- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of additional teachers required in Dundee to implement in full its commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.
Answer
No estimate hasbeen made of the additional teachers required by individual local authoritiesto reduce class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 to a maximum of 18. We carryout an annual national teacher workforce planning exercise which estimates thenumber of teachers that require to be trained in the years ahead taking intoaccount demographic changes in the pupil and teacher populations. The GeneralRegisters of Scotland recently published revised populationprojections that will need to be taken into account in this year’s exercise.That exercise will not be complete until around the end of this year.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS sight tests and eye examinations were carried out in (a) NHS Tayside and (b) NHS Grampian in the (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07 financial years.
Answer
The information requestedis shown in the following table.
The Number of SightTest and Eye Examinations1 by NHS Board for Year Ending 31 March
| | Grampian | Tayside |
| 2006 | 94,103 | 79,355 |
| 20072 | 169,323 | 128,179 |
Source: These data are extracted from the ophthalmicpayment system OPTIX.
Notes:
1. On 1 April 2006, a new nhs eye examination was introduced andentitlement was extended to all in Scotland. Thetraditional NHS sight test was replaced by a comprehensive eye examinationappropriate to the patient’s needs. An initial eye examination is carried out(primary eye examination) and where necessary this is followed by a further eyeexamination (supplementary eye examination).
2. These figures includeboth primary and supplementary NHS Eye examinations.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the additional funds that will have to be made available to Dundee City Council for the full implementation of the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.
Answer
No estimate has beenmade of the additional funding required by individual authorities for the full implementationof our class size commitment. We are working with the Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities to develop outcome agreements that will cover reduction in class sizes.Dundee City Council has already received an additional £235,000 as is share of the£9 million additional Funding announced by the Cabinet Secretary for Education andLifelong Learning on 20 June 2007.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning or her ministers have met members of the administration of Dundee City Council to discuss the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.
Answer
Discussions have beenheld with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the development of outcomeagreements that cover our class size commitments.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it envisages for any of the 137 police officers who are projected to retire from Tayside Police from January 2008 to December 2011 so that Tayside Police can receive its proportionate share of “the equivalent of 1,000 additional police officers”, as outlined in Principles and Priorities: The Government's Programme for Scotland.
Answer
I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-6107 on 14 November 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it envisages for any of the 297 police officers who retired or left Tayside Police from April 2002 to September 2007 so that the force can receive its proportionate share of “the equivalent of 1,000 additional police officers”, as outlined in Principles and Priorities: The Government's Programme for Scotland.
Answer
The deployment ofresources is an operational matter for chief constables. The ScottishGovernment will continue to work with key stakeholders to ensure that more of the skills and experience of those officers recently retired or about to retireare retained.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 13 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5468 by Shona Robison on 31 October 2007, whether it intends to make more up-to-date estimates than for 2002-03 in respect of the total cost to society of alcohol misuse.
Answer
While there arecurrently no plans to update the estimates, we will consider ways in which thealcohol misuse cost estimates could be revised and updated. This will beinformed by commissioned research to develop a robust methodology forestimating the social and economic cost of illicit drug use in Scotland. This research is due to be completed in March 2008.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 12 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for full implementation in Dundee of the commitment to reduce class sizes to 18 and below in primary 1 to primary 3.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentwill be working with Dundee City Council and the universities delivering initialteacher training to ensure we can drive down class sizes in a managed and stagedway which maintains teacher quality, recognises classroom pressures and continuityof class configurations which will deliver year-on-year progress to classes of 18in P1-P3. On 20 June 2007 the Cabinet Secretary for Education and LifelongLearning announced the provision of £9 million additional funding to allow localauthorities to employ 300 additional teachers in pre-school and primary 1-3 in deprivedareas. Dundee City Council’s share of this funding is £235,800.
This approach hasbeen recognised by teaching professionals as the best way to deliver our policyof class sizes of 18 in P1-P3 across Scotland.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 12 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related deaths have been recorded in Dundee in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answer
The information requestedis given in the following table. It uses a definition of alcohol-related deathsagreed with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2006, following wide consultation.Figures only include cases where the selected causes were the main cause of death.
Alcohol-Related Deaths1, Dundee City Council Area, 2004-06
| Year | Number of Deaths |
| 2004 | 68 |
| 2005 | 54 |
| 2006 | 51 |
Note: 1. ICD10 codes:F10, G31.2, G62.1, I42.6, K29.2, K70, K73, K74 (excl. K74.3-K74.5), K86.0, X45,X65, Y15.
- Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 12 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many alcohol-related deaths have been recorded in Tayside in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answer
The information requestedis given in the following table. It uses a definition of alcohol-related deathsagreed with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2006, following wide consultation.Figures only include cases where the selected causes were the main cause of death.
Alcohol-Related Deaths1, Tayside NHS BoardArea, 2004-06
| Year | Number of Deaths |
| 2004 | 128 |
| 2005 | 109 |
| 2006 | 103 |
Note: 1. ICD10 codes:F10, G31.2, G62.1, I42.6, K29.2, K70, K73, K74 (excl. K74.3-K74.5), K86.0, X45,X65, Y15.
