Chamber and committees

The decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on 16 May 2000 relates to certain questions referred to the ECJ by the House of Lords in connection with test cases concerning part-time workers' rights of access to occupational pension schemes.

As the cases raised issues concerning the compatibility of domestic law and European law, the House of Lords considered it appropriate to refer certain questions to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling. The questions related to the time limit for making claims for membership of a scheme and the extent of the limitation on the backdating of the claims. The UK Courts had originally ruled that any claims must be brought during, or within six months of leaving, employment and that backdated access is limited to two years from the date of application.

The ECJ has ruled that while the six months time limit is compatible with European law, the two-year period of retrospection is not. It will now be for the House of Lords to decide whether the six month limit should stand and what the period of retrospection should be. Until then it will not be possible to assess the implications for local authorities generally, and the Local Government Pension Scheme in particular.

The Executive is taking several measures to minimise disruptive behaviour and improve discipline in schools. Improving discipline is one of the key elements of the Executive's National Ethos Programme which also includes anti-bullying and attendance.

Discipline does not only involve controlling the behaviour of pupils, but also instilling in them the desire to learn. Central to achieving this objective are several of the initiatives funded for the three-year period, 1999-2000-2001-02 under the Excellence Fund for Schools. The Core Programme includes three initiatives of particular relevance to the question of discipline, Alternatives to Exclusion (£23 million), Study Support (£27 million) and Supporting Parents (£15 million). The Special Programme involves Education Action Plans (£15 million) and New Community Schools (£26 million).

Many centres have already implemented new National Qualification courses in English and Communication - over 100 at Higher level, around 120 at Intermediate 2 level, and over 70 at Intermediate 1 level.

However, the Scottish Qualifications Authority is tackling concerns which have been raised about the new courses, and has set up a short-life group to look into any possible revisions to English and Communication courses within the existing framework.

In addition, the Scottish Executive's review of the first year of Higher Still implementation aims to identify both the programme's strengths, and areas where improvement is required.

In Scotland the curriculum is not prescribed, but national guidance is given.

Although there are no plans to increase the time in the national guidance beyond the minimum allocation for Maths (10%) and for Environmental studies (30%), which includes Science, the guidance already includes a 20% flexibility factor, which remains after all minimum allocations have been made, which schools are encouraged to use to meet their own needs and circumstances.

The education authorities are responsible for the management of school premises, and they have knowledge of the range of measures which they can consider to reduce vandalism in schools. However, the most appropriate measures will depend on the local circumstances of individual schools.

Whilst we have no plans to do so at this particular time, the Executive is aware of the recommendations made in the Account Commission's study of community safety partnerships in Scotland Safe and Sound, published last month by Audit Scotland, particularly those regarding resource planning. We will take account of these recommendations in considering the future funding for community safety projects.

We have published strategic guidance to assist consistency of approach across community safety partnerships which is being enhanced with training for community safety practitioners. We are also supporting five Pathfinder partnerships to identify good policy practice and to identify gaps in provision or process. A report will be published in November at the second annual conference on community safety. Funding of £1.2 million has also been made available to partnerships to support specific community safety projects and a further £1.5 million has been made available for 2001-02.

In Scotland there is no statutory amount of time required for any curriculum area or subject. 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, Scottish curriculum guidelines include a 20% flexibility factor which schools are encouraged to use for activities which reflect their own needs and circumstances. Some schools may choose to use some of this time for physical education.

For secondary schools 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. For S5 and S6 pupils there is no nationally recommended minimum time allocation for physical education. However, around 5,500 pupils in S5 and S6 participated in National Certificate or Higher courses in physical education this year.

Information on the average number of hours of physical education received by pupils in primary schools is not collected by the Scottish Executive.

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which therefore takes the lead on the funding and delivery of New Deal throughout Great Britain, working together with its partners, including the Scottish Executive.

The comparisons made by OECD can only be regarded as approximate as for most countries the figures used are based on a prescribed curriculum.

The figures stated for Scotland by OECD represent only the minimum of time to be spent on maths and science contained in the Structure and Balance guidelines. The actual curriculum data for Scotland for 1997 indicates that pupils in S1 and S2 spent 22% of their time on maths and science rather than the recommended minimum time of 20% assumed by the OECD.

Within the Scottish curriculum guidelines there is a 20% flexibility factor which schools are encouraged to use for activities which reflect their own needs and circumstances. Schools may choose to allocate some of this time to maths and science.