Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-25049

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 2 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S20-5408 by Nicol Stephen on 10 February 2005, what number of community transport projects it will support in (a) 2005-06 and (b) subsequent financial years and how much funding it has allocated for such projects.

The Executive supported 106 communitytransport projects in 2005-2006 under the Rural Community Transport Initiative,Urban Community Transport Initiative and Rural Demand Responsive Transport Initiative.To date, the Executive has awarded grant to 86 community transport projects in2006-07, 58 in 2007-08 and 34 in 2008-09 under these schemes. These numbers willincrease as further rounds of the Rural Community Transport Initiative will be heldin each of these years.

Question reference: S2W-24994

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many learning support units there are in mainstream schools suitable for children with autistic spectrum disorder, in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-24993

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for placement were made by local authorities to (a) Struan House School, Alloa and (b) New Struan in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S2W-24997

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has undertaken on the effectiveness of the mainstreaming of children with autistic spectrum disorder.

Question reference: S2W-24998

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what comparisons it has made of the effectiveness of the education of children with autistic spectrum disorder in mainstream schools and in specialist schools, such as Struan House.

No comparisons have beenmade. The most important principle is to meet the needs of the individual childor young person in the most appropriate setting, whether that is in amainstream school, a special school, a specialist school like Struan House or acombination.

I recognise however thatthere is a need to evaluate educational provision for pupils with autisticspectrum disorder (ASD) in these settings and that is why Her Majesty'sInspectorate of Education are conducting a specific inspection of educationalprovision for children and young people with ASD across Scotland. Theinspection began in April 2005 and will conclude shortly with a report due inlate summer.

Question reference: S2W-24996

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it is undertaking on the effectiveness of the mainstreaming of children with additional support needs.

In 2003, the Executivecommissioned the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) to examinethe impact of the policy that requireseducation authorities to, wherever possible, mainstream pupils with specialeducational needs (SEN). The research assessed how education authorities implementedthe new duty and the impact of the mainstreaming policy, and examined the waysin which different policies and practices impacted on parents, teachers, andpupils with SEN, including pupils with autistic spectrum disorder, and theirpeers.

The findings were publishedin the Impact of the Presumption of Mainstreaming Research report on 13 January 2006, acopy of which is available at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/05142243/0andhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/12121142/0.

Question reference: S2W-24760

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the farms which have been affected by emergency prohibition orders related to the Chernobyl incident in each year since 1995.

I am advised by the Food StandardsAgency that the following table indicates the number of farms in Scotland whichhave been subject to restrictions as a result of the Chernobyl accidentin each year since 1995.

Date	Number of Farms Subject to Restrictions
1995	41
1996	36
1997	28
1998	23
1999	20
2000	19
2001	18
2002	18
2003	16
2004	14
2005	11
2006	10

Farm numbers are approximate since part-farms may have restrictionsremoved; also farms and part-farms may be split and/or amalgamated. Accordingly,restrictions are defined in The Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Radioactivityin Sheep) Order 1991 No. 20 (as amended) in consistent terms of defined boundariesrather than as individual farms. The remaining farms are located in the East Ayrshireand Stirling Council areas, although established policy is not to identify individualholdings without the consent of the farm owner.

Question reference: S2W-24948

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the energy performance of a building will be expressed in CO2 emissions and, if so, whether any other indicators will also be used.

I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard,Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. Hisresponse is as follows:

It is proposed that the principalindicator of energy performance of buildings will be expressed in terms of CO₂in order to promote the influence that this gas has with regard to climate changeand global warming.

Options for other indicatorswill appear in the forthcoming public consultation on Articles 7, 8 and 9. Thisconsultation is proposed for May 2006, will have a duration of 12 weeks and willbe accessible from the SBSA website www.sbsa.gov.uk.

Question reference: S2W-24951

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has obtained any legal advice as to whether a property owner completing an information sheet about that property could be described as an “independent expert” under the terms of article 10 of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and, if so, what that legal advice is.

I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard,Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. Hisresponse is as follows:

The SBSA works closely with theOffice of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive (OSSE) on all matters concerningScottish building legislation.

A property owner (unless suitablyqualified) could not be described as an independent expert in terms of Article 10of the Directive. Any part of the certification process that does have input froman unqualified or non-accredited individual, will be subject to the scrutiny ofa verifier or local authority, acting as the independent accredited experts.

Question reference: S2W-24950

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 26 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, in implementing the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, what the advantages will be of using Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure as an alternative methodology to the Scottish Energy Rating Tool.

I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard,Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer. Hisresponse is as follows:

The work on the Scottish EnergyRating Tool (SERT) is currently in progress. If the research work is successfulthen SERT could provide a cost-effective solution to energy performance certificationof dwellings, particularly in the private rental sector. It is anticipated thatwork on rdSAP will be completed before SERT and that rdSAP will be better suitedto the data collection procedures which are associated with the proposed singlesurvey.