Parliamentary questions

Alex Neil

3,059 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to refer Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland to the independent board to be created to enhance confidence in government statistics, as announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive has nocurrent plans to refer Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland to theindependent statistics board. However, Government Expenditure and Revenue will fallwithin the remit of the board and will be subject to scrutiny along wit…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it had any input to the UK Government’s planned legislation to create an independent board to enhance confidence in government statistics, as announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Yes, the Executive has been workingclosely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics on the Statisticsand Registration Service Bill.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to introduce legislation to provide for trials without jury in serious fraud cases, similar to that planned by the UK Government and announced in the Queen's Speech.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: We have no plans to do so.In response to a public consultationin 1998 the clear view was expressed that there was no case for changing the presentmethod of trial in serious fraud cases in Scotland.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the GHA Owner Occupiers Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow City Council has so far claimed £16,424,514 from the ScottishExecutive under the Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) Owner Occupiers Grant in orderto provide financial support, on a means-tested basis, to 2592 owner occupiers tohelp them meet the costs …

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the Central Heating Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow Housing Association has so far claimed £15,573,346 tocontribute to the cost of installing 5,080 full central heating systems and 4,110partial central heating systems in their properties.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive., further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the Reprovisioning Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow Housing Association has so far claimed £917,198 towardsthe cost of building 28 new units of housing in the Oatlands area of Glasgow.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the Demolition Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow Housing Association has so far claimed a total of £18,255,994from the Scottish Executive under the Demolition Grant. This expenditure covers thefollowing:Demolition of 27,16 housing units.Home Loss and Disturbance paymentsfor approximate…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the Effective Contingencies Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow Housing Association hasso far claimed £50,000,000 from the Scottish Executive under the Contingent EfficienciesGrant in order to support the delivery of its business objectives.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29751 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of expenditure from the Repayable Grant available to Glasgow Housing Association.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Glasgow Housing Association has so far claimed £160,150,000 fromthe Scottish Executive under the Secured Repayable Grant Agreement in order to supportthe delivery of its business objectives.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29750 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, whether it will provide details of the positions held in their organisations by each of the officials which have led to their involvement in the joint team.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30416 on 19 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at<ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29750 by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006, why it does not feel it would be appropriate to provide names of officials involved in the joint team.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is not standard Scottish Executivepractice to publish names or information about the positions of those involved inofficial-level working groups.

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29971 by Mr Tom McCabe on 4 December 2006, whether a secondee from HM Treasury was involved in providing assistance to the Executive in developing its strategies for stronger engagement with the United States of America and China.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Decisions on the Executive’sstrategies for closer engagement with the USA and China were settled collectivelyby ministers following advice from Scottish Executive officials. HM Treasury wasnot involved.

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider bringing the post of Police Complaints Commissioner within the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: We currently have no plans toconsider changing the arrangements for the appointment of the Police ComplaintsCommissioner for Scotland (PCCS).

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) serious accidents and (b) fatalities have there been on the stretch of the A77/M77 between (i) Glasgow and Kilmarnock, (ii) Kilmarnock and Ayr, (iii) Ayr and Maybole and (iv) Maybole and Stranraer in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The number of fatal and seriousroad accidents recorded on the A77 in each year since 1999, broken down by stretchof road is as follows:(i) Glasgow to Kilmarnock<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> …

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much land owned by it or its agencies is (a) vacant or (b) derelict.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The asset management strandof the Efficient Government programme is actively targeting the issue ofefficient use of public resources; including vacant and derelict land in theownership of the wider Executive. The property records of the Executive and itsagenc…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households have benefited from free insulation or free central heating in each of the last three years and how many households it estimates will benefit in each of the next three years.

Answer · Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:The number of CentralHeating and Warm Deal Installations for the last three years are shown in the followingtable :<table b…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the inflation rise in fuel duty from midnight on 6 December 2006 will have on Scotland.

Answer · Tavish Scott: This increase will affect fuelprices throughout the UK and could put around 50 pence on an average tank of petrol.We recognise the concerns of residents of rural Scotland who experience higher thanaverage fuel prices and can be dependent on private transport.…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the increase in air passenger duty from £5 to £10 in February 2007 will have on Scotland.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The increase in air passengerduty will have a minor impact on the Scottish economy as a whole. However, the increasewill bring a commensurate increase in the cost of fares under the Executive’s AirDiscount Scheme on every return journey from an airport outwit…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is for encouraging existing homes to be carbon-neutral.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive has a range ofpolicies in place to improve the energy efficiency of homes in Scotland, tacklingfuel poverty and contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and the achievementof our climate change targets.Weare committed to bring al…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is for encouraging new homes to be carbon-neutral.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Dr. Paul Stollard,Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency (SBSA), to answer.His response is as follows:Revised building regulationsthat will come into effect in May 2007 include enhanced requirements for energyefficiency …

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it intends to spend in each of the next three years in assisting local authorities to encourage community ownership of assets.

Answer · Des McNulty: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is asfollows:Ministers have agreed tomake £0.5 million available to March 2008,initially targeted on those areas covered by the Regeneration Policy Stateme…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many apprentices it will help to fund in each of the next five years.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive hasprovided funding to the Enterprise Networks in order to achieve the PartnershipAgreement target of having 30,000 modern apprentices (MAs) in training by 2006.This target was achieved two years early and it is intended to maintain the…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many families have benefited from its shared equity scheme in each year since its introduction and how many families it estimates will benefit from the scheme in each of the next five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:The Homestake shared equity schemecan help individuals as well as families. The number of units approved for Homestakesince its introduction i…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its forecast is of economic growth in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive doesnot produce forecasts for GDP growth.However, according to thefour major independent forecasters monitored by the Executive, Scotland isexpected to experience growth above its long-run annual average in both 2006and 2007.

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its capital investment in housing (a) has been in each of the last 10 years and (b) is estimated to be in each of the next five years

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive, Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The information in the followingtable includes actual housing capital investment by Scottish Homes (1996-97 to 2002-03)and by Communities Scotlan…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its capital investment in transport (a) has been in each of the last 10 years and (b) is estimated to be in each of the next five years.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The following table givesthe information requested for each year from 1997-98 to 2006-07.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=198 valign=top> Year </td> <td width=109 valign=top> Amount…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its capital investment in education (a) has been in each of the last 10 years and (b) is estimated to be in each of the next five years.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Scottish Executive facilitatescapital investment in the various education sectors by providing those sectors eitherwith capital resources or current resources to finance capital expenditure.Table 1 sets out annual localauthority gross capital expen…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of Scotland’s income per head of population.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table presentsestimates of Scotland’s annual income per head of population based on theDepartment for Work and Pensions’ Family Resources Survey. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=517> <thead> <tr> <td width=426 nowrap val…

6 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional revenues it will receive from HM Treasury in each of the next five years as a result of the announcements made in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s pre-Budget report on 6 December 2006.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive receivedaround £16 million for 2006-07 and 2007-08, as a result of the Chancellor’s Pre-BudgetReport on 6 December 2006. The report also provided indicative 2007 ComprehensiveSpending Review (CSR) consequentials from settlements for a s…

5 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to my question S2W-25316 which was due for answer on 5 May 2006.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I replied to the question on21 December 2006.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">http://www.sco…