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Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

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Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

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Question reference: S2W-13462

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it set in respect of raising levels of adult literacy and numeracy for (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002, (d) 2003 and (e) 2004, broken down by local authority area and what the actual performance was.

A target of helping 80,000 new adult literacy and numeracy learners in Scotland for the period 2001-04 was recommended in the Adult Literacy and Numeracy in Scotland report, published in July 2001. The target number was not broken down by local authorities.

The following table gives a breakdown of new learners helped in each local authority area during the period 2001- 2004 as shown in their end year reports.

Local Authority	Actual	Actual	Actual	New Deal/ Job Centre+	Total
	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2001-04	2001-04
Aberdeen City	1,737	2,526	551	0	4,814
Aberdeenshire	984	168	595	11	1,758
Angus	1,173	618	821	0	2,612
Argyll and Bute	484	312	208	23	1,027
Borders	98	117	356	0	571
Clackmannanshire	118	174	268	120	680
Dumfries and Galloway	357	360	623	59	1,399
Dundee	621	795	913	77	2,406
East Ayrshire	85	462	262	7	816
East Dunbartonshire	193	209	247	0	649
East Lothian	136	529	780	0	1,445
East Renfrewshire	87	14	49	0	150
Edinburgh	2,762	2,189	4,815	0	9,766
Falkirk	331	820	470	0	1,621
Fife	1,624	2,344	2,988	0	6,956
Glasgow	3,125	4,486	5,752	30	13,393
Highland	466	395	691	0	1,552
Inverclyde	438	383	422	0	1,243
Midlothian	0	407	491	0	898
Moray	180	383	136	0	699
North Ayrshire	431	647	933	0	2,011
North Lanarkshire	366	1,125	872	5	2,368
Orkney	71	53	58	90	272
Perth and Kinross	572	163	293	0	1,028
Renfrewshire	422	584	839	365	2,210
Shetland	82	148	166	14	410
South Ayrshire	318	947	1,219	0	2,484
South Lanarkshire	387	746	628	0	1,761
Stirling	398	420	256	286	1,360
West Dunbartonshire	240	359	575	0	1,174
West Lothian	328	388	400	0	1,116
Western Isles	79	141	181	1	402
Totals	18,693	23,412	27,858	1,088	71,051

Question reference: S2W-13465

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-20130, S1W-25599 and S20-493 by Ms Wendy Alexander, Iain Gray and Mr Jim Wallace on 4 December 2001, 17 May 2002 and 25 September 2003 respectively and with reference to its news release of 8 September 2004 on the Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, whether the remaining £28.5 million will still be allocated for literacy and numeracy in 2005 and 2006 and, if so, whether this funding will (a) form part of the aggregate external finance allocated to local authorities and (b) be ring-fenced.

Question reference: S2W-13464

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to its news release of 8 September 2004 on the Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, what the breakdown of the £51 million invested over a five-year period is by (a) local authority and (b) year.

Of the £51 million allocated, £41.7 million is being routed through local authorities to Community Learning and Development Partnerships. The attached table shows the allocation of funding to local authorities for 2001-06. The balance of funding was allocated to learning connections within Communities Scotland to support the partnerships.

Allocation of Resources to Local Authorities for Adult Literacy and Numeracy (2001-06)

	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05	2005-06	Total
Aberdeen City	78,305	156,611	301,621	316,122	357,000	1,209,659
Aberdeenshire	80,237	160,474	309,062	323,920	366,000	1,239,693
Angus	44,585	89,171	171,736	179,993	203,000	688,485
Argyll and Bute	39,482	78,964	152,078	159,390	180,000	609,914
Clackmannanshire	28,178	56,355	108,536	113,754	129,000	435,823
Dumfries and Galloway	74,235	148,470	285,943	299,690	339,000	1,147,338
Dundee City	95,732	191,465	368,747	386,475	437,000	1,479,419
East Ayrshire	95,530	191,059	367,966	385,657	436,000	1,476,212
East Dunbartonshire	28,447	56,894	109,574	114,842	130,000	439,757
East Lothian	29,122	58,244	112,173	117,566	133,000	450,105
East Renfrewshire	27,356	54,713	105,372	110,438	125,000	422,879
Edinburgh	255,368	510,735	983,638	1,030,928	1,166,000	3,946,669
Falkirk	61,672	123,344	237,551	248,971	281,000	952,538
Fife	148,822	297,644	573,240	600,799	679,000	2,299,505
Glasgow City	546,117	1,092,234	2,103,561	2,204,694	2,493,000	8,439,606
Highland	85,557	171,115	329,555	345,399	390,000	1,321,626
Inverclyde	65,822	131,645	253,538	265,727	300,000	1,016,732
Midlothian	34,566	69,132	133,142	139,543	158,000	534,383
Moray	35,239	70,479	135,737	142,263	161,000	544,718
North Ayrshire	84,625	169,250	325,963	341,634	386,000	1,307,472
North Lanarkshire	148,187	296,375	570,796	598,238	676,000	2,289,596
Perth and Kinross	46,485	92,969	179,052	187,660	212,000	718,166
Renfrewshire	99,797	199,593	384,402	402,883	455,000	1,541,675
Scottish Borders	41,615	83,230	160,294	168,001	190,000	643,140
South Ayrshire	57,280	114,560	220,635	231,242	261,000	884,717
South Lanarkshire	133,142	266,284	512,844	537,500	608,000	2,057,770
Stirling	40,305	80,610	155,248	162,712	184,000	622,875
West Dunbartonshire	68,838	137,676	265,154	277,902	314,000	1,063,570
West Lothian	51,640	103,280	198,909	208,472	236,000	798,301
Western Isles	27,973	55,947	107,749	112,929	128,000	432,598
Orkney Islands	20,746	41,492	79,910	83,752	95,000	320,900
Shetland Islands	24,994	49,989	96,275	100,904	114,000	386,162
Totals*	2,700,000	5,400,000	10,400,000	10,900,000	12,322,000	41,722,000

Note: *Rounded to nearest £1,000.

Question reference: S2W-13461

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-20130, S1W-25599 and S2O-493 by Ms Wendy Alexander, Iain Gray and Mr Jim Wallace on 4 December 2001, 17 May 2002 and 25 September 2003 respectively, what the reasons were for it not meeting its national adult literacy and numeracy target of enabling 80,000 people to be helped in 2004.

The main reasons for not achieving the 80,000 new adult literacy and numeracy learners during the period 2001 to 2004 are as follows:

Community Learning and Development partnerships found it difficult to engage new learners.

Delay in establishing the “development engine” within Communities Scotland.

A shortage of suitably trained ALN tutors.

Campaign to engage employers not yet in place.

The above issues are all currently being addressed.

Question reference: S2W-13460

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what resources (a) were allocated to improve adult literacy and numeracy in 2004 and (b) have been allocated to improve adult literacy and numeracy in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006.

Question reference: S2W-13463

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to its news release of 8 September 2004 on the Scottish Adult Literacy and Numeracy Strategy and given its target of helping 150,000 people by March 2006, how many people will be helped in each local authority area in (a) 2005 and (b) 2006.

The following table shows forecast figures for 2004-06 provided by the partnerships. There are currently no forecast figures available for the period after March 2006.

Local Authority	Forecast	Forecast	Total
2004-05	2005-06	2004-06
Aberdeen City	1,000	1,000	2,000
Aberdeenshire	1,100	898	1,998
Angus	880	605	1,485
Argyll and Bute	350	546	896
Borders	409	406	815
Clackmannanshire	327	346	673
Dumfries and Galloway	630	902	1,532
Dundee	1,237	1,607	2,844
East Ayrshire	367	258	625
East Dunbartonshire	291	355	646
East Lothian	780	626	1,406
East Renfrewshire	86	103	189
Edinburgh	5,100	4,397	9,497
Falkirk	560	662	1,222
Fife	2,398	2,433	4,831
Glasgow	4,746	5,250	9,996
Highland	760	891	1,651
Inverclyde	760	947	1,707
Midlothian	589	557	1,146
Moray	175	128	303
North Ayrshire	1,032	875	1,907
North Lanarkshire	3,000	3,000	6,000
Orkney	60	60	120
Perth and Kinross	353	367	720
Renfrewshire	950	1,000	1,950
Shetland	170	167	337
South Ayrshire	1,290	1,200	2,490
South Lanarkshire	1,755	1,969	3,724
Stirling	354	463	817
West Dunbartonshire	749	1,045	1,794
West Lothian	551	694	1,245
Western Isles	185	125	310
Totals	32,994	33,882	66,876

Question reference: S2O-04938

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to promote learning and education among the most deprived communities.

Question reference: S2W-13033

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has calculated what share of economic growth would require to be redistributed to raise families currently living in deprived circumstances above the official poverty threshold.

Question reference: S2W-13034

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was allocated to addressing child poverty in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04 and what funding will be allocated for this purpose in each of the next two financial years.

The Scottish Executive, alongwith the UK Government is committed to eradicating child poverty within a generation.The Executive’s Closing the Opportunity Gap approach to tackling poverty works bothdirectly and indirectly across all its departments, and within numerous spendingstreams. Universal services such as health, education and child care benefit allchildren, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. Expendituretargeted on areas of deprivation such as the Community Regeneration Fund also hasan impact on children. A number of funding streams are specifically directed atdisadvantaged children such as Sure Start funding. The range of spending that hasan impact on children in poverty means it is not possible to give a total figurefor previous or future years.

Question reference: S2W-13035

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish figures on progress made in respect of its targets on child poverty for (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04, broken down by quarter and local authority area.

The following table presents the number and proportion of children living in low income households in Scotland from 1996-97 to 2002-03. Figures are produced annually and estimates for 2003-04 are not yet available. Estimates are available at Scotland level only, not by local authority area.

Proportion and Number of Children in Low Income Households, Below 60% of GB Median Income After Housing Costs, Scotland

	Absolute				Relative
	Before Housing Costs		After Housing Costs		Before Housing Costs		After Housing Costs
	%	Numbers	%	Numbers	%	Numbers	%	Numbers
	Thousands
1996-97	30	330	34	380	30	330	34	380
1997-98	27	300	30	330	29	310	31	340
1998-99	26	290	29	320	27	300	31	340
1999-2000	20	220	24	260	24	260	28	310
2000-01	18	190	21	230	25	260	30	320
2001-02	14	140	16	170	25	260	30	320
2002-03	12	130	16	170	23	240	27	280

The key low income results, above,are for 60% of both the relative and absolute GB median thresholds. Estimates onthe full range of income thresholds and explanation of how these estimates are calculatedare published in Households Below Average Income, 1994-95 – 2002-03, copiesof which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32212).

The relative low income measurecompares against the median of the same year. The absolute measure compares againstthe median in the baseline year of 1996-97, uprated to remove the effects of inflation.The figures are estimates based on a sample survey and are therefore subject tosampling variation. As such, small percentage changes are not significant when consideredon a year-on-year basis; identification of trends should be based on several yearsof data.