Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-26322

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 7 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives are in place regarding supported further education places for adolescents and adults diagnosed with autism or Asperger's syndrome, broken down by local authority area.

The Executive allocated £22.6 million to implement the recommendations of the Beattie Committee which examined the needs of young people who require additional support to make the transition to post-school education and training or employment. £4.5 million of this funding was committed to improving support for students in further education. Further education institutions are autonomous bodies and are responsible for the provision of appropriate learning opportunities for students with special needs. Students with autism or Asperger's syndrome may be enrolled on either mainstream courses or special programmes in further education colleges and colleges can claim additional funding in respect of these students. It is not possible to provide this information by local authority area.

Question reference: S1W-26320

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 7 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has funded in each of the last five years into depression and whether it will place a copy of any such research in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

The following list indicates the number of research projects on depression which the Chief Scientist Office commenced funding during each of the last five financial years. The projects vary in length from five months to three years and three are on-going.

Financial Year	No. of Projects Started
1997-98	1
1998-99	3
1999-2000	4
2000-01	2
2001-02	6

All these projects are recorded on a UK-wide research database called the National Research Register which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17404).

Question reference: S1W-26273

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 6 June 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in the implementation of the recommendations of the Public Health Institute of Scotland's report on autistic spectrum disorders, Needs Assessment Report.

Question reference: S1W-26036

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what systems are currently in place to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of a school's work with pupils on the autistic spectrum and whether it will place a copy of any monitoring and evaluation information in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Question reference: S1W-26035

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to undertake or commission research into establishing minimum standards for the education of children with autistic spectrum disorders.

Question reference: S1W-26039

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 30 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will implement a national training strategy for teachers, classroom assistants and specialist professionals in the awareness and understanding of autism.

The Scottish Executive has commissioned a Review of Initial Teacher Education and this will report later in the year. The review includes consideration of training matters relating to special educational needs, incorporating autistic spectrum disorder.In addition, the Executive is developing a new framework for teachers' Continuous Professional Development which will include specific reference to special educational needs and will reflect the presumption of mainstreaming. There is already a wide range of training available specifically on autistic spectrum disorder for all staff and the Executive's Innovation Grants Programme also supports initiatives on raising awareness of the disorder.

Question reference: S1W-25413

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it holds any information on research carried out into autistic spectrum disorders that has not been supported by government funding.

Question reference: S1W-25412

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 April 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 20 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a detailed breakdown of all funding allocated in respect of the Beattie Committee report, stating which projects and organisations have benefited since its publication.

£22.6 million has been allocated by the Scottish Executive over the period April 2001 to March 2004 to implement the recommendations contained in the Beattie Committee report. The funding has been allocated as follows:

	2001-02(£ million)	2002-03(£ million)	2003-04(£ million)	Total(£ million)
Careers Service Companies (Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise)	3.5			3.5
Careers Scotland (Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise)		5.8	5.8	11.6
Scottish Further Education Funding Council	1	1.5	2	4.5
Beattie National Action Group development Projects	0.5	1	1.5	3
Total				22.6

Careers Scotland multi-agency inclusiveness projects and the further education sector are all benefiting from Beattie inclusiveness funding.

Question reference: S1W-25524

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 May 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 May 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to the Report of the MMR Expert Group, whether any official guidance will be issued on the administering of single vaccines and on the length of time that should elapse between each vaccine, particularly in the case of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.

As stated in the answer given to question S1W-25472 on 30 April 2002, the Executive is grateful to the MMR Expert Group for producing an excellent report, which describes the consequences of pursuing an alternative vaccination policy to MMR. It is clear that none of the alternatives provides comparable protection - for the population or individual children - against measles, mumps and rubella. Expert medical advice confirms that MMR remains the safest and most effective way to protect children from these diseases.The Executive has no plans to change the current immunisation programme, and, therefore, no plans to revise the relevant guidance issued in December 2000 by the Scottish Executive Health Department's Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.

Question reference: S1W-24157

Asked by: Mr Lloyd Quinan, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 March 2002
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 April 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any estimates have been made of the costs to education services nationally of autism and Asperger's syndrome over the lifetime of a person with these conditions.