Seòmar agus comataidhean

Information on the number of entrants and graduates in home economics in each year since 1997 is shown in the table:

	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Entrants	20	15	26	23	28	27	17
Graduates	18	12	24	21	27	23	14

I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-1600 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.

The educational needs of these children and young people are, and will continue to be, supported through the provision of funds which are distributed to local authorities through grant aided expenditure. It is for individual local authorities to determine how much they allocate to each service, including special educational needs, from their unhypothecated revenue grant. Revenue grant will increase on average by 8.4% in 2003-04, with further above inflation increases in the following two years.Not all the children in categories (a), (b), (d) and (e) above will necessarily have special educational needs. However, in 2003-04 the Executive is providing local authorities with additional funding, for all children with special educational needs, totalling £36 million, for inclusion purposes. This figure is set to rise by a total of 35% in 2004-05, lifting our annual spend in these areas to more than £50 million per year.I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-832 for details of local authority net expenditure on special educational needs. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.When the draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill is introduced to Parliament during the 2003-04 session, it will be accompanied by a financial memorandum which will detail the financial implications of the new system.

Since May 2002 it has been for the independent Judicial Appointments Board to make recommendations to the First Minister for the appointment of judges, sheriffs principal and sheriffs. Under section 95 of the Scotland 1998, it is then for the First Minister to make the final recommendations to the Queen. The sole exceptions to this are the appointments of the Lord President of the Court of Session and the Lord Justice Clerk, the two most senior judicial posts in Scotland. In their case it is the Prime Minister who makes recommendations to the Queen but he may not recommend anyone who has not been nominated by the First Minister for such appointment. There are no plans to change the present system which we consider is working well.

The draft Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Bill was published on 17 January 2003. A commitment has been given to introduce the draft bill to Parliament during the 2003-04 session. The draft bill moves away from the traditional concept of "special educational needs" to the wider concept of "additional support needs" which is defined as all children or young people who, for whatever reason, would be unable to benefit from school education without the provision of additional support. The degree to which an individual is faced with barriers to learning will determine whether additional support is required

The information requested on those for whom English is an additional language or who are gifted or more able is not collected centrally. For categories (b) and (c) above, the information is not collected at all on pre-school children and is unavailable on school children until the results of the September 2002 School Census are published in August 2003.Once the September 2002 School Census results become available, information will be available on the number of pupils with Records of Needs and/or Individualised Educational Programmes whose main difficulty in learning was Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties (SEBD). It will also provide information on ; how many pupils were recorded as being asylum seekers or refugees.Some provisional results on the ethnic background of primary and secondary pupils, as reported in the September 2002 School Census, were published by the Scottish Executive on 24 March 2003. We can report that there were 301 pupils recorded as being from an "Occupational/Gypsy/Other Traveller" ethnic background in publicly funded primary schools (excluding the self-governing school), and 61 pupils with the same background in publicly funded secondary schools. The September 2001 School Census provided results on those whose main difficulty in learning arose from SEBD for all pupils based in special schools, but only for pupils based in primary and secondary schools who had Records of Needs. This information can be found in the September 2001 Statistical Bulletin at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00168-00.asp, a copy of which is available from the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 22064).

I have invited Sandra Hood OBE, retired Assistant Chief Constable of Strathclyde Police, to chair the expert group on prostitution. An announcement of the full membership and remit of the group will be made in due course.

The Scottish Executive funds the Communication Aids for Language and Learning (CALL) Centre and the Scottish Sensory Centre to act as national sources of information, advice and training for parents, teachers and other professionals working with children with language and learning difficulties, or sensory impairment. It does not provide guidance on specific approaches to educating such children.

The record lows in unemployment in Scotland are presenting challenges not seen since the last time we had near full employment over 40 years ago. We are in regular dialogue with others in both public and private sectors to ensure our actions help meet those challenges.

The leader of City of Edinburgh Council is scheduled to meet with the First Minister on 30 January 2003. The cities review is one of a number of issues due to be discussed at that meeting.