Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-23305.

The provision of pre-school education in rural areas is the responsibility of local authorities, working with partner providers in the private and voluntary sector. To take account of the additional cost of pre-school provision in rural areas, the pre-school education grant, which from April 2002 will be re-integrated into the local government settlement, includes a rural weighting. For 2002-03, this rural weighting will be worth £6.4 million.Families are not provided with additional resources to obtain part-time pre-school education places for three- and four-year-olds, since from 1 April 2002, local authorities in all areas of the country will be under a duty to secure these places at no cost to the parent or guardian. The Executive encourages the identification and dissemination of good practice, in meeting the need for pre-school provision in rural areas. The Executive is therefore funding two themes of Children in Scotland's programme Growing Up in Rural Scotland. This programme includes a series of seminars which are intended to assist local authorities, childcare partnerships, pre-school providers and other organisations in providing quality pre-school education in rural areas.

From April 2002 local authorities will have a duty, under the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc Act 2000, to provide a funded quality part-time education place, of at least 412.5 hours per session, for all three- and four-year-olds whose parents wish it. We expect authorities to take account of the need and preferences of children and their parents when planning the delivery of pre-school education.

Under policy directions issued by ministers, the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) has committed £87 million to the PE and Sport in Schools programme, under its third round of initiatives. Up to £21.75 million of this sum is targeted at supporting facilities and programmes designed to promote the role of sport, in diverting young people from criminal activity or behaviours likely to lead to this type of activity. I expect the detailed arrangements for the disbursement of these funds to be announced by NOF shortly.

Yes.

The latest information available from the Teacher Census at September 1998, shows the number of full-time equivalent teachers in publicly funded secondary schools, whose main teaching qualification was in technological education, was 1,418.In the primary sector, the great majority of teachers have a general qualification in primary teaching and are not assigned to particular subjects.

Figures for social workers specialising in childcare should not be considered in isolation, as many local authorities also have generic social workers who provide services to more than one client group, including children. Table 1 therefore shows the number of social workers in Scotland by client group in each of the years 1996, 1999 and 2000. Comparable figures for 1997 and 1998 are not available because they were not collected on a consistent basis due to classification changes.Table 1: Staff of Local Authority Social Work Services, 1996 - 2000Social Workers by Client Group¹: Whole Time Equivalents

Client group	Number of Staff (WTE)
	1996	1999	2000
Children	1,447	1,580	1,577
Generic2	652	894	811
Other3	1,973	1,814	1,764
All client groups	4,072	4,288	4,152

Notes:1. Includes Senior Social Workers and Main Grade Social Workers.2. Generic provision represents staff who provide services to more than one client group.3. "Other" client groups covers services for adults and services for offenders.Table 2 shows the figures for social workers specialising in childcare by local authority for each of the three years. The differing patterns reflect the extent to which social workers are identified by local authorities as specialist or generic. Some councils have changed their approach to classification over the period covered by the statistics. The proportion of generic provision which relates to children's services is not known.Table 2: Staff of Local Authority Social Work Services, 1996 - 2000³Social Workers Specialising in Childcare^{1, 2}: Whole Time Equivalents

Local Authority	Specialising in Childcare only			Generic Services			Total
	1996	1999	2000	1996	1999	2000	1996	1999	2000
Aberdeen City	79	96	106	54	88	0	133	184	106
Aberdeenshire	24	57	90	77	51	20	101	108	110
Angus	8	49	35	23	2	0	31	51	35
Argyll & Bute	1	3	3	29	29	33	30	32	36
Clackmannanshire	16	21	16	0	0	0	16	21	16
Dumfries & Galloway	44	42	43	24	2	2	68	44	45
Dundee City	109	81	62	23	0	5	132	81	67
East Ayrshire	40	39	32	5	0	0	45	39	32
East Dunbartonshire	11	19	16	8	10	5	19	29	21
East Lothian	24	35	29	0	0	0	24	35	29
East Renfrewshire	28	20	20	0	0	2	28	20	22
Edinburgh, City of	175	198	199	25	34	87	200	232	286
Eileanan Siar	1	5	5	13	3	3	14	8	8
Falkirk	49	59	55	0	0	0	49	59	55
Fife	74	90	87	29	31	14	103	121	101
Glasgow City	249	95	83	22	438	402	271	533	485
Highland	0	53	51	65	38	64	65	91	115
Inverclyde	53	40	46	1	2	11	54	42	57
Midlothian	30	28	29	0	1	0	30	29	29
Moray	32	42	40	0	3	0	32	45	40
North Ayrshire	43	47	45	5	5	13	48	52	58
North Lanarkshire	57	82	80	59	39	44	116	121	124
Orkney Islands	4	6	6	0	0	0	4	6	6
Perth & Kinross	41	42	53	0	0	16	41	42	69
Renfrewshire	52	33	26	21	11	21	73	44	47
Scottish Borders	27	37	46	12	0	2	39	37	48
Shetland Islands	3	3	3	14	15	12	17	18	15
South Ayrshire	32	38	36	27	29	25	59	67	61
South Lanarkshire	22	97	95	118	26	0	140	123	95
Stirling	30	30	36	0	5	5	30	35	41
West Dunbartonshire	31	29	42	0	28	3	31	57	45
West Lothian	58	67	66	0	7	24	58	74	90
Scotland	1,447	1,580	1,577	652	894	811	2,099	2,474	2,388

Notes:1. Includes Senior Social Workers and Main Grade Social Workers.2. Generic Social Workers provide services to more than one client group. They are likely to provide services for children.3. Figures for 1997 and 1998 are not available in this format as a different set of classifications were used.

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) was extended to distance-learning students for the first time in academic year 2001-02. Students have a responsibility to advise the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) of any change in circumstances that might affect their support entitlement. SAAS is not aware of any DSA students who have withdrawn from or deferred their course in academic year 2001-02.

Since academic year 1999-2000, there have not been any delays in processing applications for the Disabled Students' Allowance. The target of 21 days for processing fully completed applications is being met and in many cases exceeded. In certain cases, the process of putting equipment in place can take longer if a student needs to be assessed for technology needs by one of the National Federation of Access Centres.

To date, 62 applications for Disabled Students' Allowance from students studying through the Open University have been received.