- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10428 by Mr Jack McConnell on 1 March 2001, when the winter 2001-02 diet of examinations is scheduled to take place.
Answer
Between 14 and 18 January 2002.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-10428 by Mr Jack McConnell on 1 March 2001, whether the winter examination diet in 2001-02 will include examinations in all subjects and at all levels for which examinations are set in the summer diet and whether there will be any restrictions on which candidates are able to sit examinations in the winter diet.
Answer
The subjects which will be examined in the 2001-02 winter examination diet are Care, English and Communication, Biology, Administration and Mathematics. The winter diet is aimed primarily at further education students, but schools may enter candidates if they wish to do so.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answer expected on 28 February 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6842 by Sarah Boyack on 30 May 2000, in relation to how many of the road traffic accidents which took place on the A71 in each of the last five years were winter weather conditions reported as an attributable factor, broken down by local authority area and specifying in each case the number of fatalities and serious injuries.
Answer
Answer expected on 28 February 2001
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the number of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude people living in institutions such as nursing homes and residential homes for the elderly and in houses in multiple occupancy.
Answer
The statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS).The FRS is a survey of private households in Great Britain, and as such does not cover those areas of the population living outside private households e.g. people living in nursing and residential homes. People living in multiple occupancy houses are included if the household is a private household.Most Government surveys are based on private households, as it is expensive and in some cases impractical to collect data on people living outwith private households. There are also additional difficulties in applying the definition of income poverty to those living in institutions; one of the main assumptions behind the poverty analysis is that household income is a proxy indicator of standard of living and this assumption does not transfer to people living in institutions.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the proportion of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude people living north of the Caledonian Canal.
Answer
The Scottish Executive's statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty do not exclude people living north of the Caledonian Canal.The statistics are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS). In common with some other household surveys, the Scottish Islands and the area to the north of the Caledonian Canal were excluded from the FRS sample due to the costs of carrying out fieldwork in these areas. Although they were not included in the sample, it was assumed that their income levels were similar to the rest of Scotland, and the overall estimates for Scotland represent the whole household population.To improve the quality of the Scottish data, the Scottish Executive has provided funding for DSS to extend the coverage of the survey to the Scottish Islands and the area north of the Caledonian Canal. This change will take effect from April 2001 and the first results on the new basis will cover the financial year 2001-02.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the proportion of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude homeless people living rough or in bed and breakfast accommodation.
Answer
The statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS).The FRS is a survey of private households in Great Britain, and as such does not cover those areas of the population living outside private households e.g. students in halls of residence, people living in nursing and residential homes, people in hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation, and people sleeping rough. Most Government surveys are based on private households, as it is expensive and in some cases impractical to collect data on people living outwith private households. The Social Justice Annual Report covers issues surrounding people sleeping rough and temporary accommodation through specific milestones.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 20 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13110 by Jackie Baillie on 6 March 2001, whether it will, prior to the Stage 1 debate on the Housing (Scotland) Bill, expand upon its definition of "affordable housing options".
Answer
"Affordable housing options" are properties which are available, for rent or for purchase, at reasonable cost within the context of the overall resources available to the household.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 19 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how it calculated the figure of 70,000 in its statement regarding the reduction in the number of children living in income poverty contained in news release SE2919/2000.
Answer
The figure referred to was calculated using the headline measure recommended by the Statistical Programme Committee of the European Union - the number of children in households where net income (after housing costs) is below 60% of the GB median.Estimates of the number of children living in low income households were calculated for the years 1996-97 (380,000) and 1998-99 (310,000) and the 70,000 quoted represents the difference between these two estimates. The source of the data is the Scottish sample of DSS Households Below Average Income survey.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 16 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13337 by Sarah Boyack on 28 February 2001, how it plans to compare accident rates on the trunk road network which are attributable to winter weather conditions between the years when local authorities carried out road maintenance, snow clearance and gritting and those when private contractors carried out such work.
Answer
Road accident statistics for the trunk road network in Scotland are recorded on an annual basis enabling any change in the number of accidents attributable to any particular cause, such as winter weather conditions, to be identified.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 14 March 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action arising from his responsibilities for external affairs the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs has taken in relation to the cancellation of the Taoiseach's visit to Carfin, Lanarkshire.
Answer
The Scottish Executive was not involved in making arrangements for the Taoiseach's visit to Carfin, Lanarkshire. Following the cancellation, the First Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland jointly invited the Taoiseach to Scotland later this year.
