Chamber and committees

Under the Efficient Government initiative, which aims to redirect administrative costs to delivery of front-line services, we have asked sportscotland to deliver annual efficiency savings of at least £200,000 by 31 March 2008.

With regard to specific expenditure on staffing, sportscotland’s staff costs are subject to the approval of the Scottish Executive and must take account of public sector pay guidance. Any significant changes in sportscotland’s staff numbers are therefore also subject to the Executive’s approval.

This is an operational matter for sportscotland. I have asked the chair to provide the information requested.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

From the time of application until the installation of the central heating system, the average waiting time is five months. However, many applicants to the programme receive their heating system more quickly. Many householders also require  gas connections, electrical upgrades, planning permission or building warrants. Unfortunately, these additional requirements can result in householders waiting five months or more.

The programme is continually monitored and kept under review to ensure that qualifying householders receive their central heating system a quickly as possible after application.

The Executive supports the activities that have been undertaken by Scotland Against Drugs. The transfer of functions to the Health Scotland and particularly the Scottish Centre for Health Working Lives will allow this work not only to continue but to develop and expand. This is especially important in relation to employability which is key to helping those with serious drug misuse problems make their way back into work.

We have reached agreement on the broad funding allocation for 2006-07 which will transfer to Health Scotland in order for the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives to continue and develop the work of Scotland Against Drugs. The final budget will be agreed towards the end of February 2006.

We will continue to provide funding to support the functions and activities of Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) in 2006-07. However, these functions, and associated funding will transfer to Health Scotland from 1 April 2006. The employability programme, which is the major part of SAD’s current work, will transfer to the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, which is part of Health Scotland. This will enable us to build upon work developed by Scotland Against Drugs to help those with serious drug misuse problems make their way back into work. A press release will be issued later today.

The available information on how many PE teachers have been employed, broken down by local authority is shown in the 2003 and 2004 Teacher Censuses. This can be accessed using the following hyperlinks:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00352-00.asp

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00416.

The normal retirement age of teachers is 60. Teachers employed by local authorities must retire at 65, so there is potential to retire at anytime between 60 and 65 with unreduced benefits. Teachers can apply to retire at any time between 55 to 59 with an actuarially reduced pension, though in practice at present very few teachers are doing so. The employer must agree to the teacher’s retirement but consent cannot be held for more than six months.

The following table shows the numbers in each year at 60 and above who are eligible to retire rather than the number that will retire in the years specified. Teachers therefore can appear in more than one column.

Full-Time Equivalent Secondary Teacher Numbers, Where Main Subject is PE

Teachers Aged	59 to 63	58 to 62	57 to 61	56 to 60
Eligible for Retirement	2005	2006	2007	2008
Aberdeen City	-	-	*	*
Aberdeenshire	*	*	*	*
Angus	-	*	*	*
Argyll and Bute	*	*	-	*
Clackmannanshire	-	-	*	*
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	*	*
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	*	*
East Lothian	-	-	*	*
East Renfrewshire	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh, City of	-	-	*	6
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	*	*	*	*
Fife	-	-	*	*
Glasgow City	*	*	*	*
Highland	-	*	*	*
Inverclyde	-	*	*	*
Midlothian	-	-	-	*
Moray	*	*	*	*
North Ayrshire	-	-	*	*
North Lanarkshire	*	*	*	6
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	*	*	*	*
Renfrewshire	-	*	*	7
Scottish Borders	-	-	*	*
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	*
South Lanarkshire	-	-	*	*
Stirling	-	-	*	*
West Dunbartonshire	-	*	*	*
West Lothian	*	*	*	*
All Local Authorities	10	20	47	72

Note: *Numbers less than five are deemed to be disclosive, hence not published.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20525 on 17 November 2005. 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/wa.search.

The Scottish Executive is committed to the promotion of Gaelic and securing its status in a wide range of contexts in Scotland. The decision to allow Gaelic to be recognised and used in correspondence with EU institutions is a matter for the UK government and we understand that the UK government has no current plans to change the existing language provisions for UK languages. There have not been formal discussions during the UK presidency of the EU between the Scottish Executive and the UK government on this matter.