- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to local authorities with regard to placing and supporting students on dance courses in Scotland.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15921 by Nicol Stephen on 5 June 2001, what representations it has received from local authorities regarding any difficulties they have in meeting the costs of placing children in (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has received no formal representations.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority budgeted to spend on sending children to (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools at the start of financial year 2000-01 and how much each actually spent.
Answer
This information is not collected centrally.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision it makes in grants to local authorities for the costs of sending children to (a) grant-aided and (b) independent special schools.
Answer
Local authorities fund the costs of children they place at grant-aided or independent special schools from funding provided by the Scottish Executive through the local government finance settlement. In 2001-02 this funding includes £199.697 million for special educational needs, which was an increase of 11.7% on 2000-01.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 May 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-15098 by Mr Jack McConnell on 3 May 2001, what steps it is taking to monitor any difficulties being experienced by local authorities and school boards in relation to the anomaly in the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 whereby the parents of children who are four years and six months and over when they start school are not eligible to make a placing request; how many parents of children affected by this anomaly have to date made a request for their child to attend a particular school, and how many such requests have not been granted.
Answer
We are in contact with local authorities over the action they are taking at local level to deal with this anomoly. It is still too early to tell what the overall effect has been on entry to P1 across the country and statistics are not yet available on the number of parents affected and how many requests have not been granted.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 18 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has given to local authorities who have to issue final demands for council tax to individuals who have become unemployed but whose application for benefit is taking 14 weeks or more to process.
Answer
Overall responsibility for the Council Tax Benefit Scheme rests with the Department of Social Security. However, through the work of the joint It Pays to Pay Working Group on council tax collection, which we established, CoSLA and the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation are jointly preparing best practice guidance for local authorities on council tax collection and enforcement. The working group has encouraged councils to take account of the circumstances of individual tax payers in taking forward any recovery procedures.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure, when considering the information gathered in the audit of museums, that any past donation or receipt of items from a local collection into the collection of a national museum is noted when considering the breadth and significance of existing local collections.
Answer
The national audit, which has been developed by the Scottish Museums Council after consultation with the museum sector in Scotland, will establish the current holdings of each museum but not from whom or where objects have been acquired.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the audit of museums does not give recipients the opportunity to comment on and assess the structures presently in place to support and assist museums in Scotland.
Answer
The purpose of the audit is to establish what collections there are, how they are cared for and what use is made of them. It is not an appropriate vehicle for an examination of structures. We will in due course pursue our commitments in the National Cultural Strategy to consider a national framework for museums and galleries.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the full results of the audit of museums, along with any accompanying documentation volunteered by museums, will be published.
Answer
The results of the audit will be published in print and on the Scottish Museums Council's website with the exception of information relating to museums' security measures. The published information will be accompanied by appropriate commentary to assist the interpretation of the results and to put them in context.
- Asked by: Michael Russell, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 June 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 15 June 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that accompanying documentation prepared by museums to overcome perceived gaps in the audit of museums will be properly noted and assessed when it responds to the audit and brings forward a policy for museums.
Answer
Yes.
