- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a response from the commissioners of the regalia following the parliamentary debate on the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 and, if so, what their response was.
Answer
At the request of the First Minister,I wrote to the Lord Advocate, the Lord Justice Clerk and the Lord Clerk Registerprior to the debate to inform them that it was taking place. All responded priorto the debate and were unanimous in their view that the stone should remain at EdinburghCastle. I have received no further correspondence from the Commissioners of theRegalia on this matter following the parliamentary debate on 13 December 2006.
- 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 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: Wednesday, 07 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 19 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has passed a copy of the Official Report of the parliamentary debate on the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 to the commissioners of the regalia.
Answer
Historic Scotland issued hardcopies of an abstract of the Official Report of the parliamentary debateon the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 to the Commissioners of the Regaliaon Friday 9 February 2007 in order to ensure that the commissioners were fully informedof the debate if they had not previously read the Official Report publishedon the Scottish Parliament website.
- 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 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 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.
- 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 it monitors whether local authorities are fully implementing and complying with the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31711 on 19 February 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s websitethe search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what complaint procedures are in place for members of the public who are not satisfied with the work of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
Answer
Under the Scottish PublicServices Ombudsman Act 2002, the ombudsman in the exercise of her functions isnot subject to the direction or control of any member of the Parliament, anymember of the Scottish Executive or the SPCB.The Scottish Public ServicesOmbudsman has a complaints procedure in place for anyone who disagrees with adecision reached or for anyone who is dissatisfied with the service provided bythe office. Details are available on the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman’swebsite using the following link
http://www.spso.org.uk/complain/article.php?ssi=36.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 05 February 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2007
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it considers that it is satisfactory that some cases take more than two years to be reviewed by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
Answer
As part of the recentbudgetary round, the SPCB was made aware that since 2004-05 there had been anincrease in complaints and enquiries received by the Scottish Public ServicesOmbudsman. The latest Annual Report highlights the increase in the number ofcomplaints between 2004-05 and 2005-06 at 24% and a 99% increase in enquiriesreceived.
To address the impact ofthis, the SPCB approved a 7.6% budget increase (over the 2006-07 approvedbudget allocation) for 2007-08. This will provide funding for seven additionalmembers of staff taking the staffing complement up to 45 which should assistthe Scottish Public Services Ombudsman with her workload.
