- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 May 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 25 May 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific support is available to young adults who have recently left special education.
Answer
The Additional Support for Learning Act (2004) makes provision for improving the transition from school for young people leaving special education, and mainstream education, with a view to ensuring that there is a continuum of support available to them.
There is a statutory duty on appropriate agencies - Skills Development Scotland, NHS boards, colleges, local authority education departments and other local authority services - to assist with preparation, planning and support for transition from school for those young people with additional support needs. This should take place 12 months prior to the student leaving school.
Within the Scottish Government''s More Choices More Chances Team, a new post is focusing on supporting local authorities and their partners to implement the Additional Support for Learning Act.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the future of the east coast franchise in Scotland.
Answer
Officials have regular dialogue with Department for Transport (DfT) on matters relating to cross border franchises.
In relation to the proposals for the introduction of a new East Coast timetable in May 2011, I wrote to Lord Adonis on 25 November 2009 setting out the Scottish Government''s position that an overall diminution of cross border services would be unacceptable.
I also wrote to Lord Adonis on 18 March in response to DfT''s consultation exercise on the re-letting of the Intercity East Coast Franchise late in 2011. My response sets out this Government''s position to the proposed specification for re-letting the Intercity East Coast Franchise. The strategic aims underpinning this advice set our requirement that any future franchise would:
Maintain the important links within Scotland at a level no less than currently provided by East Coast Main Line Company;
Enhance connectivity between the main centres of business on each side of the Border served by this route for the mutual benefit of the Scottish and UK economies, and
Effect a modal shift towards rail from less sustainable modes of transport by making rail more competitive with these other modes, in particular by increasing the frequency of service and reducing end-to-end travel times.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 April 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 29 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to change the terms of the passenger railway franchise in Scotland.
Answer
The current franchise agreement contains a variation mechanism which will allow changes/additions to the franchise terms during the contract''s duration. Included within the variation mechanism is the requirement to determine the effects of the change which is assessed based on the impact on revenue, costs and performance.
A copy of the ScotRail Franchise Agreement is in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 37777) and the Public Register version of the Franchise Agreement is available on Transport Scotland''s website: http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/rail/rail-franchise/public-register/contents.
The Scottish Government is responsible for the specification of the next franchise contract, which is due to commence in 2014.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 14 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-32004 by Alex Neil MSP on 8 March 2010, whether the Scottish Ministers have powers of intervention to establish whether a local authority is in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and to act accordingly.
Answer
The subject matter of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) is reserved to Westminster, as regards the prohibition of discrimination and the regulation of equal opportunities. Enforcement of the DDA is a matter for the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the courts and tribunals. Scottish ministers do not have powers of intervention to establish whether a local authority is in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-12700 by Stewart Stevenson on 16 May 2008, whether it will provide details of the subsidy payments made to rail franchise operators in 2008-09 and profits made by them in 2007-08.
Answer
The net subsidy payment made to First ScotRail under the Franchise Agreement for 2008-09 is £310 million.
First ScotRail provide certain profitability information to Transport Scotland under the confidentiality terms of the Franchise Agreement, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45544). However, due to commercial confidentiality we are not at liberty to disclose these. Profit information is disclosed within the published Annual Report and Accounts for First Scotrail Ltd and the following operating profit figures are disclosed:
2007-08: £17.4 million.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what commitments or projections exist for subsidy payments to rail passenger franchise operators in 2010-11 and future years.
Answer
The forecast commitment for subsidy payments to rail passenger franchise operators in 2010-11 is £315.2 million. No further projections are currently available.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 18 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the findings of the Consumer Focus Wales report, Post Office Closures: Impact of the Network Change Programme, have implications for Scotland’s experience of the Network Change Programme and its impact on social inclusion in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the important social and economic role that post offices play in both urban and rural communities across Scotland. The report helps confirm that similar issues exist in both Wales and Scotland in respect of Network Change. The UK Government is of course responsible for post office matters under the current devolution settlement. As with many other areas, this Government''s view is that enhancing the powers of this Parliament would better serve Scotland''s interests.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the operating costs for the Parliament were in each of the last four years.
Answer
The costs are shown in the following table. The costs exclude non cash items such as depreciation, notional cost of capital and technical accounting adjustments.
| Year | Operating Costs (£000) |
| 2008-09 | 70,602 |
| 2007-08 | 66,011 |
| 2006-07 | 63,702 |
| 2005-06 | 61,434 |
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 16 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is legislation setting out how property managers offering factoring services must operate.
Answer
The Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) is statutorily responsible for the regulation of the activities of registered social landlords (RSLs) and the inspection of local authority housing management functions. Many RSLs and local authorities offer factoring services.
The SHR has published performance standards and self-assessment guidance on factoring and it expects social landlords to follow these principles in their activities. Where appropriate, the SHR tests performance against these standards during its inspections.
There is no other specific legislation setting out how property managers and land maintenance companies should operate in providing factoring services, although reserved UK legislation covering consumer protection and other aspects of service delivery may be relevant in some cases.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 February 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 11 March 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it monitors the life outcomes of those children who go through the children’s hearings system and, if so, how many have (a) remained in school education beyond the age of 16, (b) advanced to tertiary education, (c) gone into employment following the conclusion of their education, (e) had known substance dependency problems, (f) registered as homeless or (d) entered (i) a young offenders institution or (ii) an adult prison in the last 15 years, also expressed as a percentage.
Answer
This information is not held centrally, however Scottish Government does collect statistics on children who become Looked After, most of whom will have gone through the children''s hearing system. Information about the outcomes of looked after young people eligible for aftercare services is reported annually in the Children Looked After Statistics and is available from the Scottish Government website.
