Chamber and committees

Figures across the whole of the time period requested are not available on a consistent basis. This is because the method of funding FE colleges changed when responsibility for the methodology transferred to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) from 2000-01.Because of the fundamental role that FE colleges have in encouraging people of all ages and from different backgrounds to participate in post-school learning, a large proportion of the resources made available to FE colleges by SFEFC are associated in some way with the promotion of social inclusion. The Scottish Executive expects SFEFC to exercise its the judgement and expertise in allocating the resources placed at its disposal, and does not instruct SFEFC on the proportion of funding which must be applied to social inclusion initiatives. The figures in the following table show, from 2000-01, the sums which SFEFC made available to further education colleges to cover the additional costs of social inclusion over and above the standard funding per student place.

Year	£
2000-01	5,208,896
2001-02	9,891,576
2002-03	10,986,126

Source: Scottish Further Education Funding Council.

There is no information currently available on the future provision of legal services in Peebles. It is hoped that the on-going discussions between Scottish Court Service, Scottish Borders Council and Lothian and Borders Police will culminate in court services being re-established in Peebles.If court services cannot be re-established in Peebles, provision of legal services could be considered as part of the consultation process on the delivery of court services.

No.

The public consultation in relation to delivery of court services in the Peebles area will commence when discussions between the Scottish Court Service, Scottish Borders Council and Lothian and Borders Police on the relocation of the court to council buildings at Rosetta Road, Peebles have concluded.

No.

No funding has been sought from the Scottish Executive for such a study. The opening or re-opening of railway stations is generally considered a local transport issue and as such we would expect the relevant local authority to take a project forward. It is a matter for Scottish Borders Council to determine whether the restoration of a station at Reston is one of its transport priorities and to identify appropriate funding for a feasibility study. Any proposal to re-open a station at Reston would also require the Scottish Borders Council to consult the Strategic Rail Authority.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to make legal aid available in respect of local authority education appeal committee proceedings. Legal aid is available for appeals from the committees to the sheriff court.

Education authority committees are not concerned with the determination of "civil rights and obligations or of any criminal charge" and therefore ECHR, and in particular Article 6, is not applicable. We consider that the system for dealing with cases considered by the committees, which includes the availability of a further appeal to the sheriff court, is nonetheless compatible with the requirements of the convention.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-176 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

Section 28 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 requires each education authority to publish or otherwise make available their arrangements for the placing of children in schools under their management.In addition, each year the Scottish Executive publishes a guide for parents entitled Choosing a School, which includes within it information on the placing request system. This booklet is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/casg-00.asp.