- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 10 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what research it collates on the use of restraint on looked-after and accommodated children.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not routinely collate research on the use of restraint for looked-after and accommodated children. The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care, which in 2005 produced Holding Safely, good practice guidelines for restraint which were informed by evidence in this area.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 9 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-8571 by Stewart Stevenson on 28 January 2008, when Scottish ministers will make a decision on the Fife Structure Plan.
Answer
Scottish ministers are still considering the Fife Structure Plan in the light of representations received on the Housing Land Requirement Re-appraisal and on other procedural matters.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it still expects the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities to publish its report in June 2008.
Answer
The taskforce considered a draft taskforce report at its last meeting on 4 June. We are currently finalising the report together with Universities Scotland and would expect to publish shortly with a view to wider engagement over the summer.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 9 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals in Fife applied for a firearms licence from 2002 to 2007, broken down into those that were (a) successful and (b) unsuccessful.
Answer
The information requested is published in Table 2 of the National Statistics publication series
Firearm Certificates Statistics, Scotland. The Bib. numbers of the 2002 to 2007 publications are 29674, 32867, 36509, 39665, 42793, and 45751 respectively.
Fife Constabulary was unable to supply data for the 2005 publication, except for figures relating to firearms dealers. In all other cases, in order to estimate Scotland totals, the 2005 publication included 2004 data for Fife. This was clearly stated in the publication at the time. Fife Constabulary submitted 2005 data the following year and subsequent publications reflect the new Fife totals, although some of the breakdowns which only appeared in the 2005 publication were not revisited. The information requested for Fife for 2005 is supplied in the following table:
| Year | New Firearm Certificate | Renewal of Firearm Certificate |
| | Granted | Refused | Granted | Refused |
| 2005 | 63 | 0 | 253 | 0 |
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children and young people have been restrained in secure accommodation in each of the last six years.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not collect this information.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 6 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many calls Fife Constabulary responded to from 2002 to 2007 where the incident was due to excessive noise.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. The Fife police force or local authority may be able to give you some information about such incidents.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to use the Children's Rights impact assessment tool, developed by the Commissioner for Children and Young People in Scotland, for proofing future government policy.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to promoting and supporting the rights of children in Scotland. We are currently looking into the possibility of using the Children’s Rights Impact Assessment Tool to help inform the development of policy and legislation.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce children's rights services nationally, independent of local authorities.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to promoting and supporting children’s rights through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The Scottish Government is looking to better implement the UNCRC in a collaborative way with local authorities, COSLA and the Children’s Commissioner. We have no plans to act independently of that collaborative approach.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 4 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place since May 2007 with higher and further education institutions regarding changes to the school curriculum.
Answer
Representatives from Universities Scotland, the Association of Scottish Colleges and Scottish Further Education Unit (SFEU) are members of the Scottish Government’s National Qualifications Steering Group which has considered a range of issues relating to the
Curriculum for Excellence programme since May 2007.
The Scottish Government has provided funding to the SFEU to hold a series of events and workshops on the implications of Curriculum for Excellence for the college sector. Since May 2007 they have held two senior management events and four events for practitioners.
Members of the Scottish Government have also held discussions with UCAS’s Scottish Reference Group for the higher education sector.
SFEU are working with Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) to involve nine colleges in the trialling of the Curriculum for Excellence draft learning experiences and outcomes. College staff are being invited to an induction session on Curriculum for Excellence and the trialling process.
Scottish Government and LTS officials have also had frequent meetings with representatives from higher and further education institutions regarding changes to the school curriculum since May 2007.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-12348 by John Swinney on 22 May 2008, how many of the 388,560 students potentially liable to pay council tax would qualify to receive a (a) 100% discount or (b) lesser discount on their council tax.
Answer
It is by virtue of being full-time and not part-time that a student is disregarded for the purposes of council tax. Where a part-time student is disregarded or eligible for some form of exemption from council tax, this is unrelated to their part-time student status and no accurate breakdown of the figures regarding part-time students and council tax payment (provided in answer to question S3W-12348) is therefore available.
Similarly, while a part-time student may be eligible for a 25% single person’s discount that is due to their single as opposed to their student status. And, while other exemptions, discounts or disregards may apply, more important is the likelihood of potential liability for council tax.
