- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 13 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when a proposal for the Scottish Standard for Social Housing will be published and what issues will be included in the proposal.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32181 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
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mike Watson on 12 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will review funding of the arts.
Answer
There are no current Executive plans to undertake a formal review of arts funding.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 12 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average per capita funding is for projects under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.
Answer
The Executive does not require local authorities to gather this information, nor do we hold it. We are concerned with the outcomes that Better Neighbourhood Services Fund resources achieve in terms of improving services.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 12 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been allocated under the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund to the Vineburgh area of Irvine for the current and next two financial years.
Answer
The Executive did not provide funding for a specific area. North Ayrshire Council and its community planning partners decided on the use of their funding allocation from the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 12 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a progress report from North Ayrshire Council on the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund in the Vineburgh area of Irvine and whether it will place a copy of any such report in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
The Executive has received an annual progress report from North Ayrshire Council on the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (BNSF). Annual reports for each of the 12 local authorities allocated funding under the BNSF will be copied to the Parliament's Reference Centre after they have been reviewed by ministers and funding decisions taken.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 9 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive who participated in the review of existing forums for gathering the views of those working in the cultural sector about ways in which national arrangements might be adjusted and improved, as referred to in key priority 1.1 of strategic objective 1 of Creating our Future: Minding our Past; whether the results of the review were published, and what its findings were.
Answer
As stated in the second annual report of Scotland's National Cultural Strategy, a review of the Scottish Arts Council will report shortly. The review has considered Scottish Arts Council's external links and partnership working with other agencies and the cultural community more widely, and the findings will be reported. A wide range of people and organisations participated in the review including artists, arts organisations and local authorities.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 6 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what influence the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art should have on the economy of the arts sector.
Answer
By acquiring works by living artists, the Gallery of Modern Art strengthens the reputation of those artists, though this does not necessarily have economic implications.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much, in total, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has spent on purchasing new acquisitions in each of the last five years; what proportion of these sums has been spent on works purchased from, or originating from, artists resident in Scotland, and what criteria are used in deciding on such purchases, particularly with regard to the representation of the work of modern artists resident in Scotland.
Answer
Because it is common to spread purchases over two or even three years, it is not possible to give total amounts for each of the past five years. However, the average over this period is £600,000 a year. A total of £3,140,256 from all sources, both public and private, has been spent on acquisitions.Over the last five years (i.e. since 1997) the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art has acquired 441 works. Of these, well over a half, 267, are by artists who are Scottish or who live in Scotland. Three hundred and eleven of the total number of acquisitions have been given to the gallery, and of those, 194 are works by Scottish artists.During this period the gallery spent £613,520 on acquiring Scottish art. The value of Scottish art that it received as gifts was probably in excess of that figure.The funds used to acquire new works come from various sources including outside bodies such as the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Art Collections Fund and the Henry Moore Foundation. This came to £1,014,244, a third of the total amount spent.All works acquired by the gallery must be able to stand up to being viewed in an international context. The collective judgement of the expert curators working at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, as well as broad professional opinion, inform these decisions. Significant acquisitions include £1,050,000 on Miró's masterpiece Head of a Catalan Peasant 1925, which the gallery bought together with the Tate Gallery, London, and the first instalment (£316,667) towards the Jörg Schellmann Collection of Multiples by Joseph Beuys (an artist who had a close connection with Scotland and a major impact on Scottish artists) and a group of important paintings by the Scottish artist Alan Davie.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Elaine Murray on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what purchasing policy the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is intending to pursue over the next three years with regard to developing its collection so that it can present a wide and deep view of the work of modern artists resident in Scotland.
Answer
Subject to the availability of funds, the Gallery of Modern Art would always hope to devote a significant part of its annual allocation to works by living Scottish artists, though not to the exclusion of its wider, international responsibilities.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 December 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote literacy and numeracy in primary schools.
Answer
In June I launched national statements for improving attainment in literacy and numeracy in schools in Scotland.These statements will help promote and develop the work taking place in education authorities and schools by providing a complete overview of the national guidance, resources and initiatives available for literacy and numeracy across pre-school, primary and secondary education. Funding has been provided to Learning and Teaching Scotland to appoint two national Development Officers to support education authorities and schools teach literacy and numeracy.
