Parliamentary questions

Andrew Welsh

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

12 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to investigate the (a) impact on professional football clubs and (b) implications for local communities associated with professional football clubs of the decision by the Pools Promoters Association to stop payments to the Scottish Football League for the copyrigh…

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: It is for football to consider the implications of the decision of the Pools Promoters Association. I recognise the potential impact the decision may have on clubs, particularly those in the Scottish Football League, and their communities. However, I hope tha…

12 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure the sustainability of professional football throughout Scotland.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: It is for the football authorities to ensure that professional football in Scotland has a sustainable future. The Enterprise and Culture Committee has commissioned one of its members to carry out an investigation into the finances of Scottish football and rel…

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to secure a sustainable future for the Tayside Domestic Abuse Initiative.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Tayside Domestic Abuse Initiative is one of 56 projects awarded funding by the Scottish Executive under the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund. That fund, and the Violence Against Women Service Development Fund, runs to March 2006. We are currently c…

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-1613 and S2W-5113 by Nicol Stephen on 20 August 2003 and 27 January 2004 respectively, whether it now plans to extend and integrate the current provisions for concessionary travel locally and nationally to include rail and ferry journeys for elderl…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The position remains that the Executive’s priority for concessionary travel for older and disabled people is the introduction of a national free bus scheme.

21 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the response times of ambulances despatched in each of the three emergency categories A, B and C in response to 999 calls in (a) Angus and (b) Tayside NHS board area for each year since 2000.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The priority based dispatch system began in Tayside in September 2002 and there is therefore only one full year of data available – for 2003-04. The Scottish Ambulance Service is working towards a target of responding to 75% of all category A (life-threatenin…

21 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-6753 and S1W-26795 by Susan Deacon on 25 May 2000 and Malcolm Chisholm on 28 June 2002, how many ambulances and ambulance personnel operated in (a) Angus and (b) each NHS board area in each year since 2000.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is provided in the following tables:Table 1: Number of Ambulances and Ambulance Staff in Angus - Accident and Emergency<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan=2> Station </td> <td cols…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered (a) history and (b) modern studies teachers there were in secondary schools in each of the last 10 years and what percentage of the total number of posts in each of these subjects in each year was (i) filled and (ii) vacant.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The available information on how many registered (a) history and (b) modern studies teachers there were in secondary schools on specific years can be obtained from the Teacher Census Results 2003 and can be accessed using the following hyperlink:<a hre…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new history teachers qualify each year from teacher training colleges.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table shows the number of teacher training graduates from higher education institutions in Scotland, whose main subject was history, between 1998-99 and 2002-03.Secondary Teacher Graduates from Scotland where Main Subject Recorded as Hist…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new history graduates there were in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many commenced a qualification for teaching in a Scottish school.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table shows the number of first degree history graduates from higher education institutions in Scotland between 1998-99 and 2002-03. These figures include graduates who studied history as a single subject as well as those who studied history wit…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that history will be maintained as a core subject in primary schools.

Answer · Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answer to S2W-11266 on 3 November 2004. 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/webapp/wa.sear…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that history will be maintained as a core subject in secondary schools.

Answer · Peter Peacock: There is no statutory national curriculum in Scotland. We are actively encouraging schools to adopt flexible and innovative approaches to curriculum design and delivery which will meet the needs and wishes of all pupils. It is up to education authorities to d…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the teaching of history as a core subject in primary and secondary schools.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Current guidance to education authorities and schools advises that over the years P1 to P7 and again during S1 to S2 pupils should experience a broad range of historical studies. From S3 to S6 pupils can make negotiated choices within the curricular framework…

6 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports recommendation Rec(2001)15 of the Council of Europes Committee of Ministers to member states on history teaching in twenty-first-century Europe which states that history teaching in a democratic Europe should occupy a vital place in the training of responsible an…

Answer · Peter Peacock: Yes. Advice to education authorities and schools recognises the important role of history in developing active citizenship within a democratic society.

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines there are on the use by it, its agencies and departments and non-departmental public bodies of population estimates to calculate per capita statistics that are publicly available.

Answer · Hugh Henry: No specific guidelines are issued, but users would be expected to indicate the reason for any deviation from use of the Registrar General’s mid-year estimates, where this is not obvious from the context.

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on permitting its agencies and departments and non-departmental public bodies to use population estimates that are not consistent with mid-year population estimates provided by the General Register Office for Scotland, given population fluctuations throughout the year.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Registrar General’s mid-year estimates are the normal source of information about the usually resident population, with students counted at their term time address. If the purpose requires a different population that can be estimated reliably and consiste…

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for any differences between mid-year population estimates provided by the General Register Office for Scotland and estimates of the population made by the Executive, its agencies and departments and non-departmental public bodies to calculate any per capita statistics…

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Registrar General’s estimates are generally used as the basis for per capita statistics, except for example where more specific information is available about a subset of the population (e.g. school pupils) or where the numerator and denominator come from…

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all population estimates used by (a) its agencies, (b) its departments and (c) non-departmental public bodies to calculate per capita statistics that are publicly available are consistent with the latest population estimates available from the General Register Office for Scotland.

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the population estimates that it uses to calculate all the per capita statistics that it publishes in answers to parliamentary questions are consistent with the latest population estimates available from the General Register Office for Scotland.

4 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the population has been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Registrar General’s mid-year population estimates are contained in the following table.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> </td> <td> 1999 </td> <td> 2000 …

2 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much its Environment and Rural Affairs Department considers that the equine breeding industry is worth.

Answer · Ross Finnie: This data is not collected by the Scottish Executive.

26 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what input its Environment and Rural Affairs Department will have into the national equine database.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive will ensure that the Scottish Horse Passport Issuing Organisations can provideinformation to the national equine database on the same basis as that provided byEnglish and Welsh horse passport issuing organisations.