- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the percentage of the #6 million grant, paid to Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive for the development of park-and-ride facilities at Croy Station in 2001, that remains unspent.
Answer
Following the announcementon 21 March 2002 of £5 million to expand the park and ride facilitiesat Croy Station, Strathclyde Passenger Transport Authority (SPTA) plans todeliver this project in two phases. The first phase, for which the Scottish Executive has made total payments of £152,913 to date to SPTA, involves theprovision of a temporary car park, the introduction of a feeder bus servicefrom Cumbernauld to the station, and the development of long-term proposals forpark and ride provision. SPTA expect to claim a further £300,000 for costsincurred during the remainder of this financial year.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what groups or individuals it consults prior to publication of information literature for use by the public.
Answer
It is standard practicewithin the Scottish Executive to consult interested parties on major policyinitiatives and our consultation papers appear on the Executive website. We donot, however, generally seek views on individual documents.
Using experienced productionhouses, the Executive makes every effort to ensure that its publications aredesigned to take full account of their intended readership. Our aim is to makedocuments as user friendly as possible in terms of style, readability and accessibility.We subscribe to the Plain English Campaign and we try to ensure that, whereappropriate, documents are available in a variety of formats, such as largeprint, braille and audio, and minority languages.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 17 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it next intends to report on its social justice targets and milestones.
Answer
Social Justice:Indicators of Progress 2003 will bepublished on Wednesday 17 December 2003.
This report meets theProgramme for Government II commitment of the first Scottish Executive to report annually on our progress in achieving our social justicetargets and milestones.
Copies of the report will beplaced in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30309). The report isalso available on the Scottish Executive’s website at
www.scotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that community care services provided by independent voluntary organisations are adequately funded.
Answer
The Scottish Executive islooking at a number of measures to make funding for the voluntary sector moreeffective and sustainable. This includes the Strategic Review of Funding forthe Voluntary Sector, managed jointly by the Executive, COSLA and SCVO, whichis due to report in the new year.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 11 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will meet electricity and other utilities companies to discuss the impact of the level of disconnections in 2003.
Answer
Yes, the Executive is meetingenergy companies to discuss a range of issues including high electricity pricesfor Scottish customers and disconnections.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with owners of domestic dwellings on the route of the proposed on-line upgrade of the A80 in respect of the impact of any upgrade on their property and, if so, how many owners it has had discussion with.
Answer
Discussions have to datetaken place with 13 owners of domestic dwellings.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 27 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 9 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will issue a policy document with regard to teacher training covering special educational needs.
Answer
The Scottish Executive setout its policy on special educational needs in the document,
Moving Forward!Additional Support for Learning, published in January 2003. This includesits support for the training of teachers working with pupils with specialeducational needs. This document can be accessed on the Executive’s website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/mfas-00.asp.
The Executive’s currentreview of initial teacher education (ITE) will include consideration of thecontribution ITE can make to preparing student teachers for working with pupilswho require additional support for learning. The review group is due to reportto ministers by the end of March 2004. Any proposals for change will beannounced thereafter.
The Executive has put inplace a framework for the continuing professional development of teachers,which includes inclusion and equality issues. We are providing £8.4 million peryear to support the development and training of teachers and staff working withpupils who require additional support.
In addition, we arepreparing draft regulations on specialist qualifications for teachers workingwith pupils with additional support needs and will consult on these in early2004.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 07 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 8 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its decision on regeneration proposals for the Ravenscraig site.
Answer
An Alteration to the Glasgow and the Clyde Valley Structure Plan, whichsets the strategic planning policy context for retail development within a newtown centre at Ravenscraig, was approved by the Scottish ministers on 24November.
The Scottish ministersadvised North Lanarkshire Council, on 26 November, that they were free to dealwith the planning application for redevelopment of the former RavenscraigSteelworks as they saw fit. It is now for North Lanarkshire Council to decidewhether to grant planning permission.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 4 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce a register of those convicted of domestic violence.
Answer
We have noplans to introduce such a register. Any proposals for a register of this kindwould be subject to consultation before a final decision was taken.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 27 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to enhance sports education for young people.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has established a PE Review Groupto review the widerperspective of PE in the school curriculum and to consider how schools can besupported to provide a quality PE educational experience. Its report is dueearly in the new year.
We are alsoinvesting £24 million over three years (2003-04 to 2005-06) to develop andenhance the active primary schools programme and school sports development officersas part of the wider active schools programme. This investment will create moreopportunities for our young people to become more active more often in avariety of settings both within and outwith the school curriculum.
