Chamber and committees

The procedures, which areISO9001:2000 accredited, referred to in the Glasgow Bureau on quality managementprocedures. These are contained in: the quality assurance manual; the processand procedures manual; local work instructions and forms and records

The procedures relate to allthe processes involved in the identification systems and control servicessupplied by the Scottish Fingerprint Service Glasgow bureau to the criminal justicesystem.

There was an issue with theNovember NHS student nurse bursary payments being paid four days later thanplanned. The problem arose as a result of us processing an unusually largevolume of transactions through our central payment system. Once we discoveredthe problem, we took urgent steps to accelerate the processing of thebursaries. We have reviewed procedures to minimise the risk of anyreoccurrence.

I refer Alex Neil to myanswer to S2W-4304 on 9 December 2003 regarding the extension of the contract for theacting Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

Irefer Alex Neil to my answer to S2W-4304 on 9 December 2003.We would not normally publish terms of appointment for individuals. I can confirm that the general terms and conditionswere identical to those published as part of the application pack for thoseapplying for the permanent appointment and a copy of this has been placed inSPICe (Bib. number. 30158).

In addition to the generalconditions these particular terms of appointment also had a specific section ontenure and this was as follows:

Your appointment as actingScottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is effective from 30 January 2003until 31 March 2003. The purpose of your appointment is to fulfil therole of Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner until the permanentCommissioner takes up his role on 1 April 2003.

From 1 April 2003 youwill continue to fulfil the functions of Scottish Parliamentary StandardsCommissioner in relation to any complaint or complaints which are outstandingas at 1 April 2003 only. Any complaints lodged on or after 1 April 2003 willbe passed to the permanent Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. Youwill continue to act as the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner inrelation to the complaint or complaints which are outstanding at 1 April 2003 untilthe Standards Committee has confirmed that no assistance or further assistanceis required.

I refer Alex Neil to myanswer to S2W-4304 on 9 December 2003 regarding the extension of the contract for theacting Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. The budget for the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner and any acting Commissionerappointed by the SPCB is determined by the SPCB. Under the terms of hisappointment, the acting Commissioner was paid on a salaried basis until 31March, thereafter he was paid an hourly rate for work undertaken in relation toany outstanding complaints.

The acting Commissioner was appointed by the SPCB on 31 January 2003. The terms of the contract stated that he would continue to act as the Scottish ParliamentaryStandards Commissioner in relation to the complaint or complaints whichwere outstanding at 1 April 2003 until the Standards Committee had confirmed that no assistance or further assistance would be sought from him. When the Parliamentwent into dissolution on 31 March 2003 there was one outstanding complaint underinvestigation and the acting Commissioner duly reported on that matter to theStandards Committee at the earliest opportunity in session 2. The StandardsCommittee completed its consideration of this complaint with the publication ofa committee report at the conclusion of Stage 3 of the complaints process on 7 October 2003. As at that date, no further assistance was required from the acting Standards Commissioner. The Standards Committee will be invited to confirm that position.

The budget for the StandardsCommittee for 2002-03 was £119,600. This was divided into SPCB payroll costsand other costs (which includes travel, expenses and advisers to the committee).The expenditure on SPCB payroll was £97,400 and the expenditure on other costswas £10,200. This includes the costs to employ an adviser to the committee fromMarch 2002 to January 2003. The actual expenditure of the Standards Committee was£12,000 under budget for that financial year.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4267 on 5 December 2003.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search/wa

The partnership agreementfor a Better Scotland (PABS) contains a commitment significantly to increaseteacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007. These additional teachers will be targetedon reducing class sizes to a maximum of 20 in S1/S2 for Maths and English, 25in P1 and increasing the number of visiting specialists working across theboundary between secondary and primary.

Asa start to training the additional teachers required funding was provided for200 additional places on the primary postgraduate certificate in educationcourse in session 2003-04.

Further substantialincreases in initial teacher education intakes in 2004-05 and subsequent yearswill be required to meet the PABS commitments. These are currently beingconsidered as part of the annual teacher workforce planning exercise which willculminate in guidance to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. The councilexpect to announce target intakes to courses of initial teacher education inFebruary.

I refer Alex Neil to myanswer to S2W-4304 on 9 December 2003 regarding the extension of the contract for theacting Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.