Chamber and committees

Deployment of staff is a matter for local authorities and information on the use of temporary contracts is not held centrally. It is clear from our general discussions with local authorities that a large number of temporary contracts have always come to an end, for a variety of reasons, at the end of the school session. It is also clear that many of these teachers secure work early in the new session as vacancies arise and supply cover needs emerge. We have no reason to expect any change to this pattern.

Gross expenditure on the Motorway and Trunk Road Programme during 2000-01 was £202.73 million, which represented an underspend of £14.96 million. Details were set out in the Executive's Resource Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2001, which were laid before Parliament in December 2001. Figures for 2001-02 have not yet been finalised.

The Student Awards Agency for Scotland provides eligible postgraduate students with assistance under the Postgraduate Students' Allowances Scheme (PSAS). Disabled students being funded under PSAS who incur higher course costs because of their disabilities can apply for Disabled Students' Allowance. This can cover equipment and personal readers for blind students.

Blind postgraduate students whose courses come under the remit of any of the research councils, but who for whatever reason are not being funded by them, are not eligible for any allowances paid by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

The following tables show information on the number applications for teacher education intake places allocated by Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to higher education institutions (HEIs) by course in 2001-2002:

Institution	BEd Primary		PGCE Primary		PGCE Secondary
	Intake Allocated	Applications	Intake Allocated	Applications	Intake Allocated	Applications
Edinburgh University	139	1,262	143	937	189	776
Glasgow University	141	1,215	150	744	175	851
Northern College*	170	802	164	1023	183	426
Paisley University	82	711	67	521	61	246
Strathclyde University	169	1,409	183	1,014	436	1,350
Total	701	5,399	707	4,239	1,044	3,649

Institution	BEd Physical Education		BEd Technological Education		BEd Music
	Intake Allocated	Applications	Intake Allocated	Applications	Intake Allocated	Applications
Edinburgh University	100	597	9	69	-	-
Glasgow University	-	-	23	54	20	129
Northern College*	-	-	-		27	83
Paisley University	-	-	-	-	-	-
Strathclyde University	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	100	597	32	123	47	212

Note:*From November 2001 merged with Aberdeen and Dundee Universities.Application numbers may include duplicates as applicants may have applied to more than one HEI.

Trunk roads in Clydesdale are managed and maintained on behalf of the Scottish Executive by the Operating Companies, Amey Highways and Autolink Concessionaires. The trunk road maintenance contract requires the Operating Companies to carry out regular safety inspections on these roads. Annual road condition surveys are carried out on the trunk road network and from these the Operating Companies identify a programme of structural maintenance schemes to improve the condition of the network.Local roads in Clydesdale are the responsibility of South Lanarkshire Council as the local roads authority for the area. It is entirely a matter for the council to decide what priority should be given to the maintenance and improvement of local roads. Additional capital allocations for local roads and bridges amounting to £70 million across Scotland were announced in Spending Review 2000. On 25 February 2002, I awarded a further £20 million in revenue funding to speed up maintenance activity on local roads: South Lanarkshire's share of this extra cash injection is £959,000.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25325.

The winding down scheme for teachers will be introduced from August 2002.

Contractors employed to maintain or construct new trunk roads comply with the instructions of the Scottish Executive in regard to the signing that they provide. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24913 today.

The Scottish Executive presently permits Highland Council to use bilingual signs on local roads. The erection of signs is a matter for the local roads authority. On trunk roads, Gaelic boundary signs and bilingual direction signs are already in place on the A87 in Skye and the A830. New bilingual signs will be provided on the section of the A830 between Arisaig and Kinsadel, now under construction. A report is being completed on further options for bilingual signs on the trunk road network.