- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what contractual arrangements between the Scottish Prison Service and other bodies have been prematurely terminated due to closure.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school teachers have left the education service through natural wastage over the last three years.
Answer
In 1996-97 1,059 teachers and in 1997-98 350 teachers left the primary sector, where a return to teaching was unlikely. These are the only two years for which information is currently available.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the success in reducing the number of accidents on the A89 linking Coatbridge and Bargeddie following the installation of a speed camera, whether it has proposals to make funding available for such installations at similar blackspots on other roads in Lanarkshire.
Answer
Local authorities, in association with the police, are responsible for the installation and operation of speed cameras on local roads such as the A89. The Scottish Executive, in association with the police, is responsible for cameras on trunk roads.
The Scottish Executive provides local authorities with a block allocation for expenditure on a number of services. It is for each council to consider the priority to be given to the installation of speed cameras, in terms of all the services for which it is responsible, and to allocate resources accordingly. These arrangements give local authorities flexibility to determine what measures are required to meet local needs and circumstances.The Scottish Executive has not identified any speed-related accident blackspots on the trunk road network in Lanarkshire and has no plans to install cameras.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many text books, at what cost, and how many computers, at what cost, were purchased in North and South Lanarkshire in 1998-99.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not collect detailed information of this kind. Detailed decisions on the purchase of books and equipment are matters for the local authorities and schools.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the improvements made following the Christmas drink-driving campaign in Strathclyde, whether it has plans for similar campaigns later in the year, and whether budgetary allocations will be made for such campaigns.
Answer
The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Scottish Road Safety Campaign for the development of road safety education and publicity materials.The Scottish Road Safety Campaign is planning publicity later this year to address a number of road safety issues. Where appropriate, publicity, including publicity related to drink-driving, is linked to national enforcement campaigns undertaken by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many primary school teachers are expected to qualify in each of the next three years.
Answer
It is estimated that approaching 900 students will graduate from higher education institutions in Scotland with primary teaching qualifications in summer 2000, and between 750 and 800 in each of the following two years. In subsequent years the number of graduates is expected to rise slowly to around 1,000 annually.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contaminated land survey proposed for Monklands will include consideration of the impact of contaminated land on the health of people in local communities and whether funding will be made available for treatment of contaminated land found as a result of this survey.
Answer
I understand that North Lanarkshire Council is currently gathering information on potential contaminated land sites within its area, including Monklands, so that when the new contaminated land regime is implemented later this year it will be well placed to carry out its statutory responsibilities. The impact of a potential contaminated site on human health is one of the possible causes of significant harm which are to be taken into account by local authorities when considering the designation of particular areas of land as contaminated.Under the regulations, responsibility for paying for remediation will follow the polluter pays principle. This means that, in the first instance, the persons who caused or knowingly permitted the contamination will be liable for undertaking the remediation and meeting its costs. Funding of £10.7 million has been made available over the three years 1999-2000 to 2001-02 to help local authorities in Scotland develop inspection strategies, carry out site investigations and take forward enforcement action.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 9 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation process has been carried out over plans to abolish section 2A of the Local Government Scotland Act.
Answer
The repeal of section 2A of the Local Government Act 1986 has been a longstanding commitment of the UK Government. The Scottish Executive also expressed its commitment to the principles of equal opportunities and to tackling exclusion in all walks of life in Scotland in the Partnership document.The Scottish Executive consulted extensively on its intention to repeal section 2A in its consultation document Standards in Public Life: Consultation on the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Bill which issued on 18 November 1999. The consultation period closed on 14 January 2000. Over 6,500 copies of the paper were sent out. In addition, the Bill appeared on the Scottish Executive web site. There were over 2,300 responses to that consultation.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 13 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the money it has pledged through the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund will also go towards the funding of rape crisis centres or whether a separate allocation will be made.
Answer
The bidding guidance for the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund makes it clear that we will be considering bids from local authorities in partnership with voluntary organisations in their area. A rape crisis centre may well be one of those organisations.
- Asked by: Gil Paterson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 11 January 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the closure of the secondary school at Tomintoul, which only affects one pupil this year, will remain financially advantageous next year, when ten pupils will be affected.
Answer
This Moray Council proposal cannot be implemented without the consent of the Scottish Ministers. We shall take all relevant issues into account in considering the Council's application.
