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Questions and answers

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.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-31089

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Richard Simpson on 13 November 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has received about whether any Green Goddess fire engines have broken down during testing and preparations for the impending firefighters' strike and, if so, where and when any such breakdowns occurred.

All Green Goddesses have been subjected to extended testing. Of the 116 deployed to Scotland, all but three have completed these tests satisfactorily. Repairs have now been carried out on the vehicles which failed the tests. In addition, one Green Goddess broke down in Stirling on Saturday 26 October and another near Redford Barracks in Edinburgh on 12 November during their road test. In both cases the breakdowns were caused by dirt in the fuel system.

Question reference: S1W-30800

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 12 November 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive why there is no Scottish School Leavers Survey available that takes account of Higher grade passes after 1995 and whether such surveys (a) have been carried out and, if so, whether it will publish the results and (b) are planned and, if so, for what years.

The design of the Scottish School Leavers Survey (SSLS) was changed in 1996 in order to provide better data on the transition of young people from the end of compulsory education to the labour market. A contract was placed in that year to establish cohorts of young people which were then surveyed at different stages as they made this transition. As part of this programme, surveys of 19-year-olds, the group who would have been involved in sitting Higher grade examinations, were carried out in 1999 and again in 2001. The results of these surveys will be published over the next few months. When these surveys are published, the survey data will be placed in the ESRC Data Archive for access by researchers wishing to conduct further analysis.Further modifications to the design of SSLS are being made at present to ensure that it continues to meet changing information needs. Tenders for further surveys will be invited shortly. It is anticipated new cohorts of young people will be established from those who completed compulsory education in 2002 and 2005.

Question reference: S1W-30979

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 November 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children left school with no qualifications in each year from 1992-93 to 1996-97, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is given in the following publications published by the Scottish Executive Education Department, copies of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre:

Title	Date of Publication	Table	Page	Bib. Number
Scottish School Leavers and their Qualifications 1982-83 to 1992-93	October 1994	11	12	24858
Scottish School Leavers and their Qualifications 1983-84 to 1993-94	May 1995	11	13	24859
Scottish School Leavers and their Qualifications 1984-85 to 1994-95	July 1996	11	13	24860
Scottish School Leavers and their Qualifications 1985-86 to 1995-96	July 1997	16	18	24861
Scottish School Leavers and their Qualifications 1986-87 to 1996-97	April 1998	16	18	24862

Question reference: S1W-30437

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 4 November 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many special constables there were in (a) Central Scotland Police and (b) Fife Constabulary in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S1W-30352

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 31 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the "marriage of the thistle and the rose" in 2003.

Historic Scotland hosted an exhibition entitled The Thistle and the Rose at Stirling Castle from March to May this year, in conjunction with the National Archives of Scotland and supported by Scottish Widows. The exhibition marked the 500th anniversary of the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1502, which was underpinned by the marriage the following year of Scotland's James IV to Margaret Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII. The exhibition illustrated the significance of that marriage to the history of the relationship between Scotland and England and the Executive has no separate plans to mark its 500th anniversary next year.

Question reference: S1W-30643

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 29 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether NHS boards are allowed to retain all monies received from the sale of land and property or whether some or all of such monies are retained by the NHS or any other body at a national level and, if any monies are retained at a national level, whether they may be vired back to the board that sold the land or property to spend on building new NHS facilities such as hospitals.

Question reference: S1W-30474

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 October 2002
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children left school with no qualifications in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

The numbers of school leavers from publicly funded schools with no qualifications at or above SCQF level 3 are shown in the following table.

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01^P
Aberdeen City	137	116	122	126
Aberdeenshire	88	95	67	74
Angus	59	65	59	62
Argyll and Bute	51	28	30	21
Clackmannanshire	50	29	39	43
Dumfries and Galloway	77	58	56	63
Dundee City	190	180	145	197
East Ayrshire	93	89	77	88
East Dunbartonshire	58	37	28	26
East Lothian	49	23	28	27
East Renfrewshire	33	20	16	23
Edinburgh, City of	239	247	274	263
Eilean Siar	42	37	53	25
Falkirk	106	65	77	76
Fife	165	208	174	195
Glasgow City	830	707	671	716
Highland	106	76	79	94
Inverclyde	54	56	40	49
Midlothian	56	42	22	39
Moray	36	30	32	35
North Ayrshire	111	89	76	71
North Lanarkshire	270	237	245	239
Orkney Islands	4	8	4	1
Perth and Kinross	51	64	49	68
Renfrewshire	129	97	94	127
Scottish Borders	46	42	44	44
Shetland Islands	18	1	3	4
South Ayrshire	69	39	59	58
South Lanarkshire	209	190	210	235
Stirling	80	62	51	36
West Dunbartonshire	70	91	64	94
West Lothian	82	61	81	100
Scotland	3,658	3,189	3,069	3,319

^PFigures for 2000-01 are provisional and may be slightly revised downwards as updated information is provided by schools.

Question reference: S1W-29229

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 18 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27511 by Lewis Macdonald on 13 August 2002, what financial or other support it has given to the Society of Chief Officers of Transport in Scotland's condition survey of the local road network and when it expects the report of the survey to be made publicly available.

The condition survey of the local road network is being taken forward by the Society of Chief Officers of Transport in Scotland (SCOTS), on behalf of local authorities.An official from the Executive's Network Management Division sits as a member of the survey steering group. In addition, the work being carried out in 2002 is being conducted under the terms of the Executive's existing trunk road survey contract. The Executive has not provided specific financial support for the survey, and I understand that a long-term contract from April 2003 will be let by SCOTS.The results of the survey, which will operate on a four-year rolling basis, will be reported annually to the Accounts Commission, under the Best Value regime. Detailed results will also be available to each individual council. The timing of the publication of these reports is a matter for SCOTS and the local authorities.

Question reference: S1W-29671

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 14 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was raised through receipts from charges for school music tuition in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S1W-29672

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 20 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 14 October 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities charge for music tuition and how much each such local authority charges.

Force	September 2000	September 2001	September 2002
Central Scotland Police	53	49	69
Fife Constabulary	104	99	95