Questions · Margaret Smith

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the statement to the Parliament by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 17 June 2009 (Official Report c. 18438), for how long (a) COSLA and (b) local authorities have been requesting additional funding to support the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: COSLA and individual local authorities have made frequent representations to successive administrations for such additional funding. The Scottish Government has worked and will continue to work in partnership with local government in delivering the much neede…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many future tranches of funding there will be under the school building programme; when these will be announced, and how much funding will be available in each.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25047 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities will receive funding from the first tranche of the £1.25 billion school building programme and how much each will receive.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools will receive funding from the first tranche of the £1.25 billion school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the £1.25 billion school building programme will be involved in the first tranche.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25044 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets exist for the number of schools to be built in each year of the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25208 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools will be built in each year of the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: This will depend on the phasing of construction of the schools, which will be a matter for discussion with the relevant local authorities and the Scottish Futures Trust.

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines or best-practice models are in place that outline how the school building programme will be taken forward.

Answer · Keith Brown: As already stated in Parliament on 17 June 2009 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, we shall be looking to the Scottish Futures Trust, who will co-ordinate, facilitate and manage the programme, to consider and advise on this.

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that it has sufficient support from (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA to implement fully the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25193 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA have received sufficient detail on the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth wrote to the President of COSLA on 25 June 2009 providing confirmation about the details of the programme and indicating that the letter could be shared with councils.

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it first had discussions with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA about the £1.25 billion for the school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25193 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA regarding how the school building programme will be implemented.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will inform local authorities how the £1.25 billion for the school building programme will be spent.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give priority when allocating funding from the £1.25 billion school building programme to local authorities that have school building plans ready to start.

Answer · Keith Brown: Decisions about the allocation of funding will be taken in conjunction with COSLA and Scottish Futures Trust on the basis of the best data, information and intelligence available about the scale, nature and distribution of needs. An authority''s readiness to …

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects that the £1.25 billion of funding for the school building programme will have been allocated in full.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will start allocating funding from the £1.25 billion school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all local authorities will receive a share of the funding from the £1.25 billion school building programme.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA regarding the specific projects for which the £1.25 billion for the school building programme will be used; when these discussions were held, and when agreement was reached.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA regarding how the £1.25 billion for the school building programme will be allocated; when these discussions were held, and when agreement was reached.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the local authorities that have confirmed that they will contribute to the £1.25 billion school building programme and how much each has agreed to contribute.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25045 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authority funding for the school building programme will be fully or partially ring-fenced.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25192 on 16 July 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/B…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of its announcement of £800 million of funding for the school building programme, what discussions it has had with (a) local authorities and (b) COSLA regarding how the remainder of the £1.25 billion will be met.

Answer · Keith Brown: As already stated in Parliament on 17 June 2009 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, preliminary discussions were held with COSLA, although not with individual local authorities, prior to the making of the statement. COSLA sa…

24 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of its announcement of £800 million of funding for the school building programme, how the remainder of the £1.25 billion will be met.

Answer · Keith Brown: As already stated in Parliament on 17 June 2009 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, the £450 million balance of funding, which will not be ring-fenced, is to be found by local authorities from within their own resources, including th…

10 Jun 2009 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution has had with the organisers of the Edinburgh festivals about the impact on the festivals of the economic downturn.

Answer · Michael Russell : This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0618-01.htm">http://www.scot…

4 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions Scottish ministers have had with UK ministers regarding the impact of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 on publicly funded Roman Catholic adoption agencies in Scotland.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Following the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 coming into force, the UK Government commissioned an independent review into their impact on faith-based adoption agencies. This assessment took place during the transitional period given to fai…

4 Jun 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it continues to support all of the provisions in the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Yes. Secondary legislation relating to the Act has been introduced in Parliament during the last two months and the Act will come fully into force on 28 September 2009.

11 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that reducing the intake to teacher training courses by 4%, as confirmed by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 30 April 2009 (Official Report c. 16897), is contrary to paragraph nine in its letter to the Scottish Funding Council dated January…

Answer · Keith Brown: Substantial numbers of postgraduate initial teacher education students will still enter training in 2009. Following revised guidance 1,350 students will enter the primary course and 1,050 the secondary course. This level of PGDE students still exceeds the ave…

8 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it remains its position that there is merit in standardised information on discipline being produced and, if so, what action it has taken to produce such information and when it will be available.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-23727 on 26 May 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Bu…

8 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it remains its intention to reintroduce an annual collection of reported physical and verbal attacks in schools and, if so, what action it has taken to do this and when the collection will commence.

Answer · Keith Brown: The Scottish Government wants the best, robust, most up to date and comprehensive evidence base on behaviour in schools, including serious indiscipline and violence. The 2009 Behaviour in Scottish Schools survey is well underway and will report back t…

8 May 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 12 recommendations in the October 2008 Report of the Teacher Employment Working Group (a) have been completed and (b) are in progress.

Answer · Keith Brown: All of the recommendations of the Teacher Employment Working Group are being taken forward. Three of the recommendations have been completed.