- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking at a national level to address the growing mismatch between the number of newly qualified teachers and the number of teaching posts.
Answer
We are taking forward the recommendations of the Teacher Employment Working Group. When the results of the 2008 teacher census became available the Scottish Government immediately recommended to the Scottish Funding Council that intakes for initial teacher education post graduate courses in 2009 be reduced by 500 places. Further reductions to training places will be made in 2010-11.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate concerns that some local authorities may be terminating the contracts of temporary teachers before they have worked a full year in order to prevent them accumulating consequent employment rights.
Answer
Recruitment and deployment of supply teachers are matters for local authority employers to determine. Local authorities have their own locally agreed procedures and the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers has developed a Code of Practice on the Use of Temporary Contracts to assist them in managing their staffing requirements.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to prevent local authorities from seeking to make savings though the targeting of newly qualified teachers with fewer accumulated employment rights from doing so.
Answer
The recruitment and deployment of supply teachers are matters for local authority employers to determine.
Two of the recommendations of the Teacher Employment Working Group report published last year referred to post probationers and supply work. These are:
Recommendation 4: Local authority employers should wherever possible use post-probation teachers to fill supply vacancies
Recommendation 5: Local authorities should consider making more use of permanent supply pools to ensure stable employment opportunities are available to post-probation teachers.
The purpose of these recommendations is to help to develop more opportunities for those newly qualified by reducing the use of retired teachers in supply. The recommendations on supply are for local authorities as the employers of teachers to take forward while bearing in mind both employment and age legislation.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to recommendation 6 of the Teacher Employment Working Group, whether it has reviewed the operation of the teacher winding down scheme.
Answer
In 2008, the Scottish Government commissioned The Government Actuary''s Department (GAD) to review the operation of the Winding Down Scheme. The Scottish Government is currently considering GAD''s report and will respond to the recommendations in due course.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 29 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to increase the number of teachers on permanent contracts.
Answer
The form of contract under which teachers are employed is a matter for individual local authorities.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 11 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any council tax exemption applies to tenants who die before their lease expires.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27179 on 22 September 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 11 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what legislation or regulations apply to local authorities in pursuing council tax payment from the estate of a deceased tenant who had been solely liable for council tax on their rented property.
Answer
The relevant legislation is The Local Government Finance Act 1992 and The Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 23 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the council tax exemption relating to deceased owners as laid out in the Council Tax (Exempt Dwellings) (Scotland) Order 1997 applies to deceased tenants.
Answer
Deceased tenants are exempted by the 1997 Order, subject to the criteria set out in that Order.
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Alex Salmond on 17 September 2009
To ask the First Minister whether the Scottish Government remains committed to achieving the SNP manifesto pledge of a maximum class size of 18 for primaries one to three within the current parliamentary session.
Answer
This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0917-01.htm
- Asked by: Ken Macintosh, MSP for Eastwood, Scottish Labour
-
Date lodged: Friday, 21 August 2009
-
Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 16 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19853 by Maureen Watt on 29 January 2009, what progress it is making towards its commitment to having renewable generation in every school.
Answer
School Renewables Development Officers have helped a number of local authorities process applications for funding from the Low Carbon Buildings Programme, which has recently been extended to 2011, for renewable generation in schools. Authorities can also apply for funding from the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme, which can provide funding towards the eligible capital costs of installing renewable energy generation plant both in schools and in other buildings.
