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-30122

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are undergoing sign language training to qualify to operate as signers in classrooms and where they receive such training.

Question reference: S2W-30121

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many trained signers are available to provide sign language assistance to students in schools and higher education institutions.

Question reference: S2W-30123

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it provides for training sign language assistants to operate in classrooms in school and higher education institutions.

The Executive has allocated £13.5million in 2006-07 to local authorities for general continuing professional development(CPD) and £7.2 million for specific staff training in additional support needs.It is for local authorities to use this funding to meet the needs of young peoplewithin their area and this can include training sign language assistants.

In addition, the Executive hasallocated £360,000 to the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters towork in partnership with Heriot-Watt University to develop and deliver a Graduate Diploma in TeachingBritish Sign Language Tutors.

Question reference: S2O-11143

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 23 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve co-ordination and assessment in providing needs packages for disabled higher education students.

The Scottish Executive leadsthe Disabled Student Stakeholder Group. This group was set up to consider andaddress issues relating to the support available to learners in colleges anduniversities who have additional needs. Key stakeholders and delivery partnersare members including the National Union of Students, Skill Scotland, collegesand universities, the funding council, and the Student Awards Agency Scotland.

The group has considered arange of issues. It has recently reduced delays for higher education studentsreceiving their assessments and subsequently their Disabled Students Allowanceaward, and also developed and introduced a Toolkit of Quality Indicators forthe needs assessment.

Question reference: S2W-29437

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 15 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) funding and (b) other support it or its agencies have given to sports organisations in each year since 1999, broken down by sport.

All Executive funding for sportis routed through sportscotland and details of its grant in aid is published insportscotland’s annual reports. sportscotland operates a number of funding programmesthat can be accessed by sports organisations. In its annual report, sportscotlandpublishes a summary of amounts invested in individual sports and details of individualawards made can be obtained from sportscotland direct.

Question reference: S2O-10889

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what incentives and funding it makes available under the Scottish Rural Development Plan (SRDP) and other avenues to encourage new entrants into the equine industry.

Under the2000-06 SRDP, the Environment and Rural Affairs Department has supported manyexcellent examples of farm diversification into horse-related businesses. Ruraldevelopment schemes such as the Farm Business Development Scheme (FBDS) andAgriculture Business Development Scheme (ABDS) have historically providedfunding for a range of equestrian projects. Since 2001, a total of 96 equinerelated projects have been approved for funding across Scotland, with grant totalling £1.63million. The types of project funded have included outdoor and indoor arenas,pony trekking centres, liveries and riding schools. We have also promotedhorse-related tourism in Scotland by providing support for a varietyof tourist accommodation projects which encompass equine-related services, suchas stabling for visitors’ own horses.

As thecurrent SRDP is coming to an end, the FBDS and ABDS schemes have now closed tonew applicants. For the new programme covering 2006-13, no final decisions haveyet been taken on specific measures to be funded but I anticipate that theextension of Land Management Contracts will make funding available to an evenwider range of businesses across the rural economy, including to the equineindustry, where eligibility criteria allow.

Question reference: S2W-27153

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what input its departments, agencies and non-departmental public bodies had to the Hampton review and its report, Reducing administrative burdens: effective inspection and enforcement.

The Hampton Reviewconsidered the scope for reducing the administrative burden of regulation onbusinesses by promoting more efficient approaches to regulatory inspection andenforcement, without compromising regulatory standards or outcomes. Executive officialsand representatives from several Scottish regulators met the Hampton teamon a number of occasions during the preparation of their report and continue towork closely with the UK Government Departments responsible for rolling out therecommendations. The report relates to UK reserved or to England-only issues. There are howeveralready many examples of Executive Agencies adopting some of therecommendations of the Hampton report especially those relating to the adoptionof good practice and risk assessment.

Question reference: S2W-27154

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any input into the Department of Trade and Industry’s Local Better Regulation Office project.

Question reference: S2W-27152

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what role it has with regard to the decision-making process on reserved matters that have an impact on devolved issues and are dealt with by UK-wide public bodies.

Question reference: S2W-27151

Asked by: Andrew Welsh, MSP for Angus, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures it has to ensure that Scottish interests are represented in the decision-making processes of London-based non-departmental public bodies.