 3,740,431 |
Scottish Borders | 1,121,598 | 2,544,716 |
Shetland Islands | 380,368 | 797,721 |
South Ayrshire | 1,143,572 | 1,991,311 |
South Lanarkshire | 3,359,689 | 6,260,358 |
Stirling | 903,730 | 1,980,495 |
West Dunbartonshire | 1,298,248 | 2,142,485 |
West Lothian | 1,661,170 | 3,737,803 |
Total | 55,292,306 | 110,091,130 |
*Plus Last Voucher Term | 18,719,632 | - |
Scotland Total | 74,011,938 | 110,091,130 |
* - The pre-school voucher scheme operated during academic year 1998-99. Total payments to all authorities during the summer term are given in the above table.
- Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive which elements of public spending on education and childcare in Scotland are not devolved to the Scottish Parliament.
Answer
Control of public expenditure on both education and childcare in Scotland is fully devolved to the Scottish Executive. Scotland also benefits from the UK Government's policy on Working Families Tax Credits and from funding from the National Lottery.
