- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a table or tables listing the identifiable public expenditure per capita, for each year in which figures are available, broken down into (a) housing, (b) health, (c) education, (d) tourism, (e) transport, (f) roads, (g) local government, (h) fire and emergency services, (i) police and (j) prisons, and what comparative information it has on identifiable public expenditure per capita under these headings for (i) England, (ii) Wales, (iii) Northern Ireland and (iv) the United Kingdom and on Scotland's per capita identifiable public expenditure under each heading as a proportion of such expenditure in (1) England, (2) Wales, (3) Northern Ireland and (4) the United Kingdom.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in Tables 8.2-8.6 of Public Expenditure, Statistical Analyses 2003 publishedby The Stationery Office in December 2003, a copy of which is in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 30566). The publication details thewhole of public spending in Scotland and is, therefore, not directly comparable with the Scottish Executive accounts.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns in respect of the impact of the withdrawal of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland (HAS) from the Teachers' Panel of the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT).
Answer
We regret that theHeadteachers Association have felt it necessary to withdraw from the teacher’spanel. This is however a matter for the HAS and their membership. We remaincommitted to supporting a place for HAS on the SNCT.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 December 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 January 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that, in any negotiations on teachers' working conditions, the views of members of the Headteachers' Association of Scotland are adequately and fairly taken into account.
Answer
Working conditions forteachers are negotiated through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers(SNCT). The make-up of the teachers’ side of the SNCT is a matter for theteachers’ panel, which is made up of the various teachers’ organisations. Theheadteachers’ associations have both recently withdrawn from the panel. the Executive has no statutory powers to intervene but has made it clear our viewthat we regret both that headteachers were not previously represented at themain SNCT, and their subsequent withdrawal from the teachers’ panel. We remaincommitted to supporting a place for Headteachers’ Association of Scotland (HAS)on the SNCT. The Executive meets regularly with HAS and we welcome theirperspectives to help inform our work.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 5 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a table showing how many social work students trained at Scottish institutions in each of the last 12 years.
Answer
The Executive is happy topublish such a table, although this information is only available for an eightyear period, from academic years 19994-95 to 2001-02. (The way in which data is stored does not allow us tocarry out the detailed analysis required by this question for years prior to1994-95.)
Social Work1,2 & 3 Graduateand Diplomates from Higher Education Courses in Scotland, 1994-95 to 2001-02
| Year | Number |
| 1994-95 | 1,319 |
| 1995-96 | 1,735 |
| 1996-97 | 2,044 |
| 1997-98 | 2,587 |
| 1998-99 | 2,365 |
| 1999-2000 | 2,636 |
| 2000-01 | 2,534 |
| 2001-02 | 2,457 |
Sources: Higher EducationStatistics Agency (HESA) and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council(SFEFC)
1. Social Work is defined byHESA as comprising the subjects: Social Work, Residential Social Work,Welfare, Applied Social Work, Youth and Community Work, Community Work, HomeHelp, Counselling, Careers Education/Guidance, Children in Society, ChildCare, Residential Child Care, Caring Skills, Playwork and Health and CommunityStudies.
2. HESA data includes: single Social Work subjects and combinations ofSocial Work subjects contained within the Social Studies grouping.
3. Social Work has beendefined by the Executive from the SFEFC data by combining the subjects: Social Work, Youth and Community Workand Childcare from the HE subject listings for Social Studies.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 2 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a table showing how many social workers retired in each of the last 12 years and how many retired early.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 2 December 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a table showing how many qualified social workers there were in each of the last 12 years.
Answer
Information prior to 1997 isnot held centrally.
ScottishLocal Authority Social Work Services
SocialWorkers (WTE) by Year
| Year | Social Workers (WTE) |
| 1997 | 3,314 |
| 1998 | 3,297 |
| 1999 | 4,288 |
| 2000 | 3,894 |
| 2001 | 3,873 |
| 2002 | 4,017 |
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 19 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how Concorde will be conveyed to the Museum of Flight at East Fortune and within what timescale.
Answer
This is an operationalmatter for the National Museums of Scotland.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 November 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 18 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that local government elections are not held on the same day as Scottish Parliament elections to avoid the possible complication of two differing systems of election being used on the same day.
Answer
The next local governmentelections are due to take place on the same day as the next election to the Scottish Parliament. Issues relating to the practical implementation of the singletransferable vote system for local government elections are currently beingconsidered by an independent working group. That group will present itsfindings and recommendations to ministers by autumn 2004.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 12 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2994 by Ms Margaret Curran on 21 October 2003, why it did not provide the information sought in that question in graph form as requested, a format it has previously used in answer to a question requesting comparison between Scottish, English and Welsh figures, and whether it will now do so.
Answer
While the Scottish Executive will ensure that any information provided is presented in acomprehensible manner, this does not imply a responsibility to provide information in a particular format as part of a response to a parliamentary question.The information requested is publicly available through the Parliament’s Reference Centre and other sources; urgent requests for factual information may be addressed directly to relevant staff in the Executive after first having tried alternative available sources such as the Parliament’s Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 30 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is with regard to national testing and league tables.
Answer
We are currently consulting on proposed changes to thesystem of national testing for pupils aged between 5 and 14, including replacingexisting national test materials with a web-based national assessment bank and replacingthe current 5-14 survey with a more rigorous system for monitoring achievementat a national level – the Scottish Survey of Achievement.
For theposition on the separate issue of league tables, I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3475 lodged by Rhona Brankin and answered on 24 October 2003.
