- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Euan Robson on 9 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has following the conclusions of the two reports on the "Miss X" case regarding the professional and personal practice and culture of the social work department of Scottish Borders Council and issues regarding the accountability of those involved.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-455 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will explain and expand on the meaning of "constructing", as used in the statement "constructing the Larkhall to Milngavie line" in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.
Answer
In August 2001, the Scottish Executive announced approval in principal for the Larkhall/Milngavie rail link scheme and made available £16 million towards its construction costs. Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT) is the lead authority for the project and the Scottish Executive continues to support SPT as they take this project forward.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources will be given to Lothian and Borders Police in respect of efforts to monitor the movements of John Cronin.
Answer
Funding for the police in Scotland is at record levels and Lothian and Borders Police has substantial resources at its disposal. This year Lothian and Borders Joint Police Board set a budget of £159.8 million, an increase of £10.7 million over the budget set by the Joint Police Board for 2002-03. It is for the chief constable to make decisions on how the resources made available to him are used to meet local needs and priorities.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will explain and expand on the meaning of "re-opening", as used in the statements "re-opening the Kincardine - Alloa - Stirling rail link" and "re-opening the Airdrie to Bathgate railway" in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.
Answer
The private bill promoting the re-opening of the Stirling to Alloa to Kincardine railway line was introduced to Parliament in March this year. Subject to its successful passage, the project could be authorised for construction by summer 2004, with a view to running services by winter 2005-06.For the proposed re-opening of the Airdrie to Bathgate line, the Scottish Executive has made available £500,000 to West Lothian Council in order to fund a detailed engineering study into the scheme. We expect to receive the study's findings by spring 2004.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider any proposals to make statutory provision for the funding of approved day centres.
Answer
It is for local authorities to decide on how they provide day care services for individuals, in consultation with the users of those services and their carers. While day care centres may be one form of appropriate provision, service users are entitled to choice and services tailored to their needs. Achieving this can result in a move away from the provision of fixed services in day care centres and it would therefore be a retrograde step to consider statutory provision for funding of a form of day care which may not be every user's choice.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the transport section of A Partnership for a Better Scotland, whether re-instatement of the Borders railway line remains subject to the test of a "business case".
Answer
All transport projects for which funding is sought from the Scottish Executive are subject to appraisal under the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was received from the Strategic Rail Authority for (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 and what percentage this represents of the authority's total budget in each year.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-255 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at .
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive which projects received funding from the Strategic Rail Authority for (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03 and how much each project received.
Answer
The provision of funds for the UK rail network is a reserved matter. The Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) has administered funding on a UK basis since it was established in 2001. The SRA publish their strategic plan annually, a copy of the 2002 and 2003 documents are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 18609, 26628 and 26626). The strategic plan sets out the projects that the SRA is seeking to support in Scotland.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been received by each further education college for social inclusion in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.
Answer
Figures across the time period requested are not available on a consistent basis. This is because the method of funding further education (FE) colleges changed when responsibility for the methodology responsibility transferred to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) from 2000-01.Because of the fundamental role that FE colleges have in encouraging people of all ages and from different backgrounds to participate in post-school learning, a large proportion of the resources available to FE colleges are associated in some way with the promotion of social inclusion. However, the amounts cannot be determined separately.The figures provided in the following table relate to the specific elements that cover the additional costs of social inclusion over and above the standard funding per student place.
| College | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
| Aberdeen College | £115,257 | £279,914 | £313,326 |
| Angus College* | £72,942 | £97,586 | £105,396 |
| Anniesland College | £256,365 | £504,858 | £530,400 |
| Ayr College | £82,338 | £194,423 | £228,091 |
| Banff and Buchan College of Further Education* | £87,403 | £109,942 | £115,083 |
| The Barony College* | £27,636 | £24,557 | £24,486 |
| Borders College* | £101,806 | £92,915 | £95,721 |
| Cardonald College | £256,339 | £507,839 | £549,134 |
| Central College of Commerce | £134,295 | £312,708 | £383,692 |
| Clackmannan College of Further Education | £39,253 | £71,797 | £71,157 |
| Clydebank College | £210,907 | £352,497 | £362,290 |
| Coatbridge College | £120,543 | £249,642 | £277,925 |
| Cumbernauld College | £25,657 | £60,515 | £85,598 |
| Dumfries and Galloway College* | £116,836 | £186,400 | £177,781 |
| Dundee College | £270,339 | £522,863 | £607,668 |
| Edinburgh's Telford College | £198,813 | £395,741 | £436,261 |
| Elmwood College* | £57,231 | £83,227 | £100,560 |
| Falkirk College of Further and Higher Education | £92,192 | £181,450 | £207,886 |
| Fife College of Further and Higher Education | £112,473 | £244,891 | £266,292 |
| Glasgow College of Building and Printing | £139,200 | £313,173 | £356,887 |
| Glasgow College of Food Technology | £91,455 | £273,557 | £258,752 |
| Glasgow College of Nautical Studies | £119,644 | £208,757 | £250,934 |
| Glenrothes College | £32,944 | £80,217 | £94,603 |
| Inverness College*@ | £101,968 | £109,356 | £155,683 |
| James Watt College of Further and Higher Education | £281,725 | £771,276 | £781,620 |
| Jewel and Esk Valley College | £79,881 | £151,101 | £164,458 |
| John Wheatley College | £272,332 | £342,172 | £406,437 |
| Kilmarnock College | £87,962 | £227,707 | £255,300 |
| Langside College | £179,501 | £387,034 | £433,678 |
| Lauder College | £50,681 | £104,890 | £144,578 |
| Lews Castle College ***@ | £22,902 | £36,692 | £50,081 |
| Moray College*@ | £113,740 | £90,427 | £85,099 |
| Motherwell College | £211,157 | £445,416 | £528,230 |
| North Glasgow College | £114,838 | £311,894 | £385,984 |
| Oatridge Agricultural College* | £36,080 | £31,980 | £37,288 |
| Perth College*@ | £121,624 | £117,203 | £130,414 |
| Reid Kerr College | £204,736 | £473,557 | £506,320 |
| South Lanarkshire College | £52,604 | £108,815 | £112,477 |
| Stevenson College | £174,005 | £350,942 | £309,010 |
| Stow College | £153,122 | £248,674 | £301,584 |
| The North Highland College**@ | £92,156 | £98,087 | £131,785 |
| West Lothian College | £33,116 | £73,292 | £95,256 |
| Orkney College***@ | £46,461 | £48,282 | £61,181 |
| Shetland College of Further Education***@ | £16,434 | £13,311 | £9,743 |
Source: Scottish Further Education Funding CouncilNotes:1. These figures consist of the entry costs social inclusion premium; retention and achievement social inclusion premium, and remote student element part of the core formula funding provided to colleges by SFEFC. (NOTE - in 2000-01 the retention and achievement premium did not exist.)2. In addition to the figures shown above, colleges in receipt of the remote student element also received a remote institutional based element at a base rate of £176,000 for 2000-01, £178,640 for 2001-02 and £183,999 for 2002-03 (rising to £191,359 in 2003-04). Mainland colleges that are classed as extremely remote received a 15% increase on this base rate and island colleges received a 30% increase. Remote colleges are marked *, extremely remote **, and island colleges ***3. Colleges marked @ are part of the UHI Millennium Institute (UMI). From 2001-02 their advanced level activity was no longer funded via SFEFC and was instead funded via SHEFC as part of UMI. Therefore the figures for these colleges are not stated on a comparable basis for 2000-01 and 2001-02.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 May 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 3 June 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what social inclusion funding was available for further education (FE) colleges in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02 and (d) 2002-03.
Answer
Figures across the whole of the time period requested are not available on a consistent basis. This is because the method of funding FE colleges changed when responsibility for the methodology transferred to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) from 2000-01.Because of the fundamental role that FE colleges have in encouraging people of all ages and from different backgrounds to participate in post-school learning, a large proportion of the resources made available to FE colleges by SFEFC are associated in some way with the promotion of social inclusion. The Scottish Executive expects SFEFC to exercise its the judgement and expertise in allocating the resources placed at its disposal, and does not instruct SFEFC on the proportion of funding which must be applied to social inclusion initiatives. The figures in the following table show, from 2000-01, the sums which SFEFC made available to further education colleges to cover the additional costs of social inclusion over and above the standard funding per student place.
| Year | £ |
| 2000-01 | 5,208,896 |
| 2001-02 | 9,891,576 |
| 2002-03 | 10,986,126 |
Source: Scottish Further Education Funding Council.
