Questions and answers

Question reference: S1W-01601

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 October 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of the cost of extending free school meal provision to all school-aged children in Scotland whose parents receive the new tax credits.

Question reference: S1W-01603

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 October 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an estimate of how many children are eligible to receive free school meals at the present time, and how many would be eligible if entitlement was extended to include all those children whose parents are in receipt of new working families tax credit.

Question reference: S1W-01600

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 30 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to issue guidelines governing nutritional standards for school meals.

Each education authority is responsible for the nutritional standards in the school meal service which they administer.The Scottish Diet Action Plan "Eating for Health" made a large number of recommendations and included nutritional guidelines for catering specifications for the public sector, targeted primarily at pre-school and school age children.The Scottish Executive has initiated discussions with Directors of Education and progress in this area is being monitored through inspections by HM Inspectors of Schools. We will be considering the need for any further action in the light of inspection reports.

Question reference: S1W-01220

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 14 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will devise and issue a good practice guide to advise local authorities in their dealings with children with epilepsy.

A short-life Working Group comprising health, education and local authority professionals together with representatives from the Scottish Executive will oversee the publication of a good practice guide on the administration of medicines in schools by teachers. This guide will include a specific section relating to children with epilepsy, providing examples of types of seizures and medication and control measures. The guide is likely to be available for issue in December 1999.

Question reference: S1W-01063

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to provide an estimate of pre-school grant payments to each local authority in (a) 1998-1999 and (b) 1999-2000.

The payment to local authorities of pre-school grants for 1998-99 and the estimated allocation for 1999-00 are set out in the following table:

Local Authority	Total Grant Payments 98-99 (£)	Total Grant allocations 99-00 (£)
Aberdeen City	1,883,948	3,988,916
Aberdeenshire	2,780,280	5,824,567
Angus	1,225,069	2,389,088
Argyll and Bute	1,252,472	2,081,683
Clackmannanshire	591,903	1,112,597
Dumfries and Galloway	1,565,842	3,539,200
Dundee City	1,436,993	3,203,851
East Ayrshire	1,196,307	2,547,125
East Dunbartonshire	1,139,141	2,500,537
East Lothian	1,541,507	2,259,119
East Renfrewshire	1,007,493	1,850,811
City of Edinburgh	3,718,488	8,628,588
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar	329,610	747,166
Falkirk	1,557,861	2,972,320
Fife	3,586,080	6,816,991
City of Glasgow	5,707,072	12,077,938
Highland	2,580,878	5,284,943
Inverclyde	1,041,936	1,805,817
Midlothian	1,198,505	1,709,030
Moray	1,389,007	2,052,818
North Ayrshire	1,545,917	2,813,640
North Lanarkshire	3,759,779	7,100,107
Orkney Islands	238,026	612,206
Perth and Kinross	1,414,612	2,976,752
Renfrewshire	1,735,205	3,740,431
Scottish Borders	1,121,598	2,544,716
Shetland Islands	380,368	797,721
South Ayrshire	1,143,572	1,991,311
South Lanarkshire	3,359,689	6,260,358
Stirling	903,730	1,980,495
West Dunbartonshire	1,298,248	2,142,485
West Lothian	1,661,170	3,737,803
Total	55,292,306	110,091,130
*Plus Last Voucher Term	18,719,632	-
Scotland Total	74,011,938	110,091,130

* - The pre-school voucher scheme operated during academic year 1998-99. Total payments to all authorities during the summer term are given in the above table.

Question reference: S1O-00243

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive which elements of public spending on education and childcare in Scotland are not devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S1W-01341

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 2 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive which elements of public spending on education and childcare in Scotland are not devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S1W-00849

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 23 August 1999

The available information is given in the table. A number of changes in grant arrangements for pre-school provision were made over the years in question. Care should, therefore, be taken in making comparisons between years. Final outturn figures for any year are higher than provisional outturn and budget estimate figures and that should be recognised in making comparisons between years.

Education Revenue Expenditure by Scottish Local Authorities
	1996/97	1996/97	1996/97	1997/98	1997/98	1997/98	1998/99	1998/99	1999/00
	Budget	Provisional	Final	Budget	Provisional	Final	Budget	Provisional	Budget
	Estimate	Outturn	Outturn	Estimate	Outturn	Outturn	Estimate	Outturn	Estimate
	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000	£000

Aberdeen City	85,976	86,648	86,785	85,588	86,437	86,962	90,094	91,585	97,369
Aberdeenshire	109,644	109,028	109,686	107,095	112,025	112,185	114,519	118,818	126,917
Angus	47,860	47,860	47,898	47,863	48,192	48,547	51,091	51,589	56,157
Argyll & Bute	45,680	46,582	49,507	47,168	47,188	48,308	50,347	50,678	52,992
Clackmannanshire	23,734	25,308	24,084	24,600	24,458	23,616	25,790	25,727	27,701
Dumfries & Galloway	67,433	67,644	67,532	67,508	69,214	68,026	72,209	72,968	79,543
Dundee City	69,512	69,942	70,320	68,120	69,074	70,437	70,605	71,688	77,454
East Ayrshire	56,823	57,946	58,593	58,125	58,104	59,074	61,853	62,576	68,210
East Dunbartonshire	50,747	54,305	53,077	52,943	51,531	50,849	55,061	56,117	62,897
East Lothian	35,241	35,304	37,557	36,019	36,970	37,872	39,423	41,084	45,565
East Renfrewshire	39,617	40,718	43,939	40,590	41,980	42,903	45,151	47,119	51,660
Edinburgh, City of	157,552	159,253	159,097	156,049	159,859	163,027	167,753	171,656	185,682
Eilean Siar	23,415	23,752	23,591	23,476	23,523	23,583	24,934	25,283	26,527
Falkirk	61,280	61,294	62,512	61,158	61,704	62,542	65,780	68,612	73,546
Fife	162,139	163,950	166,290	160,082	164,946	163,005	170,714	172,105	183,799
Glasgow City	267,760	264,725	286,496	272,675	273,361	267,699	293,908	294,666	303,219
Highland	110,154	110,290	114,011	111,322	113,125	114,047	118,393	119,405	129,220
Inverclyde	41,652	42,234	42,777	43,321	42,884	41,864	46,546	45,723	49,402
Midlothian	40,238	40,700	40,578	40,494	40,721	41,281	42,435	43,281	46,743
Moray	41,597	40,537	41,429	40,010	39,903	41,028	43,105	43,917	48,407
North Ayrshire	61,561	62,838	65,196	65,357	67,212	66,805	70,452	71,526	78,245
North Lanarkshire	158,311	159,436	160,123	161,098	159,380	163,680	169,001	169,034	181,753
Orkney Islands	14,935	14,822	14,839	15,151	14,980	15,092	15,596	15,513	17,005
Perth & Kinross	55,625	57,127	56,074	57,348	56,677	58,231	60,210	60,997	66,401
Renfrewshire	80,777	81,676	82,481	81,607	82,199	81,953	86,386	86,116	94,645
Scottish Borders	46,606	47,075	48,314	46,268	46,928	48,148	48,824	49,926	54,151
Shetland Islands	25,869	22,489	22,224	23,384	23,384	22,402	24,201	24,379	26,418
South Ayrshire	50,435	50,897	52,437	50,275	50,656	50,531	48,295	50,730	52,623
South Lanarkshire	135,379	138,256	145,592	138,811	143,589	145,127	144,135	148,149	158,430
Stirling	38,370	38,769	40,363	37,599	36,802	39,663	40,440	43,061	46,622
West Dunbartonshire	50,297	51,407	49,655	50,795	50,439	49,068	54,585	54,207	57,294
West Lothian	76,800	76,657	77,422	77,057	77,700	76,269	81,016	81,872	88,500
				0
Pre-School Vouchers	-	-	-	48,391	48,391	48,391	18,720	18,720	-
Scotland	2,333,019	2,349,469	2,400,479					2,548,827	2,715,097

Notes1. Figures represent net revenue expenditure met from council tax, non-domestic rates and Government grants, excluding loan charges and revenue contributions to capital.2. Pre-School voucher payments by financial year are not available on an authority basis. Total voucher payments during 1997-98 and from April to June 1998 are shown above.3. The 1998-99 and 1999-00 figures include pre-school grant payments to each authority.4. The 1997-98 data is "near" final and may be subject to change.Source: As reported by authorities on their Local Financial Returns (LFR 1) for 1996-97 and 1997-98 and the Provisional Outturn & Budget Estimate (POBE) return for 1998-99 and 1999-00 (except for pre-school voucher and grant payments).

Question reference: S1W-00850

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 16 August 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive to provide an up to date breakdown, both by local authority area and type of project, of grants made from the Excellence Fund.

Table 1 shows a breakdown of Excellence Fund Core Programme allocated for 1999-2000 by local authority area and programme.

Funding under the Excellence Fund Special Programme has been allocated in accordance with Table 2. Proposals under the Specialist Provision Programme are still being considered.

TABLE 1

Excellence Fund Core Grant : Summary of Allocation of Funds for 1999/2000
	Alternatives	Study	Early	Supporting	Classroom	Reducing	Support for	Higher	NGfL		Total
Education Authority	to Exclusion	Support	Intervention	Parents	Assistants	Class Sizes	Teachers	Still
									Current	Capital
Scotland	£5,000,000	£7,000,000	£13,000,000	£5,000,000	£9,500,000	£12,500,000	£10,100,000	£5,000,000	£7,600,000	£15,000,000	£89,700,000
Aberdeen City	£175,032	£244,843	£455,556	£175,032	£346,260	£441,325	£363,585	£180,748	£269,885	£532,669	£3,184,936
Aberdeenshire	£251,052	£339,646	£680,359	£251,052	£400,478	£215,005	£455,592	£233,038	£371,413	£733,051	£3,930,687
Angus	£113,126	£161,199	£287,532	£113,126	£176,188	£124,476	£232,506	£119,302	£171,360	£338,211	£1,837,026
Argyll & Bute	£93,133	£124,027	£256,997	£93,133	£94,947	£158,424	£182,291	£93,681	£135,713	£267,854	£1,500,201
Clackmannanshire	£48,331	£65,423	£130,896	£48,331	£113,078	£56,580	£91,816	£46,095	£73,572	£145,208	£819,331
Dumfries & Galloway	£156,778	£212,497	£423,955	£156,778	£240,252	£339,481	£324,921	£166,216	£229,333	£452,630	£2,702,843
Dundee City	£137,800	£197,221	£348,234	£137,800	£226,806	£554,485	£287,040	£144,271	£213,002	£420,398	£2,667,058
East Ayrshire	£126,487	£178,070	£326,557	£126,487	£293,776	£248,953	£241,198	£123,124	£194,229	£383,347	£2,242,227
East Dunbartonshire	£128,262	£190,933	£306,932	£128,262	£300,456	£418,693	£250,442	£129,235	£200,575	£395,871	£2,449,660
East Lothian	£84,089	£108,042	£241,248	£84,089	£170,679	£181,056	£147,820	£75,327	£124,726	£246,170	£1,463,248
East Renfrewshire	£104,126	£154,181	£251,098	£104,126	£245,761	£486,589	£197,464	£101,494	£162,733	£321,183	£2,128,756
Edinburgh, City of	£319,854	£430,219	£872,672	£319,854	£714,033	£1,606,876	£577,217	£291,398	£494,995	£976,964	£6,604,084
Eilean Siar	£38,354	£57,704	£90,361	£38,354	£30,000	£25,000	£177,400	£45,759	£46,233	£91,249	£640,415
Falkirk	£136,925	£189,273	£361,665	£136,925	£306,659	£622,382	£272,393	£139,210	£209,670	£413,821	£2,788,923
Fife	£352,406	£503,989	£891,449	£352,406	£563,046	£441,325	£726,852	£357,527	£542,867	£1,071,447	£5,803,314
Glasgow City	£487,950	£639,816	£1,369,833	£487,950	£1,076,038	£1,391,872	£925,412	£457,550	£737,118	£1,454,838	£9,028,378
Highland	£235,564	£326,805	£619,437	£235,564	£258,600	£237,637	£509,169	£261,682	£348,390	£687,612	£3,720,459
Inverclyde	£88,180	£127,680	£219,391	£88,180	£204,338	£215,005	£178,538	£91,770	£136,829	£270,057	£1,619,967
Midlothian	£84,826	£119,665	£218,424	£84,826	£153,850	£215,005	£167,147	£85,134	£130,692	£257,945	£1,517,514
Moray	£91,981	£126,639	£244,134	£91,981	£157,493	£192,372	£188,532	£95,403	£138,797	£273,942	£1,601,276
North Ayrshire	£142,794	£201,516	£367,514	£142,794	£318,847	£350,797	£280,702	£141,268	£219,160	£432,553	£2,597,945
North Lanarkshire	£347,659	£507,996	£854,225	£347,659	£673,044	£780,806	£700,074	£358,283	£540,568	£1,066,911	£6,177,225
Orkney Islands	£26,971	£40,727	£63,195	£26,971	£30,000	£25,000	£112,597	£28,602	£33,146	£65,420	£452,629
Perth & Kinross	£125,326	£169,524	£339,701	£125,326	£191,022	£328,165	£242,556	£124,678	£186,185	£367,470	£2,199,952
Renfrewshire	£179,703	£259,921	£447,759	£179,703	£439,906	£667,646	£342,407	£175,687	£279,085	£550,825	£3,522,640
Scottish Borders	£107,029	£147,340	£284,117	£107,029	£145,782	£158,424	£217,454	£111,301	£159,280	£314,368	£1,752,124
Shetland Islands	£32,148	£46,396	£80,339	£32,148	£30,000	£25,000	£179,772	£44,100	£39,090	£77,151	£586,144
South Ayrshire	£116,706	£174,018	£278,607	£116,706	£238,994	£362,113	£238,351	£122,011	£181,005	£357,247	£2,185,757
South Lanarkshire	£314,836	£453,223	£789,489	£314,836	£657,430	£554,485	£605,755	£311,705	£486,109	£959,426	£5,447,293
Stirling	£85,016	£124,536	£208,165	£85,016	£142,139	£135,792	£176,971	£89,670	£130,395	£257,359	£1,435,060
West Dunbartonshire	£103,451	£151,104	£254,321	£103,451	£217,784	£237,637	£198,896	£100,171	£161,914	£319,566	£1,848,293
West Lothian	£164,105	£225,825	£435,834	£164,105	£342,313	£701,594	£307,128	£154,561	£251,932	£497,235	£3,244,632

TABLE 2

Excellence Fund Special Programme Grant : Summary of Allocation of Funds for 1999/2000


Education Authority	Education	New Community	Specialist
	Action Plans	Schools	Provision

Aberdeen City	£500,000	£200,000
Aberdeenshire	£200,000	£200,000
Angus		£193,000
Argyll & Bute		£200,000
Clackmannanshire		£200,000
Dumfries & Galloway		£200,000
Dundee City	£500,000	£200,000
East Ayrshire	£100,000	£200,000
East Dunbartonshire		£200,000	£459,250
East Lothian	£200,000	£200,000
East Renfrewshire		£200,000
Edinburgh, City of	£500,000	£200,000	£505,385
Eilean Siar		£200,000
Falkirk	£100,000	£200,000
Fife	£200,000	£186,213
Glasgow City	£800,000	£200,000	£781,735
Highland		£200,000
Inverclyde	£200,000	£200,000
Midlothian		£200,000
Moray		£200,000
North Ayrshire		£200,000
North Lanarkshire	£300,000	£200,000
Orkney Islands
Perth & Kinross	£200,000	£200,000
Renfrewshire	£100,000	£200,000
Scottish Borders		£200,000
Shetland Islands
South Ayrshire	£100,000	£200,000
South Lanarkshire		£200,000
Stirling		£199,957
West Dunbartonshire	£500,000	£200,000
West Lothian	£200,000	£200,000

TOTAL	£4,700,000	£5,979,170	£1,746,370

Question reference: S1W-00749

Asked by: Nicola Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 30 July 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 13 August 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had contact or intends to have contact with the International Children's Parliament.

Chamber and committees