Chamber and committees

The Railway Act 2005devolved greater responsibility for railways and rail transport in Scotland to Scottishministers therefore information is not held for prior years. In 2006-07 £536 millionwas spent on rail infrastructure in Scotland. The associatedbudget for 2007-08 is £611 million, budgets for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11 wereannounced on 14 November. Pricevalue estimates of annual Scottish GVA for these years are not yet available.

Expenditure on motorwayand trunk road infrastructure and its relative proportion of gross value added isshown in the following table. The associated budget for  2007-08 is £377 million,budgets for the period 2008-09 to 2010-11 were announced on the 14 November. Theinformation in the form requested is not available for principal roads. Price valueestimates of annual Scottish GVA for the period 2005-06 onwards are not yet available.

Year	Trunk Roads (£ Million)	GVA (%)
2002-03	246	0.3
2003-04	299	0.4
2004-05	325	0.4
2005-06	382	N/A
2006-07	464	N/A

 

The information inthe form requested is not available.

Procedures for handling999 calls are agreed on a UK basis by the 999 Liaison Committee, whichcomprises representatives from call handling agents, telecommunications providersand relevant government departments. The agreed procedures are set out in the Codeof Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service, which indicates that operatorsshould ask the caller which service they require. If the caller requests more thanone emergency service they will be connected in the same order as the caller requested.

Procedures for handling999 calls are agreed on a UK basis by the 999 Liaison Committee, whichcomprises representatives from call handling agents, telecommunications providersand relevant government departments. The agreed procedures are set out in the Codeof Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service, which indicates that operatorsshould ask the caller which service they require. If the caller does not identify the service, is unableto decide or cannot speak they will be connected to the police.

I expect to receivea report before the end of November following an internal review of the presentdomiciliary oxygen service. The report will include possible options for changein the current arrangements.

None. This is an operationalmatter for individual Chief Constables, Chief Fire Officers and the Chief Executiveof the Scottish Ambulance Service.

It is for local authoritiesto decide how incidents of bullying should be monitored and recorded.

The Scottish Governmentis committed to preventing and tackling bullying whenever and wherever it arises,regardless of the motivation. To support this commitment a national anti-bullyingservice, Respectme has been established. Respectme provides advice,information, support and training to local authorities and schools in all aspectsof anti-bullying from promotion of positive ethos to dealing effectively with incidentsof bullying of all kinds.

No specific actionis being taken by the Scottish Executive to monitor the waiting times for educationalsupport for children with autism.

However, under theEducation (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 (the act), educationauthorities are required to identify and then make adequate and efficient provision forthe additional support needs of children and young people, including those withan autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

The act introduced statutory timescales to which education authorities andappropriate agencies must adhere. In instances where an education authority and/orappropriate agency is in breach of these timescales, a parent has the right to utilisethe new dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation, independent adjudicationor, in certain circumstances, the Additional Support Needs Tribunal for Scotland.

On 31 October 2006, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) published theirreport on Education for Pupils with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This report(commissioned at the request of the Scottish ministers) evaluated and reported onthe educational provision for pupils with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in Scotland and was issued to all education authorities.

In light of both the HMIE report and the National AutisticSociety (NAS) Scotland’s “make school make sense” report, the ScottishExecutive created an Autism Spectrum Disorder Education Working Group to take forwardthe recommendations in both reports. The intended outcome of this group is to producea resource pack/tool kit for education authorities (EAs) which will include: strategicplanning for future service provision; guidance on the information EAs should bepublishing for parents, and guidance to schools.

The Scottish Government is funding a pioneering new projectat Aberdeen University, providing £1.39 million over 2005-10, to embed inclusiveapproaches to teaching for pupils with additional support needs, including ASD,within initial teacher education. The findings and best practice from this projectwill be disseminated to other initial teacher education providers.

The Scottish Governmentalso provides education authorities with £7.2 million per year specifically forthe training and development of staff working with pupils with additional supportneeds. A further £13.5 million is issued annually to allow local authorities toco-ordinate and provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers.