- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set up an administration of medicines working group covering the needs of children under five or widen the remit of the existing group to cover children under five.
Answer
The guidance being developed by the administration of medicines in schools working group will be relevant to all local authority school settings, including pre-school centres.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Friday, 19 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as part of its business tourism strategy, it will develop an events strategy to help exhibition and other centres to market and develop shows, festivals and exhibitions to supplement the existing support for conferences.
Answer
This type of support is generally provided effectively by the local area in which an event takes place, should it be considered to be of benefit.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any vaccination programmes in schools have been reduced or suspended because of a shortage of the BCG vaccine.
Answer
Due to vaccine supply difficulties, the schools BCG vaccination programme across the UK was suspended in October 1999. Meantime, vaccine is still available to high-risk groups.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that there will be a programme of meningitis inoculations for students at Scottish higher and further education institutions at the start of the next academic session.
Answer
Arrangements are in hand to ensure that any unimmunised new full-time students this year, who have not already been vaccinated against meningococcal C infection, will be offered the Men C vaccination prior to commencing their courses.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 21 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been made to ensure that local councillors and relevant local organisations are informed of consultation meetings about proposals relating to major transport corridors such as the M80/A80 and M8/A8.
Answer
The Executive recognises that effective consultation is a crucial element of the multi-modal corridor studies. As part of the scoping study, 140 organisations were invited to the consultative forum at Cumbernauld on 30 May and 45 representatives attended. 150 organisations have been invited to the next forum meeting on 21 June.
The scoping study will identify a consultation and communication strategy for the main studies. This will ensure that local councillors and relevant local interest groups are kept informed of consultation meetings.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 19 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to train staff in nurseries and primary and secondary schools to provide any attention needed by children suffering from conditions such as asthma or epilepsy during the school day.
Answer
Teachers and other staff in schools may voluntarily agree to administer medicine to pupils with healthcare needs. I have established a working group to draw up good practice guidance on the administration of medicines in schools. One of the issues to be covered is the need for health boards and local authorities to ensure those volunteers receive the necessary training.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 15 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will treat sympathetically deficits in colleges' accounts arising from the non-payment of fees by students.
Answer
This is not a matter for the Scottish Executive.
The Scottish Further Education Funding Council has responsibility for monitoring the financial health of Further Education colleges. Accordingly, the circumstances surrounding any deficit are for the college and the Funding Council to consider.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 15 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is monitoring the progress of the new Higher Still exams and any teachers' concerns about them.
Answer
Officials regularly meet with the Scottish Qualifications Authority to discuss Higher Still and examination issues generally. The new exams and their results will be included in the review of the first year of Higher Still implementation.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 13 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has held with Her Majesty's Government about setting targets for the amount of electricity to be generated by Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Schemes in Scotland and any implications this may have for the creation of new power stations; which CHP schemes are already in operation, and which CHP schemes have been proposed and are awaiting decisions by it or local authorities.
Answer
The Scottish Executive will work together with Her Majesty's Government so that Scotland will make its contribution towards the overall UK target of 10,000 MWe by 2010.
There are approximately 60 CHP schemes in Scotland with a total capacity of around 400 MW, representing almost 10% of the UK's current CHP capacity.
- Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 8 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what are the latest figures available for the average hours of physical education per week received by pupils in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools in S1 and S2, (c) secondary schools in S3 and S4 and (d) secondary schools in S5 and S6.
Answer
Information on the average hours of physical education received by pupils in primary schools is not collected centrally. However, in the 5-14 curriculum (covering P1-S2), national guidelines recommend that education authorities and schools have a minimum time allocation of 15% for the expressive arts (including physical education). In addition, schools have a 20% flexibility factor in designing the curriculum and may devote some of this time to physical education.
For secondary schools, the latest information available is from a survey of the secondary school curriculum carried out in 1997. The survey data relates to publicly funded secondary schools and indicates that approximately 90 minutes of physical education per week is received by S1 and S2 pupils and 115 minutes per week by S3 and S4 pupils. Information on the average hours of physical education received by S5 and S6 pupils is not available from the survey. However, 63% of pupils in S5 and 39% of pupils in S6 participated in National Certificate or Higher courses in physical education.
