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This information is not heldcentrally. I have, however, asked the Chair of sportscotland to write tothe member with the information that they have available.

The £1,080,300 is a new allocation from existing budgets specifically for athlete support ahead of Melbourne 2006. It is a combination of £775,300 from the Lottery Sports Fund and £305,000 from sportscotland’s Exchequer funding from the Executive.

In addition to that funding, sportscotland announced a 10% increase in its annual grant to the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland and that 11 sports have been awarded £185,922 from the Lottery Sports Fund to enhance their Games medal potential.

The information requested is published in sportscotland’s annual reports and Lottery Fund annual reports, copies of which have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. numbers 11114, 16964, 24679, 29689 and 34386 for the annual reports and Bib. numbers 9761, 17131, 24952, 29688 and 37441 for the lottery fund annual reports). The reports for 2004-05 are being prepared and copies will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre in due course. Copies of the documents can also be found on sportscotland’s website at: www.sportscotland.org.uk.

The Scottish Executive is committedto working with its partners in ensuring that we have the sporting infrastructurein place to make Scotland a truly sporting nation. However, it is for the ownersor operators of the sports facilities to ensure they are maintained to an adequatestandard.

This information is not held centrally.

Such arrangements are agreed between the football clubs and the relevant police authorities.

Since the publication of the National Physical Activity Strategy in 2003, the Executive and its Agencies have commissioned a wide range of research and evaluation studies into physical activity in schools. These include the Physical Activity in Scottish Schoolchildren (PASS) study, the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) in Scotland study, sportscotland’s evaluation of Active Schools and research into the effectiveness of the School Travel Co-ordinator initiative.

In addition, the Physical Activity Strategy’s recommendation of two hours PE per week is being implemented through the PE Review and Scottish Executive Education Department Analytical Services Unit has gathered baseline statistical data from all local authority schools in Scotland on current timetabled PE. The information is being analysed and the data is expected to be available in October 2005.

Research has also been commissioned through Learning Teaching Scotland to take forward policy on physical activity within early years and pre-school and provide guidance on physical activity for children in early years settings, including nurseries, playgroups and childminders.

The Scottish Health Survey is used to monitor overall levels of physical activity in Scotland. The last published data was collected in 1998 and this showed that half of all children (aged 2-<16) in Scotland do less than the minimum needed for health.  The survey was repeated in 2002-03 and the results will tell us whether levels of physical activity have changed since 1998. This new data will be published in November 2005.

The approach we are taking and the excellent progress being made to address the problem of physical inactivity in Scotland has been commended by both UK and international experts in physical activity and health, including the World Health Organisation. Experts from the UK, Australia and Brazil, who participated in a recent physical activity workshop in Scotland, have commented that both nationally and internationally the work on physical inactivity being undertaken by the Scottish Executive is highly regarded and frequently used as an example of ‘best practice’ in this new field of practice.

Baseline statistical data for all stages has been gathered from all education authority schools in Scotland on the current level of timetabled PE. The information is being analysed and is expected to be available in October 2005.

The baseline data will be used by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education to monitor implementation of two hours PE as part of their inspection process. A further data gathering exercise planned for 2008 will provide information to assess progress towards delivery of two hours PE to all schoolchildren each week.

In the meantime, a number of actions are being taken forward by the Scottish Executive to provide the support to help schools and local authorities act on the recommendations of the Physical Education Review Group. Teacher training establishments have increased the number of places available for trainee physical education teachers. Extra funding is being provided to support the recruitment of additional teachers from 2006-07 when the first of the additional PE teachers will start to be available. Initial work on the review of PE in the curriculum has begun and is likely to be followed early in 2006 by debate, testing, refinement and consideration of the proposals which emerge. Learning and Teaching Scotland held four regional seminars in March 2005 to raise awareness of the Physical Education Review Group report. I have approved funding to support a small number of pilot projects to inform strategies for delivering two hours of quality PE to every child each week. The projects will be showcased on the Learning and Teaching Scotland website.

Four regional seminars were held in March 2005 to raise awareness of the Report of the Review Group on Physical Education. The seminars were held in the Moat House Hotel, Glasgow; the Carlton Hotel, Edinburgh; the Hilton Treetops Hotel, Aberdeen, and the Hilton Hydro, Dunblane. All were well attended by local authorities, schools and others such as the higher education sector and Sportscotland. Notes, powerpoint presentations and evaluations from the seminars can be found at www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/features/pereview.asp.

Table 3.9 of the Statistical Bulletin Teachers in Scotland, 2004 contains information on the number of teachers by main subject taught for 2003 and 2004. The table can be accessed by the following link http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/04/25165316/53393.

Information for 2002 is not available.

The University of Strathclyde has increased the target intake for the postgraduate diploma in education in physical education from 15 in 2003 to 35 for session 2005-06. In addition, both Paisley and Edinburgh universities will offer a postgraduate teacher training course in physical education from 2005 with 12 and 20 places respectively.

In order to produce the 400 additional PE teachers required by the 2008-09 academic session we also intend to open discussion with providers of initial teacher education and continuing professional development to provide additional opportunities for existing teachers to develop PE specialisms.