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-13156

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12808 by Peter Peacock on 17 December 2004, whether data on the number of incidents of violence and antisocial behaviour against local authority school staff, as referred to in the answer, will be broken down by local authority and, if so, when it will provide this information.

As indicated in the answer to question S2W-12808, on 17 December 2004, the information requested has been made available in the Excel spreadsheet published at www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00318-00.asp. The relevant page of the spreadsheet is that titled “Additional”. For the avoidance of doubt, this information is indeed broken down by local authority.

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/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-12808

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of violence and antisocial behaviour against local authority school staff there were in each local authority area in (a) 2001-02 and (b) 2002-03, broken down by (i) sector and (ii) type of incident.

Reported incidents of violence and anti-social behaviour against local authority school staff for these years, including breakdowns in the form requested, are available in the spreadsheet provided alongside the statistical publication “Incidents of Violence and Anti-social Behaviour against Local Authority School Staff 2002-03”. These are available on the Scottish Executive website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00318-00.asp. However, as the spreadsheet makes clear, use of this data to make simple comparisons between authorities is likely to result in misleading conclusions.

A separate and more reliable view of the disciplinary situation in Scottish schools was provided by the research report ‘Discipline in Scottish Schools: a comparative study over time of teachers’ and headteachers’ perceptions”, by Pamela Munn, Margaret Johnstone and Stephen Sharp. Among a range of findings, this study reported that 2% of primary school teachers and 8% of secondary teachers reported physical aggression towards them or other staff in a typical week. The main findings of this report, and other information on behaviour, are summarised in the Executive’s Policy Update on Better Behaviour in Scottish Schools, launched on 4 October 2004 and available at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/bbssu-00.asp.

Question reference: S2W-11103

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by John Scott on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when the out-turn annual maintenance cost of Holyrood will be published each year and whether the figures for the current year are likely to be broadly similar to the estimated figures.

Question reference: S2O-03594

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 6 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what specific steps it is taking to devolve greater control of local authority education budgets to head teachers.

Question reference: S2O-03536

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on progress regarding the upgrading of the A8000.

Question reference: S2W-10747

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 30 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether any of the Parliament’s facilities have been considered for use as possible conference facilities when it is not sitting.

The SPCB commissioned external consultants to research the potential of the new building for use for events. As a result, the SPCB has appointed a fixed-term staff member to develop procedures, co-ordinate events and monitor the demands and expectations of all of those wishing to hold events at Holyrood. The SPCB approved an interim Events Policy in June 2004. This places a moratorium on all non-business related events until December 2004 and on all large events until Easter 2005. A report will be produced for the SPCB in December 2004 to review the first few months of running events and this will make recommendations for future ways of working, including the use of parliamentary facilities during recess.

Question reference: S2W-10656

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it expects the landscaping in the vicinity of the Parliament building to be completed.

Question reference: S2W-10657

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 28 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether there will be any additional signage at the public entrance to the Parliament building.

As part of the landscaping works for the building, permanent signage will be installed shortly at the public entrance to the Parliament, to replace the temporary signage, as well as at Queensberry House and the passholders entrance to the Parliament on the Canongate. Permanent directional signage will also be installed at the public entrance, and at prominent locations around the exterior of the building.

Question reference: S2W-09791

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 18 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals were received against the (a) primary and (b) secondary school placement of a child and how many, and what percentage of, such appeals were successful, in each of the last 10 years, broken down by local authority.

The information requested is only available for the school years 1995-96 to 2002-03. The tables show the number of appeals against an education authority’s refusal of a placing request.

Primary Schools	1995-96		1996-97		1997-98		1998-99
Primary Schools	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	6	1 (16.7%)	1	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Angus	2	0	9	6 (66.7%)	5	0	5	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	1	1 (100%)	0	0	1	0
Dumfries and Galloway	10	5 (50%)	3	1 (33.3%)	2	0	2	0
Dundee City	48	8 (16.7%)	39	14 (35.9%)	13	0	15	0
East Ayrshire	1	0	0	0	10	0	0	0
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	4	3 (75%)	6	0	3	0
East Lothian	6	0	11	0	0	0	9	7 (77.8%)
East Renfrewshire	3	0	6	0	11	3 (27.3%)	10	1 (10%)
Edinburgh, City of	81	4 (4.9%)	115	8 (6.9%)	164	16 (9.8%)	64	10 (15.6%)
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	6	0	3	0	10	5 (50%)	20	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	21	0	17	1 (5.9%)	69	4 (5.8%)	30	1 (3.3%)
Highland	0	0	5	0	0	0	2	0
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	3	1 (33.3%)	3	30%
Midlothian	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
North Lanarkshire	7	0	2	0	0	0	1	1 (100%)
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	7	0	7	2 (28.6%)	4	0	4	1 (25%)
Renfrewshire	49	6 (12.2%)	18	7 (38.9%)	15	6 (40%)	15	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	8	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
South Lanarkshire	0	0	1	0	22	16 (72.7%)	0	0
Stirling	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
West Dunbartonshire	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	11	2 (18.2%)	4	1 (25%)	10	4 (40%)	1	0

Note:

*'Appeals' shows the number of appeals to Education Appeal Committees.

**'Successful Appeal's shows the number of successful appeals to Education Appeal Committees or Sheriffs.

Primary Schools	1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
Primary Schools	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**
Aberdeen City	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	1	0	1	1 (100%)	10	6 (60%)
Angus	9	3 (30%)	0	0	0	0	0	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	20	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	26	2 (7.7%)	43	7 (16.3%)	48	20 (41.7%)	52	3 (5.8%)
East Ayrshire	20	13 (65%)	15	2 (13.3%)	13	6 (46.2%)	16	16 (100%)
East Dunbartonshire	3	0	5	0	10	7 (70%)	22	0
East Lothian	1	1 (100%)	0	0	1	0	13	0
East Renfrewshire	13	0	11	0	11	0	1	0
Edinburgh, City of	45	5 (11.1%)	55	1 (1.8%)	70	2 (2.9%)	114	1 (0.9%)
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	4	0	10	2 (20%)	4	0	24	3 (12.5%)
Fife	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2 (100%)
Glasgow City	63	2 (3.2%)	112	6 (5.4%)	29	2 (6.9%)	36	2 (5.6%)
Highland	7	3 (42.9%)	9	0	15	2 (13.3%)	13	0
Inverclyde	1	0	3	0	3	0	6	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	14	1 (7.1%)	2	0
Moray	0	0	3	0	1	1 (100%)	14	3 (21.4%)
North Ayrshire	1	0	0	0	0	0	5	1 (20%)
North Lanarkshire	0	0	4	0	11	1 (9.1%)	1	1 (100%)
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	7	2 (28.6%)	10	3 (30%)	3	1 (30%)	7	1 (14.3%)
Renfrewshire	2	0	28	0	26	0	22	2 (9.1%)
Scottish Borders	0	0	1	1 (100%)	0	0	1	1 (100%)
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	8	0	2	0	5	0	2	0
South Lanarkshire	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Stirling	2	0	2	0	0	0	17	17 (100%)
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	8	0	7	0
West Lothian	19	5 (26.3%)	13	1 (7.7%)	26	11 (42.3%)	30	6 (20%)

Notes:

* 'Appeals' shows the number of appeals to Education Appeal Committees.

** ' Successful appeals' shows the number of successful appeals to Education Appeal Committees or Sheriffs.

Secondary Schools	1995-96		1996-97		1997-98		1998-99
Secondary Schools	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**
Aberdeen City	0	0	37	0	28	0	35	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	30	10 (33.3%)	68	6 (8.8%)	6	1 (16.7%)	23	6 (26.1%)
East Ayrshire	0	0	12	0	2	0	4	0
East Dunbartonshire	4	0	3	0	26	0	16	8 (50%)
East Lothian	1	0	12	0	3	0	2	0
East Renfrewshire	25	0	26	0	19	0	15	0
Edinburgh, City of	56	4 (7.1%)	159	9 (5.7%)	148	4 (2.7%)	125	0
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Glasgow City	26	0	77	0	114	8 (7%)	77	2 (2.6%)
Highland	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Inverclyde	12	0	15	1 (6.7%)	6	0	6	0
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Lanarkshire	18	0	4	0	0	0	9	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	3	3 (100%)	0	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	16	0	18	0	5	0	4	0
Scottish Borders	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	6	6 (100%)	4	0	21	4 (19%)	9	0
Stirling	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	52	19 (36.5%)	18	1(36.5%)	17	4 (23.5%)	10	1 (10%)

Notes:

* 'Appeals' shows the number of appeals to Education Appeal Committees.

** ' Successful appeals' shows the number of successful appeals to Education Appeal Committees orSheriffs.

Secondary Schools	1999-2000		2000-01		2001-02		2002-03
Secondary Schools	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**	Appeals*	Successful Appeals**
Aberdeen City	35	0	37	1 (2.7%)	21	1 (4.8%)	30	0
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	7 (100%)
Angus	6	0	8	3 (37.5%)	2	1 (50%)	12	1 (8.3%)
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Dundee City	13	1 (7.7%)	31	4 (12.9%)	46	4 (8.7%)	30	4 (13.3%)
East Ayrshire	7	0	0	0	7	7 (100%)	9	9 (100%)
East Dunbartonshire	31	0	34	0	10	0	20	0
East Lothian	4	0	2	2 (100%)	9	0	5	0
East Renfrewshire	69	2 (2.9%)	37	0	26	0	46	4 (8.7%)
Edinburgh, City of	129	1 (0.8%)	131	0	102	3 (2.9%)	153	10 (6.5%)
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fife	5	1 (20%)	0	0	0	0	1	1 (100%)
Glasgow City	180	10 (5.6%)	167	5 (2.9%)	105	6 (5.7%)	253	10 (3.9%)
Highland	3	2 (66.7%)	2	0	1	0	0	0
Inverclyde	19	0	14	0	21	3 (14.3%)	8	0
Midlothian	0	0	1	0	5	0	8	0
Moray	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
North Ayrshire	0	0	10	10 (100%)	0	0	8	0
North Lanarkshire	0	0	39	0	2	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth and Kinross	0	0	0	0	6	5 (83.3%)	0	0
Renfrewshire	9	0	22	0	9	0	6	0
Scottish Borders	7	3 (42.9%)	0	0	0	0	0	0
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	2	1 (50%)	8	1 (12.5%)
South Lanarkshire	5	0	0	0	1	0	37	0
Stirling	0	0	1	1 (100%)	0	0	0	0
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	1	1 (100%)	0	0	0	0
West Lothian	29	3 (10.3%)	41	15 (36.6%)	63	14 (22.2%)	54	11 (20.4%)

Notes:

* 'Appeals' shows the number of appeals to Education Appeal Committees.

** ' Successful appeals' shows the number of successful appeals to Education Appeal Committees orSheriffs.

Question reference: S2W-09681

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 9 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the most recent figure is for total annual expenditure on state secondary schools, broken down into relevant headings and specifying of which headings headteachers have discretion over the allocation.