Chamber and committees

The statement referred to in motion S1M-2756 reflects a conclusion of a report of the Transport Research Laboratory, which examined issues relating to careless and dangerous driving throughout the UK. Information on expenditure by Scottish police forces, on individual aspects of operational policing with force areas, is not held centrally. Funding for the police, which is currently at record levels, is allocated in total to each force. It is for police authorities in consultation with chief constables to set budgets for individual forces. Once a budget has been agreed, the use of that budget to meet the operational needs of each force is a matter for individual chief constables.

We consulted with the providers of lip-reading skills training.

Grants awarded under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 are to national voluntary organisations and would therefore not be awarded to the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency.

Grants awarded under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 are to national voluntary organisations and would therefore not be awarded to the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency.

We presume that the Prime Minister was referring to the Graduate Endowment scheme, introduced as part of the new student support arrangements from the current academic year. We explained, in the consultation document Helping Students, published in May 2000, that we intended to establish the endowment scheme "to create a fair but simple scheme that provides a contribution to the support of future students, from those who have benefited from a degree". We also explained that the endowment "will apply to all Scottish domiciled students in Scottish universities and colleges and to all EU students who graduate in Scotland", with exemptions covering around half of full-time students, who would otherwise be liable.

A representative from the Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID) was invited to join the wide-ranging review of audiology services, commissioned by the Executive, because of the expertise and experience RNID could bring to the review. The Executive therefore has regular contact with RNID.The audit element of the review has been constructed to incorporate the information gathered by the RNID research report Audiology in Scotland 2001, released on 6 February. The RNID information will be examined and analysed by the review group, to help formulate recommendations to address areas of concern.

Digital hearing aids are amongst a wide range of hearing aids available on the central contract, negotiated for NHSScotland. The figure quoted by Royal National Institute for Deaf people relates to the number of digital hearing aids, that were actually drawn off the contract during a specific period, expressed as a percentage of the total number of hearing aids drawn off the contract. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22823 on 21 February 2002, which gives details of the Good Practice Guidance, issued by the Executive on Adult Hearing and Fitting Services and provides advice on circumstances in which digital hearing aids should be provided by NHSScotland. The decision on who should be given a digital aid, is a matter for the clinician involved.

In general the Scottish Executive does not issue in advance to journalists, embargoed copies of policy documents, which are to be the subject of a statement to Parliament. Embargoed copies of publications are only normally issued to journalists, where there is an advance briefing on technical or analytical issues.

I have asked Douglas Osler, Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education, to respond. His response is as follows:HM Inspectorate of Education issued its press statement on Moving On - From School To College at 10:00 on 19 February 2002. A copy of the report was made available in advance to one journalist, on the understanding that nothing would be published until later in the week. The journalist complied with this understanding. Informal briefings on the subject area were provided in advance to significant organisations in the sector. One of these organisations issued its own press statement, welcoming the report, under embargo until 19 February, but giving no specified time on that date. This party's assumption that this would be acceptable was a misunderstanding of HM Inspectorate's practice in issuing its reports.An administrative error within HM Inspectorate resulted in the copies for the Parliament's Reference Centre being placed on their standard distribution list, rather than the advanced distribution list. This error was made known to HM Inspectorate late in the morning of 19 February and copies were dispatched as soon as feasible by courier, arriving at the Parliament at 12:40.

It is not the Scottish Executive's normal practice to issue publications and reports on an embargoed basis. Publications are available on the internet at the time of launch, as electronic publishing is the quickest way of making information available simultaneously, with any press statement or announcement. Copies of reports are delivered to the Parliament's Reference Centre at the time of publication, although there may be a slight time delay in their actual availability in the centre.