- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were incurred in the establishment of the Care Commission, broken down into (a) the transfer of functions to the commission, (b) the recruitment of staff, (c) the establishment of office accommodation, (d) advertising costs and (e) any other relevant costs.
Answer
The information is not held inthe format requested. My officials are considering the available information andI will write to you in due course, placing a copy of the letter in the Parliament’sReference Centre.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 25 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review current procedures and guidelines on public consultations on the establishment of medium-secure care centres.
Answer
Draft guidance on consultationand public involvement in service change was issued to the health service in May2002 and will shortly be revised to reflect comments received. The core principlesof the guidance are that the patients and local communities affected by any proposedchange should be informed and included as early as possible in the consultationprocess.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) its total budget and (b) its total budget for education was allocated to (i) higher education (ii) further education, (iii) vocational education, (iv) community education, (v) primary education and (vi) secondary education in each of the last five financial years.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-2429 on 19 September 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the target turnaround time is from receipt of examination papers by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to notification of results to candidates for (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-2425 today. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility forwhich can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeships were (a) started and (b) completed in each of the last five years; what its targets for completion of such apprenticeships were in those years, and what its targets are for the next three years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has committed to increasing the number of Modern Apprenticeship placesin Scotland to 30,000 by 2006 as outlined in
A Partnershipfor a Better Scotland.
The detail on the number ofapprentices starting and completing is an operational matter for ScottishEnterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) its total budget and (b) its total budget for education has been allocated to (i) higher education, (ii) further education, (iii) vocational education, (iv) community education, (v) primary education and (vi) secondary education for each of the next three financial years.
Answer
Thefigures requested are not held centrally.
Primary, Secondary and CommunityEducation Budgets
Theseare funded mainly through local authorities and the vast majority of resources providedto local authorities for education are paid through revenue support grant, whichis largely unhypothecated. It is up to each authority how it allocates these resourcesto meet its local needs and priorities. Details of how much each authority has receivedin the five previous years can be found in the local government finance circulars9/1998, 4/1999, 4/2000, 3/2001, and 7/2002 (Bib. numbers 29138, 29139, 23428, 20316,and 26111 respectively). Finance circular 1/2003 (Bib. numbers 26534) contains authorities'allocations for the next three forward years.
Detailsof how much each authority has spent on education services can be found in the CIPFARating Review publications. The most recent year available is 2001-02 (Bib.numbers 17055) though prior years are also available. A copy of the local governmentfinance circulars and CIPFA publication can be obtained from the Parliament’s ReferenceCentre by quoting the relevant Bib. number.
Higher, Further and VocationalEducation Budgets
Budgetary provision which hasbeen provided to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and the ScottishFurther Education Council can be found in their annual reports. These are availableon their websites at the following links:
http://www.shefc.ac.ukhttp://www.sfefc.ac.ukVocational education is not aspecific budget classification and therefore absolute figures do not exist. However,higher and further education budgets can be found in Scotland’s budgetdocuments. These documents can be found on the Scottish Executive’s website at www.scotland.gov.uk/publicationsand contain information up to and including the draft budget 2004-05, which alsoshows spending plans for the financial year 2005-06.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussion with Her Majesty's Government in respect of increasing the threshold at which graduates start to repay their student loans and, if so, whether it will disclose the content of such discussions.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK government on a wide range of issues including the repaymentthreshold for student loans.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) target and (b) actual turnaround time was from receipt of examination papers by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to notification of results to candidates for (i) summer 2003 and (ii) each of the last five years.
Answer
The operation of theexamination system and the issuing of examination results are matters for the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).
However, for each of thelast three years, performance measures relating to the issuing of results havebeen agreed between the SQA and the Executive. These have previously been madeavailable to Parliament and I am pleased to confirm that on each occasion, theSQA has ensured the successful delivery of results on the date specified.
The agreement of performancemeasures for 2003 was announced in response to question S1W-34922 and copies of the measures were lodged with the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number27140). All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.Performance measures for2004 and beyond will be agreed in due course.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government and the Student Loan Company regarding the income threshold at which graduates start to repay their student loans.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issuesincluding the repayment threshold for student loans.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 September 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on whether a Public Appointments Committee should be established and on when an appropriate time would be for the Parliament to establish such a committee.
Answer
This is entirely a matter forthe Parliament.
