- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether current arrangements for homeless people moving to permanent lets of houses in Glasgow are adequate.
Answer
Glasgow City Council (GCC) has a statutory duty to provide permanentaccommodation to unintentionally homeless people who have a priority need and RegisteredSocial Landlords (RSLs) have a statutory duty to comply with local authority requeststo provide permanent accommodation unless there is a good reason not to do so.
HomelessnessDuty Protocols are in place between GCC and the various RSLs in Glasgow. Theseprotocols were developed to enable the smooth and effective operation of the legislativeduties, and are reviewed on a regular basis. The review of the operation of theHomelessness Duty Protocols for 2003-04 was considered by the Council’s Social CareServices Committee last year. The council are currently analysing the returns for2004-05 and will report the outcome to Social Care Committee in August 2005.
The Executive’s latest publishedstatistics, for 2003-04 indicate that 27% of homeless people assessed as being in“priority need” in Glasgow, were provided with permanent accommodation (Operationof the Homeless Persons Legislation in Scotland: National and Local Authority Analyses2003-04). Statistics for 2004-05 are not yet available. GCC advise that the situationhas improved, and we have asked them to provide information about this in theirprogress report on their homelessness strategy for 2004-05.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 June 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to develop and implement a national strategy for interpretation and translation services in the public sector for minority ethnic communities, in light of the Scottish Consumer Councils report, Is anybody listening?.
Answer
The Scottish Executive welcomes the opportunity to consider the findings of the Scottish Consumer Council’s report and officials are making arrangements to meet with the council to discuss this matter.
The Scottish Executive has also commissioned a research project to provide a national picture of the public Translation, Interpreting and Communication Services that are currently available. We hope to publish the key findings later this year and consider them alongside those of the Scottish Consumer Council.
In the meantime, the Scottish Executive is providing £132,000 to the Happy to Translate Logo project which will be a key tool in providing minority ethnic communities with equal access to services. By displaying the logo on publicity materials or in reception areas, service providers will be indicating a willingness to provide interpreting and translation services of a certain standard for non-English speaking clients. This will also help raise awareness of services available among minority ethnic communities.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many supply teachers are available across Scotland, broken down by subject.
Answer
From research we commissioned on the management of supply cover we know there are approximately 11,000 supply teachers in Scotland, representing around 20% of the total workforce. A Summary Insight Report of this research can be accessed using the following hyperlink:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/is12-00.asp
Information on supply teachers available across Scotland broken down by subject is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out workforce planning in respect of current and projected needs for supply teachers.
Answer
The requirement for supply teachers is discussed with members of the Teacher Workforce Planning Advisory Group which includes representatives of education authorities and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC). The purpose of the group is to offer advice on the requirement for newly trained teachers to Scottish ministers who in turn offer advice to SHEFC who are responsible for setting intakes to courses of teacher training. An allowance of 7% in primary and secondary education has been included within the statistical model from 2004 for the need for supply teachers.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 May 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to address any shortfalls in supply teachers in subjects such as chemistry and maths.
Answer
We have no evidence of any significant or generalised shortfall of permanent teachers in chemistry or maths. Although, it is recognised that teacher supply is tighter this year than in the past, particularly in relation to the availability of supply teachers. We recognise that in any individual school a particular subject shortage can have significant impacts. The management of supply cover is in the main primarily a matter for local authorities.
Entrants to chemistry and maths Postgraduate Certificate in Education courses are up by 15% and 85% respectively compared to last year as we build towards the commitment in the Partnership for a Better Scotland to increase teacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007.
- Asked by: Robert Brown, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Liberal Democrats
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 May 2005
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take to improve the sustainability of university research, with particular reference to addressing the costs of research commissioned by public bodies.
Answer
Ensuring the long-term sustainability of university research is an essential feature of the Executive’s science and innovation policy, which underpins the future success of the Scottish economy. However, successive reviews of the funding of university research in the UK have shown that, over a considerable period, universities have been significantly undercharging for their research activity, and this has placed an unsustainable burden on research infrastructure. In order to ensure the long term sustainability of research, UK universities have agreed with their funding bodies that that they will implement full economic costing of research activity. The intention is to reach a situation where universities secure sufficient income from all sources to ensure that the can cover the full economic costs of all the research that they undertake, taking one year with another, without detriment to their other activities or to their long term financial sustainability. In support of this policy, the Scottish Cabinet Ministers have recently agreed that, in common with Whitehall Departments, the Scottish Executive will in future expect to pay for the full economic cost of university research that it commissions. This policy will also apply to all of the Executive’s Agencies and Non-departmental Public Bodies. The Executive will encourage similar action by businesses. Non-commissioned research for the public good, such as the response mode scheme in the Health Department, will be based on the proportion of full economic costs to be paid by the Research Councils. To avoid double funding, account will be taken of funds allocated through other funding streams to support the same academic research.
