Parliamentary questions
Nicola Sturgeon
676 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects all teachers in special schools to have their own e-mail address.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive expects that all teachers in special schools will have their own e-mail address by 2002.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects all teachers in primary schools to have their own e-mail address.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive expects that all teachers in primary schools will have their own e-mail address by 2002.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects all teachers in secondary schools to have their own e-mail address.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive expects that all teachers in secondary schools will have their own e-mail address by 2002.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of the ratio of computers of less than four years old to pupils in pre-school centres, discounting those that are used mainly for administration purposes.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not available.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of the ratio of computers of less than four years old to pupils in special schools, discounting those that are used mainly for administration purposes.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information will be available when the detailed results of the 1999 School Census are published in July 2000.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of the ratio of computers of less than four years old to pupils in secondary schools, discounting those that are used mainly for administration purposes.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information will be available when the detailed results of the 1999 School Census are published in July 2000.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of the ratio of computers of less than four years old to pupils in primary schools, discounting those that are used mainly for administration purposes.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information will be available when the detailed results of the 1999 School Census are published in July 2000.
11 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it intends to take in relation to the findings of the recently published report Detailed results of the October 1999 School Survey of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
Answer · Peter Peacock: An extensive programme involving expenditure of over £100 million is already under way to develop Information and Communications Technology in Scottish schools. This survey is one of a number of measures that provide useful baseline information against which …
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a statement about the findings of the recently published report Road Accidents and Children Living in Disadvantaged Areas.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The review is useful to help explain the ways in which the social and physical environment can contribute to higher child pedestrian casualty rates. The Scottish Executive will take the study's findings into account when targeting road safety campaigns for di…
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to raise awareness of road safety issues among parents in disadvantaged areas.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer Ms Sturgeon to the reply I gave her to question S1W-6572.
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve child safety awareness, particularly for children living in disadvantaged areas.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive will continue to fund the operation of the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland to ensure that road safety education is available free to all three and four year old children in Scotland. Research published last year found that the club …
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact lack of access to safe crossing sites and safe play areas and location of schools outside the communities they serve has on the level of child pedestrians injured in road accidents.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Research published recently by the Scottish Executive found that child pedestrians from socio-economically disadvantaged families have a higher risk of injury in road accidents than children in higher socio-economic groups and that injuries tend to be of grea…
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to reduce the rate of pedestrian injuries among children living in disadvantaged areas.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive and the UK Government recently announced targets for road accident casualty reductions in the period to 2010. These include a 50% reduction in the number of child fatal and serious casualties. The targets, together with a strategy for a…
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct a review of Yorkhill Children's Hospital's current procedure for the retention of organs to ensure that they comply fully with the guidelines published by the Royal College of Pathologists on 23 March 2000.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-5615.
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to give any advice to Yorkhill Children's Hospital as it considers its long-term strategy for dealing with organs that have been retained without parental consent in previous years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-5615.
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the decision of Yorkhill Children's Hospital not to inform parents of instances where their children's organs have been retained without their consent.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-5615.
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct an inquiry to determine how many organs are currently held at Yorkhill Children's Hospital without the knowledge of parents.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-5615.
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct an inquiry to determine how many organs have been retained at Yorkhill Children's Hospital without parental knowledge and consent in the last twenty years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Of the four NHS Trusts in Scotland delivering paediatric pathology services, all but Yorkhill NHS Trust included a statement in the post-mortem consent form covering the retention of organs or tissue for medical education or research.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Sc…
15 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4751 by Peter Peacock on 10 March 2000, to specify the range of subjects in which local authorities have reported difficulties in maintaining teacher supply cover.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The education authorities which have reported difficulties in maintaining supply cover did so in a wide range of subjects. The subjects most mentioned, that is by up to four or five education authorities, are mathematics, technological education, music, relig…
15 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children made the subject of residential supervision orders by Children's Panels in the last year have not been placed in care within (i) two weeks, (ii) four weeks and (iii) six weeks of the order being made, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: I refer to the answer I gave to question S1W-7690.
15 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will (a) provide details on the progress of implementation of Higher Still and (b) invite the Scottish Qualifications Authority to publish, at the end of the current academic year, an assessment of the first year of Higher Still including an account of any problems identified o…
Answer · Sam Galbraith: Around 80% of Highers being taught this year are new Highers. Although teachers were given the option to introduce selected Higher courses from next year, around 5,000 courses at Intermediate and Access levels have been introduced voluntarily by schools. HMI …
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money for modern language teaching in primary schools, by local authority area, was (a) allocated for each of the years 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000, (b) spent for each of these years and (c) will be allocated for 2000-01.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: Support for teaching costs in local authorities forms part of the unhypothecated local government settlement and is not identified centrally. Additional funding is available to train primary teachers to teach modern foreign languages. The tables below show th…
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide indicative (a) building and (b) maintenance unit costs for (i) new primary schools, (ii) new secondary schools, (iii) primary school extensions and (iv) secondary school extensions.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The information requested is not collected centrally.
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the total estimated expenditure on school building maintenance by each local authority in financial years 2000-01 and 2001-02.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The overall management of their school building stock is a matter for individual education authorities. Detailed information of the kind requested is not held centrally.
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the total amount it would cost in current cash terms to effect all school building maintenance outstanding at the present time, indicating the amount for each local authority and, in the event that this information is not held centrally, whether it h…
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The overall management of their school building stock is a matter for individual education authorities. Detailed information of the kind requested is not held centrally. Education authorities generally have their own assessments of school building maintenance…
8 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the amount payable to Scottish teachers towards the purchase of a personal computer from #200 to the maximum of #500 available to teachers in England.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Nearly 5,000 Scottish teachers have already taken up the offer of a tax-paid £200 refund on the purchase of any computer which meets or exceeds a published minimum specification. Continuing the scheme on the present pattern will benefit many more Scottish tea…
8 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to distribute the #41.783 million in the excellence fund which has not yet been allocated to local authorities.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: £28.333 million is being<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" COLOR="#ff0000"> distributed through the programmes noted in the following table :-<P ALIGN="RIGHT"><TABLE CELLSPACING=0 BORDER=0 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=486><TR><TD WIDTH="56%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Undistributed E…
8 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the total cost of teachers' salaries on a local authority by local authority basis.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: Teachers' pay and conditions are a matter for local authorities and we do not hold this information centrally. The latest available information on gross expenditure on employee costs for teachers is for 1997-98 and is set out in the table below.<DIR><P>1997-9…
31 Jan 2000 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Executive is taking to improve school buildings in Scotland.
Answer · Donald Dewar: An additional £115.7 million over five years was announced in the July 1997 Budget under the New Deal for Schools. We have, in partnership with CoSLA, enhanced authorities' ability to prioritise their capital expenditure in favour of school building work. And…
26 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what is the membership, remit and timescale for reporting of the proposed National Planning forum to oversee the development of a national strategy on parental involvement in schools education.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The remit of the group is:<DIR><DIR><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">To advise and assist the development of strategies in schools and education authorities designed to improve effective involvement of parents through:</DIR></DIR><UL><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><LI>understanding an…