- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 27 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it is providing to protect Scotland’s trees and woodlands such as the Fortingall Yew and Meikleour beech hedge.
Answer
Environmentand Rural Development
Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whatfunding it is providing to protect Scotland’s trees and woodlands such as the FortingallYew and Meikleour beech hedge.
(S2W-31798)
Sarah Boyack: One of Forestry Commission Scotland’s(FCS) key responsibilities is to protect Scotland’s trees, woods and forests. This is mainly administeredthrough felling permissions, long-term forest plans and direct grant-aid for forestestablishment and management through grant incentives such as the Scottish ForestryGrants Scheme.
Heritage trees within woodlandscan be supported and protected as part of an FCS grant scheme or through regulatorypermissions. Individual trees of particularly high amenity value can also be protectedby Tree Preservation Orders which are issued by local planning authorities. Thereare also local initiatives supported by FCS, which promote the importance of highvalue heritage trees. For example, the FCS inventory of Scotland’s heritagetrees led to the publication Heritage Trees of Scotland, which featuresboth the Fortingall Yew and the Meikleour Beech Hedge. The “Perthshire Big TreeCountry” initiative - a £1.8 million project delivered via Perth and KinrossCountryside Trust to which FCS has contributed around £600,000 through the ScottishForestry Grant Scheme – is helping to safeguard the future of heritage trees inPerthshire.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 22 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how any relocation of the freshwater laboratory from Faskally in Perthshire would fit with its policy of public sector job dispersal.
Answer
There are no plans at this stageto relocate staff from the FRS facility at Faskally. Fisheries Research Servicesare however conducting an option appraisal exercise to ascertain whether or notfurther investment in the Faskally site represents good value for money, comparedto a range of other options. Any decision will be consistent with the Scottish Executive’srelocation policy.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 22 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has set criteria for designating whether a child is being home educated and, if so, what the criteria are and whether local authorities are required to adhere to them.
Answer
The Executive issued a comprehensivedocument entitled Guidance on the Circumstances in Which Parents may Choose toEducate their Children at Home (Bib. number 31676) in March 2004. That guidancewas issued under Section 14 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000.Education authorities are required, under the terms of section 14, to have regardto it.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 22 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all projects for young people for which it has provided funding through Perth and Kinross Council since 1999, showing the (a) type of project and (b) amount of funding awarded.
Answer
This is a matter for Perth and KinrossCouncil. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 22 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all projects for young people for which it has provided funding through Angus Council since 1999, showing the (a) type of project and (b) amount of funding awarded.
Answer
This is a matter for Angus Council.The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the impact that the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 has had on the care of children with additional support needs.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31711 on 19 February 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.The evaluation of the act’s implementation is on-goingand it is therefore to early to draw any firm conclusions on its overall impact.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that it is appropriately funding local authorities to fulfil their obligations under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
Yes. The Scottish Executive providessignificant funding specifically for the implementation of the Education (AdditionalSupport for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. The funding for 2006-07 and 2007-08 is £12.5million per annum.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all local authorities are complying with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ofEducation (HMIE) are monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Act. Aninterim report of a specific inspection programme was published on 31 October 2006 anddid not identify any specific breach of duty by local authorities. This report isavailable at:
http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/Interim%20Report%20ASL%20Act%202005.pdf.The final report of their findingswill be published in autumn 2007.
In addition, HMIE are providinginformation on the implementation of the act through their routine inspection programmeof schools and education authorities.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children with autism there are in the Fife local authority area; in what types of school they are placed in, and how many are home educated.
Answer
The number of pupils in publiclyfunded schools in Fife, for whom Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is recorded asthe main difficulty in learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised EducationalProgramme is published in tables 6.8, 7.5 and 8.5 of
Pupils in Scotland 2005http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0.
There were seven pupils in independentspecial schools located in Fife for whom ASD was recorded as the main difficulty in learning.The number of pupils with ASD being home educated is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children there are with autism in Scotland and what action is being taken to improve their lives and ensure that they receive education suitable for their needs.
Answer
The number of pupils in publiclyfunded schools for whom Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is recorded as the maindifficulty of learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised EducationalProgramme is published in table 1.7 of
Pupils in Scotland 2005:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0.Thenumber of pupils in independent schools for whom ASD is recorded as the main difficultyof learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised Educational Programmeis published in table 4 of the Independent School Census 2005:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/25091645/0.The Scottish Executive is takingforward a number of actions, in both education and health, to improve the livesof children of children with ASD. These actions include the formation of the ASDEducation Working Group, which is carrying forward the recommendations of the reportof Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education, which examines the educational provisionfor children with ASD and the NAS make school make sense report. The ScottishExecutive Health Department has set up the ASD Reference Group, which is takingforward the recommendations in the Public Health Institute of Scotland’s ASDNeeds Assessment Report (2001). The Scottish Executive also provides significantfunding to a number of projects, all aimed at improving the lives of children withASD.
