Parliamentary questions
Jackie Baillie
9,397 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
5 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to develop a method of measuring the benefits of social enterprises.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Social enterprises have demonstrated their capacity, across a range of policy areas, to provide efficient and effective services to their customers by, for example, working closely with the communities that they serve and by recycling any surpluses into impro…
5 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to help post offices and, in particular, sub-post offices improve their competitiveness.
Answer · Allan Wilson: Consignia, post offices and postal services are reserved matters.<P>Responsibility for business support services in Scotland rests largely with the Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise networks. Local enterprise companies provide assistanc…
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a Central Service Organisation is being established for the money advice sector and what progress is being made on setting up any such organisation.
Answer · Iain Gray: We are currently discussing with advice organisations how to increase central support for money advice, including training, information and quality assurance and expect to be able to make an announcement within the next few months.
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23989 by Mr Andy Kerr on 25 March 2002, what percentage of staff in senior civil servant grades are (a) from ethnic minorities and (b) disabled.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Currently, 0.5% of senior civil service grades within the Executive have identified themselves as coming from an ethnic minority background and 1% have self-declared a disability.
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with its pilot debtline in Fife.
Answer · Iain Gray: The debtline pilot in Fife is part of a joint pilot led by the Department of Trade and Industry. The Fife pilot was launched by myself in Kirkcaldy on 22 March 2002.
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what options are available to patients wishing to access intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment for infertility in areas where the treatment is not currently provided by the NHS board.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: IVF is funded in all NHS board areas and may offer an alternative where ICSI is not available.
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment for infertility will be available in NHS board areas where such treatment is not currently funded.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24462 today, which shows that all NHS boards, except Argyll and Clyde NHS Board, now fund intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment on the NHS. NHS boards were asked to work towards implementation of the…
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which NHS boards fund intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment for infertility.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table shows the NHS boards which currently fund ICSI treatment:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=330><TR><TD WIDTH="69%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>NHS Board</TD><TD WIDTH="31%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>ICSI (Yes/No)</TD></TR><TR><TD WIDTH="69%" VALIG…
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants work from home.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Twenty-four members of staff currently work permanently from home on a full-time basis and nine do so part-time. Information on staff who work from home on an ad hoc basis is not held centrally. However, 370 staff currently have information technology install…
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what childcare facilities it provides to civil servants; how many childcare places are actually provided, and what the demand is for the provision of childcare facilities.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Executive currently provides the following childcare facilities for its staff:<P>Two workplace nurseries, both in Edinburgh, which currently provide care for 66 children, and<P>Three subsidised holiday play schemes, in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Th…
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, officials in its Personnel Division are members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
Answer · Andy Kerr: There are currently 38 members of staff in the Directorate of Personnel and Pay who are members of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. This represents some 25% of the 155 staff currently employed.
26 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23990 by Mr Andy Kerr on 25 March 2002, what specific action it is taking to improve the number of (a) women, (b) people from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled people in senior civil service grades and how progress in this area is monitored.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The range of measures is set out in our Diversity Strategy, launched in November 2000. Our efforts in the last year have been concentrated in three main areas: awareness raising within the organisation; diversity proofing personnel processes with the aim of r…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to increase the training grants available to Alcohol Focus Scotland to meet the increased demand for counsellors arising from its Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems
Answer · Mary Mulligan: There are no immediate plans to increase the training grants to Alcohol Focus Scotland. The <I>Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems</I> has only recently been published and the Executive will give consideration to training grants for Alcohol Focus Scotland as …
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who the members are of the National Advisory Forum who will assist in taking forward the recommendations arising from the Scottish Charity Law Review and when the Forum last met.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24449.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the establishment of the National Advisory Forum to take forward the recommendations arising from the Scottish Charity Law Review.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive has recently published an analysis of the public consultation on the recommendations in the report of the Scottish Charity Law Review Commission (the McFadden report). Whilst the majority of respondents agreed with the general thrust of the repo…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the group lending model proposed for the microcredit programme is suitable for mixed gender groups.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Evidence from pilot schemes in the west of Scotland has shown that the group lending model is suitable for women, and women are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the extended scheme. Evaluation of the programme will, however, assess carefully the impac…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been disbursed under the microcredit programme in each year from 2000-01 to date.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The first tranche of funding - £70,000 - was spent in financial year 2001-02 during February-March 2002. Disbursement of funding is a matter for Scottish Enterprise.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the microcredit programme is exclusively targeted at women and, if so, in what way and how the programme targets match the terms of the announcement made on International Women's Day on 8 March 2000.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The microcredit programme is not exclusively targeted at women as sex discrimination legislation generally prohibits restricting funding schemes in this way. It is expected, however, that the majority of recipients of microcredit will be women as proposed in …
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated to the microcredit programme in 2001-02 and what funding will be allocated in (a) 2002-03 and (b) 2003-04.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Executive has allocated £1 million for the microcredit programme to Scottish Enterprise over a three-year period. In year 2001-02 Scottish Enterprise spent £70,000. The balance of funding is expected to be utilised in years 2002-03 and 2003-04, and into 2…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-23615 by Allan Wilson on 12 March 2002, whether it will provide a definition of income which will be contained in the regulations providing for the exemption from water and sewerage charges.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Water and Sewerage Charges (Exemption) (Scotland) Regulations 2002, made on 27 March 2002 and which came into force on 1 April 2002, provided a definition of net annual income. This was defined as any income received by a person liable to pay water and se…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to make the criminal justice system more transparent.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive is continually looking to improve the effectiveness of the criminal justice system and we seek wide public involvement in this work. <P>Lord Bonomy, for example, placed press advertisements seeking views on his review of the High Court and the c…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to place a statutory obligation on the police, the Crown Office and the courts system to ensure that the victims of crime and their families are given essential information relating to their case.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24440.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to improve communication between the police, the procurator fiscal service and the victims of crime and their families.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24440.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review how victims of crime and their families are treated by the criminal justice system.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is demonstrating its continuing commitment to victims and their families within the criminal justice system through the implementation of the <I>Scottish Strategy for Victims</I>. The strategy has been developed by the main criminal jus…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many private sector properties in each local authority area are still to have a central heating system installed under its central heating installation programme.
Answer · Iain Gray: The information requested is not held by local authority area, but we estimate that across Scotland there are 40,000 over 60s in the private sector without central heating or with a system which is broken and beyond repair. Over 3,500 systems have been instal…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) private sector, (b) local authority and (c) housing association properties in each local authority area will have a central heating system installed under its central heating installation programme in 2002-03.
Answer · Iain Gray: We cannot identify the number of private sector households that will benefit from the central heating programme by local authority area, but Eaga's budget will provide for 4,600 owner-occupiers and private sector tenants across Scotland in 2002-03 to receive …
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating systems were installed under its central heating installation programme in (a) private sector, (b) local authority and (c) housing association properties in each local authority area in 2001-02.
Answer · Iain Gray: The information requested for the private sector part of the central heating programme is not held by local authority area, but 3,500 installations were delivered across Scotland in 2001-02. A report on the results of the programme across all sectors of the s…
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to the Ministry of Defence and Her Majesty's Government to provide substantial resources for a job creation programme for the areas affected by redundancies at Faslane and Coulport naval dockyards.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24408.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will work with the Ministry of Defence on the redeployment of redundant workers from the Faslane and Coulport naval dockyards.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24408.
25 Mar 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in light of the job losses at the Faslane and Coulport naval dockyards given the existing level of unemployment in the area and the impact these job losses will have on the local economy.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the Ministry of Defence on a wide range of issues including the Faslane and Coulport naval bases. The scale of any job reductions and consequently the deployment of resources to mitigate the effect of job redu…