Chamber and committees

The Executive issued a comprehensivedocument entitled Guidance on the Circumstances in Which Parents may Choose toEducate their Children at Home (Bib. number 31676) in March 2004. That guidancewas issued under Section 14 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000.Education authorities are required, under the terms of section 14, to have regardto it.

There are no plans at this stageto relocate staff from the FRS facility at Faskally. Fisheries Research Servicesare however conducting an option appraisal exercise to ascertain whether or notfurther investment in the Faskally site represents good value for money, comparedto a range of other options. Any decision will be consistent with the Scottish Executive’srelocation policy.

This is a matter for Angus Council.The information requested is not held centrally.

This is a matter for Perth and KinrossCouncil. The information requested is not held centrally.

Decisions regarding theStone of Destiny rest solely with Her Majesty The Queen as advised by Her Commissionersfor the Safekeeping of the Regalia, whose duties are set out under the Royal warrantissued on 12 November 1996 immediately prior to the Stone’s departure from WestminsterAbbey and return to Scotland. Historic Scotland officials have advised the Commissionerson technical matters relating to the care of the stone (and the Honours of Scotland)but they have no locus in any decision-making regarding the location of the stone.This is solely a matter for the commissioners.

At the request of the First Minister,I wrote to the Lord Advocate, the Lord Justice Clerk and the Lord Clerk Registerprior to the debate to inform them that it was taking place. All responded priorto the debate and were unanimous in their view that the stone should remain at EdinburghCastle. I have received no further correspondence from the Commissioners of theRegalia on this matter following the parliamentary debate on 13 December 2006.

Historic Scotland issued hardcopies of an abstract of the Official Report of the parliamentary debateon the Stone of Destiny on 13 December 2006 to the Commissioners of the Regaliaon Friday 9 February 2007 in order to ensure that the commissioners were fully informedof the debate if they had not previously read the Official Report publishedon the Scottish Parliament website.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate ofEducation (HMIE) are monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Act. Aninterim report of a specific inspection programme was published on 31 October 2006 anddid not identify any specific breach of duty by local authorities. This report isavailable at:http://www.hmie.gov.uk/documents/publication/Interim%20Report%20ASL%20Act%202005.pdf.

The final report of their findingswill be published in autumn 2007.

In addition, HMIE are providinginformation on the implementation of the act through their routine inspection programmeof schools and education authorities.

The number of pupils in publiclyfunded schools in Fife, for whom Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is recorded asthe main difficulty in learning in a Record of Needs and/or an Individualised EducationalProgramme is published in tables 6.8, 7.5 and 8.5 of Pupils in Scotland 2005http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/28083932/0.

There were seven pupils in independentspecial schools located in Fife for whom ASD was recorded as the main difficulty in learning.The number of pupils with ASD being home educated is not held centrally.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-31711 on 19 February 2007. Allanswers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s websitethe search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.