Parliamentary questions
Claire Baker
1,724 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
30 Apr 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pre-registration student nurse and midwifery intake training places there are for 2009-10, also broken down by (a) adult nursing, (b) mental health nursing, (c) learning disability nursing, (d) children’s nursing and (e) midwifery.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The pre-registration nursing and midwifery student intake for 2009-10 is 3,060, broken down as set out in the following table.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td width=135 valign=top > <p >Adult</p> </td> <td valign=top > …
30 Apr 2009 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will address concerns over the potential for a reduction in academic staff employment conditions at Stirling University following proposed changes to its academic staff statutes.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Universities, as autonomous bodies, are responsible for seeking to make changes to their own governance arrangements and ministers have no powers to direct them. However, the Privy Council seeks Scottish ministers advice on these matters and in considering th…
23 Apr 2009 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister whether reducing graduate debt or tackling student hardship should be the priority for the Scottish Government.
Answer · Alex Salmond : <i> This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:</i></p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0430-01.htm">http://www.scott…
22 Apr 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider requesting that the Privy Council delay its decisions on the proposed amendments to the charter and statutes of individual institutions until it has received proposals from the eight pre-1992 universities.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Privy Council seeks Scottish ministers advice in light of applications it receives from individual institutions. The University of Stirling is the only Scottish institution which has applied to the Privy Council to make amendments to its academic staff em…
22 Apr 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it will make to the Privy Council when it considers the University of Stirling’s proposed changes to its charter and statutes.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-23156 on 6 May 2009. 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/Apps2/Bus…
22 Apr 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its preference is for a Scotland-wide agreement on changes to university statutes regarding university staff employment conditions.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Scottish ministers are keen to see early resolution on replacing the current outdated employment statute for academic staff which is part of the governance arrangements of the pre 1992 Scottish universities. We are strongly supportive of the discussions which…
22 Apr 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the University of Stirling’s proposed amendment to its statutes will have a negative impact on conditions of employment for university staff.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The amendments have been referred by the Privy Council to Scottish ministers for comments. We are currently considering the details of the university''s proposals before responding.</p>
19 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cumulative total number of subjects offered by publicly funded schools was at (a) higher and (b) advanced higher level in 2008-09 and the previous five years, broken down by local authority area and school.
Answer · Keith Brown: Copies of the requested data are available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47914).</p>
12 Mar 2009 · First Minister's Question
To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government will take to address student hardship among those at university.
Answer · Alex Salmond: <i > This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:</i></p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0312-01.htm">http://www.scot…
10 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much universities received from the allocation based on charity income under the Main Quality Research Grant (a) for 2009-10 and (b) in each of the last five years, broken down by institution, and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Support for charity-funded research has, since 2006-07, been provided by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) through two elements:</p> <p >the Main Quality Research Grant based on the number of research active staff which includes staff funded by charity inc…
10 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Scottish Funding Council will allocate to support charity funded research in 2009-10 and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Full details will be contained in the Scottish Funding Council''s main grant letter for higher education institutions which will be published on 2 April 2009. This will be available on the SFC website at <a href="http://www.sfc.ac.uk/">www.sfc.ac.uk</a>.</p>
10 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding to support charity funded research will continue to be allocated by the Scottish Funding Council (a) in 2009-10 and (b) beyond and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will continue to support charity funded research through a new funding model, the Research Excellence Grant, from 2009-10.</p> <p >Full details will be contained in SFC''s main grant letter for higher education institution…
10 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the charitable sector spent on medical research in universities in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2008-09, broken down by (i) institution and (ii) charity, and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The following table provides details of charity income on medical research by institution in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=242 valign=top > <p align=center >Institution</p>…
10 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much the charitable sector spent on research in universities in (a) 2004-05, (b) 2005-06, (c) 2006-07, (d) 2007-08 and (e) 2008-09, broken down by (i) institution, (ii) charity and (iii) research topic, and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The following table provides details of charity income by institution in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=276 valign=top > <p align=center >Institution</p> </td> <td wid…
5 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will meet the recommendation in Lord Sutherland’s Independent Review of Free Personal and Nursing Care in Scotland to produce national outcomes and a national performance framework that makes specific reference to securing the welfare of older people.
Answer · Shona Robison: The Scottish Government has accepted Lord Sutherland''s 12 recommendations in full and these are being taken forward alongside a wider package of measures we are developing in collaboration with local government and health service partners.</p> <p >The gove…
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the value of intra-UK exports from Scotland to be, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · John Swinney: This information is not available in the format requested.</p> <p >Estimates of the value of intra-UK exports from Scotland are calculated from data collected via the Global Connections Survey. This survey does not collect data relating to the local authorit…
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what it estimates the value of international exports from Scotland to be, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · John Swinney: This information is not available in the format requested.</p> <p >Estimates of the value of international exports from Scotland are calculated from data collected via the Global Connections Survey. This survey does not collect data relating to the local aut…
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent by NHS hospitals on courier or taxi transportation services for medical samples, products, equipment and documents, including blood products, medical products, samples for analysis, medical equipment, x-rays, patient records and other medical documents, in each of the l…
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: This information is not held centrally.</p>
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are held in secure accommodation and how many were held in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area and institution.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The current number of children in secure care accommodation is not held centrally. However, the government annually publishes secure care accommodation statistics which can be found at <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/09105012/0">http:…
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of restraint of a child there have been in secure units for children in each of the last three years, broken down by institution.
Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Scottish Government does not collect this information centrally.</p>
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time higher education students were assessed as being exempt from parental/spousal contribution and as income not declared/required in each of the last five years and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The following table shows the number of full-time higher education students supported by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) in academic years 2003-04 to 2007-08 who were assessed as:</p> <p >1. Income not declared/required, and</p> <p >2. Exempt …
4 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time higher education students were assessed as coming from single parent families in each of the last five years and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Prior to the introduction of the new means testing arrangements at the beginning of the current academic year (2008-09), the income of a parent''s partner or of a step-parent (unless they had legally adopted a student) was not included in the assessment of st…
3 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-14475 by Fiona Hyslop on 26 June 2008, how many staff were employed in (a) colleges and (b) universities in 2007-08, broken down into academic and non-academic staff, and when new statistics will be available.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The number of staff at Scottish higher education institutions and colleges during the past four academic years broken down by employment function is shown in the following table.</p> <p >Number of Staff at Scottish Institutions</p> <table border=1 cellspac…
3 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses were built by registered social landlords or local authorities in each of the last five years and how many are expected to be built in each of the next five years, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Alex Neil: The number of houses completed by registered social landlords (RSLs) or local authorities in the last five years is shown in the following table. These exclude conversions of existing buildings and Off the Shelf purchases by RSLs.</p> <p >There is no central…
3 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses were built in Fife by registered social landlords or Fife Council in each of the last five years and how many are expected to be built in each of the next five years.
Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21538 on 11 March 2009. 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/Apps2/…
2 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what would be required to enable freight to be transported on the Leven to Thornton railway line.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Network Rail owns and manages Scotland''s rail infrastructure and any requests to use the Leven to Thornton line would need to be lodged with them. Thereafter it is for Network Rail to determine any work required to ensure the line is fully operational.</p>
2 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what it would cost to enable freight to be transported on the Leven to Thornton railway line.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The costs would be dependent on the level of service to operate on the line and the impact to existing infrastructure.</p>
2 Mar 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many freight movements have taken place on the Leven to Thornton railway line in each of the last 15 years, broken down by (a) company, (b) type of freight, (c) date and (d) time.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: We do not hold this information centrally.</p>
27 Feb 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much discretionary funding has been provided to higher education and further education institutions in the 2008-09 academic year, broken down by type and institution.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The full list of allocations for the Higher Education Discretionary Funds, provided to colleges and universities, is available on the Student Award Agency for Scotland (SAAS) website at <a href="http://www.saas.gov.uk/student_support/other_funding.htm#discret…
27 Feb 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received requests for additional discretionary funds in the last 14 months from colleges, universities or the Scottish Funding Council and, if so, from whom and for how much.
Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The requests for additional Discretionary Funds in academic years 2007-08 and 2008-09 are shown in the following tables:</p> <p >In-Year Re-Distribution 2007-08</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=197 valign=bot…