Parliamentary questions
David Mundell
955 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5474 by Sarah Boyack on 4 April 2000, why there is no Route Action Plan for the A701 and whether it intends to establish such a plan.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The A701 trunk road between Dumfries and Beattock is not part of the strategic core network or a long distance route and it was not identified as a route requiring a Route Action Plan (RAP) in the <I>Roads, Traffic and Safety 1992</I> policy document.<P ALIGN…
5 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council on developing a strategic approach for the provision of tuition in IT skills to students and, if so, what has been the outcome.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I have asked the Scottish Further Education Funding Council to encourage and support the FE sector in developing a highly trained, flexible and IT literate workforce, familiar with and skilled in the use of this new technology, which will meet the future requ…
5 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council on developing a strategic approach for the provision of tuition in languages to students and, if so, what has been the outcome.
Answer · Henry McLeish: No such discussions have been held.
4 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1385 by Sarah Boyack on 16 March 2000, what progress has been made with the survey into the condition of local roads being carried out by the Society of Chief Officers of Transport of Scotland.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The progress of the survey referred to is a matter for the Society and the local authorities concerned.
4 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1471 by Peter Peacock on 30 March 2000, what targets, including timescales, it has for the allocation of e-mail addresses to primary and secondary schools.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Through the <I>Programme for Government</I>, the Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring an e-mail address for every school child by 2002. We have not set any targets for schools to have their own e-mail addresses.
4 Apr 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representation it will have on the UK delegation to the Ministerial Conference on the knowledge and information society in Lisbon on 10-11 April 2000.
Answer · Henry McLeish: As at all EU events, Scotland will be represented through the UK delegation, however it is constituted.
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what costs and other logistical issues will be associated with any change of the name of the M74 to the M6.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: Before any decision could be taken to rename the M74 it would be necessary to evaluate the costs of amending signing on the motorway and on all of its approach roads. Consultation would be required with the Highways Agency and local roads authorities adjoinin…
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to rename the M74 Carlisle to Glasgow as the M6 and, if so, when this will take place.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no such plans.
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what input it will now have into Her Majesty's Government's project to upgrade the A74 Gretna to Carlisle to motorway standard.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive Development Department was a member of the steering group that produced the revised proposals for the A74 between Carlisle and Guardsmill announced by Lord Macdonald on 24 March.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Future consultation arrangements betwee…
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering the facilitation in Scotland of "learning partnerships between schools, training centres, firms and research facilities for their mutual benefit", as identified as a goal in the Presidency Conclusions from the Lisbon EU Council Meeting.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Education for Work and Enterprise agenda, promoted by the Scottish Executive, supports a wide range of enterprise education activities aimed at developing links between schools and the world of work which are similar to those identified in the Presidency …
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is taking any steps to promote consumer confidence in e-commerce.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The Electronic Communications Bill provides for a voluntary scheme of approval for service providers to enable both parties to a transaction to be confident of the identity of the other and the security of the transaction. Officials are working with the Allia…
31 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when work will begin on the agreed improvements to the junction of the A73 and A702.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has no current plans to improve the junction of the A73 and A702.
29 Mar 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it will play in implementing the e-commerce initiatives agreed at the Lisbon EU Summit.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive will pursue key initiatives in the European and UK regulatory framework for e-commerce as proposed at the Lisbon summit. Through the National Grid for Learning programme, the Scottish Executive is already committed to connecting every s…
27 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it recognises difficulties which local authorities can face in developing Public Private Partnerships for improvements to rural schools and whether it is taking any steps to address this situation.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Public private partnerships can provide an appropriate means of securing improvements in the school stock across a range of circumstances. Such partnerships will not, however, necessarily be suitable in all situations, and local authorities continue to have s…
24 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to monitor how much of its correspondence and publication and distribution of documents is carried out electronically (a) internally and (b) to other bodies and individuals.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Internal correspondence, publication and distribution of documents is normally carried out electronically, via e-mail, shared file facilities and the Executive's Intranet. By the summer, letters sent to Ministers, where official advice is sought, should be ha…
24 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of its communications with local authorities are carried out electronically and what targets it has to increase this proportion.
Answer · Jack McConnell: We are discussing with local authorities ways of improving the speed and efficiency of communications between us, in support of the overall aim of ensuring that all public services can be carried out electronically by 2005. All Scottish Executive consultation…
24 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation process will follow the publication of the report of the Digital Scotland Task Force and how long any consultation process is likely to take.
Answer · Peter Peacock: As indicated in my answer to question S1W-5587, the Executive intends to consult publicly on the Digital Scotland Task Force report as soon as possible after it is completed. We believe that the process of consulting on the Task Force's recommendations will h…
24 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Digital Scotland Task Force will report, whether the report will contain recommendations and what the arrangements will be for its publication.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Digital Scotland Task Force is due to report to the Ministerial Committee on Digital Scotland in the first half of May. The task force was asked to give advice on actions to ensure that Scotland obtains and retains maximum economic and social advantage fr…
23 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out or intends to carry out any evaluation of the likely impact on police resources of the passing of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill.
Answer · Jim Wallace: We have no plans to carry out such an evaluation.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Scottish schools have developed their own intranet to store, share, and disseminate quickly information and resources.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Yes.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any Scottish schools have developed annual technology plans to consider education goals, staff development, software selection, and the evaluation of educational effectiveness with respect to IT.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Schools must have an ICT development plan in order to take advantage of the programme of ICT training being offered by the New Opportunities Fund. In 1998 all Scottish schools were issued with a copy of <I>Scottish Schools: Using the Superhighways</I>, a guid…
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many secondary schools in each local authority area have an on-site IT technical support available to them.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary schools in each local authority area have an on-site IT technical support available to them.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish teachers in each local authority area have a school-provided e-mail address and what progress is being made in ensuring that all Scottish teachers will have an e-mail address.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, showed that 12% of teachers had access to e-mail. The information requested is not available by local authority area. We are aware…
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio is of students to computers in secondary schools in each local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, showed that the pupil:computer ratio in secondary schools was 5:1. The ratio of pupils to modern computers was 8:1. A modern compu…
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio is of students to computers in primary schools in each local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, showed that the pupil:computer ratio in primary schools was 13:1. The ratio of pupils to modern computers was 23:1. A modern compu…
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it defines "computer" for education purposes.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive has not published a definition of a computer for educational purposes.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools in Scotland have computers with high-speed connections to the Internet.
Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many computers there are in secondary schools in Scotland, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, enabled the number of computers in secondary schools to be estimated as 69,100. Of these, an estimated 38,200 are modern computers…
22 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many computers there are in primary schools in Scotland, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Annual Survey of Information and Communications Technology, carried out across a sample of Scottish schools in October 1999, enabled the number of computers in primary schools to be estimated as 34,400. Of these, an estimated 19,000 are modern computers, …