Chamber and committees

Under the Scottish Computers for Teachers scheme all GTC registered teachers in publicly funded primary and secondary schools, including publicly funded special schools and units, are eligible to apply for a rebate of £200 against the cost of a modern computer.The computer must match or exceed a technical specification drawn up by Learning and Teaching Scotland, who administer the scheme on behalf of the Scottish Executive. The specification is reviewed before each new phase of the scheme.The payment is a taxable benefit, but the Scottish Executive has made arrangements to settle the tax and National Insurance centrally. No liability falls on the individual teachers.

The English scheme is currently restricted to the priority group of teachers of mathematics at Key Stage 3 as a necessary way of managing demand following high demand in the first phase. The English scheme has offered teachers 50% of the cost of a computer, up to a maximum subsidy of £500. Income tax and National Insurance liabilities have been met centrally, with no further liability on the teacher. Teachers must have undertaken, or have stated they are committed to take, the New Opportunities Fund ICT training programme. Further information about the English scheme can be found at:

http://cft.ngfl.gov.uk/user/index.htmlNo comparable scheme currently operates in Wales. The National Assembly for Wales has opted for a different means of increasing access to ICT in schools and in support of lifelong learning by establishing School Learning Centres and ICT Learning Centres in community venues. Full details were set out in the Prospectus ICT for Learning which is available on:http://www.wales.gov.uk/

Two separate consultations were undertaken by the Scottish Qualifications Authority which sought the views of a wide range of teachers, headteachers and education managers. The first was issued on 14 December 1999 for completion by 4 February 2000 and the second issued on 13 November 2000 for completion by 15 December 2000.

The Motorola Taskforce is willing to consider any reasonable proposals for retraining from those workers affected by the closure. The Executive is working closely with the taskforce to provide the best possible outcome for all those affected.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority will always endeavour to alert schools to course changes as early as it can. Unfortunately, in the case of Standard Grade Technological Studies, this was not possible until May. While I understand the difficulties this causes, the alternative would have been to delay changes for another session and thereby deny teachers access to new resource materials and pupils the opportunity to study the newly developed contemporary course.

A further £20.1 million in 2001-02 has been made available through the Excellence Fund to assist education authorities reduce primary 1, 2 and 3 classes to 30 or less by 1 August 2001.

The Scottish Executive has had no such specific discussions with local authorities.

Legislation to introduce a new offence of corporate homicide would be a matter for the Scottish Parliament. However any such legislation is likely to have implications for matters which are reserved such as health and safety and Crown immunity.The Home Office published a consultation document last year which proposed the introduction of an offence of corporate homicide, together with the abolition of the common law offence of involuntary manslaughter and its replacement by a hierarchy of three offences of reckless killing, killing by gross carelessness and involuntary homicide. I understand that the Home Office is conducting further analysis of the responses received and working with other government departments to agree the policy for England and Wales.We are satisfied that the three offences proposed for England and Wales are adequately covered by the Scottish common law offence of culpable homicide. A complementary approach to the prosecution of companies for corporate homicide throughout the UK would be desirable. Scottish Ministers will therefore await the outcome of the Home Office analysis before considering any proposals for change in Scotland.

Books are selected for their retail suitability and quality using the criteria set out in the answer to question S1W-15779.

Space restraints within the Parliament Shop ensure that only small selections of any product can be stocked. There are a number of other excellent bookshops in the vicinity and book sales make up less than 5% of total Parliament Shop sales. As a result, the current range is restricted to a limited selection of popular titles.As with all shop products, the Retail Manager makes the final decision on which titles are stocked with regard to overall retail suitability within the core market. The general public and visitors make the majority of book purchases from the shop and the range of titles in stock has been selected to appeal mainly to this market. It covers Scottish history, modern political writing, a children's section and some fiction. Scottish history is the most popular section. The shop offers a book ordering service to internal customers which can provide most popular titles on any subject within 24 hours of ordering.

The Scottish Executive is examining the case for a new statutory offence in this area and will consider a consultation exercise in due course.