Parliamentary questions

Hugh Henry

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

17 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much investment will be required to deliver class sizes of 18 in primary 1 to primary 3 by 2011.

Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4099 on 20 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

17 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of how it has calculated the £100,000 cost of rebranding the Executive.

Answer · John Swinney: Design anddevelopment of the new corporate identity cost £71,106 and signage cost£38,922. Some of the VAT is refundable on the design and development costs,which means the cost to the organisation was £99,438.Our approach does not involve money being s…

17 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional funding will be provided to the City of Edinburgh Council to help resolve funding issues in its education department.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The 2007-08 localgovernment finance settlement has been fully allocated and it is for each authorityto manage its spending within the overall resources available to it, including thoseprovided by government and those raised locally. Within the 2007-08 budget …

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers would be required to deliver a fully qualified nursery teacher in every class for every nursery age child.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-4165 on 4 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.…

12 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers would be required to deliver access to a fully qualified nursery teacher for every nursery age child.

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional teacher training places will be created in each year to 2011 to meet its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-4099 on 20 September 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding will be provided to local authorities in each year from 2007-08 to 2011-12 to meet its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: In the academicyear 2007-08 an additional £9 million has been allocated for local authoritiesto employ 300 extra teachers and £40 million for the financial year 2007-08 tohelp them with the infrastructure changes needed.With regards tofuture years I re…

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional teachers will be required to meet its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Issues regardingthe resources to meet the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1to primary 3 are matters for consideration in the context of the currentSpending Review.We will be holdingdiscussions with both local authorities and the unive…

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the capital school estate is sufficient to meet its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The ScottishGovernment recognises that there will be implications for the physicalaccommodation requirements in some schools.

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools will require temporary accommodation to meet its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The detail ofaccommodation requirements will be for authorities to consider, in the light oflocal circumstances and roll projections.

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional capital will be provided in each year from 2007-08 to 2011-12 to support the reduction in class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: In July 2007 the Scottish Government allocated an additional £40 million of Schools Fund grantlinked specifically to the capital implications of reducing class sizes in P1to P3. The question of future funding is a matter for consideration in thecontext of the…

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the capital implications are of reducing class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: We recognise thatthere will be implications for the physical accommodation requirements in someschools, particularly those operating at high occupancy levels. The generallevel of surplus school places and the continuing decline in school rolls inmany areas sh…

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether class sizes of 18 in primary 1 to primary 3 will be achieved by May 2011, as pledged by the First Minister on 5 September 2007 (Official Report c. 1378).

Answer · Maureen Watt: We are fullycommitted to driving down class sizes in P1 to P3 to a maximum of 18.The pace andscale of delivery are dependent on discussions with local authorities and withthe Universities, who will be delivering the additional teachers needed.However, …

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional composite classes in primary 1 to primary 3 will be created as a result of its decision to reduce class sizes to 18.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The creation ofcomposite classes in schools is a matter for local authorities to consider inthe light of circumstances such as the nature and size of schools, theresources allocated by each local authority, teacher availability etc.

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any profiling work has been carried out on the impact of reducing class sizes to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3.

Answer · Maureen Watt: As is usual, workis being undertaken to aid the teacher workforce planning process which takesplace each autumn, which projects the future requirement for newly qualifiedteachers.

6 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether additional composite classes in primary 1 to primary 3 will result from its decision to reduce class sizes to 18.

Answer · Maureen Watt: We will bediscussing the implementation of class size reduction with COSLA, in thecontext of the Spending Review and the annual round of Teacher WorkforcePlanning. The creation of composite classes in schools is a matter for localauthorities to consider in th…

5 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its involvement is in organising the national procurement conference on 31 October 2007 at which the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth is speaking.

Answer · John Swinney: For theforthcoming National Public Procurement Conference, the Scottish Government isresponsible for the event’s theme and content. BiP Solutions Ltd are providingevent management services.

5 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who is organising the national procurement conference on 31 October 2007 at which the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth is speaking.

Answer · John Swinney: The NationalProcurement Conference, being held on the 31 October 2007 at the SECC in Glasgow, is being organised by the Scottish Procurement Directorate inconjunction with BiP Solutions Ltd.

4 Sep 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances it considers that it would be appropriate for the UK Government to hold the Executive to account for any of its responsibilities or for any measures jointly agreed.

Answer · Bruce Crawford: The Scottish Governmentis accountable to the Scottish Parliament. Both the Parliament and the governmentare ultimately accountable to the people of Scotland.

23 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the public private partnership initiative will end.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-3600 on 4 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

23 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to abolish public private partnerships as a means of funding capital projects.

Answer · John Swinney: We said before theelections that PPP could continue as one of several delivery options open to publicsector bodies. These are complex procurements involving high procurement costs forboth public and private sector participants. Some procurements have been in …

23 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate for the UK Government to hold the Executive to account for any of its responsibilities or for any measures jointly agreed.

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who in the Executive determines whether action on an issue is ultra vires.

Answer · Bruce Crawford: Ministers makedecisions which are informed by advice from officials.

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action can be taken if it commits resources to action deemed to be ultra vires.

Answer · John Swinney: Any resources committedwhich are deemed to be ultra vires should be recovered.

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any circumstances in which it is competent for it to commit money and other resources to issues that are ultra vires and, if so, whether it will list these circumstances.

Answer · John Swinney: Scottish ministersshould not knowingly incur any unlawful expenditure. The <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/Intro">ScottishPublic Finance Manual</a> provides details of the circumstances under whichthe Scottish Executiv…

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all meetings between COSLA and ministers specifically to discuss the employment of probationary teachers since 17 May 2007.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Ministers have notheld any meetings with COSLA specifically to discuss the employment of post probationteachers. Discussions with COSLA about budgets and outcomes are on-going.

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all meetings between the General Teaching Council and ministers specifically to discuss the employment of probationary teachers since 17 May 2007.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I met with MatthewMacIver, Chief Executive/ Registrar of the General Teaching Council for Scotland on the 24 July 2007 and, amongst other issues, discussed with him progressin the teacher induction scheme and teacher employment.

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with local authorities about probationary teachers since 29 June 2007.

Answer · Maureen Watt: In addition toprior oral briefings, a letter was sent to all Directors of Education on 3 July2007 detailing the additional funding to allow education authorities to employ300 additional teachers in primarily in pre-school and in primaries 1 to 3 indeprived ar…

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all meetings it has held to discuss the employment of probationary teachers who finished their probationary year in June 2007.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Scottish Executiveofficials have had regular discussions with appropriate stakeholders includingeducation authorities, representatives of the Association of Directors of Educationin Scotland and teachers’ unions and professionalassociations on the subject of …

9 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list and give the dates of all meetings between ministers and the Scottish Qualification Authority since 17 May 2007.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Minister for Schoolsand Skills and the Minister for Children and Early Years both attended a stakeholdersevent on 18 June 2007 at which the Scottish Qualifications Authority(SQA) was represented. I visited the SQA’s office in Glasgow on 6 August 2007 and …