Chamber and committees

This is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

The River Spey Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is the only SAC in Scotland designated for all four of the listed qualifying features.

Scottish Natural Heritage’s most recent assessments of the condition of the River Spey SAC’s qualifying features, and other Scottish SACs with any of these qualifying features, are available via the following weblink:

http://gateway.snh.gov.uk/sitelink/siteinfo.jsp?pa_code=8365

Information on population levels is available at a UK scale in the second and third reports under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive submitted in 2007 and 2013 respectively. The latter also provides component reports for each of the four UK countries but does not make a conservation status assessment at country scale. The conservation status of the four listed species is summarised in the following table. This information is collated at a UK level, however Scotland hosts a significant proportion of each of the four listed species’ UK populations:

Conservation Status at UK level

Species

2007 2013 Status Trend Status Trend

Change in Conservation Status

Otter	Favourable	-	Favourable	-	None
Atlantic salmon	Inadequate	-	Inadequate	Stable	None
Freshwater pearl mussel	Bad	Deteriorating	Bad	Declining	None
Sea lamprey	Inadequate	Improving	Unknown	-	Unknown

The full reports, including estimated population numbers at UK (2007 and 2013) and Scotland (2013 only) levels, are available on the JNCC website via the following weblink: http://jncc.defra.gov.uk/page-6397

This is a matter for the Scottish Qualifications Authority. I have asked the chief executive to write to you.

The UCAS tariff score for each Higher (geology included) is: D = 36; C = 50; B = 65; and A = 80. The tariff is attached to a qualification as a whole and not to individual units.

Insight, a new online tool for secondary schools and local authorities, will be used to benchmark, analyse and compare a range of awards relating to performance in the senior phase of the Curriculum for Excellence. Insight includes a tariff scale in some measures to provide users with summary information about different awards from different providers, with points allocated to units as well as full courses.

Information supplied by the Scottish Qualifications Authority for their National Qualifications courses indicates that a Higher course will be allocated 84 points for those attaining all the units, 149 points for attaining a course award at grade D, 160 points for a course award at grade C, 182 points at grade B and 204 points at grade A. It is important to note that the Insight tariff scale will be used for benchmarking the attainment of cohorts of pupils. It should not be viewed as a reflection of the value of the qualification to the individual learner, nor should it be used to make decisions on the particular subjects that individual learners pursue.

It is not possible to provide a further breakdown of information contained in table 4 of Public Sector Employment In Scotland Statistics. Information on teaching and non-teaching staff at further education colleges is not collected through these statistics.

The single crewing of double-crewed ambulances should only happen in exceptional circumstances, such as short notice sickness absence when cover cannot be secured. The Scottish Ambulance Service is working hard to deliver this.

The information requested is not held centrally.

However, the total incidence of single crewing for April to June 2014 (inclusive) was 478 shifts, representing 1.1% of those shifts that were rostered to be double crewed. Of that total, many of the instances of single crewing occurred due to exceptional circumstances. Excluding these, the figures for single crewed shifts under non-exceptional circumstances was 0.6% across Scotland.

The information requested is in the following table.

 

	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
(a) Appointments	508	526	492	114	544
(b) Resignations	395	371	359	353	385

Source: Children’s Hearings Scotland

This is an operational matter for Children’s Hearings Scotland.

The introduction of the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011, which came into force on 24 June 2013, involved a full review of the children’s hearings system. The Scottish Government intends to build on the improvements already introduced by continuing to work with all partners, including children, young people and their families, and by measuring the success of the modernisation programme.

A National Bargaining Development Group was established to consider the structure through which national pay bargaining will take place. The group concluded that national pay bargaining should operate through national joint negotiating committees. All parties, including the sector and trade unions, have endorsed this new bargaining structure for which Colleges Scotland will provide support. This committee has been asked to agree a new pay structure, which must have regard to equal pay principles for staff in the college sector.

The first meeting of what is to be called the National Joint Negotiating Committee (College Staff) took place on 13 June 2014.