- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reverse the position of the previous administration no to maintain its commitment to maximum sizes of 20 for mathematics and English classes in S1 and S2.
Answer
Funding for the previous administration’scommitment to reduce S1/S2 maths and English classes to a maximum of 20 is alreadyin place. We have no plans to reverse this commitment.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers (a) began and (b) completed the Chartered Teaching course in each of the years since the inception of the programme.
Answer
Data relating to teachersbeginning Chartered Teacher programmes is not held centrally.
Chartered Teacher programmesare modular in nature and were designed so that steady progress can lead tofull qualification in about six years. At the moment prior learning can also beaccredited and most of those completing the programme have taken advantage ofthis to some extent.
Based on information fromthe General Teaching Council for Scotland, the numbers achieving full Chartered Teacher statusin each year since inception of the programme in August 2003 is as shown in thefollowing table.
| Year | Number |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2004 | 37 |
| 2005 | 113 |
| 2006 | 242 |
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce a new entrants scheme for farming.
Answer
We propose to include a newentrants measure for farmers in the new Scotland rural development programme, which we hope to launchtowards the end of this year.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which executive agencies and quangos it abolished or changed during each of the first two sessions of the Parliament.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in Changes in the Agency and NDPB Landscape 1999 – 2007 a copy of whichhas been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 42836).
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether patients undergoing major surgery are routinely assessed to identify their risk of developing blood clots.
Answer
ScottishIntercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)
Guideline 62 on Prophylaxis of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)states that all patients admitted to hospital for major trauma, major surgery oracute medical illness should be assessed individually for risk of VTE. This guideline,which is about to be reviewed, is followed in surgical units throughout Scotland.
Other Guidelines relevant toVTE are SIGN 89 (Diagnosis and management of peripheral arterial disease,October 2006) and SIGN 36 (Anti Thrombotic Therapy, March 1999),which is currently under review. Prevention of VTE is also covered in guidelinessuch as that on Prevention and Management of Hip Fracture in Older People(January 2002).
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers are receiving treatment for psychological disorders resulting from work-related stress in the (a) primary and (b) secondary sector.
Answer
This information is not heldcentrally.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many special advisers it appointed in each of the first two sessions of the Parliament; what their specific responsibilities were, and what the total annual costs were of the posts.
Answer
At the end of the first Parliament there were nine special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £602,449 and at the end of the second Parliament there were 12 special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £854,376. Both cost figures include ERNIC and employer pension contributions.
The specific role and duties of special advisers is set out in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers at Schedule 1 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37226).
The following is the original answer (published on 5 June 2007); see below
At the end of the first Parliament there were nine special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £602,449 and at the end of the second Parliament there were 12 special advisers in post at an annual salary cost of £851,520. Both cost figures include ERNIC and employer pension contributions.
The specific role and duties of special advisers is set out in the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers at Schedule 1 of the Model Contract for Special Advisers which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37226).
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that newly qualified teachers find permanent employment following completion of their probationary year.
Answer
The employment of teachers, includingthe type of contract offered, is a matter for local authorities. However, teacherworkforce planning is designed so that new teachers are completing their inductionyear at the volume needed to achieve a broad balance between supply and demand forteachers.
Inprevious years, surveys by the General Teaching Council have found that most newlyqualified teachers are in full-time positions by the middle of the autumn term.
The Scottish Executive has madeadditional funding of £50.3 million available to local authorities for the employmentof additional teachers to meet the target of a workforce of 53,000 by August 2007.This funding covers staffing costs for the end of school year 2006-07, and partyear costs for 2007-08.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which executive agencies and quangos it established during each of the first two sessions of the Parliament, also showing the remits of each body.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-134 on 5 June 2007. Information on the remits of non-domestic publicbodies is provided in the directory of Scottish public bodies on the Scottish Executivewebsite at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/directory.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 May 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 4 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to remove barriers to the construction of affordable housing.
Answer
We recognise the acute shortageof affordable homes that exists in many areas of Scotland and are committed to improvingthe supply and affordability of housing. We are developing a range of initiativesto achieve this objective and will be pursuing these over the coming months.
