Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-02657

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional support it will offer South Lanarkshire Council to provide education services for children detained at the Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre if the Home Office allow the education of such children in mainstream schooling.

Question reference: S2W-02656

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the action referred to by the Minister for Communities in the Parliament on 11 September 2003 in relation to education services at the Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre was.

Question reference: S2W-02652

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what policy and practice issues relating to children, young people and education which impact upon the experiences of refugees in Scotland were identified by the children's services satellite group of the Scottish Refugee Integration Forum.

Question reference: S2W-02655

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements have been made in the education system at the Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre, as referred to by the Minister for Communities in the Parliament on 11 September 2003.

HM Inspectorate of Education’supdate report on education provision at Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre,published by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in August 2003, sets out the improvementsmade following the October 2002 inspection. The information requested is on page2 of the report, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre,(Bib. number 29149) or on the internet at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs2/dungavelupdate.pdf.

Question reference: S2W-02653

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the involvement of ministers is in matters relating to education services at the Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre, as referred to by the Minister for Communities in the Parliament on 11 September 2003.

Scottish Executive ministers have raised with Home Office ministers theimportance of engaging Scotland’s school inspectors in the inspection ofeducation provision and standards at Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre,and are in discussion with Home Office ministers on how the recommendations inthe recent HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and HM Inspectorate of Educationreports can be taken forward.

Question reference: S2W-02654

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will take forward the recommendations on education provision at the Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre, as referred to by the Minister for Communities in the Parliament on 11 September 2003.

Question reference: S2W-02252

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools in each local authority area run supported study or homework classes after the timetabled school day.

A breakdown of the number ofschools participating in the Scottish Executive’s Study Support programme at March 2003 is given in thefollowing table. Information on supported study or homework classes funded fromany other source is not held centrally.

Aberdeen City Council	12
Aberdeenshire Council	173
Angus Council	8
Argyll and Bute Council	92
Clackmannanshire Council	22
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	41
Dumfries and Galloway Council	16
Dundee City Council	10
East Ayrshire Council	55
East Dunbartonshire Council	29
East Lothian Council	45
East Renfrewshire Council	31
City of Edinburgh Council	139
Falkirk Council	40
Fife Council	48
Glasgow City Council	205
The Highland Council	35
Inverclyde Council	43
Midlothian Council	43
Moray Council	12
North Ayrshire Council	67
North Lanarkshire Council	164
Orkney Islands Council	2
Perth and Kinross Council	40
Renfrewshire Council	64
Scottish Borders Council	31
Shetland Islands Council	22
South Ayrshire Council	58
South Lanarkshire Council	95
Stirling Council	21
West Dunbartonshire Council	38
West Lothian Council	32

Question reference: S2W-02257

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the implementation of accreditation for prior learning under the McCrone agreement.

Good progress has been madeon making provision for the accreditation of prior learning (APL) as part of the Chartered Teacher programme. The Scottish Executive recently sent to allregistered teachers a leaflet describing the Chartered Teacher programme andthe accreditation of prior learning (APL). All teachers taking a CharteredTeacher programme are required to complete module 1 of the programme. Onsuccessful completion of module 1, the teacher can choose between one of twoAPL routes.

The first route will be handled by providers as part of their programme designed to meet the standard for Chartered Teacher and will allow a teacher to claim up to a maximum of 50% of the Standard by APL.
The second route will be handled by the General Teaching Council for Scotland and will allow teachers to make a 100% claim against the standard by APL.

Alternatively the teachercan choose to complete the whole programme.

Question reference: S2W-02258

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on the employment of the 3,500 additional non-teaching staff to provide support for teachers.

The agreement A TeachingProfession for the 21st Century included a commitment to introduce approximatelythe equivalent of 3,500 support staff into schools by 31 March 2004. Authorities have been provided with £50 millionannually from March 2001. It is a matter for authorities how the funds arespent but within the overall intention of reducing the administrative burdenson teachers. Some authorities have, for example, invested in capital equipmentsuch as improved management systems. Aworking group of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers has beenestablished to monitor the impact. It has yet to report.

Question reference: S2W-02253

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been, and will be, carried out into the effects of supported study or homework classes.

In June 2001 the Department forEducation and Skills published a report entitled The Impact of Study Supportcontaining the findings of a longitudinal study carried out by the Quality of EducationCentre at the University of Strathclyde. Four schools in Scotland were involved in the researchwhich found firm evidence in all the schools studied that pupils who participatein study support do better than would have been expected from baseline measuresin academic attainment, attitudes to school and attendance at school.

Arrangements are currently beingmade for an evaluation of the impact of the Executive’s Study Support programme.