Parliamentary questions

Elaine Murray

2,411 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what communications it has received from HM Treasury regarding changes to the capital departmental expenditure limit for the UK health budget for 2008-09 and when these were received.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Governmentreceived a letter from HM Treasury on 4 September 2007 in respect of the proposed DELbaseline which included reference to changes to the UK Health Department resourceand capital budgets, changes to the budgets for UKlocal government and…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is normal practice to use the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis outturn figures as the baseline budget for the following financial year.

Answer · John Swinney: In calculatingthe Scottish Government baseline HM Treasury used new expenditure plans, adjustedin certain cases to take account of the latest estimates of outturn spending,as published in the Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis document. It isconsidered t…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it proposes any changes to the statistics available for monitoring the success of the economy.

Answer · Jim Mather: The Scottish EconomicStatistics Plan for 2007-08 will shortly be made available on the Scottish Government’swebsite.

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will evaluate the competitiveness of the economy over the next four years.

Answer · John Swinney: As set out in theGovernment Economic Strategy, competitiveness will be evaluated by comparing Scotland’s productivity performance to that of other Organisationfor Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) economies.

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its targets are for the growth of the economy over the next four years.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government’sgrowth target for this Parliament is to raise Scotland’s GDP growth rate to the UK level by 2011.

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its economic strategy.

Answer · John Swinney: I am pleased to announcethat the Government Economic Strategy is being published on 13 November 2007. The strategy sets out how we can deliver the Government’sPurpose of increasing sustainable economic growth. The Government Economic Strategywil…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Dumfries and Galloway Council has advised Scottish ministers of its estimates of the funding it will require to reduce class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 to a maximum of 18 and, if so, what these estimates are.

Answer · Maureen Watt: No, we are unawareof any representations made by Dumfries and Galloway Council in this regard. However,On 20 June 2007 we announced the provision of £9 million additional funding to allowlocal authorities to employ 300 additional teachers in pre-school and pr…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5251 by John Swinney on 30 October 2007, whether Dumfries and Galloway Council has advised Scottish ministers of its estimates of the funding it will require to enable it to freeze council tax in 2008-09 and 2009-10 and, if so, what these estimates a…

Answer · John Swinney: Dumfries and Galloway Council did share with me theiremerging budget calculations when we met on 2 October. Following my Spending Reviewannouncement on 14 November, I will be announcing individual local authority fundingallocations for the next three years in…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what Executive grants have been applied for by Young’s Seafood since 1999; which applications have been successful, and in which sites such grants been invested.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The following grants,which have been fully completed or are in the process of being completed, have beenawarded to the Young’s group of companies since 1999:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> Young’s Seafood …

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons were for the decision not to award Young’s Seafood a grant of £426,000, intended for the development of deshelling machines for its site in Annan and applied for under the Fish Processing and Marketing Scheme.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The decision tocancel the award, taken prior to the current Scottish Government taking office,was on the basis that subsequent to the fire at the Young’s Annan facility inMarch 2007 the company confirmed that the project would not be completed and a claimwoul…

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the decision was taken not to award Young’s Seafood a grant of £426,000, intended for the development of deshelling machines for its site in Annan and applied for under the Fish Processing and Marketing Scheme.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The decision to awarda grant of £426,000 was made in January 2006. However, Young’s withdrew their applicationfor grant support following the fire at the Annan facility in March 2007.

2 Nov 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are in place for the repayment of awards received by Young’s Seafood under the Fisheries Processing and Marketing Awards Scheme in 2003 and 2004 for the upgrading of its production facilities in Annan.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The company have beeninformed that they will be required to repay the financial assistance paid in 2003and 2004 in line the grant conditions and agreed procedures for recovery. Officialsare presently in discussion with the company regarding the procedures for…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations apply to traffic noise emanating from locations in close proximity to residential properties.

Answer · Michael Russell: The EnvironmentalNoise (Scotland) Regulations 2006 are part of the implementationof the EC Environmental Noise Directive. This applies to ambient noise to whichhumans are exposed from transport and industrial sources. Noise maps have alreadybeen produced unde…

23 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether nationally allowable noise levels apply to industrial premises in close proximity to residential properties.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: No. Regulation ofnoise from industrial premises is dependent on the size and type of industry. Noisefrom larger industrial plants is controlled through a permit system regulated bythe Scottish Environmental Protection Agency under the Pollution Prevention and…

9 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when this year’s influenza vaccine will become available to NHS patients through their GPs.

Answer · Shona Robison: GPs now haveaccess to this year’s influenza vaccine. Eligible NHS patients aged 65 and overand those suffering from certain long term medical conditions such as asthma,diabetes, heart disease or neurological conditions are encouraged to contacttheir GP to mak…

9 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any delays in the production of the 2007-08 influenza vaccine supply.

Answer · Shona Robison: There have beenno delays in the production of 2007-08 influenza vaccine. By the weekcommencing 5 November 2007 all vaccine orders for Scotland will have been delivered to the major Scottishpharmaceutical wholesalers

9 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice its officials gave to Dumfries and Galloway Council concerning reference to the Scottish Ministers of proposals agreed by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Education and Community Services Committee on 6 November 2003 to close St Teresa’s Roman Catholic Primary School and St And…

Answer · Maureen Watt: In a July 2003response to a letter from Dumfries and Galloway Council the former ScottishExecutive set out, in general terms, the operation of the legislation on schoolclosures and the circumstances in which the consent of ministers is required.The response m…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it estimates that Dumfries and Galloway Council will require to freeze council tax in 2008-09 at the 2007-08 level.

Answer · John Swinney: The cost of freezingthe council tax is being taken forward as part of my on-going discussions with COSLAin the run up to the announcement of the current Spending Review. It would be prematureto discuss estimates for individual councils at this stage.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has met the Chief Executive and Convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council regarding their estimates of the funding required to freeze council tax in 2008-09 at the 2007-08 level.

Answer · John Swinney: I met the Chief Executiveand Convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council on 2 October 2007. We discussed a wide range of relevant topics includingthe Scottish Government’s commitment to a council tax freeze in 2008-09.<</p

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of COSLA prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and …

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with representatives from COSLA seven timesprior to the announcement of the reform of the enterprise networks whilst I metwith them on three occasions. These meetings and discussions covered wider to…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met trade unions representing staff employed in the enterprise networks prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructurin…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with the STUC once prior to the announcementand I met with them twice.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met chairs and chief executives of the enterprise networks prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with the Chair and Chief Executives of theenterprise networks four times prior to the announcement of the reform of theenterprise networks whilst I met with them on fourteen occasions.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of the Scottish Trades Union Congress prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish …

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with representatives from Scottish TradeUnion Congress once prior to the announcement of the reform of the enterprisenetworks whilst I met with them on two occasions.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of the Institute of Directors prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish Enterpri…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth did not meet with representatives from the Institute of Directors prior to the announcement of the reform of the enterprise networks. I met with them twice.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of Scottish Financial Enterprise prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish Enter…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with representatives from Scottish FinancialEnterprise (SFE) once prior to the announcement of the reform of the enterprisenetworks as did I when we discussed future plans with SFE and other business…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of the Federation of Small Businesses Scotland prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of …

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth did not meet with representatives from the Federationof Small Businesses Scotland times prior to the announcement of the reform of theenterprise networks. I met with them twice.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of CBI Scotland prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish Enterprise and Highlan…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth met with representatives from the CBI twice priorto the announcement of the reform of the enterprise networks whilst I met with themon three occasions.

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and (b) Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism met representatives of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce prior to the Cabinet Secretary’s announcement on 26 September 2007 about the restructuring of Scottish E…

Answer · Jim Mather: The Cabinet Secretaryfor Finance and Sustainable Growth did not meet with representatives from the ScottishChambers of Commerce prior to the announcement of the reform of the enterprisenetworks whilst I met with them on three occasions to discuss this issue.<…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to which minister or ministers the Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland reports.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: As with all ScottishGovernment officials, the advice of the Chief Scientific Adviser for Scotland is available to any minister to whose portfolio interestsher knowledge or responsibilities are relevant. As Minister for Science, I makea greater call on her adv…

5 Oct 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the status is of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish ScienceAdvisory Committee (SSAC) is currently running on a temporary basis, reporting tothe Scottish Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), following the decisionto end the funding arrangement under the auspices of the Royal Society of Edin…