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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: S2W-21027

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 6 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to improve the delivery of its central heating replacement programme in order to ensure that those who qualify under the programme do not have to wait for periods of up to five months without heating before a new system is installed.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

From the time of application until the installation of the central heating system, the average waiting time is five months. However, many applicants to the programme receive their heating system more quickly. Many householders also require gas connections, electrical upgrades, planning permission or building warrants. Unfortunately, these additional requirements can result in householders waiting five months or more.

The programme is continually monitored and kept under review to ensure that qualifying householders receive their central heating system a quickly as possible after application.

Question reference: S2W-20825

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 1 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to continue providing financial support to Scotland Against Drugs in 2006-07.

We will continue to provide funding to support the functions and activities of Scotland Against Drugs (SAD) in 2006-07. However, these functions, and associated funding will transfer to Health Scotland from 1 April 2006. The employability programme, which is the major part of SAD’s current work, will transfer to the Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives, which is part of Health Scotland. This will enable us to build upon work developed by Scotland Against Drugs to help those with serious drug misuse problems make their way back into work. A press release will be issued later today.

Question reference: S2W-20826

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 1 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive why no agreement has been reached with Scotland Against Drugs on the financial support it requires in 2006-07 and when it expects an agreement to be reached.

Question reference: S2W-20827

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 1 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it continues to support the work of Scotland Against Drugs.

The Executive supports the activities that have been undertaken by Scotland Against Drugs. The transfer of functions to the Health Scotland and particularly the Scottish Centre for Health Working Lives will allow this work not only to continue but to develop and expand. This is especially important in relation to employability which is key to helping those with serious drug misuse problems make their way back into work.

Question reference: S2W-20791

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 November 2005

The normal retirement age of teachers is 60. Teachers employed by local authorities must retire at 65, so there is potential to retire at anytime between 60 and 65 with unreduced benefits. Teachers can apply to retire at any time between 55 to 59 with an actuarially reduced pension, though in practice at present very few teachers are doing so. The employer must agree to the teacher’s retirement but consent cannot be held for more than six months.

The following table shows the numbers in each year at 60 and above who are eligible to retire rather than the number that will retire in the years specified. Teachers therefore can appear in more than one column.

Full-Time Equivalent Secondary Teacher Numbers, Where Main Subject is PE

Teachers Aged	59 to 63	58 to 62	57 to 61	56 to 60
Eligible for Retirement	2005	2006	2007	2008
Aberdeen City	-	-	*	*
Aberdeenshire	*	*	*	*
Angus	-	*	*	*
Argyll and Bute	*	*	-	*
Clackmannanshire	-	-	*	*
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	*	*
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	*	*
East Lothian	-	-	*	*
East Renfrewshire	*	*	*	*
Edinburgh, City of	-	-	*	6
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	*	*	*	*
Fife	-	-	*	*
Glasgow City	*	*	*	*
Highland	-	*	*	*
Inverclyde	-	*	*	*
Midlothian	-	-	-	*
Moray	*	*	*	*
North Ayrshire	-	-	*	*
North Lanarkshire	*	*	*	6
Orkney Islands	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	*	*	*	*
Renfrewshire	-	*	*	7
Scottish Borders	-	-	*	*
Shetland Islands	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	*
South Lanarkshire	-	-	*	*
Stirling	-	-	*	*
West Dunbartonshire	-	*	*	*
West Lothian	*	*	*	*
All Local Authorities	10	20	47	72

Note: *Numbers less than five are deemed to be disclosive, hence not published.

Question reference: S2W-20790

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 29 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many PE teachers have been employed in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-20525

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has held any discussions with the UK Government, during its Presidency of the European Union, to enable Gaelic to be used in correspondence with certain EU institutions and, if so, when such discussions took place and what the outcome was.

The Scottish Executive is committed to the promotion of Gaelic and securing its status in a wide range of contexts in Scotland. The decision to allow Gaelic to be recognised and used in correspondence with EU institutions is a matter for the UK government and we understand that the UK government has no current plans to change the existing language provisions for UK languages. There have not been formal discussions during the UK presidency of the EU between the Scottish Executive and the UK government on this matter.

Question reference: S2W-20526

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to promote Gaelic in the European Union (EU) with a view to enabling it to achieve a status similar to that of Catalan, Galician and Basque following the agreement between Spain and the EU.

Question reference: S2W-18808

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 25 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made by sportscotland in achieving its targets set out in Sport 21 that by 2020 (a) 80% of primary school children will be physically active, (b) 85% of those aged 13 to 17 years will take part in sport, in addition to the school curriculum, more than once a week, (c) progress will be made toward children taking part in at least two hours of high-quality physical education classes a week, (d) 49% of those aged 14 and over living in Social Inclusion Partnership areas will be taking part in sport at least once a week, (e) over 1 million Scots will play sport as members of clubs and (f) Scotland will sustain 150,000 volunteers who are contributing to the development and delivery of Scottish sport and how sportscotland is monitoring progress made on these targets.

The targets referred to are set to be achieved by 2007. Information from sportscotland on progress towards meeting the targets is set out in the following table below. Further information can on Sport 21 can be found on sportscotland’s website:

http://www.sportscotland.org.uk/ChannelNavigation/Our+activities/TopicNavigation/Sport+21/

Target	Progress	Monitoring process
80% of primary school children will be physically active	Information not available until later in 2005 to be measured against baseline of 78% for boys and 66% for girls	Monitored through the Scottish Health Survey
85% of those aged 13 to 17 years will take part in sport, in addition to the school curriculum, more than once a week	72% for 2003-04 against a baseline of 79%	Monitored through the Scottish Opinion Survey
progress will be made toward children taking part in at least two hours of high-quality physical education classes a week	Baseline data on level of provision of physical education not available until end of 2005.	HMIE to monitor progress as part of future inspection process
49% of those aged 14 and over living in Social Inclusion Partnership areas will be taking part in sport at least once a week	40% for 2003-04 against a baseline of 46%	Monitored through the Scottish Opinion Survey
over 1 million Scots will play sport as members of clubs	957,000 in 2003-04 against a baseline of 926,000	Monitored through the Scottish Opinion Survey
Scotland will sustain 150,000 volunteers who are contributing to the development and delivery of Scottish sport	134,600 regular volunteers against a baseline of 150-160,000	Monitored through the Scottish Opinion Survey

Question reference: S2W-18687

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 28 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial assistance the Scottish Institute of Sport received from the sportscotland Lottery Sports Fund in 2001-02 and 2002-03.