Parliamentary questions
Andrew Wilson
771 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a person requiring two digital hearing aids will have both aids provided at the same time and free of charge by the NHS and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22850.
7 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons within the Lanarkshire Health Board area have been assessed as requiring two digital hearing aids and how many persons were provided with two such hearing aids in each of the last three years, broken down by how many were supplied free of charge by the NHS and how many we…
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22850.
7 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons within the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency area have been assessed as requiring a digital hearing aid and how many persons were provided with such a hearing aid in each of the last three years, broken down by how many were supplied free of charge by the NHS and how man…
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22850.
7 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons within the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency area have been assessed as requiring a digital hearing aid and how many persons were provided with such a hearing aid in each of the last three years, broken down by how many were supplied free of charge by the NHS and how m…
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22850.
7 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many persons within the Lanarkshire Health Board area have been assessed as requiring a digital hearing aid and how many persons were provided with such a hearing aid in each of the past three years, broken down by how many were supplied free of charge by the NHS and how many were pro…
Answer · Mary Mulligan: Digital hearing aids provided by NHSScotland are provided free of charge. Each individual case must be a matter for the clinical judgement of the clinicians concerned as is the question of whether a person requiring two digital aids will have both provided at…
6 Feb 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent representations it has made to Her Majesty's Treasury regarding policies for economic growth.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Officials in the Executive are in regular contact with the Treasury on a range of issues. Ministers also exchange regular correspondence and have private conversations with Treasury Ministers from time to time.
1 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive (a) which questions it answered substantively by referring to the response it provided to inspired question S1W-20533 lodged on its behalf by Des McNulty and answered by Lewis Macdonald on 29 November 2001, (b) how much the processing of each question answered in this manner cost in total…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: (a) This information is not available in the format requested. However, all answers to parliamentary questions are published on the Parliament's website. <P>(b) The information requested is not held centrally.<P>(c) It is standard practice to refer a member t…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21401 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why the more detailed information on the number of students from university and further education college going into employment within an industry directly associated with their specific area of study c…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects information on the first destinations of graduates from higher education courses provided in higher education institutions. The Scottish Further Education Funding Council collects similar information on graduate…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21399 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on how many students applied for full financial support in each of the past five years cannot be provided in the format requested and whether it will, from now, collate this information,…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The answer given to question S1W-21399 assumed that "full financial support" should be taken to mean the maximum amount to which any particular individual was entitled. <P>The answer explained that the full support to which any student is entitled will depend…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21398 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on the average period students spend in default on their student loans and the average charge applicable to these defaults is not available or could only be obtained at disproportionate …
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Information on individual student loan accounts is held by the Student Loans Company. The analysis requested could only be obtained by examining the loan accounts of each individual borrower who had been in default. The company advises that such an exercise c…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21397 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on the number of students attending university or further education colleges who applied for a student loan, either through the Awards Agency for Scotland or the Students Loans Company L…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The answer given to question S1W-21397 set out the background to the various data sets collected by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland and the Student Loans Company. <P>To answer the question on the number of loans applied for would require a complete cro…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21396 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on teaching staff at further educational establishments with a physical disability is not held centrally and whether it will, from now, collate this information centrally, detailing the …
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive does not directly collect statistics relating to further education colleges. This is the responsibility of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC). <P>The Scottish Executive has already asked SFEFC to support and ensure t…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21395 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on full-time and part-time academic staff in universities with recognised teaching qualifications is not collected and whether it will, from now, collate this information centrally, deta…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) does not collect this data as there is no standard teaching qualification for academic staff in higher education institutions.<P>Officials from the department would be happy to meet with you to discuss data collec…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21395 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why a breakdown of the number of academic staff at further education colleges with a recognised teaching qualification is not held on a per college and subject category basis centrally and whether it wi…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive does not directly collect statistics related to further education. This is the responsibility of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC). Following Scottish Executive policy guidance, SFEFC has set out in its Corporate Pl…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21394 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on the number of staff at higher education establishments who took early retirement and did not have their contracts renewed could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects information on when staff leave institutions, at what age and in many cases which institutions they have come from or gone to. However, the information is not provided by HESA in the format requested and …
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21394 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on the number of staff at higher education establishments who were required to take compulsory retirement is not collected and whether it will, from now, collate this information central…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Higher Education Statistics Agency does not collect information on the number of staff required to take compulsory retirement. <P>Officials from the department would be happy to meet with you to discuss data collection and the information that is availabl…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21394 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information regarding academic staffing is not collected in the format requested for further education colleges; what format the information is collected in for these establishments, and whether it …
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive does not directly collect statistics relating to further education colleges. This is the responsibility of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, which already collects a range of academic staff data from further education coll…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21393 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on the funding of universities and further education colleges is a matter for the Scottish Funding Councils for Higher and Further Education only and is not held centrally and whether it…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The department is responsible for allocating funding to the funding councils on an annual basis, and details of these allocations are collated and published each year in the <I>Annual Expenditure Report</I>. This can be found on the Scottish Executive website…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21391 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information regarding lecture halls in university and further education college buildings without loop systems to assist students with hearing difficulties is not held centrally and whether it will,…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Further and higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are themselves responsible for the provision of appropriate facilities for students with special needs in accordance with relevant legislation. It would serve no useful purpose for the Scotti…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21390 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information regarding further and higher educational establishments without disabled access and egress is not held centrally and whether it will, from now, collate this information centrally, detail…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Further and higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and are themselves responsible for the provision of appropriate facilities for students with special needs, in accordance with the relevant legislation. It would serve no useful purpose for the S…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21389 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on students who failed to complete their courses is not held centrally in the format requested and is not available to further education colleges and whether it will, from now, collate t…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Publication of information on college student completion rates has been suspended because of concerns over the reliability of the source data. The Scottish Further Education Funding Council is currently developing a set of new performance indicators which wil…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21388 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, what difficulties would arise in terms of the potential identification of individuals and whether it will detail how the Data Protection Act 1998 would impact on, or prevent any collation of, informatio…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: In the Data Protection Act 1998, stricter conditions apply to the processing of sensitive data, which includes information relating to health. The Executive's current policy is that figures should not be disclosed where the relevant population is less than or…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21388 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why the information on the number of full- and part-time students at further education colleges designated as having a physical disability is not held centrally and whether it will, from now, collate th…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive does not directly collect statistics relating to further education. This is the responsibility of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, which has started to collect information on students with disabilities. The first data, fo…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21388 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why the information on the number of full- and part-time students at universities and further education colleges designated as having a physical disability could only be obtained at disproportionate cos…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Further Education Funding Council only commenced collecting data on college students with disabilities from 2000-01 academic year. The collated figures should be available this spring. <P>In higher education institutions, the Higher Education Sta…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21387 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why the information requested regarding state entrants to university and further education colleges is not held centrally in the format requested nor is available to further education colleges and wheth…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: In deciding which statistics to collect on further education college students, the Scottish Further Educational Funding Council balances need, burden, cost and reliability. The does, for instance, collect information on students' previous qualifications but n…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21385 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, what advice or instruction it has provided to (a) further and higher education institutions and (b) the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education regarding the funding of welfare servic…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: None.
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21385 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why it does not earmark a particular portion of funding which it makes available to the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education for student welfare purposes and whether it will, from …
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Funding for student welfare services is a matter for institutions themselves. Such services are funded from institutions' income, which derives from a number of sources including funding from the funding councils. The Scottish Funding Councils decide how fund…
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21385 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education do not specifically distribute funds for welfare services and why the funding of welfare services is a matter for individual institutio…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The question why the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Councils do not specifically distribute funds for welfare services is one for the funding councils themselves. The further and higher education institutions are autonomous bodies.
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-21383 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, why information on student complaints, grievances and academic appeals at further and higher education establishments is not held centrally and whether it will, from now, collate this information centra…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Ministers have no role in institutions' complaints procedures. The institutions are autonomous, and are themselves responsible for such internal affairs.
24 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-21381 and S1W-21382 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002, on what date it advised further and higher education establishments to review their practices and procedures to ensure that they comply with the European Convention on Human Rights; whet…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Higher education institutions were issued with guidance in December 1999 advising them to review their practices and procedures to ensure that they comply with the convention. Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18845).<P>Al…