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-09798

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has on whether there is a link between the quality and content of an education and development plan for an autistic child and the child's anxiety and stress levels.

Question reference: S2W-09838

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Duncan McNeil on 23 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many applications it has received from companies expressing an interest in providing guided tour services of the new Parliament building and, of these, how many are from organisations outwith Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-09664

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 17 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been (a) reported to the Procurator Fiscal, (b) taken to court and (c) convicted of the offence of acting as an agent for a person under 18 to purchase alcohol in the last year for which figures are available.

Question reference: S2W-09799

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has on whether there is a link between the effectiveness of the implementation of an education and development plan for an autistic child and the child's anxiety and stress levels.

Question reference: S2W-09792

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether an education authority is required to provide the necessary support outwith school for a child identified as having a year-round additional support need.

Education authorities have a duty, under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, to secure adequate and efficient provision of school education for their area and this includes provision for special educational needs. There is no stipulation in the legislation on the minimum or maximum number of days on which education provision must be provided, although the Schools General (Scotland) Regulations 1975 specify that education authority schools should be open for at least 190 days a year (excluding weekends).

Outwith school, under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, local authorities are obliged to provide services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area.

It is for local authorities to determine the extent and timing of the support they may provide to an individual child.

Question reference: S2W-09794

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a maximum number of days per annum in which an education authority can provide the support necessary to meet a child's additional support needs.

Question reference: S2W-09793

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether an education authority can refuse to meet a child's agreed year-round additional support needs.

Question reference: S2W-09797

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has on whether there is a link between the lack of an education and development plan for an autistic child and the child's anxiety and stress levels.

Under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980, education authorities have a duty to open a Record of Needs for children with pronounced, specific or complex special educational needs which require continuing review. Part IV of the record contains a statement of the child’s special educational needs and should set out the broad developmental and educational aims for the child. Part V specifies the educational approach to be taken by the authority and the measures proposed to meet the special educational needs of the child. Most children with a Record of Needs are expected to have also an Individualised Educational Programme.

Individualised Educational Programmes provide the planning framework for the teaching and learning of children with special educational needs who require specific, planned intervention. Individualised Educational Programmes outline the steps to be taken to enable children with special educational needs to achieve specific learning outcomes.

Advice from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) indicates that where Individualised Educational Programmes are well designed and implemented effectively, they can play an important role in ensuring that the needs of an autistic child, or any other child with additional support needs, are well met. They consequently can be influential in ensuring that the child has a positive educational experience, minimising anxiety and stress. The extent of this influence in any one case naturally depends on the individual child and their circumstances.

The quality and effectiveness of plans for children with special educational needs, including those with autism, are considered by HMIE as part of their inspections of schools. Furthermore, I have commissioned HMIE to inspect, next year, the provision of educational services for children with autistic spectrum disorder.

Question reference: S2W-09790

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the figures are for public libraries in respect of (a) net expenditure, (b) expenditure per head of population, (c) professional, non-professional and manual staff numbers, (d) expenditure on staff, (e) the number of books and other items issued, (f) the average number of issues per head of population of books and other items, (g) book funds, (h) funds for audio and other non-book items, (i) the number of branch and mobile libraries and (j) the number of branches open for 45 or more hours per week in (i) 1995-96, (ii) 1999-2000 and (iii) the latest year for which figures are available.

This information is not held centrally by the Scottish Executive. However, the following, from figures published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accounting, the Library and Information Statistics Unit and the Scottish Library and Information Council’s (SLIC) Public Library Expenditure Statistics, has been put together by SLIC:

	Category	1995-96	1999-2000	2001-02
a	Net expenditure	£88,540,000	£84,130,565	£88,820,942
b	Expenditure per head of population	£17.24	£16.85	£17.53
c	Professional staff	682	641	629
	Non-professional staff	2200	2193	2308
	Manual staff	225	211	n/a
d	Expenditure on staff	£47,823,366	£50,529,300	£54,120,315
e	The number of books and other items issued	50,371,673	41,915,979	36,538,039
f	Average issues per head of population	9.8	8.62	7.1
g	Book funds	£13,330,000	£10,612,490	£10,032,972
h	Funds for audio and other non-book items	£1,290,000	£1,643,032	£2,334,780
i	Number of branch libraries	576	568	557
	Number of mobile libraries	102	93	93
j	Number of branches open for 45 hours or more per week	195	178	180

Question reference: S2W-09800

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many autistic children have been identified as having additional support needs and what provision is available to support such children outwith school.

The school census, held in September 2003, indicates that there are 2,663 children with autistic spectrum disorder in primary, secondary and special schools who have a Record of Needs or an Individualised Educational Programme. Further details can be obtained from the Pupils in Scotland Statistical Bulletin, published by the Scottish Executive in June 2004, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33356).

Outwith school, local authorities are required to provide services to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need in their area. It is for local authorities to determine the services they provide in their area and these may include provision from voluntary organisations.