Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-25596

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the current number of vacancies for staff within pre-school and childcare centres are for temporary posts.

Question reference: S2W-25597

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of staff who have worked directly with children in each year since 2000 did not hold a qualification in childcare at SVQ level 2 or above.

Question reference: S2W-25606

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to reduce the 58% of childcare staff who leave the sector for jobs which do not involve childcare.

Question reference: S2W-25601

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for the recruitment and retention of staff working in pre-school and childcare centres.

Question reference: S2W-25594

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff have left employment in pre-school and childcare centres in each year since 2000.

Question reference: S2W-25603

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff working in pre-school and childcare centres have applied for workforce development funding since its introduction and, of these, how many applications have (a) been rejected and (b) taken more than two months to process.

Question reference: S2W-25600

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average hourly pay rate has been for childcare staff compared with the average hourly rate for all employees in each year since 2000.

The following table shows themedian hourly pay rate of child care and related personal services employees comparedwith all Scottish employees in each year since 2003.

Median Hourly Pay Rate of ChildCare and Related Personal Services Employees and all Scottish Employees, 2000-05

Year	Median Hourly Pay Rate of Child Care and Related Personal Services Employees	Median Hourly Pay Rate of All Scottish Employees
2005	£6.63	£9.15
2004 (inc)	£6.28	£8.72
2004 (exc)	£6.19	£8.83
2003	£6.20	£8.49
2002	£5.93	£8.31
2001	£5.53	£7.92
2000	£5.37	£7.50

Notes:

1. Source: Annual Survey of Hoursand Earnings (ASHE), Office for National Statistics.

2. Figures given are for employeeson adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

3. Estimates have been roundedto the nearest penny.

4. To improve coverage and hencemake the survey more representative, supplementary information was collected fromthe 2004 ASHE survey onwards on businesses not registered for VAT and for peoplewho changed or started new jobs between sample selection and the survey referenceperiod. The 2004 and 2005 ASHE results are therefore discontinuous with the resultsfor 2003 and previous years, for which no supplementary information was collected.However, for 2004 two sets of results are given; the headline results that includesupplementary information and results that exclude this information. These secondset of results are given solely for comparison to earlier years.

6. Direct comparisons can bemade between 2003 and 2004(ex.) or between 2004(inc.) and 2005.

7. Child care and relatedpersonal services employees include nursery nurses, childminders and related occupations,playgroup leaders/assistants and educational assistants.

8. The median is the value below which 50 per cent of employeepay rates fall. It is preferred over the mean for earnings data as it is influencedless by large or extreme values.

Question reference: S2W-25607

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the total childcare and pre-school staff in each year since 2000 were male.

The percentage of the total childcare and pre-school staff in each year since 2003 that were male is shown in thetable below. These data are from the 2005Survey of Childcare and Pre-school Education Workforce. Information for years prior to 2003 is not held centrally.

Percentage Male Employees

Year
2005	2%
2004	2%
2003	3%

Question reference: S2W-25599

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff in total have worked in pre-school and childcare centres in each year since 2000.

Question reference: S2W-25602

Asked by: Adam Ingram, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for the number of staff holding a relevant qualification to work in pre-school and childcare centres.