Chamber and committees

I refer the member to question S2W-10843 answered on 4 October 2004. 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.

If a parent believes that an education authority is failing to discharge any of its duties under education legislation then they can make a complaint to Scottish ministers in terms of section 70 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. If Scottish ministers are satisfied that the education authority has failed to discharge any statutory duty relating to education then they may make an order declaring them to be in default in respect of that duty and requiring them, before a date stated in the order, to discharge that duty.

If there is an allegation of negligent performance of any duties, whether common law or statutory, then recourse would be through the courts.

The information requested is not collected centrally.

The proposals for this group were made as part of the Executive’s broader strategy on tackling sectarianism and religious intolerance. An officials group has already been established to co-ordinate the work that the Executive is taking forward in this area. An ad-hoc group, which allows voluntary and local groups who are working in this area to input their views, has also been established. The remit, scope and membership of the operational co-ordination group are currently being considered and I will write to Donald Gorrie with full details about decisions on the group in due course.

The Executive’s Diversity Strategy, launched in November 2000, has set demanding targets for the recruitment of under-represented groups, including staff with disabilities. Progress towards these targets is set out below.

In line with the Strategy, the Executive will continue to work towards its aim of becoming an organisation that values the contribution of each member of staff and broadly reflects the communities it serves.

Scottish Executive Permanent Staff

Percentage and Numbers of Self-Declared Disabled Staff

April 1999 to April 2004

Target**	April 1999	April 2000	April 2001	April 2002	April 2003	April 2004	April 2005
SCS	*	*	*	*	*	*	3.0%
Band C	1.1% (7)	1.1% (8)	1.0% ( 8)	1.0% (8)	1.2% (11)	1.1% (11)	1.4%
Band B	1.8% (43)	1.8% (49)	2.0% (54)	2.2% (66)	2.2% (71)	2.6% (92)	3.2%
Band A	3.3% (94)	3.4% (96)	3.5% (96)	3.9% (113)	4.2% (118)	5.1% (145)	5.0%

Notes:

*Figures marked with an asterisk cannot be published separately to preserve confidentiality.

**As published in the Scottish Executive Diversity Strategy (November 2000).

The issue was not one of excluding MSP’s staff from live testing. On the contrary, this was but one of a number of commissioning and testing exercises carried out by parliament staff during the migration period.

MSPs’ staff were not included in the staff ballot as they are not employed by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

Notices inviting MSPs’ staff to submit their names for the role of ushers at the opening of Parliament were issued to both MSPs and parliamentary staff. Many responses have been received and all staff are now working together and will be involved in every aspect of the day.

A ballot will not be held for MSPs’ staff to participate in the Parliament’s opening day as guests. However, a large number of MSPs’ staff are very much involved in the opening as both they and SPCB staff are presently working together in teams to make the Opening Ceremony a success.

No individuals have beenprevented from working at Holyrood as a result of not attending Fire Safetytraining. The SPCB recommends that all users of the Holyrood building attendthis training but, with the exception of SPCB staff, does not compel them to doso. Fire safety legislation requires relevant training to be provided, but notnecessarily prior to occupation of a building. Fire training courses wererolled out prior to our occupying the Holyrood building, and are still on-going.

To date, the following numbersof people have still to attend Fire Safety training:

SPCB Staff - 193

MSPs – 12

MSP staff – see below

Contractors – none

The SPCB recommends that allregular users of the Holyrood building attend this training. We cannot give a meaningfulfigure as to how many members’ staff have not completed the training since wehave no record of how many of these staff are regular users of the building. Wecan confirm, however, that 98 members’ staff have completed the training. MSPsare expected to identify whether this training is relevant for their staff asonly they know whether their staff work on campus, in their local office orboth. We are similarly unable to provide a definitive number of media workersstill to complete this training, although 39 of them have attended to date.