Christine Grahame

14 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been advised by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA) of the date of publication of SCRA’s next annual report and, if so, when it received such advice.

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible applicants have waited for at least six months for (a) the provision of free central heating and insulation under its central heating programme and (b) grants to have their homes insulated under the Warm Deal scheme in each year since the initiatives were introduced, bro…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information is not held centrallyin the form requested. The average waiting time for both programmes is six months.</p>

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times have been for the (i) assessment of eligible applications and (ii) installation of central heating under its central heating programme in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information is not held centrallyin the form requested. The average waiting time for the central heating programmeis six months.</p>

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average and (b) longest waiting times have been for the (i) assessment of eligible applications and (ii) awarding of grants under the Warm Deal scheme in each year since its introduction, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information is not held centrallyin the form requested. The average waiting time for the Warm Deal programme issix months.</p>

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible applicants it estimates will have to wait until after the winter for (a) the provision of free central heating and insulation under its central heating programme and (b) grants to have their homes insulated under the Warm Deal scheme, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information is not kept in theform requested covering local authority area but by main postcode area.</p><p>The central heating and WarmDeal Pr…

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has given to Scottish Women’s Aid in each year since 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Scottish Executive fundingof Scottish Women’s Aid in each year from 1999 is detailed as follows.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=152 valign=top> <p>Year</p> </td> <td width=139 valign=top> <p align=center>Cor…

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many women’s refuge spaces there were in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested isnot held centrally. Scottish Women’s Aid can provide information on the number ofrefuge spaces provided by affiliated women’s aid groups over the period requested.</p><p>The Executive has invested £12million since 2000 in providing…

10 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many eligible householders received free central heating, insulation and other benefits worth around £3,000 per household by March 2006 from the Executive’s 2005-06 budget of £57 million for its central heating programme and Warm Deal scheme.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>In 2005-06, it is estimated thataround 14,000 central heating systems and almost 15,500 Warm Deal measures wereinstalled by the managing agent.…

7 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the Ministry of Defence in respect of a medal for Arctic convoy survivors and whether it considers that the Artic Convoy Badge is an appropriate recognition of the bravery of the men and women on those convoys.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Matters concerning the commissioningof medals for military service are reserved, initially, to the Ministry of Defence,and Scottish ministers have no locus to intervene in these decisions. The Executivehas not made any representations to the Ministry of Defen…

7 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can commission any medal in respect of the Scottish Arctic convoys and, if so, whether it will consider commissioning such a medal.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Matters concerning the commissioningof medals for military service are reserved, initially, to the Ministry of Defence,and Scottish ministers have no locus to intervene in the these decisions.</p><p>In recognition of service inthe Arctic during the Second Wor…

7 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on recognising war veterans in each year since 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-27577 on 21 August 2006, which gives details of the fundingprovided by the Executive since 1999 to recognize and commemorate war veterans.</p><p>All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on th…

7 Nov 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a budget allocation for commemorating Scotland’s war veterans and, if so, what this has been in each year since 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive does not have adedicated budget allocation for veterans commemorations. However, we are happy toconsider requests for financial support for veterans commemorations on a case-by-casebasis. My answer to question S2W-27577 on 21 August 2006,provide…

23 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time has been for an appointment with a psychologist in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot available centrally. Data on waiting times is collected centrally only for firstout-patient appointments at consultant-led out-patient clinics, following referralby a General Medical or Dental Practitioner, and for hospital in-…

19 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much direct funding through business grants or other financial assistance was given to businesses in Scotland under (a) R&D Plus, (b) Research and Development Assistance, (c) Regional Selective Assistance, (d) SMART awards, (e) SPUR support and (f) venture capital investment, broken d…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information that my departmentholds is set out in the following tables.</p><p>R&amp;D PLUS*</p><p>Expenditure by Financial Year</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=107 valign=top> <p align=center>Financial Year</p>…

19 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has in respect of the welfare standards of commercially reared game birds and the spread of Newcastle disease when birds are reared in close proximity, in light of the recent cull of partridges in East Lothian following an outbreak of the disease.

Answer · Ross Finnie: All birds rearedin captivity are subject to minimum standards set out in animal welfare legislation.The recent confirmation of Newcastle disease at Fenton Barns has highlighted theimportance of good biosecurity by poultry keepers to minimise the risk of disea…

19 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provided the funding for the recent cull of 18,000 partridges in East Lothian following an outbreak of Newcastle disease and, if so, what the cost was of the cull.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The State VeterinaryService led the operational response to the Newcastle disease outbreak under the Scottish Executive’s policy direction. Under longstanding arrangements the controlcosts will be met from budgets held by Department for Environment, Food andR…

18 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-27954 by Mr Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006, whether the answer indicates that it has recorded no dates for ministerial visits to the Scottish Borders since 1999 by (a) Robert Brown MSP, (b) Ross Finnie MSP, (c) George Lyon MSP, (d) Euan Robson MSP, (e…

Answer · Tom McCabe: The dates recorded are shownin the table below in chronological order. The information has been gathered fromthe various Ministerial Private Offices and is as complete as our records allow.Different Private Offices record and retain information in different w…

18 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many ministerial visits to each local authority area have been made in each year since 1999 by (a) Robert Brown MSP, (b) Ross Finnie MSP, (c) George Lyon MSP, (d) Euan Robson MSP, (e) Tavish Scott MSP, (f) Iain Smith MSP, (g) Nicol Stephen MSP and (h) Jim Wallace MSP.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The information requestedcould only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p>

18 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list those journalists who receive copies of answers to parliamentary questions directly from the Scottish Executive’s Media and Communications Press Office at the same time that MSPs are notified of the answer, giving the news organisation which they represent and the dat…

Answer · Tom McCabe: By longstanding arrangement the Scottish Executive issues batches of parliamentary answers to journalists once theanswers have been sent to the MSPs who lodged the questions. It is open to all journalistscovering parliamentary business to request this service…

18 Oct 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional community and residential care places it plans to create in the next four years to help people with alcohol and other addictions.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Such planning is done at localrather than national level. Alcohol and drug action teams and their partneragencies are responsible for assessing needs and commissioning services intheir local areas, including any arrangements for the provision of community orr…

17 Oct 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28424 by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006, what total amount of public funds was specifically provided by Scottish Development International and its predecessors to inward investment projects in each year since 1996, broken down by local authority are…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Scottish Development Internationalmakes potential inward investors aware of any financial assistance that may be availableto them but does not administer any grant schemes. The grants are administered bythe Scottish Executive and the Enterprise Networks and a…

28 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been put in place to facilitate contact with, and supply of information between, the public in rural areas and the contractors which carry out trunk road maintenance and winter services.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The trunk road operating companieshave regular contact with members of the public and engage with local communitycouncils on specific issues relating to trunk roads. The operating companies havealso produced and widely distributed information leaflets which p…

28 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was made available to Scottish Borders Council from the Rural Transport Fund in each financial year since 1999-2000 and how much will be made available for 2007-08 and any future years for which figures are known.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Rural Transport Fund comprisesthree elements:- the Rural Community Transport Initiative (RCTI), the Rural PetrolStations Grant Scheme (RPSGS) and the Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant Scheme(RPPTGS). Scottish Borders Council received no funding under…

28 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the distribution of money from the Rural Transport Fund for 2006-07 and what the indicative allocation figures are for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09.

Answer · Tavish Scott: No ministerial announcement wasmade specifically about the Rural Transport Fund allocations for 2006-07.</p><p>The Rural Transport Fund comprisesthree elements: - the Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant Scheme, the Rural CommunityTransport Initiative and t…

18 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people from new EU member states have registered with a GP in the Scottish Borders in each month since January 2004.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not availablecentrally.</p>

18 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice is offered to immigrants settling in Scotland, either as part of the Fresh Talent initiative or as a result of EU expansion, in respect of access to legal advice, health advice and support in relation to housing and other devolved services.

Answer · Tom McCabe: In addition to the supportoffered to migrant workers at a local authority level, the Scottish Executiveoffers a range of advice through our Relocation Advisory Service. Recognisingthat the majority of migrants from the new EU members states are Polish, wehave…

18 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority has received from additional council tax payments from immigrants who have settled in Scotland following the expansion of the EU in each year since 2002.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>

18 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount of inward investment has been in (a) the Scottish Borders and (b) each local authority area in each year since 1996, expressed also on a per capita basis.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Details of inward investmentprojects assisted by Scottish Development International and its predecessors aresupplied in the following table. The Scottish Executive does not keep a record ofinward investment on a per capita basis.</p><p>January 1996 to March 1…

12 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many illegal firearms have been recovered in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>

12 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents at which armed police have attended have resulted in officers discharging their firearms in each year since 1999, broken down by police force area.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The deployment of firearms isan operational matter for chief constables. The following table gives informationprovided by forces for the number of incidents where firearms have been discharged.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> …