- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether fingerprint evidence brought by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in criminal cases in the last five years from experts working for the Scottish Criminal Records Office has been scrutinised in the light of known or potential rates of error for the technique used in relation to this evidence and against the international standards controlling that technique's operation and, if so, what scrutiny has been undertaken and what the results of such scrutiny were.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34143 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any fingerprint evidence brought by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in criminal cases in the last five years from experts working for the Scottish Criminal Records Office arises from a technique, as operated by that office, that has been subjected to peer review and publication and, if so, what peer review and publication.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34143 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any fingerprint evidence brought by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in criminal cases in the last five years from experts working for the Scottish Criminal Records Office arose from a technique employed by that office that can be, and has been, tested against national and international best practice; if so, what testing against such best practice has been undertaken in respect of such evidence and what the results of the tests were.
Answer
The report of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary's (HMIC) Primary Inspection 2000 of SCRO's Fingerprint Bureau provides detailed information about, among other things, process, quality, standards and performance at the time of the inspection. The report can be found on the HMIC Website at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/hmic/docs/fppi-00.asp. Further detailed information may also be found in the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland Presidential Review Report at this address
http://www.scottish.police.uk/main/campaigns/interim/interim.htm. I have also asked the SCRO to write to the member about action taken to review Fingerprint Bureau practice.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 17 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 20 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31829 by Mr Jim Wallace on 3 December 2002, whether the fingerprint experts who gave evidence in the case of Shirley McKie have now given any evidence in court under oath since returning to work from suspension and whether it expects them to give any such evidence in court again and, if so, when.
Answer
The officers concerned have not yet given evidence under oath as Crown experts. They are being assessed over the next month or so by the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) as part of the return to work strategy. If, thereafter, SCRO is satisfied that they should be allowed to undertake work which would involve giving evidence in court, the Crown Office will be advised accordingly. At that stage it would be for the Crown to indicate whether it would be content to receive reports from these experts.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 10 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many proposals it has received from local authorities in respect of the new round of approvals for schemes for school rebuilding and refurbishment and how many such proposals seek to utilise not-for-profit trusts as the vehicle for the development.
Answer
We have received proposals from 14 authorities, one of which proposes a public private partnership described as a not-for-profit trust approach.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 17 February 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority area have not had a full inspection in the last (i) 10, (ii) 15 and (iii) 20 years.
Answer
I have asked Graham Donaldson, Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), to respond. His response is as follows:Over recent years, HMIE has increased the number of schools inspected each year. In 1996-97 152 school inspections were completed. This rose to 299 in 2002-03. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34083 on 3 March 2003, which explained that we are aiming to have inspected all primary schools by 2009 and all secondary schools by 2008. 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/webapp/search_wa.Schools which have not yet been inspected are given priority when we plan the annual inspection programme. However, there are other factors to take in account. These include:ensuring the programme provides sufficient data about the performance of education authorities;ensuring the programme includes a broad range of schools: rural and urban; small medium and large; with a high, medium and low percentage of the roll receiving free meal entitlement, and are located across all 32 local authorities in Scotland, and ensuring the programme can provide a representative sample of data about education in Scotland.Details of the number of primary and secondary schools, by local authority area, not inspected in the last 10, 15 and 20 years is given in the following table:
| Local Authority | Number of Schools Not Inspected in the Last: |
| 10 Years | 15 Years | 20 years |
| Primary | Secondary | Primary | Secondary | Primary | Secondary |
| Aberdeen City | 17 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Aberdeenshire | 52 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Angus | 14 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Argyll and Bute | 31 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Clackmannanshire | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 40 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Dundee City | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Ayrshire | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 15 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| East Lothian | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| East Renfrewshire | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| City of Edinburgh | 48 | 1 | 23 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Falkirk | 19 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Fife | 59 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 15 | 0 |
| Glasgow City | 87 | 4 | 62 | 1 | 29 | 1 |
| Highlands | 80 | 0 | 54 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| Inverclyde | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midlothian | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Moray | 14 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Ayrshire | 21 | 1 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| North Lanarkshire | 42 | 8 | 19 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
| Orkney Islands | 11 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth and Kinross | 17 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Renfrewshire | 21 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Scottish Borders | 22 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shetland Islands | 13 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| South Ayrshire | 13 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| South Lanarkshire | 41 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Stirling | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 15 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| West Lothian | 23 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | 18 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 18 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many schools in each local authority area have not been inspected by HM Inspectorate of Education within the last (a) seven and (b) 10 years.
Answer
I have asked Graham Donaldson, Chief Executive of HM Inspectorate of Education, to respond. His response is as follows:Details of the number of schools in each local authority area not inspected in the last seven years are given in the following table. For the number of schools not inspected in the last 10 years, I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-34084 today. 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/webapp/search_wa.
| Local Authority | Number of Schools not Inspected in the Last 7 Years |
| Aberdeen City | 16 |
| Aberdeenshire | 66 |
| Angus | 18 |
| Argyll and Bute | 32 |
| Clackmannanshire | 5 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 56 |
| Dundee City | 11 |
| East Ayrshire | 11 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 16 |
| East Lothian | 18 |
| East Renfrewshire | 19 |
| City of Edinburgh | 55 |
| Falkirk | 20 |
| Fife | 77 |
| Glasgow City | 142 |
| Highlands | 95 |
| Inverclyde | 25 |
| Midlothian | 14 |
| Moray | 22 |
| North Ayrshire | 24 |
| North Lanarkshire | 111 |
| Orkney Islands | 14 |
| Perth and Kinross | 21 |
| Renfrewshire | 39 |
| Scottish Borders | 28 |
| Shetland Islands | 14 |
| South Ayrshire | 28 |
| South Lanarkshire | 85 |
| Stirling | 18 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 23 |
| West Lothian | 33 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | 23 |
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 17 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered secondary school supply teachers there were in each local authority area in each year since 1995, broken down by subject.
Answer
Information is available from 1995 to 1999 for most local authorities from local authority returns to a survey of teachers employed centrally or mainly outwith schools. The survey stopped in 1999. A summary of results has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26841).
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 17 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many classroom assistants were working in state schools in each academic year since 1999.
Answer
Information on the number of classroom assistants employed in state schools in each academic year from 1999 is not held centrally. However, information on the number of classroom assistants employed through the Excellence Fund for each financial year since 1999 has previously been provided in answer to questions S1W-14460 on 15 May 2001 and S1W-32263 on 9 January 2003. 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/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 March 2003
-
Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 13 March 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average percentage salary increases for local authority chief officers and manual workers will be in 2003-04.
Answer
Under the terms of the pay agreement between the trade unions and local authority employers in 2001, chief officers will receive an increase of 2% and manual workers 4% with effect from 1 April 2003.
