Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government holds accident rate information for all trunk roads in Scotland. The A77 trunk road is the only trunk road in Scotland with fixed average speed cameras; the accident rate for the A77 is listed below. The accident rate is broken down by single and dual carriageway.

The accident rate for the dual carriageway section is 7.7 accidents per 100 million vehicle km against the national dual carriageway average of 9.5 per 100 million vehicle km.

The accident rate for the single carriageway section is 17.7 accidents per 100 million vehicle km against the national single carriageway average of 20.9 per 100 million vehicle km.

HMIE monitors the feedback it seeks and receives on a constant basis from head teachers, staff and professional associations on its inspection processes. It also commissions regular external, independent research involving parents and other stakeholders. As a result and over a number of years, HMIE has taken positive action to address issues raised, including mitigating unnecessary pressure on teaching staff. Such actions have included reducing the notification period for inspections and reducing the amount of pre-inspection information requested from establishments being inspected.

HMIE works hard to ensure that inspections are as constructive and positive an experience as possible and that they lead to improvement for children and other learners. It invests heavily in induction training and continuing professional development of inspectors to ensure that inspections are conducted professionally and constructively.

Following initial internal development from January 2008, agreement was reached in March 2008 with Scottish ministers on the principles to be applied in the new models of inspection. Starting in April, HMIE entered a period of consultation with a wide range of stakeholders on these principles and the processes to be applied in the new inspections. This consultation exercise is still on-going and the approaches are presently being tested in a set of pilot inspections following which the stakeholders involved will be asked to provide feedback. Taking account of this feedback and to give all schools and education authorities detail about the new arrangements, HMIE will provide comprehensive public information on its plans to implement the new approach in time for the start of school session 2008-09. They have been designed to take account of the changing environment within which scrutiny of public services takes place as well as the feedback received on the inspection process, and the findings from research with external stakeholders. The new inspection models are designed to ensure that any inspection has maximum impact with minimum intrusion. Inspections will be shorter, more proportionate and involve the evaluation of a reduced number of quality indicators. To help reduce bureaucracy, the new inspections will require the preparation of less documentation by the school and will build more on the school’s own self-evaluation. Greater emphasis is also being placed on professional dialogue between inspectors and staff in these new inspections to promote better partnership working and provide support to bring about improvement for all learners.

No detailed breakdown of complaint figures are available before 2004-05. The number of inspection reports that have been subject to a complaint for the years 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2007-08, broken down by authority are set out in the following table.

Period	Education Authority	No. of Inspection Reports Subject to a Complaint
2007-08	Aberdeen City Council	1
	Aberdeenshire Council	3
	Angus Council	2
	Dumfries and Galloway Council	1
	East Ayrshire Council	1
	East Lothian Council	3
	City of Edinburgh Council	1
	Falkirk	4
	Fife	2
	Glasgow City Council	4
	Independent	1
	The Highland Council	9
	Inverclyde Council	2
	North Ayrshire Council	1
	North Lanarkshire Council	1
	South Lanarkshire Council	4
	Stirling	1
	West Lothian Council	1
Total no of complaints received		42
	Aberdeenshire Council	1
	Argyll and Bute Council	1
	Dumfries and Galloway Council	1
	East Ayrshire Council	1
	East Renfrewshire Council	1
	City of Edinburgh Council	2
	Falkirk	2
	Fife	4
	Glasgow City Council	2
	The Highland Council	1
	Inverclyde Council	1
	Independent	1
	The Moray Council	1
	North Ayrshire Council	1
	North Lanarkshire Council	1
	West Lothian Council	1
	unknown	1
Total no of complaints received		23
2005-06	Aberdeen City Council	2
	Dundee City Council	1
	East Dunbartonshire Council	1
	City of Edinburgh Council	3
	Glasgow City Council	3
	The Highland Council	2
	North Ayrshire Council	2
	Scottish Borders Council	3
	South Ayrshire Council	1
	West Dunbartonshire Council	1
Total no of complaints received		19
2004-05	Aberdeen City Council	1
	Aberdeenshire Council	1
	Argyll and Bute Council	1
	Dumfries and Galloway Council	1
	Falkirk	1
	Fife	2
	Glasgow City Council	2
	The Highland Council	2
	Midlothian Council	1
	North Lanarkshire Council	2
	Perth and Kinross Council	1
	Scottish Borders Council	2
	The Moray Council	2
	Western Isles Council	1
	West Lothian Council	1
	Independent	1
Total no of complaints received		22

 

The draft Regulations on the licensing of dealers in puppies and kittens were laid before Parliament on Friday, 30 May 2008.

Assistant inspectors are appointed by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) to undertake a number of days’ work each year. They comprise retired HM inspectors or others with up-to-date knowledge of and a background in education and services for children and young people, including experience in inspection and review procedures and quality assurance work. They can be called upon at short notice to meet certain peaks of activity or unforeseen demands. This flexibility makes them a valuable resource to HMIE.

HMIE first appointed assistant inspectors in 2003. Since then, the following have been appointed each year.

2003	8
2004	5
2005	4
2006	17
2007	15
2008	1
Total	50

 

There are currently 35 assistant inspectors working with HMIE.

Since 2005, all HM inspectors have attended the following corporate events organised by HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE). The following table contains details of all events attended by HM inspectors. Some events will have been attended by more than one HM Inspector. The list also includes events planned for later this year.

HMIE National Conference (February 2005)	1 day
Corporate Training (June 2005)	1 day
HMIE National Seminar (August 2005)	2 days
Corporate Training (August 2005)	1 day
Corporate Training (December 2005)	1 day
HMIE National Conference (February 2006)	1 day
Corporate Training (June 2006)	1 day
HMIE National Seminar (August 2006)	3 days
Corporate Training (December 2006)	1 day
HMIE National Conference (February 2007)	1 day
Corporate Training (June 2007)	1 day
HMIE National Seminar (August 2007)	3 days
Corporate Training (December 2007)	1 day
HMIE National Conference (February 2008)	1 day
Corporate Training (April 2008)	4 days
Corporate Training (June 2008)	3 days
HMIE National Seminar (August 2008)	2 day
Corporate Training (December 2008)	1 day

 

In addition to these training events, HM inspectors will also attend HMIE directorate conferences at least once each year. If their responsibilities takes them across different sectors i.e. primary, secondary, services for children etc, HM inspectors could attend more than one directorate event each year.

In conjunction with the Kiel Centre, HMIE has also drawn up a best practice framework for all HM Inspectors and tailored training events to develop and build on coaching techniques were arranged in June and August 2007, and in January, February and May 2008. Further events are planned for June, July, September and December 2008.

There are also “drop-in” sessions offered to all HM inspectors when a new process is introduced. These sessions are arranged at various times in the various HMIE offices across the country to allow staff the opportunity to learn more about new processes in their local environment.

HMIE also support HM inspectors in undertaking specific job related and developmental training.

The information requested is not held in a format which allows the question to be answered directly. However, HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) currently has 108 inspectors and assistant chief inspectors and from that group, 92 were previously qualified teachers and two were qualified lecturers in further education colleges. This equates to 87% of the current inspector group.

Those inspectors from outwith teaching/lecturing, will be involved in other aspects of HMIE’s work i.e. community learning and development, services for children and as a consequence, will have a background in community education, health, educational psychology, criminal justice and social work.

Since January 2005, 48 inspectors and assistant chief inspectors have retired or resigned and of that group, 42 were previously qualified teachers and five qualified lecturers in further education colleges. This equates to 97.9% of that group. The inspector without a teaching background was a qualified social worker involved in services for children inspections.

Since January 2005, there are and have been 156 inspectors and assistant chief inspectors involved in HMIE inspections, 141 were previously qualified teachers and qualified lecturers in further education colleges which equates to 90%.

HM Inspectorate of Education have had the following number of HM inspectors in post since 2002-03. The number provided is the average number of HM inspectors for the particular year.

2002-03	79
2003-04	90
2004-05	91
2005-06	96
2006-07	89
2007-08	95

 

HM Inspectorate of Education have carried out the following number of inspections per authority since 2002, the figures below include all education authority schools including those schools which are grant-aided.

Total Number of Primary, Secondary and Special School Inspections from 2002-08

Education Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	Total
Aberdeen City	8	5	9	7	9	7	45
Aberdeenshire	17	13	23	19	19	16	107
Angus	11	6	8	8	6	6	45
Argyll and Bute	9	12	12	11	11	6	61
Clackmannanshire	4	3	2	2	2	5	18
Dumfries and Galloway	5	14	13	16	12	13	73
Dundee City	5	6	5	7	8	4	35
East Ayrshire	13	5	5	6	6	5	40
East Dunbartonshire	5	9	4	5	5	6	34
East Lothian	2	5	6	5	6	4	28
East Renfrewshire	3	3	2	3	5	3	19
Edinburgh, City of	12	12	17	15	13	13	82
Eilean Siar	7	5	2	6	3	4	27
Falkirk	5	5	8	6	7	6	37
Fife	15	17	21	22	21	18	114
Glasgow City	27	23	27	32	29	28	166
Highland	18	15	23	28	26	30	140
Inverclyde	4	4	4	5	6	5	28
Midlothian	5	5	7	4	3	3	27
Moray	0	7	9	6	4	5	31
North Ayrshire	9	5	9	9	6	9	47
North Lanarkshire	21	13	19	19	24	16	112
Orkney Islands	3	4	3	4	3	4	21
Perth and Kinross	8	9	12	10	8	10	57
Renfrewshire	7	8	4	8	7	9	43
Scottish Borders	6	7	9	11	8	8	49
Shetland Islands	5	4	3	5	5	5	27
South Ayrshire	9	6	6	4	5	8	38
South Lanarkshire	7	13	18	20	19	17	94
Stirling	6	7	4	6	7	6	36
West Dunbartonshire	0	5	4	6	6	5	26
West Lothian	6	7	10	9	8	13	53
Total	262	262	308	324	307	297	1760

 

The report of the outcome of the independent scrutiny consultation is now available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent and copies are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45609).

You will note from the report that the majority of respondents indicated that:

independent scrutiny was a positive step forward which would improve public confidence in relation to major service changes;

the consultation paper''s preferred model of independent scrutiny, the expert panel, was seen as the best option - the strength of the scrutiny panel approach being the independence and skill mix of the panel members;

the role of the panel should be to assess the safety, sustainability, evidence base and value for money of proposals for major service change, and

the panel should assess the evidence and options during the process of public engagement prior to consultation and provide a commentary on these that would be available to the board and ministers in reaching decisions.

I would also like to take this opportunity to reiterate some of the other key messages from my opening address at the parliamentary debate on this subject. Specifically, that:

independent scrutiny will only be applied to cases of major service change and only where the benefits outweigh the costs. This will be judged on a case-by-case basis by ministers but the bar will be set high;

independent scrutiny will take place early in the process and will help to ensure that there is an agreed evidence base for the subsequent decision-making process, including option appraisal. Should issues relating to the evidence emerge later, it would be possible to reconvene the panel, and

there is a delineation between the current role of the Scottish Health Council (assessing NHS board process of engagement) and the role of independent scrutiny panels (scrutinising the evidence and options for change).