| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Nursery Education
21. Mrs. Fyfe: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what assessment he has made of the future availability of nursery education combined with day care.[12059]
Mr. Wilson:
Our first priority is to offer pre-school education to all children in their pre-school year, as we undertook in the Manifesto and I shall be issuing a major consultation paper on pre-school education later in the autumn. We shall move as soon as practicable thereafter to consider associated daycare needs, as well as the extension of pre-school education to younger children.
4 Nov 1997 : Column: 155
22. Mr. Paice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he next plans to discuss Scottish agriculture with his European Union counterparts. [12060]
Mr. Chisholm:
My noble Friend the Minister with responsibility for Agriculture, the Environment and Fisheries has recently met both Commissioner Fischler and the Finnish Agriculture Minister to discuss Scottish agriculture. He also attended the October Agriculture Council. He will undertake further discussions and attend further meetings of the Agriculture Council as appropriate.
23. Mr. Flight:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received from Scots not currently resident in Scotland who were excluded from voting in the recent referendum. [12061]
Mr. McLeish:
Around 100 representations have been received in writing together with a number of telephone enquiries seeking clarification about eligibility to vote.
Eligibility to vote in the referendum was determined by residency in Scotland. This reflected the fact that the Scottish Parliament will mainly affect people resident in Scotland.
Eligibility to vote was debated at length during the passage of the Referendums (Scotland and Wales) Bill earlier this year.
24. Mr. Burns:
To ask the Secretary of State when he expects to meet his target for class sizes of 30 pupils. [12062]
Mr. Wilson:
Our intention is to achieve class sizes of 30 pupils or fewer in the first three years of primary school by the end of this Parliament.
25. Mrs. May:
To ask the Secretary of State what discussions he has had with Her Majesty's Treasury regarding the size of the Scottish block. [12063]
Mr. Dewar:
The size of the Scottish block is set for this year and next by the published expenditure plans and the July Budget announcements. The figures for subsequent years will depend on the outcome of the Comprehensive Spending Review in comparable English departments, which will feed into the block through the normal operation of the Barnett formula.
26. Mr. Ian Bruce:
To ask the Secretary of State what are his plans for the Forestry Commission after Scottish devolution with particular reference to its responsibilities outside Scotland. [12064]
Mr. Chisholm:
After devolution, the functions of the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Wales, in relation to forestry, will be transferred to the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly respectively. The Commission will, however, continue to be the Government Department with responsibility for forestry throughout Britain.
4 Nov 1997 : Column: 156
27. Mrs. Ray Michie:
To ask the Secretary of State what plans he has to meet the managing director of Caledonian MacBrayne to discuss its ferry services. [12065]
Mr. Chisholm:
My right hon. Friend met with the Managing Director of Caledonian MacBrayne on 1 August, and I met with the Chairman and previous Managing Director on 24 June. Neither I nor my right hon. Friend are planning to have a further meeting with the company's Managing Director at the present time. However, Scottish Office officials maintain frequent contact with the company's executive directors in connection with all aspects of Caledonian MacBrayne's business activities.
28. Mr. Jack:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his planned increased in health expenditure in Scotland for 1998-99. [12066]
Mr. Galbraith:
Net expenditure in Scotland in 1998-99 is planned to be £4,581 million, which is an increase of £205 million or 4.7 per cent. over 1997-98 planned expenditure.
29. Mr. Godman:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what plans he has to modify the regulations governing the registration and inspection of residential and nursing homes for the elderly. [12067]
Mr. Galbraith:
The Scottish Office issued guidance to Health Boards and interested parties on 8 July this year on national core standards for the registration, operation and inspection of nursing homes. Following consultation, guidance will be issued soon to local authorities on the registration and inspection of residential care homes. Legislation on the regulation and inspection of residential and nursing home care and domiciliary care will follow when a suitable opportunity presents.
Mrs. Browning:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will publish the annual tuition fees for a four-year degree course at universities in Scotland from September 1998 for students from (a) Scotland, (b) England and Wales and (c) EU countries. [13363]
Mr. Wilson
[holding answer 30 October 1997]: The tuition fees which will apply to new students entering higher education in session 1998-99 are expected to be £1,000 and will be increased in line with inflation for subsequent years. New entrants in session 1997-98, existing students and those with a confirmed place by 1 August 1997 for 1998 will not be affected. For Scottish and EU students undertaking an Honours degree course at a Scottish university, which is a year longer than comparable courses elsewhere in the UK, The Scottish Office will waive the student's tuition fee in the final year and pay the fee to the institutions directly. Some students will be exempt altogether from making a contribution toward tuition fees throughout their higher education,
4 Nov 1997 : Column: 157
dependent on family circumstances. Further details will be made available in a leaflet, a copy of which will be placed in the Library of the House of Commons.
Mr. Maclennan:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what are the findings of the project funded jointly by his Department and the Health Education Board for Scotland to formulate the planning and provision of health education, including drug education, in Scottish teacher education institutions; and if he will make a statement. [13219]
Mr. Wilson
[holding answer 30 October 1997]: The project referred to is not a research project. Its purpose was to make it easier for teacher educators and their students to acquire the relevant knowledge and insights to deliver health education in schools. Health education and promotion are central to the curriculum and ethos of primary, secondary and special schools in Scotland. Our new teachers must, therefore, be well prepared for their responsibilities in teaching their pupils about health and in encouraging them to develop healthy styles of living. The project has been under way since April 1996 and will be completed in April 1998. From the start, it has been a co-operative venture involving staff from each of the teacher education institutions (TEIs), and representatives from the Health Education Board for Scotland (HEBS), the General Teaching Council and the Scottish Office Education and Industry Department (SOEID). The materials developed are to be made available to each of the TEIs to be adapted to fit their own courses. The materials, which are based on existing good practice in health education, will be relevant to students preparing to work with all children and young people of primary and secondary school age.
20. Mr. Gerald Howarth
: To ask the Secretary of State if he will make a statement on the proposed powers of the Scottish Parliament in relation to European Union matters. [12058]
Mr. McLeish:
The Government's proposals for involving the Scottish Parliament in relations with the European Union are set out in Chapter 5 of the White Paper, "Scotland's Parliament".
Mr. Ernie Ross:
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on progress in choosing a site for the Scottish Parliament. [14674]
Mr. McLeish:
We will select a site for the new Scottish Parliament as soon as possible, in the light of the best available information. This information must include independent costings of building construction or conversion projects on the possible sites. My Department has today commissioned design feasibility studies, an independent costing exercise and a transport and environmental impact assessment.
Page and Park Architects of Glasgow will look at how best to fit the needs of the Scottish Parliament into and around St. Andrews House on Calton Hill. Benson and
4 Nov 1997 : Column: 158
Forsyth Architects, will look at how an appropriate building could best be placed on the site at Leith. RMJM (Scotland) will consider the design of a building for the Haymarket site.
The Glasgow office of quantity surveyors and cost consultants, Davis Langdon and Everest, is being asked to prepare comparative costings on the basis of the design feasibility studies.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |