- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has issued any advice to local authorities about the implementation of the provisions of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages as these relate to Scots.
Answer
Local authorities were issued with advice on the Charter in February 2002. At this point the Scottish Executive wrote to all Scottish local authorities and public bodies informing them that the UK Government had signed the Charter and informed them of the specific measures and undertakings. The Scottish Executive has also issued guidance to local authorities on the use of Scots in the classrooms.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how it funds and resources the Scots language; what level of funding it has made available to support the Scots language in each of the last three years, and how much funding it will make available in the next financial year.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not earmarked a specific budget for Scots language development. It provides funding for Scots activities through the general resources which it makes available to cultural and educational bodies, local authorities and the enterprise network. Expenditure by these bodies on projects and programmes related to the Scots language is not centrally collated.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific actions it has taken to implement the advice on enhancing the status of the Scots language contained in the last report of the European Committee of Experts on the United Kingdom's application of the provisions of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.
Answer
The Committee of Experts recommended to the UK government that it should help create conditions for the use of Scots in public life, through the adoption of a language policy and concrete measures, in co-operation with the speakers of the language. The Executive has committed itself to the development of a national language strategy to this end.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many schoolchildren have visited Historic Scotland properties through free school visits in each of the last three years.
Answer
Total numbers participating in Historic Scotland’s free educational visits scheme over the last three years are as follows:
| Year | Number of Children |
| 2001-02 | 58,796 |
| 2002-03 | 57,777 |
| 2003-04 | 66,660 which was an 15.4% increase on the previous year. |
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11099 by Patricia Ferguson on 1 November 2004, how many local authority playing fields have been in use since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the level of free access to Historic Scotland properties.
Answer
Historic Scotland plans to continue the significant progress achieved in recent years in enabling free access to its properties. There are in excess of 250 sites throughout Scotland to which the general public have free access all year round.
Progress has also been made on a number of initiatives including the Free Weekend, held annually in April. Last year, 58,500 visitors took advantage of the Free Weekend to visit the 74 paying sites throughout Scotland, including Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart Castles. There is also free access to Edinburgh Castle, St Andrews Castle and St Andrews Cathedral on St Andrew’s Day eachyear.
Historic Scotland also operates a free educational visit scheme which attracted 66,660 free visits last year.
In recent years, Historic Scotland has focused on community engagement and significantly increased its levels of community based activity and access.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for the future of the school cultural co-ordinators programme.
Answer
Phase II (2004-06) of the pilot Cultural Co-ordinators programme is in train. Monitoring and evaluation of the scheme continues under the management of the Scottish Arts Council. The future of the programme beyond 2006 will be determined in the light of evidence from evaluation of the pilot.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will monitor the success of the school cultural co-ordinators programme.
Answer
Phase I (2002-2004) of the pilot Cultural Co-ordinators programme was evaluated by an external consultant and a resultant report published in June 2004. A copy of this evaluation is available from the Scottish Arts Council, which administers and monitors the initiative on behalf of the Scottish Executive. The report findings are being used to help shape Phase II (2004-06) of the programme.
In addition, a reference group drawn from relevant sectors, including education, the arts and cultural heritage, has been established. The group assists with the allocation of resources and the monitoring and training arrangements.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 2 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13224 by Ms Margaret Curran on 31 January 2005, whether it will publish all correspondence between the office of the First Minister and the BBC in relation to Wark Clements' production, "The Gathering Place."
Answer
Following a search of ourfiles, we have found a letter dated 24 October 2003from John McCormick, BBC Scotland Controller, to the First Minister.I have placed a copy in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 35515). Theletter covered a copy of Mr McCormick’s letter to the Fraser Inquiry which wassent to the First Minister for Information.
- Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 2 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is helping schools to promote the teaching of music.
Answer
It is the responsibility of theindividual education authorities and head teachers to make decisions on how bestto promote the teaching of music. The Scottish Executive does, however, provide adviceon the provision of music tuition in the classroom, primarily in the form of curriculumguidelines.
The Scottish Arts Council hasbeen charged by the First Minister with administering £17.5 million over three yearsfrom 2003–06 to assist education authorities in ensuring that every primary schoolpupil has the opportunity to have at least one year’s free music tuition beforethey reach primary 6.
