- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 20 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will (a) receive and (b) respond to the final report of the independent local government finance review, chaired by Sir Peter Burt.
Answer
The Local Government FinanceReview Committee informed me in March that it expected to report by the end of October2006. We expect to receive the report shortly before it is published and we willrespond once we have been able to consider fully all its findings.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 21 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are on waiting lists, held by the dental access centres in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy, for registration with an NHS dentist in Fife.
Answer
The dental access centres inDunfermline and Kirkcaldy provide a range of treatments tounregistered patients. They do not register patients, and therefore have nowaiting lists for registration.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis grants and allowances for dentists to help with practice costs and improvements for the purpose of encouraging dentists to work for the NHS are allocated.
Answer
The conditions for payment differdepending on the type of grant or allowance. The various conditions are set downin the relevant Determination contained within the Statement of Dental Remuneration,a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 39344).
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive to what groups of patients dentists are obliged to provide NHS treatment and whether this includes patients over 65.
Answer
Dentists are obliged to provideNHS dental treatment to patients they have registered under NHS arrangements. Generaldental practitioners who are independent contractors are not obliged to registerany patients or patient groups under NHS arrangements.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23689 by Lewis Macdonald on 14 March 2006, within which NHS board areas the two further groups of Polish dentists will be placed.
Answer
To date the NHS boards whichhave indicated that they would like to recruit dentists from Poland in the nexttwo phases are NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, NHS Borders, NHS Dumfries andGalloway, NHS Fife, NHS Grampian, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetlandand NHS Tayside and NHS Western Isles.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 31 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish citizens currently study full time in (a) higher education institutions and (b) further education colleges; how many in each category receive student grants, and what the average level is of these grants.
Answer
Student support administeredby the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) is available to Scottish studentsstudying at higher education (HE) level in higher education institutions or colleges.The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) administers bursaries to Scottish students studyingat further education (FE) level.
(a) Higher Education Institutions
In the academic year 2004-05there were 113,150 Scottish-domiciled HE students studying full time in a UK higher educationinstitution.
Within this group 42,160 studentsreceived a non-repayable financial award from SAAS. The average award paid out tothese students was £1,358.
(b) Colleges
In 2004-05 a total of 24,735students were studying in Scottish colleges at HE level. Within this group 15,525students received a non repayable award from SAAS. The average level of award paidout to these students was £1,455.
The latest information availablefor FE bursaries relates to 2003-04 when a total of 47,030 students were studyingfull time at FE level, with 34,310 of these receiving a bursary. The average bursarypaid out was £1,370 which includes bursaries paid to 2,020 part-time students.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of Sure Start funding and what sort of social work services it (a) funds and (b) does not fund.
Answer
The purpose of Sure Start Scotland fundingis to give children the best possible start in life through the improvement of theirsocial and emotional development, health and ability to learn, and through the strengtheningof their families and communities.
Because local authorities havethe discretion to deploy Sure Start resources to best fit local needs, and theseresources are frequently combined with other funding streams to maximise their efficiencyand impact, it is not possible to state categorically which kinds of services areand are not provided. However, in general terms, Sure Start funding is frequentlyused to provide a wide range of family support services, from home-based support,playgroups and crèches to outreach support, toy and book libraries and supportfor the development of better parenting skills.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to evaluate Sure Start Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is currentlyseeking to learn transferable lessons from the evaluation of Sure Start in England priorto any formal evaluation of Sure Start in Scotland. A robust mapping exercise, published in December 2005,provided a detailed picture of the expansion of Sure Start Scotland servicesand their impact on children and families.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how Grant Aided Expenditure has grown to accommodate the (a) rise in demand, (b) rise in costs and (c) addition of new responsibilities in children’s social work services.
Answer
The total Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) is £8.7 billion in 2005-06 and will be £9 billion in 2006-07, and £9.2 billionin 2007-08.
The GAE figures are used to distributegrant to local authorities on the basis of need.
Comparison between GAE for children’ssocial work and budgeted spend does not take account of other resources providedto support services for children including other government grants or expenditurefunded locally by the council tax. Other resources allocated by the Scottish Executiveinclude around £57 million from the Sure Start programme which is intended to providemore integrated services for our most vulnerable children and families and the ChangingChildren’s Services Fund which will provide over £65 million to support the modernisationand integration of services for children. From 2006-07, £15 million from the ChangingChildren’s Services Fund will be included in GAE with a further transfer of £20million from 2007-08.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 29 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what children’s social work services are funded by Grant Aided Expenditure.
Answer
Details of the Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE) assessments for Children’s Social Work Services are set out in Grant AidedExpenditure (the
Green Book) for each financial year and these are availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39230).
It should be remembered thatthe GAE figures do not represent funding levels or spending targets but are usedto distribute grant to local authorities on the basis of need.
It is the responsibility of eachlocal authority to allocate its total resources to meet local needs and priorities.
