Mr Brian Monteith

22 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it or the NHS is in discussions with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on the advisory service providing new or additional services.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The Executive has had no discussions with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and has not been made aware of any discussions between the BPAS and any NHS board.

22 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the NHS has any contractual relationships with the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and, if so, what services the advisory service provides.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: There are no contractual arrangements for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) to provide services to the NHS in Scotland. The BPAS occupies NHS premises at the Sandyford Initiative, Glasgow, as a paying tenant. It is, however, a completely separate …

22 Jan 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next meet representatives of the Scottish Arts Council and what issues will be discussed.

Answer · Mike Watson: The Scottish Executive are in regular contact with the Scottish Arts Council. No date or agenda for the next meeting has yet been set.

16 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the full costs were of printing, publishing and distributing the annual report of the Scottish Arts Council in each year since 1998.

Answer · Elaine Murray: This is a matter for the Scottish Arts Council. The information requested is not held centrally.

16 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27513 by Lewis Macdonald on 7 August 2002, what subsequent progress has been made by local authorities in establishing Quality Partnerships and Quality Contract Schemes with bus operators under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The development of Quality Partnership schemes and Quality Contract schemes under the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 is a matter for individual local transport authorities. While authorities regularly discuss issues of joint concern with bus operators in their…

14 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what sources of funding are available for the provision of on-demand bus services.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Executive specifically funds a number of on-demand services through the Rural Community Transport Initiative.<P>Additionally, local transport authorities are free to fund on-demand services through their Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant and Grant Ai…

13 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has responded to the correspondence sent to it in August 2002 by Stirling Council regarding re-regulation of the bus industry; if not, when it expects to respond, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I replied to Stirling Council's letter of 15 August on this matter on 4 September.

10 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the SCOTS roads condition survey will be published.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: While the Executive fully supports the local authority condition survey of local roads and is represented on the working group, management of the survey including the publication of the findings, is a matter for the Society of Chief Officers of Transport.

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give details of all guidance, guidelines and official circulars initiated by it and the former Scottish Office that are still operational in respect of pre-school centres, primary schools, secondary schools, special schools and tertiary education institutes.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Written material of the kind mentioned can take a number of forms and is issued from a number of areas within the Executive. Central logging of this written material is not undertaken. This was also the case with similar material issued by the former Scottish…

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils in each local authority area did not attain Level D within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of secondary 2 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table shows the percentage of pupils in each local authority who did not reach 5-14 attainment Level D or above by the end of secondary 2 in the school years 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Results are shown for reading, writing and mat…

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils in each local authority area did not attain Level C within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 7 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table shows the percentage of pupils in each local authority who did not reach 5-14 attainment Level C or above by the end of primary 7 in the school years 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Results are shown for reading, writing and mathe…

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils in each local authority area did not attain Level B within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 6 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table shows the percentage of pupils in each local authority who did not reach 5-14 attainment Level B or above by the end of primary 6 in the school years 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Results are shown for reading, writing and mathe…

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils in each local authority area did not attain Level A within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 4 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table shows the percentage of pupils in each local authority who did not reach 5-14 attainment Level A or above by the end of primary 4 in the school years 1998-99, 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02. Results are shown for reading, writing and mathe…

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is being done to attract, recruit and retain special constables.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Following recommendations made by a working group of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) in 1996, improvements have been made in the training and deployment of special constables. The eight police forces in Scotland are actively engag…

18 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding will be made available to each local authority or other relevant agency for the recruitment and maintenance of a network of community and neighbourhood wardens following its announcement on 17 December 2002.

Answer · Margaret Curran: We are still considering who funding should be provided to and how it should be allocated. Further announcements will be made shortly.

9 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for oral surgery has been in each NHS board area in each of the last three years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The median waiting times for in-patient and day case treatment in oral surgery, in each of the last three years, by NHS board of residence, are given in the following table.<P>NHSScotland: Median Waiting Times for In-patient and Day Case Treatment<SUP>1</SUP>…

9 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail any changes to the curriculum since 1999 that have had an effect on classroom, furniture, fittings and equipment requirements in schools.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Changes to the curriculum since 1999 have been the introduction of revised 5-14 guidelines for environmental studies, health education, modern languages, information and communications technology and structure and balance.<P>These need not in themselves have …

9 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS hospital wards remained mixed sex on 31 October 2002, broken down by NHS board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Very substantial progress has been made towards achieving the target of ending mixed sex hospital wards. At present, of the 1,630 wards in Scotland, 1,596 are fully compliant. This represents 98% compliance. Plans are in place to make the remaining wards comp…

9 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether fire boards need the approval of Scottish ministers when seeking to sell property or land and whether boards are entitled to retain all the receipts of any such sales.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Sections 36(9) and 36(20) of the Fire Services Act 1947 require fire boards to seek the consent of Scottish ministers to sell or dispose of land vested in them. However, the intention is to repeal this requirement in the Local Government in Scotland Bill, pre…

6 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils did not achieve Level D within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of secondary 2 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32430 today. 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/searc…

6 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils did not achieve Level C within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 7 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32430 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:<P><A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/se…

6 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils did not achieve Level B within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 6 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32430 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:<P><A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/se…

6 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of pupils did not achieve Level A within the 5-14 attainment targets by the end of primary 4 for (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) mathematics in each year since 1998.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Information on the number of pupils who reached 5-14 attainment levels relating to their stage in the school years 1998-99 to 2001-02 is shown in the publications <I>5-14 Attainment in Publicly Funded Schools 2000-2001</I> and <I>5-14</I> <I>Attainment in Pub…

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre all guidance, guidelines and official circulars initiated by the Scottish Office and the Scottish Executive that are still operational in respect of pre-school centres, primary schools, secondary schools, special schools…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive does not place such material in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre as a matter of course. The centre can request particular publications from the Scottish Executive if requested.

3 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has cost to (a) train and (b) employ special constables in each year since 1997.

Answer · Jim Wallace: No specific funding is provided by the Scottish Executive for the special constabulary. The cost of their recruitment, training and equipment is met from the individual force budgets, to which the Scottish Executive contributes in the form of specific grant.

3 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on the recruitment of special constables in each of the last three years and how successful the recruitment exercises have been.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive does not provide funding specifically for the special constabulary. The cost of their recruitment, training and equipment is met from the individual force budgets, to which the Scottish Executive contributes in the form of specific gran…

3 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-5123 by Lewis Macdonald on 2 May 2002, when the improvements to the junction of the A84/A85 at Lochearnhead will (a) begin and (b) be completed.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The tenders for the A84/A85 junction improvement scheme were returned to the Executive on 27 November 2002. They are currently being evaluated and it is anticipated that the contract will be awarded later this month, and that the successful tenderer will mobi…

28 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what environmental improvement grants are currently available to community councils and other community groups.

Answer · Ross Finnie: A wide range of grants for environmental improvement are available from the Scottish Executive and others. I have listed some of the main sources.<P>Scottish Executive: Sustainable Action Fund<P>The fund supports organisations which promote sustainable develo…

27 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the full costs were of publishing, printing, distributing and launching the Scottish Arts Council's Draft Corporate Plan 2002-2007 and its Crafts Strategy 2002-2007, Cultural Diversity Strategy 2002-2007, Dance Strategy 2002-2007, Music Strategy 2002-2007, Drama Strategy 2002-2007 a…

Answer · Mike Watson: This is a matter for the Scottish Arts Council. The information requested is not held centrally. However, I have asked the Scottish Arts Council to respond to the member directly.

26 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides any advice or guidance to local authorities on the proportion of the local roads network that should be resurfaced or surface dressed each year.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-5307 on 13 June 2002, which is available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:<P><A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/search.htm">http://www.scottish.parliament…