- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-2716 by Cathy Jamieson on 17 June 2004, what the specific timescale is for introducing legislation to establish an independent police complaints body.
Answer
As the First Minister said when he addressed Parliament on 7 September 2004, we plan in the coming year to consult on a new Scottish Police Bill which will include measures to reform the police complaints system.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers who have retired in each of the last five years worked for 40 years, gaining their full pension entitlement, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of teachers retiring each year.
Answer
The information available is given in the table and is held on a Financial Year basis.
| Year | 40 Years Service | % of Retirements |
| 1999-2000 | 86 | 3.67% |
| 2000-01 | 117 | 4.88% |
| 2001-02 | 120 | 7.45% |
| 2002-03 | 219 | 6.63% |
| 2003-04 | 335 | 17.29% |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have accepted early retirement with no enhancement in the last five years.
Answer
The table shows the number of teachers who have accepted early retirement with the consent of their employer to release and pay the additional costs for the early payment of their pension and lump sum (PREM) and those who have taken an actuarial reduction from their pension and lump sum (ARP). Any enhancement given would be at the employer’s discretion and added to the employer’s element of the pension. Enhancements in these cases are not recorded by SPPA.
| Year | Premature Retirals | Actuarially Reduced Pensions |
| 1999-2000 | 100 | - |
| 2000-01 | 222 | - |
| 2001-02 | 182 | - |
| 2002-03 | 514 | 16 |
| 2003-04 | 581 | 172 |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the life expectancy is of a teacher retiring after 40 years service.
Answer
This information is not available.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have retired through ill health in the last five years.
Answer
The information available is given in the table, held on a financial year basis. The approved cases include applications which were successful on review.
| Year | Applications Received | Application Approved |
| 1999-2000 | 521 | 400 |
| 2000-01 | 496 | 365 |
| 2001-02 | 461 | 357 |
| 2002-03 | 472 | 327 |
| 2003-04 | 439 | 286 |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the law officers have attended a political party conference in their official capacity in the last five years and, if so, in which year, which political party conference and for what purpose.
Answer
Neither Law Officer has attended any political party conference in an official capacity in the last five years. Earlier this year, in a personal capacity as a member of the Labour Party, I attended the Scottish Conference of the Labour Party. I last attended the same conference in 1998.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-9957 by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 September 2004, what the cost was of each medical negligence claim paid by NHS Forth Valley in 2003-04.
Answer
In 2003-04 NHS Forth Valley settled 13 medical negligence claims and paid £2,627 million in compensation. £2.3 million was subsequently reimbursed to the NHS board by the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS).
CNORIS was introduced through Regulations in April 2000 and was set up to help its members with the rising cost of meeting rising clinical negligence claims. CNORIS provides cost effective claims management and financial risk pooling arrangements for all Scotland’s NHS boards (including Special Health Boards). Membership is mandatory for all health bodies in Scotland and covers both clinical and non-clinical claims.
To protect patient confidentiality we are unable to give details of individual settlements.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 16 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many criminal justice social workers have been employed by local authorities in each of the last five years and how many are currently employed.
Answer
Figures from the statistical bulletin, Staff of Scottish Local Authority Services 2003 (
http://194.247.95.101/stats/bulletins/00355.pdf), show whole-time equivalent (WTE) criminal justice social workers numbers as follows:
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 |
| 1,160 | 1,182 | 1,241 | 1,310 | 1,452 |
Figures for the 2004 bulletin are still being accumulated, but our most recent trawl of responses from 25 of the 32 local authorities indicated that WTE posts in offender services increased by around 8% between October 2003 and July 2004 and that vacancies reduced by 10% during the same period. The trend is encouraging but we recognise that we need to sustain our help to the sector in order to obtain the confident and competent staff of sufficient numbers needed to meet the challenges.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 13 September 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities own, or have a controlling interest in, an outdoor education centre.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 June 2004
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 23 July 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its officials have attended any meetings of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in the last year and, if so, on which dates.
Answer
A senior official attended the meetings on 9 July 2003, 8 October 2003, 17 December 2003, 18 February 2004 and 5 May 2004.
