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-04742

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when Mott MacDonald Communication and Controls Division was commissioned to review the operation of fire service control rooms; what the remit of the review is; what the value is of Mott MacDonald's consultancy contract; what criteria were applied in appointing the company; how many companies bid for the contract; what Mott MacDonald's timetable is for reporting its findings, and whether the report will be made public.

An intention to review future control room arrangements in Scotland was expressed in our policy consultation paper The Scottish Fire Service of the Future published in April 2002 and confirmed in our recent publication The Scottish Fire Service: Proposals for Legislation. Mott MacDonald were commissioned in October 2003 to provide independent advice as an extension to a contract placed by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The contract was placed with Mott MacDonald as they have particular experience of the very specific area of fire service control rooms. The remit of the study is as follows:

consider the impact and implications of New Dimension on the operational and management arrangements of the fire service and the associated risks, opportunities, and issues in the context of control rooms;

consider the impact and implications of the consultative documents The Scottish Fire Service of the Future, The Scottish Fire Service: Proposals for Legislation and the proposed modernisation of Control Rooms;

investigate the operational effectiveness of existing control rooms and arrangements during the industrial dispute together with lessons learned that might be derived from this experience;

investigate and report on new nternational experience, particularly the operational outcomes of 11 September 2001 and the associated lessons that may inform any future arrangements;

to explore the issues associated with electronic service delivery and the potential impact on control room operations;

to make recommendations and provide an outline implementation plan for their delivery.

The value of the contract placed is commercially confidential. Mott MacDonald will submit their recommendations by early January 2004 and they will be considered, together with responses to the consultation exercise, as part of the preparations for the planned Fire Services Bill.

Question reference: S2W-05298

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4321 by Cathy Jamieson on 15 December 2003, whether it has discussed the content and implications of Her Majesty's Government's draft Civil Contingencies Bill as part of its regular contact with that government.

Question reference: S2W-05063

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times since May 1999 chief constables have used their powers under Part III of the Police Act 1997.

Question reference: S2W-04928

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4398 by Peter Peacock on 9 December 2003, how funding for 2004-05 and 2005-06 will be split between additional teachers and the Spark project and what the estimated cost will be of introducing maximum class si'es of 20 in S1 and S2 and 25 in P1.

Overall the fundingallocation for 2004-05 and 2005-06 for additional teachers and the Sparkproject is £29 million and £49 million respectively. As the Scottish Executive is currently engaged in the procurement process for the projectformerly known as Spark, it is not possible to separate out funding for eachelement due to commercial confidentiality. However, the split is heavilyweighted in favour of recruiting additional teachers.

Our class size commitmentssit alongside our commitments to significantly increase teacher numbers to53,000 by 2007 and to increase the number of specialists working across theprimary secondary boundary. In later years the salary costs of our class sizecommitments will be approximately £45 million.

Any need for additionalclassrooms in particular schools, consequent on our commitment to reduce classsizes will be influenced by issues such as local school occupancy levels,future pupil numbers and effectiveness of timetabling. It is for educationauthorities to consider these issues in the first instance.

Question reference: S2W-04929

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4399 by Peter Peacock on 9 December 2003, what targets it has for the number, and percentage, of classes with a maximum si'e of 20 pupils for each of the next four years.

Question reference: S2W-04887

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of award to individual students' is from the disabled students' allowance as part of the programme for wider access to higher education; what plans there are to increase the current level of award from the allowance; how many students have been granted an award from the allowance in each of the last three years and during the current academic year; how much has been spent on the (a) disabled students allowance and (b) programme for wider access to higher education in each of the last three years and how much is planned to be spent on each in the current financial year and each of the next three years; how many applicants have been refused an award from the allowance in each of the last three years and so far this year; how many, and what percentage of, applicants to the allowance have been referred to access centres in each of the last three years and so far this year, and what the outcomes have been of such referrals in each of the last three years and so far this year.

Eligible full-time studentscan receive support from the Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) of up to £12,070each year comprising a basic allowance of up to £1,490 and a non-medicalpersonal help allowance of up to £11,280. A further payment of up to £4,460 forthe purchase of major equipment allowance is available for the duration of thecourse.

The Executive is keen toensure that the current support arrangements are helping us achieve our goal ofwidening access. As part of the current funding of learners review in post-compulsoryeducation, we will work with our stakeholders to re-examine the supportavailable for students with disabilities.

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04*
No of DSA applicants	1,253	1,646	2,801	1,996
No receiving DSA	1,253	1.646	2,798	1,996
Unsuccessful applicants	0	0	3	0
No referred to access centres	374	641	752	380
% referred	29.84%	38.94%	26.84%	19.03%
Total awards	£3,082,691	£4,043,293	£5,128,226	£2,163,670

*to date

The number of students whoseapplication for DSA is refused after being referred to an access centre is extremelysmall. If a student is referred he or she is already considered eligible to receivea DSA award. The purpose of referral to an access centre is to establish thestudents needs and the level of award required.

As DSA is provided as anentitlement, future expenditure will be dependent on the number of studentsapplying in future years and their assessed needs.

The Scottish HigherEducation Funding Council (SHEFC) continues to work with universities andcolleges to widen access to higher education in Scotland. There are variouswidening access initiatives at both national and local level including theWider Access Regional Forums established by SHEFC in 1999 as part of aninitiative to encourage wider participation.

SHEFCprovides core teaching grants to higher education institutes on condition thatthey have policies and actions to help widen access. As well as this core grantit provides specific grants to cover provision for initiatives such as theStudents with Disabilities Initiative, Disabled Students Premium and EqualityChallenge Grant. Decisions on the allocation of funding to these initiativesare made by SHEFC on an annual basis. The following table gives the amount ofgrant specifically for widening access allocated in the last three academicyears and the current year:

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
Expenditure	£9,703,000	£14,911,000	£25,365,740*	£16,540,000

Note: *Figures for 2002-03include an additional £10 million Teaching Infrastructure Grant to enableinstitutions to develop their infrastructure to meet the requirements of theSpecial Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001.

Question reference: S2W-04766

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to objective 5, target 9 of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning chapter of its Draft Budget 2004-05, which quartile of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries Scotland's proportion of the workforce that are graduates falls into; what percentage of the workforce are graduates, and what the trend has been in respect of the number of graduates in the workforce in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

1. In 2001, Scotland was17th in a 31-country sample with graduates making up 16% of the workforce(taken as 25- to 64-year-olds), placing it in the third quartile. 2001 is themost recent year this data is available for international comparisons.

2. The level and proportionof the workforce (aged 16+) that are graduates are:

Year	Level	%
2000	379,000	18
2001	424,000	18
2002	447,000	19

2002 is the most recent yearthis data is available covering the period March 2002 to February 2003.

Question reference: S2W-04935

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 7 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many development projects, of what value, have been delayed because of lack of investment or commitment to investment by Scottish Water, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-04937

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 7 January 2004

To ask the Presiding Officer how many full-time equivalent legal advisers are employed or contracted to support the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and what changes are planned in the level of support in 2004.

As provided for under the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body(SPCB) has approved the Commissioner having a contract with Anderson Strathernto provide independent legal advice to him in his capacity as Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. It is not possible to provide the number of full-time equivalent legaladvisers as this will depend on the number of issues the Commissioner seekslegal advice on. All costs for legal support will be met from theCommissioner’s existing budget, and the contract has been let on a short-termbasis to allow the Commissioner and SPCB to consider the usage of such adviceand possible future options.

Question reference: S2W-04930

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 6 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4486 by Mr Jim Wallace on 9 December 2003, what the level of additional public spending would have been from 1999 to 2001 had gross value added been #1.5 billion higher in 2001.