- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities recorded an improvement of more than 15% in only two of the 77 statutory performance indicators in each year since 2001.
Answer
Statutory PerformanceIndicators (SPI) information is a matter for Audit Scotland. Theinformation requested is not held centrally. Information on SPIs can be foundon the Audit Scotland website at
www.audit-scotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is in place to support pupils with autistic spectrum disorder once they leave the educational system.
Answer
The Education (AdditionalSupport for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 places new duties on educationauthorities and appropriate agencies, including Careers Scotland, furthereducation colleges and higher education institutions, to ensure early planning,preparation and the effective exchange of information to support children andyoung people with additional support needs to make a smooth and successfultransition to post-school life – whether that is to education, training orwork.
As autonomous bodies, Scotland’scolleges and universities are responsible for ensuring their provision isaccessible and inclusive to students with disabilities and other additionalsupport needs. Both sectors have been successful in achieving this, asevidenced by the year on year increase in participation by students withdisabilities.
Colleges and universitiescan draw on various support to help them improve their provision. Guidance toPE Colleges on the subject was published in January 2005 when PartnershipMatter’s set out the roles and responsibilities of the various bodies involvedin providing support to students, and other tools from the Scottish Further andHigher Education Funding Council.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional specialists were recruited among the relevant allied health professions in order to increase the provision of support available to pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional specialists were recruited among the relevant educational professionals in order to increase the provision of support available to pupils identified as having autistic spectrum disorder in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested isnot available centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to commission research into autistic spectrum disorder among primary and secondary school pupils to understand what the underlying reasons are behind the rises in pupils being identified as having autism.
Answer
The Executive and MedicalResearch Council (MRC) have been taking forward a jointly funded researchprogramme based on the agenda outlined in the MRC Review of Autism Research.The MRC has now committed over £3 million to new research. The awards rangefrom clinical investigations in children and adults, to environmental riskfactors, brain imaging and intervention studies.
The Scottish Executive ASDReference Group is represented on the UK Wide Autism Research Co-ordinationGroup (ARCG), which has been established by the Department of Education andSkills to provide a framework to enable greater co-ordination of autismresearch activity in the UK. ARCG has a number of aims including focusing inautism research funding on identified gaps such as biomedical research andresearch on interventions.
In addition, the ScottishInter-collegiate Guidance Network (SIGN) Council are developing a guideline forprofessionals working with children and young people up to age 18 on evidencebased approaches to diagnosis, assessment and early clinical interventions forautism. The SIGN Guideline development will cover surveillance and shouldconsider the evidence base for routine screening.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 17 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were waiting for a first appointment at a sleep centre in each year since 1999, broken down by sleep centre.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 15 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of primary schools in the Scottish Borders were over-occupied in each year since 2000.
Answer
Audit Scotland haspublished, annually, a set of performance indicators for education which includethe percentage of each authority’s primary schools with an occupancy level of 101%or more.
Copies of the Audit Scotlandperformance indicators publications are available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre as follows:
| 1999-2000 | Bib. number 11197 |
| 2000-01 | Bib. number 18781 |
| 2001-02 | Bib. number 26239 |
| 2002-03 | Bib. number 30712 |
| 2003-04 | Bib. number 35203 |
and on the Audit Scotland websiteat www.audit-scotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 15 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what average time was taken in each year since 2000 to complete special educational needs assessments in the Scottish Borders compared with the national average.
Answer
The information requested isnot collected by the Scottish Executive. Audit Scotland, however, publishes detailsof a range of performance indicators in relation to local authority services, includingthe average number of weeks taken to complete statutory special educational needsassessments for Records of Needs.
More information on these indicatorsis available at:
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/pi2002/documents/pamphlets/03pi04ac.pdfhttp://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/performance/documents/2005report/servicespdf/EChS.pdf.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Reid on 15 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what contingency plans it has in place for the Parliament to meet in the event of temporary closure of the Holyrood site.
Answer
I refer the Member to myletter to all MSPs of 11 May 2006. A copy of the letter is available at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/nmCentre/news/news-06/pa06-046.htm.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 May 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to monitor any impact on bus service levels arising as a consequence of local authority obligations to fund the national concessionary fare scheme.
Answer
There are no consequences onlocal authorities to fund the Scotland-wide Free Bus Scheme for Older and DisabledPeople as it is funded by the Scottish Executive through Transport Scotland. Whenthe Scheme was being set up, a fair split of resources was agreed with the Conventionof Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) which ensured that the funding available tolocal authorities to support bus services was protected. Nevertheless, we will ofcourse continue to monitor the provision in respect of bus services over time.
