- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2011
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2011
To ask the First Minister who has responsibility for decisions regarding university mergers.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 29 September 2011
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 September 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how many universities plan to charge students from the rest of the UK £9,000 per year and how many students this will affect.
Answer
Under our proposals, it will be up to each Scottish university to decide what to charge students from the rest of the UK.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 September 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for (a) children and (b) adults to see an orthoptist has been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.
Answer
The information requested is not available centrally.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 September 2011
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of introducing a funding floor for local authorities.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 22 September 2011
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 August 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 6 September 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it will make available to local authorities to support the development of cycle paths.
Answer
In 2011-12, the Scottish Government made available £7.458 million in Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets (CWSS) grants to local authorities, who can if they wish, add to this from their own resources, if the development of cycle paths is a priority in their area. Both last year and this year, the CWSS grant offer letter asked local authorities to spend at least 36% (the national average spend on cycling) but preferably 50%, of the grant on cycling related projects.
In addition, the Scottish Government has allocated £5.167 million to Sustrans for the development of cycle and shared use paths. Local authorities are also able to bid for this funding if they are able to match it from their own resources.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 August 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review its estimate of the funding gap facing Scottish universities in light of the announcement from the Office for Fair Access that the average tuition fee in England will be greater than £8,000.
Answer
We will continue to work with universities to maintain and enhance the excellence of Scottish higher education whilst ensuring that access remains free.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 July 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 4 August 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional money it will invest in widening access initiatives in 2012-13 and each of the following three years.
Answer
As outlined in my statement to Parliament on the 16 June, I will set out a wider package of reforms on post-16 education later this year. Any changes to funding for widening access initiatives would be brought forward next year as part of this exercise.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 25 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to redistribute any proportion of the monies raised by one university from students from the rest of the United Kingdom to other universities.
Answer
We have asked the Scottish Funding Council to work with Universities Scotland and NUS Scotland to develop a system that ensures the sector as a whole benefits from the proposed new fee and funding arrangements for students who usually live in other parts of the UK.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 25 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase in the total funding, in cash terms, available to Scottish universities will be by 2014-15.
Answer
This will be determined as part of the forthcoming Spending Review.
- Asked by: Liz Smith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 21 July 2011
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many travel concession passes have been issued to injured veterans in each year since 2007.
Answer
Applications for free bus travel are categorised as over 60, disabled, disabled plus companion, visually impaired and visually impaired plus companion.
The exact number of passes issued specifically to injured veterans is not recorded and cannot be reported upon.
However, Transport Scotland have been in discussion with the National Entitlement Card Programme Office and the Improvement Service regarding the possibility of capturing additional data at the point of application in order to be in a position to provide more detailed information in the future.