Parliamentary questions
Fiona Hyslop
940 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
23 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are for its social justice strategy as outlined in the document Social Justice...a Scotland where everyone matters, specifically for the milestones and targets within its responsibility, of the recommendation in the recent report into poverty in Scotland by the Scott…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The member is referred to the answer given to question S1W-9367.
23 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are for its social justice strategy as outlined in the document Social Justice...a Scotland where everyone matters, specifically for the milestones and targets within its responsibility, of the recommendation in the recent report into poverty in Scotland by the Scott…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The operation of the Social Fund is a matter for DSS. <I>Social justice....a Scotland where everyone matters</I> contains milestones which are UK benchmarks in reserved areas where policy delivery is largely outwith the Scottish Executive. Any implications wo…
23 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are for its social justice strategy as outlined in the document Social Justice...a Scotland where everyone matters, specifically for the milestones and targets within its responsibility, of the recommendation in the recent report into poverty in Scotland by the Scott…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The licensing of credit brokers is a matter for DTI. <I>Social Justice...a Scotland where everyone matters</I> contains milestones which are UK benchmarks in reserved areas where policy delivery is largely outwith the Scottish Executive. Any implications of t…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is with regard to the comments published in Inside Housing maga'ine, 18 August 2000, attributed to John Perry, UK Policy Director of the Chartered Institute of Housing, regarding the implications for housing investment in Scotland if stock transfer ballots fail and the e…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Executive believes that community ownership is the most effective means of securing the step change in investment necessary to improve the condition of Scotland's council housing and giving tenants a greater say in the ownership and management of their ho…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is with regard to the comments attributed to Hal Pawson, co-author of the report "Good Practice in Housing Management in Scotland", in Inside Housing maga'ine, 18 August 2000, regarding the absence of a strategy to deal with low demand housing from the Executive consulta…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The study, co-authored by Mr Pawson, is not yet completed. The Executive will respond to its full findings in due course.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Consultation Paper, <I>Better Homes for Scotland's Communities</I> contains proposals to place a duty on local auth…
22 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what appointments have been made so far to the Glasgow Housing Association, on what date these appointments start and which of these appointments were secondments, specifying in each case which organisation the person was seconded from.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The appointment of staff to the Glasgow Housing Association is a matter for that organisation. Any enquiries relating to the staffing of the Glasgow Housing Association should be directed to its Chief Executive.
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that a record of subsequent developments in the working lives of New Deal participants should be placed in the public domain and whether it intend…
Answer · Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which therefore takes the lead on the funding and delivery of New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The New D…
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that local authorities in Scotland should keep debt management strategies for dealing with people who encounter debt problems and whether it inten…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is discussing with CoSLA how the money and debt advice services provided by local authorities in Scotland can be improved.
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that it might "wish to develop the effectiveness of money advice services which are delivered into Scotland's poorer communities" and whether it i…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is committed to improving the effectiveness of money advice services in Scotland's deprived communities. We are working with relevant organisations on how best a national debtline for Scotland can be implemented to provide access to fre…
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that it should conduct a review into fuel poverty and energy efficiency in Scotland and whether it intends to act upon this recommendation.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Department of Trade and Industry is leading an inter-departmental Ministerial Group on Fuel Poverty to develop a long-term strategy for tackling the problem. The work of the group covers Scotland and the Executive is represented by the Deputy Minister for…
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation made by Energy Action Scotland to the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs during its investigation into poverty in Scotland that a detailed cost/benefit analysis of the impact on Scottish households of living in cold damp homes versu…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive has commissioned a pilot evaluation of the health and other benefits of home insulation and central heating.
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that it should consider introducing and financing a remote living allowance to compensate for the higher costs of living in remote or island commu…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive provides for the additional costs to councils serving remote and dispersed rural and island communities through special measures in the local government finance distribution formula. Adjustments redistribute around £40 million of grant …
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that the present postcode area level information on benefit claimants be replaced with smaller area level information and what representations it …
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is currently reviewing all local area statistics for Scotland. We are in discussion with data users and DSS, in order to identify the range of needs, and to assess what level of information is available.
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that specific Scottish statistics be kept for all relevant matters reserved to Her Majesty's Government and what representations it intends to mak…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is involved in ongoing discussions about the full range of statistics relevant to poverty issues in both reserved and devolved matters with a range of Whitehall departments including the DSS, Inland Revenue and HM Treasury. A number of …
17 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the recommendation in the recent report on poverty in Scotland by the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs that a separate database to assist in the collection of statistics on poverty be developed in Scotland and what representations it has made to Her…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is currently developing a database of poverty related information for Scotland with assistance from the DSS and Inland Revenue. It is considering a wide range of currently available data sources in addition to the option of boosting exi…
16 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Scottish Tourist Board has to promote the tourist industry in West Lothian and Linlithgow.
Answer · Henry McLeish: None, promotion of the tourism industry in West Lothian and Linlithgow is the responsibility of Edinburgh and Lothians Tourist Board.
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will respond to the letters sent to the First Minister over the past year by Ms Dorothy Sutherland.
Answer · Donald Dewar: A written reply was sent to Ms Sutherland on 15 August.
9 Aug 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides a written response to all letters it receives and within what timescale.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive endeavours to reply to all correspondence it receives, whether addressed to Ministers or officials. The target for answering general correspondence is 20 working days. For those letters to which Ministers reply, the targets are for an acknowledg…
6 Jul 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources will be allocated to rough sleeping as a result of the #34 million central reserve spending on health-related initiatives announced on 4 July 2000 and whether any such resources will be additional to, or part of, the extra #12 million funding for rough sleeping and homeless…
Answer · Jack McConnell: A sum of £8 million from the central reserve was allocated to rough sleeping and homelessness initiatives and was included in the £12 million announced on 1 June. None of this money comes from the £34 million which was the subject of an announcement on 4 July…
6 Jul 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive from which departmental budget end-of-year balances the extra #12 million for rough sleeping and homelessness initiatives announced by the Minister for Communities on 1 June 2000 came.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Of the extra £12 million for rough sleeping and homelessness initiatives, £8 million came from the end-year flexibility central reserve and the remaining £4 million from the additional money allocated to Scottish Assigned Budget as a consequence of the UK Bud…
6 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what physical and speech rehabilitation services are available over the long term for patients with head injuries in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The assessed needs of patients requiring long-term physical and speech therapy treatment as a consequence of head injury are met largely through community services which may be provided in a variety of settings, including health centres and the patient's home.
6 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with head injuries in Scotland receive speech therapy services in the community.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not held centrally.
6 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with head injuries in Scotland receive physiotherapy services in the community.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The information requested is not held centrally.
6 Jun 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with head injuries have been discharged from hospitals in Scotland in each of the last five years.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The number of people discharged from NHS hospitals in Scotland following treatment for a head injury is shown in the table below. Information for 1995-96 is not shown since an earlier version of the coding system was in use at the time and is not directly com…
31 May 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish its social justice action plan.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Social Justice action plan has two parts, firstly the work within the Communities portfolio on "empowering communities" and secondly the work of delivering on the Social Justice milestones. A consultation on the former will be published before the parliam…
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met the representatives of the workforce in Glasgow City Council Housing department and the Glasgow City Council Direct Labour Organisation.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: I met with representatives from the STUC and Glasgow's Joint Trades Union Committee on 6 April, prior to the publication of the framework document on 10 April.
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the costs which the #13 million allocated to Glasgow City Council for the development of its proposals for a Glasgow Housing Association is expected to cover, with specific reference to the estimated cost of the ballot and the amount budgeted for pub…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Of the £13 million earmarked for Glasgow City Council in connection with the development of its stock transfer proposal, £2.856 million has been allocated. This includes £0.495 million for project team and consultancy costs; £1.010 million for work with tenan…
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money was paid to the consultants HACAS Exchequer Services to conduct the feasibility study on stock transfer in Glasgow completed in March 1999; how much public money was paid to the consultants Ernst & Young for their March 2000 report on stock transfer, and whether thes…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: £186,000 was paid to HACAS Exchequer Services for its study on the feasibility of housing transfer. Ernst and Young will be paid a total of £270,000 for work in connection with its report published in April 2000. These contracts were both subject to competiti…
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it will have in the appointment of a chief executive for the proposed Glasgow Housing Association.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The appointment of a chief executive is a matter for the Interim Management Committee of the Glasgow Housing Association which has now been established.
4 May 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role it will have in the appointment of board members of the proposed Glasgow Housing Association.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The framework document published on 10 April set out the composition of the Interim Management Committee of the Glasgow Housing Association, and listed the organisations invited to nominate representatives to it. The document was agreed by the members of the …