- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 September 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26780 by Hugh Henry on 11 July 2002, whether it has assessed the impact of high staff turnover on the Inverclyde Social Inclusion Partnership.
Answer
No formal assessment of the impact of staff turnover on Inverclyde Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) has been carried out by either the Scottish Executive or Communities Scotland, who now manage the SIP programme.Following concerns expressed by partners on the SIP board on staffing and other issues, officials from Communities Scotland did however attend the SIP board meeting on 16 July to establish the extent to which the SIP is addressing these issues.The support team was one of the items on the agenda. We are satisfied steps have now been taken to appoint staff and note that the SIP hopes to have the support team up to full complement soon.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 23 August 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17355 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 1 October 2001, what information it has on which areas and exchanges have now been equipped with broadband asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology and which (a) area and (b) exchange (i) has and (ii) has not been equipped with such technology.
Answer
At the moment, the following 67 Exchanges across Scotland have been ADSL enabled:
Aberdeen Balgownie | Aberdeen Denburn |
Aberdeen Dyce | Aberdeen Kincorth |
Aberdeen Lochnagar | Aberdeen North |
Aberdeen West | Alloa |
Arbroath | Ayr |
Blantyre | Cumbernauld |
Dalgety Bay | Dumfries |
Dundee Park | Dundee Steeple |
Dunfermline | East Kilbride |
Edinburgh Abbeyhill | Edinburgh Craiglockhart |
Edinburgh Dalkeith | Edinburgh Dean |
Edinburgh Donaldson | Edinburgh Fountainbridge |
Edinburgh Granton | Edinburgh Leith |
Edinburgh Liberton | Edinburgh Morningside |
Edinburgh Musselburgh | Edinburgh Newington |
Edinburgh Portobello | Edinburgh Rose Street |
Edinburgh Waverley | Elgin |
Falkirk | Glasgow Bridgeton |
Glasgow Central | Glasgow Clydebank |
Glasgow Croftfoot | Glasgow Douglas |
Glasgow Giffnock | Glasgow Govan |
Glasgow Halfway | Glasgow Ibrox |
Glasgow Langside | Glasgow Maryhill |
Glasgow Merrylee | Glasgow Paisley |
Glasgow Pollock | Glasgow Renfrew |
Glasgow Rutherglen | Glasgow Scotstoun |
Glasgow South | Glasgow Western |
Hamilton | Inverness Macdhuie |
Kilmarnock | Kirkcaldy |
Livingston Station | Motherwell |
Penicuik | Perth |
Prestwick | St Andrews |
Stirling Castle | Troon |
Whitburn | |
These exchanges cover 34% of the Scottish population.In addition, BT have allocated demand "trigger points" to a further 62 exchanges in Scotland. Customers can register interest through designated Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and trigger points are reached when ISPs can confirm orders from a certain number of interested customers. At that point, BT will enable those exchanges. The exchanges with demand trigger points are:
Inverness Culloden | Kilsyth |
Galashiels | Irvine Stanecastle |
Edinburgh Loanhead | Polmont |
Aberdeen Ashgrove | Airdrie |
Alexandria | Ardrossan |
Bannockburn | Bathgate |
Bridge Of Wier | Broxburn |
Buckie | Coatbridge |
Cumnock | Cupar Crossgates |
Dundee Broughty Ferry | Dundee Fairmuir |
Edinburgh Corstorphine | Edinburgh Davidsons |
Edinburgh Maybury | Edinburghsouth Queensferry |
Forres | Fort William |
Glasgow Baillieston | Glasgow Barrhead |
Glasgow Bearsden | Glasgow Bishopbriggs |
Glasgow Cambuslang | Glasgow Kirkintilloch |
Glasgow Newton Mearns | Glasgow Shettleston |
Glasgow Springburn | Glenrothes Central |
Gourock | Greenock |
Helensburgh | Inverurie |
Irvine Oldtown | Johnstone |
Kilwinning | Lanark |
Larbert | Largs |
Linlithgow | Montrose |
Nairn | Oban |
Stonehaven | Stranraer |
Tranent | Uddingston |
Wishaw | Aberdeen Kingswells |
Forfar | Livingston Bridge |
Hawick | Inverkeithing |
Peterhead | Fraserburgh |
Were all of these exchanges to be upgraded, 78% of the Scottish population would have access to ADSL.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 19 August 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what its target deadline is for the provision of asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology (ADSL) throughout Scotland.
Answer
ADSL deployment will be a matter for the commercial providers.The UK Government has set a general target on broadband which is to "have the most extensive and competitive broadband market in the G7 by 2005" and the Scottish Executive's broadband strategy is designed to contribute to this overall objective.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 19 August 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking in order to extend the provision of asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology.
Answer
Asymmetrical digital subscriber line technology deployment is a commercial decision for the providers, usually related to demand. The Scottish programme under the UK Broadband fund addresses the need to stimulate demand through the development of a number of broadband demonstration centres and a broadband information website managed by the enterprise networks.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 8 August 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the work and performance of the Inverclyde Regeneration Partnership.
Answer
As with all Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs), appraisal of the work and performance of Inverclyde SIP is carried out as per the SIP Monitoring Framework issued by the Scottish Executive in 1999.All SIPs are required as part of their terms and conditions of grant to submit an annual report to Communities Scotland by 30 June each year. In these reports SIPs provide the Executive with:
- information on their activities in the previous year
- a forward look to their plans for the future
- financial information in relation to how they have used their grant allocation
- monitoring information in relation to 39 compulsory core indicators (where available locally) aimed at measuring the effectiveness of SIPs in their area of activity
In relation to the last point, Communities Scotland is presently working with representatives from the SIP network to review the monitoring framework for SIPs with a view to improving its effectiveness.As well as the annual report Communities Scotland officials do maintain contact with SIPs throughout the year, attend board meetings, visit SIP projects, and meet with both the SIP Support Team and community representatives associated with the SIP.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 July 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 31 July 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26361 by Ms Margaret Curran on 10 June 2002, how much was set aside by each local authority for improvement and repair grants in each financial year since April 1996 in (a) cash and (b) real terms.
Answer
The information requested for the years 1996-97 to 2000-01 has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22487). Figures are not yet available for financial year 2001-02.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 11 July 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff have left the Inverclyde Regeneration Partnership since January 2002 and what proportion of the total staff this represents.
Answer
Four members of the Inverclyde support team staff have resigned since January 2002. The total agreed staff establishment for Inverclyde Social Inclusion Partnership is 10.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 June 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 3 July 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have disabled access and which do not, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that all children in Scotland can achieve their full educational potential. The Education (Disability Strategies and Pupils' Educational Records) (Scotland) Act 2002 will require education authorities, grant-aided, self-governing and independent schools to prepare and implement accessibility strategies to improve over time access to education for pupils and prospective pupils with disabilities. The accessibility strategy must cover increasing the extent to which pupils with disabilities can participate in the curriculum, improving the physical environment of the school to make it more accessible, and improving communication with pupils with disabilities.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 June 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 July 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary and (b) secondary headteachers have had a grievance made against them by a member of staff, and how many of these grievances (i) failed, (ii) were upheld, (iii) led to disciplinary proceedings, detailing the outcome of these proceedings, and (iv) resulted in headteachers losing their job in each of the past three years, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Colin Campbell, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 June 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 28 June 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what obligation there is on the Inverclyde Regeneration Partnership to provide it with performance monitoring data; if such data is being received by it timeously, when the last data was received and, if it has not received any such data, what action it has taken, or plans to take, to acquire the data and to oversee the work and performance of the partnership.
Answer
As with all social inclusion partnerships (SIPs), appraisal of the work and performance of Inverclyde SIP is carried out as per the SIP Monitoring Framework issued by the Scottish Executive in 1999. All SIPs are required as part of their terms and conditions of grant to submit an annual report to Communities Scotland by 30 June each year. In these reports SIPs provide the Executive with:
- information on their activities in the previous year
- a forward look to their plans for the future
- financial information in relation to how they have used their grant allocation
- monitoring information in relation to thirty-nine compulsory core indicators (where available locally) aimed at measuring the effectiveness of SIPs in their area of activity.
On Inverclyde specifically, the last annual report was due on 30 June 2001 and was received by the Executive shortly after this deadline. This report was used to appraise Inverclyde SIP's performance in 2000-01. As with all SIPs, Inverclyde are due to submit their next annual report on 30 June 2002.As well as the annual report Communities Scotland officials do maintain contact with SIPs throughout the year, attend board meetings, visit SIP projects, and meet with both the SIP support team and community representatives associated with the SIP.