Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides annual grant funding to Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR) of £312,000 and is the only Government in the UK to do so. The Scottish Government has provided £300,000 or more, in grant funding, direct to SMR, every year for this administration, despite budgetary constraints. The funding is distributed by SMR to the 27 voluntary (civilian) teams across Scotland, according to a formula agreed by the teams and the SMR committee.

The Scottish Government’s statistical bulletin, Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No.4: 2013 Edition, published on 11 December 2013, confirmed that the pupil-teacher ratio in all publicly funded schools remained the same as in 2012 at 13.5.

The 2014 pupil and teacher censuses, the results of which are scheduled to be published on 10 December 2014, will confirm the scale of any increases or decreases in pupil and teacher numbers.

Yes.

The recruitment of firefighters is a matter for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). The SFRS is under a statutory duty to ensure adequate arrangements for fire and rescue services in all 32 of Scotland’s local authority areas.

This question relates to operational matters that are the responsibility of the Scottish Court Service (SCS) corporate body. The question has been passed to the Chief Executive of the SCS who will reply in writing within 20 days.

Four recommendations from the June 2013 report have already been implemented as follows:

Recommendation 1 – National Vision Statement – this was adopted on 29 October 2014 as: ‘Music: Enhancing Learning, Enriching Living’;

Recommendation 5 – charges for instrumental music tuition for pupils sitting SQA music exams have been rescinded;

Recommendation 17 – an instrumental music implementation group was set up on 28 November 2013;

Recommendation 16a) – a national music conference was held on 26 February 2014; and

Recommendation 16b) - a statement on instrumental music tuition has been included in Education Scotland’s report of inspection findings for schools since September 2013.

The remaining 13 recommendations are being addressed and taken forward. Of these there has been substantial progress on the following seven as follows:

The review of charging policies (recommendation 3);

Improvements for pupils with additional support needs (recommendation 4);

Audit of provision and repairers apprenticeship scheme (recommendation 7);

A user guide (recommendation 8);

Youth Music Initiative clarification (recommendation 10);

Benchmark framework (recommendation 14) and new guidelines for heads of Instrumental Teaching Scotland (recommendation 15).

Further information can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/curriculum/InstrumentalMusic/InstrumentalMusicImplementationGroup

Pay and conditions of service for instrumental music instructors are matters for the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers to determine.

There are separate arrangements in place for instrumental music instructors due to the fact that they do not undertake the full range of duties required of fully registered teachers.

The average speed camera system was designed to cover the single carriageway sections between Perth and Inverness, with drivers having clear and unrestricted site lines of all camera locations as they approached them. The design was based on best practice developed from similar schemes in the UK and the movement from dual to single carriageway and the associated change in speed limit has been considered within the operational management of the system. Each camera location is also clearly signed but the responsibility remains with the driver to ensure that they are driving within the speed limit for their class of vehicle.

The A9 Safety Group runs extensive publicity campaigns to heighten speed limit awareness on the A9. The A9 between Perth and Inverness is subject to the national speed limit, with the standards for signing contained within the Traffic signs manual published by the Department for Transport. These standards ensure the speed limit signing is consistent across all roads within the UK and complies with current legislation. The A9 is fully compliant with this guidance and current legislation. The Highway Code clearly highlights the responsibility of drivers to know the speed limit for the class of vehicle they are driving and this responsibility is the focus of the current publicity campaign. In addition, the A9 Safety Group website contains detailed information on the subject.