Mr Brian Monteith

5 Sep 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often Ministers have met representatives of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council since 1 June 1999, on what dates these meetings took place and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Since 1 June 1999, there has been one formal meeting between the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and representatives of the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. This was on 6 March 2000 when a wide range of topics was discussed.

5 Sep 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often Ministers have met representatives of the Scottish Arts Council since 1 June 1999, on what dates these meetings took place and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: The following table provides the information requested.<P>Meetings Between the Scottish Executive and Scottish Arts Council<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=593><TR><TD WIDTH="24%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Date</TD><TD …

5 Sep 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often Ministers have met representatives of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council since 1 June 1999, on what dates these meetings took place and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Henry McLeish: There has been one formal meeting between Ministers and representatives of the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. The Chief Executive and the Chairman of the Council met with the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and the Deputy Minister f…

5 Sep 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how often Ministers have met representatives of Historic Scotland since 1 June 1999, on what dates these meetings took place and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Executive and Ministers meet with officials of Historic Scotland frequently to discuss matters relating to Scotland's built heritage.

4 Sep 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Ordinary Grade, Standard Grade, Higher Grade, Higher Still and Certificate of Sixth Year Study examinations were taken in each year between 1990 and 2000 and how many candidates made appeals against the result of the examinations.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: Information is available for 1990 to 1999 from the SQA Annual Statistical Reports which have been deposited with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. [Bib. Reference 8639].<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A summary is provided in table 1 below for these years. Note …

31 Aug 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) received from The Scottish Office information as to whether, at the outset of the Holyrood Project, (a) a committee of appropriate personnel was established to assess the project requirements and prepare a basic specification, (b) as…

Answer · David Steel: I understand that, following the selection of the Holyrood site on 9 January 1998, the new Parliament building project was administered by the Holyrood Project Team (HPT) within The Scottish Office. The HPT appointed a suitably qualified Project Manager, (who…

30 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is towards employees who smoke and what facilities it provides for staff who smoke at its Victoria Quay and St Andrew's House locations.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive has a formal policy on smoking in the workplace which is available on its Intranet and in hard copy. The main thrust of the policy is to discourage smoking due to its detrimental effects on health. The Scottish Executive makes special p…

30 Aug 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when Ministers last met representatives from the Scottish Qualifications Authority and what issues were discussed.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: I have been in frequent contact with the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority over recent weeks. In the period since the issue of examination results on 9 August, discussion has focused on how to remedy as quickly and effectiv…

24 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8724 by Sarah Boyack on 21 August 2000, whether it will publish details of each road safety improvement scheme and budget.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Details and total scheme costs for the improvement schemes programmed for the current financial year on the A84 between Stirling and Lochearnhead and the A82 between Crianlarich and Tyndrum are as follows: <TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=612><…

22 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which public relations consultancy has been engaged by the Scottish Qualifications Authority, when its contract starts and ends, what the value of the contract is and whether it was subject to competitive tendering.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: The appointment of public relations consultants is an operational matter for SQA. I have asked the Chairman to reply to you and a copy of his reply will be placed in SPICe.

18 Aug 2000 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will make available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre an unpriced copy of the construction management contract for the construction of the Scottish Parliament buildings at Holyrood.

Answer · David Steel: The convenor of the Holyrood Progress Group is making arrangements to have an unpriced copy of the construction management contract placed in SPICE as soon as possible.

18 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of publication, distribution and launch of its national cultural strategy document Creating our Future, Minding our Past.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The total costs for publication, distribution and launch of the National Cultural Strategy were £75,000.

17 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Ministerial approval was given for the appointment of Bill Morton as the interim chief executive of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, and if so, which Minister(s) gave the approval.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996, the appointment of any replacement for the first Chief Executive is a matter for the Board of the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

15 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list who will conduct the independent inquiry into the processing and circulation of school examination results, what the inquiry remit will be and when it will be expected to publish its report.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: As I announced on Friday 18 August, the inquiry will cover all operational and administrative issues surrounding production of the results for National Qualifications, &quot;old&quot; Highers, Certificates of Sixth year Studies and Standard Grades. The succes…

1 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school classes of over 30 pupils in each local authority area have more than one full-time teacher.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: In September 1999 there were 142 classes of over 30 pupils in publicly funded schools with more than one full-time teacher. The following table shows a breakdown by local authority area.<P ALIGN="LEFT"><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 BORDERCOLOR="#000000" CELLPAD…

1 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary one to three and (b) primary four to seven classes in each local authority area contain more than 30 pupils.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: In September 1999 there were (a) 607 primary one to three and (b) 1543 primary four to seven classes in publicly funded schools with more than 30 pupils. The following table shows the breakdown by local authority areas.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=…

1 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary one to three and (b) primary four to seven classes in each local authority area have more than one qualified teacher.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: In September 1999 there were 151 primary one to three classes and 65 primary four to seven classes with more than one qualified teacher. Full details are shown in attached table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=521><TR><TD WIDTH="28%" VALIGN="T…

1 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many composite primary schools classes in each local authority area contain more than 25 pupils and, of these, how many have two qualified teachers.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: In September 1999 there were 41 composite classes in Scotland with more than 25 pupils. Of these 12 had two full time teachers and 14 had additional support in the classroom. The other 15 classes all had either 26 or 27 pupils. Full details are shown in the …

21 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many three-year-olds were eligible for local authority or partnership nursery places in each of the last three years.

Answer · Peter Peacock: 59,870 three-year-olds are eligible for publicly funded pre-school education places in the 1999-2000 school year. This is the first year of grant-funded places for three-year-olds. Comparable information for previous years is not available.

21 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many four-year-olds were eligible for local authority or partnership nursery places in each of the last three years.

Answer · Peter Peacock: 62,466, 61,370 and 59,297 four-year-olds were eligible for publicly funded pre-school education places in the academic years 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000 respectively. Comparable information for 1996-97 is not available.

11 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents have occurred in the last five years on the Stirling to Ballat Cross stretch of the A811.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured: they do not cover damage-only acc…

11 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents have occurred in the last five years on the Lochearnhead to Tyndrum stretch of the A85.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The number of personal injury accidents for each of the last five years which have occurred on the A85 trunk road between Lochearnhead and Crianlarich and the A82 trunk road between Crianlarich and Tyndrum is as follows:-<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">A85 Lochearnhead to…

11 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road accidents have occurred in the last five years on the Stirling to Lochearnhead stretch of the A84.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The number of personal injury road accidents for each of the last five years which have occurred on the A84 trunk road between Stirling and Lochearnhead are as follows:-<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><P ALIGN="CENTER"><CENTER><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WID…

11 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority received from the Budget 2000 additional financial resources for schools as outlined in the Education Department circular No. 1/2000.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: The information requested is shown in the table below.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Budget 2000 - Additional Financial Resources for Schools<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=396><TR><TD WIDTH="45%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Education Authority</TD><T…

6 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it, or any of its agencies, owns the esplanade at Stirling Castle.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Stirling Castle and its esplanade were conveyed to the Secretary of State for Scotland by the Crown Estates Commissioners in 1999. Ownership has now transferred to Scottish Ministers.

30 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8299 by Mr Jack McConnell on 28 June 2000, whether it will detail the end-of-year balance generated for each sub-heading of the Vote 3 Budget and to detail how much of these surpluses will be retained in these budget sub-headings in the financial yea…

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer you to the figures I provided in my answer to question S1W-8299. The Appropriation accounts published in the autumn will contain a breakdown of end-year balances. The answer to question S1W-8299 also shows the amounts retained by portfolios and the fu…

28 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any meetings which have taken place between Ministers and representatives of the seven grant-aided special educational needs schools in Scotland since the publication of the report of the Advisory Committee on the Education of Children with Severe Low Incidence Disabi…

Answer · Sam Galbraith: I visited Donaldson's College on 1 November 1999 and my colleague, Peter Peacock, has attended two meetings of the SEN Advisory Forum at which the Headteacher of the Royal Blind School has also been present. In addition, Scottish Executive officials have had …

28 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any meetings are planned between Ministers and representatives of the seven grant-aided special educational needs schools in Scotland to discuss the transition away from grant-aided funding.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: Discussions on transitional arrangements have taken place in two rounds of meetings between Scottish Executive officials and representatives of all seven schools. Ministers have been kept informed of these discussions.

28 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) private, (b) public and (c) voluntary sector (i) full-time and (ii) part-time nursery places for four-year-olds are currently available and how many were available in each of the last three years.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The available information is set out below. This shows number of pre-school education places occupied by eligible four year olds and funded by Scottish Executive grant in the private, public and voluntary sectors in respect of the academic years 1997-98, 1998…

28 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) private, (b) public and (c) voluntary sector (i) full-time and (ii) part-time nursery places for three-year-olds are currently available and how many were available in each of the last three years.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The available information is set out below. This shows the number of pre-school education places occupied by eligible three year olds and funded by Scottish Executive grant in the private, public and voluntary sectors for the current school year. This is the …