Chamber and committees

Figures on employment of social work assistants have only been collated in a consistent manner since 2000. In 2000, 799 whole time equivalent social work assistants were employed throughout Scotland.£2.2 million specific grant funding is awarded each year to local authorities to improve the quality of social work service provision of training for relevant staff. This would include social work assistants.

Information on social work vacancies was collected for the first time in the October 2000 staffing census. These figures are provided in the following table.Staff of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services, 2000Social Workers Specialising in Childcare^1,2: Staff and Vacancies (Whole Time Equivalents)

Local Authority	Total Staff (WTE)	Vacancies (WTE)
Aberdeen City	106	6
Aberdeenshire3	90	n/a
Angus	35	2
Argyll & Bute	3	0
Clackmannanshire	16	2
Dumfries & Galloway	43	6
Dundee City	62	0
East Ayrshire	32	8
East Dunbartonshire	16	1
East Lothian	29	0
East Renfrewshire	20	2
Edinburgh, City of3	199	n/a
Eilean Siar	5	0
Falkirk	55	4
Fife	87	0
Glasgow City	83	6
Highland	51	4
Inverclyde	46	3
Midlothian	29	3
Moray	40	0
North Ayrshire	45	1
North Lanarkshire	80	19
Orkney Islands	6	0
Perth & Kinross	53	8
Renfrewshire	26	4
Scottish Borders	46	0
Shetland Islands	3	0
South Ayrshire	36	2
South Lanarkshire	95	7
Stirling3	36	n/a
West Dunbartonshire	42	9
West Lothian	66	7
Scotland	1,577	n/a

Notes:1. Includes Senior Social Workers and Main Grade Social Workers.2. Excludes generic social workers, who provide services to more than one client group.3. Information on vacancies was not available for Aberdeenshire, City of Edinburgh and Stirling Councils in 2000.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is required to prepare accounts each year in accordance with section 16 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. SQA's accounts for 1999-2000 were laid in Parliament on 21 June 2001 (SE/2001/130) and its accounts for 2000-01 will be laid shortly. The SQA makes its accounts freely available to the public after they have been laid in Parliament.

Around 3,000 (27%) children looked after by local authorities are in foster care. Our experience of central Government recruitment initiatives in 1999 and 2000 is that regular local recruitment drives work better in attracting potential foster carers. We are also considering a Code of Practice which could help authorities with the recruitment and assessment of foster carers.Next year we will review both adoption and fostering legislation. The review will include consideration of how to encourage more people to adopt or foster vulnerable children.

The work of the former Higher Still Development Unit is being continued by Learning and Teaching Scotland who have a key role in supporting secondary education. Support for National Qualifications continues to be provided through the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Further Education Unit.

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has subsequently written to my Department advising of its decision to abandon its work on the code of practice on school closures, and proposing a review of all legislation relating to school closures. I will give this proposal careful consideration before reaching a view.

The next meeting of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers will be on 5 December 2001. This meeting will discuss the proposal from the Working Group on Conditions of Service on changes to pay for probationer teachers.

All parties to the committee will ensure that information on any decisions taken will be disseminated as appropriate as soon as a decision is taken.

I believe that students and those considering teaching as a career recognise the very significant improvements in pay, conditions and opportunities adhered through the agreement A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century, and will see the long-term benefits of joining a re-invigorated profession.I am convinced that the improvements we are implementing through the agreement are of significant benefit to probationer teachers and the profession, both now and in the long-term. However, I am aware of the concerns raised by those mature students studying now, and in particular that they have budgeted for their training under certain expectations and assumptions. With our partners in Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and the teacher organisations we will give the issues they have raised our full consideration.

The Scottish Executive is working with the Enterprise Networks to increase the uptake of those European funding streams which aim to encourage research and development. The Executive will be working over the next six months with the UK Office of Science and Technology on FP6, the new framework for European aid for Research and Development. Scotland is well placed to take advantage of the funding streams presented by FP6, as it has a proven track record of excellence in many of the priority areas being put forward by the UK Government.