Parliamentary questions

Marlyn Glen

917 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers will be added to the 1,141 officers working in Tayside Police force as at March 2007 as a result of Tayside Police receiving its proportionate share of “the equivalent of 1,000 additional police officers”, as outlined in Principles and Priorities: The Government's…

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Recruitment plansare the responsibility of Chief Constables, but as a result of the Government’sannouncement on 12 November, Tayside Police will be able to recruit anadditional 11 police officers this financial year, over and above therecruitment plans develo…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning or her ministers have met members of the administration of Dundee City Council to discuss the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Discussions have beenheld with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the development of outcomeagreements that cover our class size commitments.

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the additional funds that will have to be made available to Dundee City Council for the full implementation of the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Adam Ingram: No estimate has beenmade of the additional funding required by individual authorities for the full implementationof our class size commitment. We are working with the Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities to develop outcome agreements that will cover reduct…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of additional teachers required in Dundee to implement in full its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Adam Ingram: No estimate hasbeen made of the additional teachers required by individual local authoritiesto reduce class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 to a maximum of 18. We carryout an annual national teacher workforce planning exercise which estimates thenumber of tea…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for full implementation in Dundee of the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The Scottish Governmentwill be working with Dundee City Council and the universities delivering initialteacher training to ensure we can drive down class sizes in a managed and stagedway which maintains teacher quality, recognises classroom pressures and cont…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5467 by Shona Robison on 31 October 2007, whether it intends to make more up-to-date estimates than for 2002-03 in respect of health service resource use and costs associated with alcohol misuse.

Answer · Shona Robison: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-5977 on 13 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website; the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5468 by Shona Robison on 31 October 2007, whether it intends to make more up-to-date estimates than for 2002-03 in respect of the total cost to society of alcohol misuse.

Answer · Shona Robison: While there arecurrently no plans to update the estimates, we will consider ways in which thealcohol misuse cost estimates could be revised and updated. This will beinformed by commissioned research to develop a robust methodology forestimating the social and…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS sight tests and eye examinations were carried out in (a) NHS Tayside and (b) NHS Grampian in the (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07 financial years.

Answer · Shona Robison: The information requestedis shown in the following table.The Number of SightTest and Eye Examinations1 by NHS Board for Year Ending 31 March<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> &nbsp…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it promotes the importance of small-scale producers in the production of compost.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Where theproduction and storage of compost from appropriate materials is less than 400tonnes at any one time (1,000 tonnes in the case of farm businesses), producersbenefit from an exemption from the full requirements of waste managementlicensing and conseque…

1 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what role it envisages for composting in the sustainable management of biodegradable resources.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Home composting,community composting and centralised composting have a significant role in thesustainable management of biodegradable waste. The Scottish Government isproviding support to local authorities and other delivery bodies in relation tohome and comm…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to address inequalities in the provision of abortion services across Scotland.

Answer · Shona Robison: Respect and Responsibilitycontains a recommendation that each NHS board must ensure women have access to appropriatetermination of pregnancy services which are in line with the guidelines producedby the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.In ad…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent the skills strategy is designed to address occupational segregation.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Equality is a guidingprinciple of the skills strategy. In order to fully consider the equalities implicationsof each policy area on its relevant audience and to mitigate against occupationalsegregation, we will ensure that each programme underpinning this str…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remit is of the Advisory Group on Occupational Segregation.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The cross-directorategroup was set up in 2006 as the main vehicle for taking forward our work to tacklegender stereotyping and occupational segregation – and to implement the recommendationsof the UK Women and Work Commission’s report of February 2006 to clos…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what actual amount of money the Scottish Government has provided to each modern apprenticeship framework, broken down by age, in each year for which information is available.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The cost of eachmodern apprentices framework is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise andHighlands and Islands Enterprise. This information isnot held centrally.

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) men and (b) women are in modern apprenticeships, also broken down into (i) age and (ii) occupation.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The number of modernapprentices (MA) broken down by gender, age and occupational area is an operationalmatter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and IslandsEnterprise. This information is not held centrally.However, ScottishEnterprise have published…

17 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many money advisers funded through Executive sources there have been in each local authority area in north-east Scotland in each of the last three years.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Information on thenumbers of money advice posts paid for through Scottish Executive funding streamsis not collected on a regular basis and is available for 2005 and 2006 only. Figuresfor each local authority area in north-east Scotland are given in the follow…

17 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age was of (a) the population of Dundee and (b) people who have migrated to Dundee in the last year for which information is available.

Answer · John Swinney: At 30 June 2006 the average age of (a) the population in Dundee CityCouncil area, was 40 years and (b) people who have migrated to Dundee CityCouncil in the previous year, was 27 years.The figure for(b) includes migrants from elsewhere in Scotland, mig…

17 Oct 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to promote the use of compost on agricultural land to enhance the organic content of soils.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Weare keen to promote the use of compost to improve soil and are working with industryto ensure confidence in the quality of such products.