- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it takes to eliminate fuel poverty in homes considered hard to heat due to the design of the property.
Answer
The Scottish Executiveis funding a pilot of renewable technologies in low income households off the gasgrid. A report on this is due next autumn.
All householders includingthose in hard to heat homes are encouraged to seek energy efficiency advice fromtheir local Energy Efficiency Advice Centres and benefits checks which are providedby, for example, Citizens Advice Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it takes to eliminate fuel poverty for those households where the maximum grants available under the Warm Deal and central heating programme are insufficient to install full central heating or carry out full insulation and draughtproofing.
Answer
The maximum grantrates under the central heating programme are set at a level that should adequatelycover installation costs. These rates are reviewed periodically.
The Warm Deal allowsa grant of up to 拢500 for a range of energy efficiency measures including loft andcavity wall insulation, draughtproofing and pipe-lagging. We have instructed ScottishGas to work with the power companies to secure resources from the Energy EfficiencyCommitment to help increase the number of measures available for householders whereverpossible.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on (a) promoting and (b) advertising the central heating programme in each year since its inception, including the current financial year.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Information is notheld centrally on the financial resources committed to promoting andadvertising the central heating programme.
Advertising and promotingthe central heating programme is a contractual requirement placed on themanaging agent. It is the managing agent鈥檚 responsibility to conduct a marketingand promotion strategy that ensures the annual target number of installations isachieved.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider the eligibility of families with a child in receipt of disability living allowance for the central heating programme and, if so, when.
Answer
I have no plans toextend eligibility for fuel poverty programmes to this group. If the child is livingin the social housing sector he or she should already have had the opportunity tobenefit from the free central heating programme.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 29 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on (a) promoting and (b) advertising the Warm Deal in each year since its inception, including the current financial year.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
Information is notheld centrally on the financial resources committed to promoting and advertisingthe Warm Deal programme.
Advertising and promotingthe Warm Deal programme is a contractual requirement placed on the managingagent. It is the managing agent鈥檚 responsibility to conduct a marketing and promotionstrategy that ensures the annual target number of installations is achieved.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 13 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 28 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider relocating some of the departments for which it has responsibility to North Ayrshire and, if so, which departments and when a decision will be taken.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-2952 on 14 August 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament鈥檚 website the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 27 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it believes the maximum grant available under the Warm Deal should be in order to ensure that each home of four bedrooms or less in receipt of grant will receive loft insulation with associated cold and hot water tank insulation, cavity wall insulation, draught-proofing, four energy efficient light bulbs and energy advice.
Answer
When partnered withEnergy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) funding and, from next March, Carbon EfficiencyReduction Target (CERT) funding, the current grant should be sufficient to coverall necessary insulation measures in most cases.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Adam Ingram on 27 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to enhance the training of (a) new and (b) experienced teachers in addressing the needs of children with autism.
Answer
The Executive is fundinga pioneering new project at Aberdeen University, providing 拢1.39 million over 2005-10,to embed inclusive approaches to teaching for pupils with additional support needs,including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), within initial teacher education. Thefindings and best practice will be disseminated to other initial teacher educationproviders.
The Executive also provides education authorities with 拢7.2 million per yearspecifically for the training and development of staff working with pupils withadditional support needs. The priority is to tailor educational provision to meetthe needs of the individual pupil. A further 拢13.5 million is issued annually toallow local authorities to co-ordinate and provide continuing professionaldevelopment (CPD) for teachers.
Additionally, followingrecent talks with the Executive, the General Teaching Council Scotland has now addedfive new areas to their professional recognition framework, one of which is AdditionalSupport Needs - Autism.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to improve services for people with autism during the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Answer
The Education (AdditionalSupport for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 requires education authorities to takespecific action, where appropriate, to help young people with additional supportneeds, including autism spectrum disorders (ASD), to make the transition from schoolto post-school life successfully.
The need for appropriateservices for young people during the transition to adulthood will be further addressedin the guidance for commissioners of services for people with ASD, which the ScottishGovernment is currently developing.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Cunninghame North, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 August 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 24 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve service delivery to adults with autism.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentis working with the national Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Reference Group to developguidance for commissioners of health and social care services for people with ASD.The guidance will include examples of successful service models for adults withASD to inform developments across Scotland.
