Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-17154

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimated total running cost is for the current financial year and in each of the next three financial years, broken down by department.

The operating budget for the current financial year is £233 million, from which the departmental allocations set out in the following table are made. The remaining running costs relate to capital charges and other costs which are monitored centrally.

The spending plans for the administration budget for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are set out in the Scottish Executive’s Draft Budget 2005-06 and departmental allocations will be considered in light of commitments and priorities in those years.

The administration budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10 will be considered following the outcome of the 2006 Spending Review exercise.

Department	2005-06 (£000)
Development	12,957
Education	12,372
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning	21,042
Environment and Rural Affairs	37,551
Finance and Central Services	19,766
Health	15,652
Justice	10,985
Corporate Services (including OPS and LPS)¹	79,479
	209,804

Note: 1. OPS is the Office of the Permanent Secretary; LPS is Legal and Parliamentary Services.

Question reference: S2W-17613

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 1 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many careers guidance advisers there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area, expressed also as a percentage of the total pupil population in each local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-17148

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average increase in public sector pay has been in cash terms in each year since 2000.

Gross weekly earnings of employee jobs in the Public Sector in Scotland are available from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The following table shows average annual increases from 2000 to 2004 (the latest estimate available).

	Increase in Median¹ Gross Weekly Earnings² (£)	Increase in Mean Gross Weekly Earnings² (£)
2000-01	17.9	20.8
2001-02	9.3	8.2
2002-03	9.2	15.5
2003-04	19.4	19.6

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office of National Statistics.

Notes:

1. The median is the value below which 50 per cent of employee jobs fall. It is preferred over an arithmetic average (mean) for earnings data as it is influenced less by large or extreme values.

2. Full-time and part-time employees on adult rate whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

Question reference: S2W-17292

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to police forces to break down their annual statistics on general violent crime into more detailed categories, for example number of incidents or crimes involving a knife.

The scale of knife attacks in Glasgow is monitored by the Violence Reduction Unit in Strathclyde Police, which is adopting a multi-agency approach to tackling knife crime in the Glasgow area. Additionally, the homicide statistics collected centrally distinguish homicides committed with a sharp instrument and the statistics collected centrally on crimes of handling an offensive weapon show the scale of knife carrying identified by the police.

Question reference: S2W-17277

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 22 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children of asylum seekers there were in schools in Scotland in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004, broken down by local authority area and (i) primary and (ii) secondary school.

The table sets out figures for the number of known children of asylum seekers attending local authority schools in Scotland. Figures were not collected centrally in 2001. Those local authorities with no known children of asylum seekers in school are not listed.

	2004		2003		2002
	Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary
Aberdeen City	*	-	-	*	*	-
Angus	-	-	-	-	9	-
Argyll and Bute	-	-	*	-	*	-
Dundee City	*	*	-	*	*	*
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-	*
East Dunbartonshire	-	*	-	*	-	*
East Renfrewshire	*	*	-	-	*	*
Edinburgh, City of	27	5	*	*	*	*
Falkirk	-	*	-	*	-	*
Fife	5	-	*	-	*	-
Glasgow City	896	451	863	438	884	*
Highland	-	*	-	-	-	-
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-	*
Midlothian	-	*	-	*	-	-
North Lanarkshire	*	*	*	*	*	*
Renfrewshire	-	-	*	*	*	*
Scottish Borders	*	-	*	-	*	-
Shetland Islands	-	*	*	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	*	*	*
South Lanarkshire	*	*	*	-	*	*
West Dunbartonshire	*	*	*	*	*	*
West Lothian	-	-	-	*	5	-
Total	939	477	910	*	936	409

Notes:

Figures for the total numberof children of asylum seekers attending local authority schools can be found inthe Scottish Executive publication Pupils in Scotland 2004. Thispublication can be accessed from the following link http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/11114958/50011.

An asterisk denotes numbersthat are less than five. It is policy to suppress numbers less than five inorder to ensure that individuals cannot be identified.

An asterisk can also denotea figure which has not been provided in order to ensure that it cannot be usedto work out another figure and possibly lead to the identification ofindividuals (for instance the very small numbers of children of asylum seekersattending special schools).

Question reference: S2W-17279

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 22 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many equality impact assessment staff were allocated to each (a) primary and (b) secondary school in (i) 2001, (ii) 2002, (iii) 2003 and (iv) 2004, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-17291

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics it holds on the scale of knife carrying among 16 to 25-year-olds in Glasgow.

The statistics available centrallyon crimes of handling an offensive weapon recorded by the police do not distinguishthe circumstances of the crime, such as the age of the offender.

The available information onthe number of 16-25 year olds convicted in Glasgow Sheriff Court and GlasgowCity District Court for handling offensive weapons in the last five years for whichdata are available is given in the following table.

Persons Aged 16 to 25 with aCharge Proved in Glasgow Sheriff Court and Glasgow City District Court for Handlingan Offensive Weapon¹, 1999-2003

Year	Having in a Public Place an Article with a Blade or Point	Possession of an Offensive Weapon³
1999	255	301
2000	267	326
2001	311	416
2002	275	345
2003²	285	414

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Includes estimated data.

3. Knives cannot be identifiedseparately from other types of offensive weapons in the data held for this crimecategory.

Question reference: S2W-17290

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 13 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 22 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the scale of knife attacks in Glasgow.

Question reference: S2W-17278

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 22 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children of refugees there were in schools in Scotland in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004, broken down by local authority area and (i) primary and (ii) secondary school.

The table sets out figures for the number of known children of refugees attending local authority schools in Scotland. Figures were not collected centrally in 2001. Those local authorities with no known children of refugees in school are not listed

	2004		2003		2002
	Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary
Aberdeen City	*	*	*	-	*	-
Aberdeen shire	-	*	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	*	-	*	-	*
East Dunbartonshire	*	*	-	*	*	*
East Lothian	*	*	*	*	*	-
East Renfrewshire	*	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	22	11	*	*	5	5
Fife	*	-	-	-	-	-
Glasgow City	227	*	138	134	149	*
Midlothian	-	*	-	*	*	-
North Ayrshire	-	-	*	-	*	*
North Lanarkshire	-	*	*	*	-	-
Perth and Kinross	*	-	-	-	-	*
Renfrewshire	*	*	-	*	*	-
Shetland Islands	-	-	*	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	*	*	-	*	-
South Lanarkshire	*	-	*	*	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	-	*	*	-	-	*
West Lothian	-	*	-	*	-	-
Total	261	*	162	*	167	*

Notes:

Figures for the total numberof children of refugees attending local authority schools can be found in the Scottish Executive publication Pupils in Scotland 2004. This publicationcan be accessed from the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/11114958/50011.

An asterisk denotes numbersthat are less than five. It is policy to suppress numbers less than five inorder to ensure that individuals cannot be identified.

An asterisk can also denotea figure which has not been provided in order to ensure that it cannot be usedto work out another figure and possibly lead to the identification ofindividuals (for instance the very small numbers of children of refugeesattending special schools).

Question reference: S2W-17153

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students attended further education colleges, broken down into full and part-time students, how much capital and revenue support was provided to further education colleges, including the amount of money ring-fenced for specific purposes and how many further education colleges showed a financial deficit and how much each such deficit was in each of the last six years and what the planned levels of financial support for further education colleges in Scotland are for the next three years.

A table showing enrolment datafor students attending colleges for the years 2003-04 has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 36788). Collection of statisticsrelating to further education colleges is the responsibility of the Scottish FurtherEducation Funding Council (SFEFC). It collects data on enrolments at further educationcolleges but not numbers of students.

Thefunding councils’ joint corporate plan gives details of the overall support providedto FE colleges since 2004-05 and planned level of support until 2007-08 see AnnexA of this document:

http://www.sfc.ac.uk/joint_info/publications/sfc_joint_corporate_plan_2003-06.pdf.

Thisis detailed by recurrent funding and capital funding (which is the ear-marked elementof funding).

TheSFEFC annual report gives details of the support to individual colleges for 2003-04(see Annex 1 of this document):

http://www.sfefc.ac.uk/publications/annual_report/SFEFC_Annual_Report_and_Accounts_2003-04.pdf.

Thefollowing table summarises the number of colleges showing a financial deficit andhow much each such deficit was in each of the last six years.

	Sector Operating Surplus/(Deficit) (£ million)	No. of Colleges with Operating Deficit
1998-99	(23)	36
1999-2000 (16 Month Period)	(16)	31
2000-01	(13.8)	34
2001-02	1.7	18
2002-03	(6.0)	21
2003-04	2.4	12

Theinformation for the last four years (2000-01 to 2003-04) is available in more detailand by college on the SFEFC website:

http://www.sfefc.ac.uk/about_us/departments/gmap/performance_indicators.html.

The 1998-99 and 1999-2000 figureswere taken from the 1999-2000 Audit Scotland overview report on the financial health of the sector.

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