Jeremy Purvis

1 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reform the system of penalties on farmers for contravention of agricultural regulations to introduce greater proportionality.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: New guidance for theSingle Farm Payment Scheme which will be issued shortly should help farmers andcrofters avoid common mistakes. While some discretion is allowed under Regulation796/2004 for “obvious” and “notified” errors, amendment of the penalty system i…

1 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the pilot for electronic sheep identification will be put in place; what areas it will cover; how much it will cost, and who will pay for it.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: No decisions haveyet been taken on the shape or form of an Electronic Identification (EID) pilotin Scotland. The Executive will take account of the mostrecent trials and research and work with the European Commission in developing alarger scale pilot. The joi…

1 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much is outstanding for less favoured area payments to farmers in the Borders for 2007-08.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: There is no moneyoutstanding. The draft Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP) for the period2007-13, includes proposals for an interim scheme for Less Favoured Areas Support(LFAS) for the period 2007-09. The SRDP was submitted to Brussels on 20 June 200…

1 Aug 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when less favoured area status payments will be made to farmers in the Borders for 2007-08.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The draft ScotlandRural Development Programme (SRDP) for the period 2007-13 includes proposals foran interim scheme for Less Favoured Areas Support (LFAS) for the period 2007-09.The SRDP was submitted to Brussels on 20 June 2007 and we await EC approval. This…

26 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the Scottish Government spent on staff bonuses in the last financial year.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: There are noplans to introduce a statutory requirement to hold fatal accident inquiriesfollowing all fatal road traffic accidents.</p><p>One of the keyfunctions of a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is to address serious issues ofgeneral public concern that arise…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will implement its policy of a 50% increase in the provision of free nursery education for three and four-year-olds.

Answer · Adam Ingram: On 20 June 2007 the Cabinet Secretary for Education and LifelongLearning announced that the provision of free pre-school education willincrease to 475 hours per year from August 2007.</p><p>Future increaseswill be announced in due course and will be dependent…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs would be of increasing the provision of free nursery education for three and four-year-olds by 50%.

Answer · Adam Ingram: We have recentlyannounced additional funding of £21.75 million per year to local authorities topay for the increase in pre-school education provision to 475 hours per year.</p><p>The funding forfuture expansion of pre-school education will be considered as pa…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many educational psychologists have worked in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The full-timeequivalent number of educational psychologists reported each year in the annualstaff census are as in the following table. Data was not collected between 2000and 2002.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=407> <thead> <tr> <td …

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support playgroups.

Answer · Adam Ingram: Playgroups have akey role in providing early education and childcare in Scotland. The Scottish Government will be considering how best to support playgroupsand the wider voluntary sector as part of the development of the early years andchildcare strategy.</p>…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools have portacabins in their grounds for use by pupils, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The informationrequested is not collected centrally.</p>

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many portacabins there are in the school estate.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The informationrequested is not collected centrally.</p>

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the school estate in preparation for implementing its policy of having 18 pupils or fewer in P1 to P3 classes.

Answer · Maureen Watt: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-1362 on 10 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.s…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional teachers will be required to implement its policy of having 18 pupils or fewer in P1 to P3 classes.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-1362 on 10 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what timeframe it will implement its policy of having 18 pupils or fewer in P1 to P3 classes.

Answer · Adam Ingram: The ScottishExecutive will be working with Education Authorities and Universitiesdelivering initial teacher training to ensure we can drive down class sizes ina managed and staged way which maintains teacher quality, recognises classroompressures and continui…

12 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in how many schools and in what areas it will implement its policy of having 18 pupils or fewer in P1 to P3 classes.

Answer · Adam Ingram: We intend toimplement our policy to reduce P1-P3 classes across Scotland and will work with local education authorities to deliver the policy.</p>

11 Jul 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how long it takes to analyse a DNA profile to identify an individual.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked David Mulhern,Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond. Hisresponse is as follows:</p><p>The length of time taken toanalyse a sample will vary according to the quality of the sample and thecircumstances in which it wa…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what increase in investment will be made for affordable housing in the Borders in 2007-08 over the £7 million in 2006-07 and £6.577 million in 2005-06.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Planned expenditure on affordablehousing in the Borders was £4.8 million in 2005-06 (outturn figure, £4.2 million)and £6.6 million in 2006-07 (outturn figure, £7.5 million).</p><p>Planned expenditure in 2007-08is £7.2 million, representing an increase of 50% …

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to support the poorest students if the Access Fund is cut.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the current form of Access Funds for students.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to budget for Access Funds in the next spending review.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Access Funds will continue to be provided to Scottish students who require financial support to enter higher education once the graduate endowment is abolished.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the abolition of the graduate endowment will have on Access Funds.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

28 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on Access Funds for students in the last four financial years and how much it expects to spend in the next financial year.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Access funds in highereducation are now known as Discretionary Funds and are funds intended toprovide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties inorder for them to access and/or continue in Higher Education (HE) and are paidin addition t…

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged under 16 have a DNA sample and profile retained on the DNA database.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked DavidMulhern, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond.His response is as follows:</p><p>Of the 216,263 DNAprofiles held on the Scottish DNA database at 21 June 2007, 2,386 profiles were from persons under the age of …

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged under 18 have a DNA sample and profile retained on the DNA database.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked DavidMulhern, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond.His response is as follows:</p><p>Of the 216,263 DNAprofiles held on the Scottish DNA database at 21 June 2007, 7,292 profiles were from persons under the age of …

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the age is of the youngest Scot who has a DNA sample and profile retained on the DNA database.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: As at 21 June 2007, the youngest person on the Scottish DNA database wasnine years and four months old.</p>

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA samples and profiles have been retained by the police that would otherwise have been weeded since the powers under the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 came into force.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked DavidMulhern, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond.His response is as follows:</p><p>As at 21 June 2007, a total of 646 DNA profiles had been retained on the Scottish DNA database by virtue of section 18A of the C…

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what percentage of cases heard where a prosecution for theft, assault, rape, attempted murder or murder made was DNA evidence was presented.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The informationrequested is not available. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s casemanagement database records details of accused and charges but this does notinclude searchable information about the evidence used by the prosecution.</p>

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what percentage of arrests DNA samples were taken in each year since 1999.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The information requestedis not available centrally.</p>

14 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many DNA samples have been taken by police from suspects in each year since 1999.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked DavidMulhern, Chief Executive of the Scottish Police Services Authority, to respond.His response is as follows:</p><p>The annual numberof DNA samples taken by the police from suspects is not known. However, the annualnumber of DNA samples that ar…