Parliamentary questions

Alex Neil

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

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support employment opportunities for adults with learning disabilities.

Answer · Iain Gray: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations.Jobcentre Plus's Disability Service…

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current level of funding is per secondary school pupil in each local authority area.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Information on budgeted school running costs for the current financial year was published on Thursday 5 December 2002 on the Scottish Executive website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00217-00.asp.

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the capital requirements of further and higher education institutions.

Answer · Iain Gray: The detailed assessment of the capital requirements of further and higher education institutions is a matter for individual institutions and the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education.

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its targets are for the reduction of household poverty.

Answer · Margaret Curran: Poverty is a complex issue and there is no single way to measure it. Poverty can be measured in terms of low income, worklessness, educational attainment, health, housing and by other means.The Executive's Social Justice Annual Report includes progress tow…

4 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the issue of top-up fees for university students and whether it has any plans to introduce a scheme, similar to that under consideration for England and Wales, in Scotland.

Answer · Iain Gray: The Executive's policy is that institutions should not charge students top-up fees. There are no plans to introduce top-up tuition fees in Scotland.

5 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications it has received for the installation of central heating under its central heating installation programme since the programmes inception to date from (a) (i) local authority properties and (ii) housing association properties broken down by local authority area and (b)…

Answer · Hugh Henry: I cannot answer (a) because local authority and housing association tenants do not make an application to their landlord. Eligible households are identified by their landlords who also arrange for the works to be carried out. As regards (b), I refer the membe…

1 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who nominated each of the new members of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Answer · Elaine Murray: None of the four new appointees to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland, announced in October 2002, was nominated for appointment. All four appointees completed application forms in response to advertisements in the national and local press.

1 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the new appointments to the National Galleries of Scotland completed political activity forms prior to their appointment.

Answer · Elaine Murray: All four new appointees to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland, announced in October 2002 completed political activity forms prior to their appointment.

1 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements are placed on board members of the National Galleries of Scotland with regard to their attendance at meetings and other official engagements.

Answer · Elaine Murray: Members of the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland are expected to prepare for and attend meetings of the board, of which there are at present six annually. In addition, board members may be involved in some additional meetings and events.

1 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the remuneration package is for board members of the National Galleries of Scotland.

Answer · Elaine Murray: Appointments to the Board of the National Galleries of Scotland are unpaid, but travelling and subsistence expenses are met.

1 Nov 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when and where the recent vacancies for board members of the National Galleries of Scotland were advertised.

Answer · Elaine Murray: Vacancies on the Board of Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland were advertised in the following newspapers on 8 or 10 February 2002: The Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday; The Herald and Sunday Herald; the Dundee Courier…

30 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why it is no longer prepared to provide funding to the Scottish Science Trust (SST) and, in particular, whether this decision is a result of any independent assessment or evaluation of SST's performance or impact.

Answer · Iain Gray: The Scottish Science Trust is a charitable organisation independent of government, established in 1997 principally to support the work of science centres in Scotland, and with the assumption that no government support would be required. However, it has recent…

23 Oct 2002 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much public sector expenditure in total there has been on monitoring, running and supporting HM Prison Kilmarnock.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The total cost to the Scottish Prison Service has been in the region of £46 million from 1999 to date. The Scottish Executive does not hold details of any local authority expenditure in relation to HM Prison Kilmarnock.

21 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new staff members at HM Prison Kilmarnock have had their wage costs subsidised by East Ayrshire Council in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:I am aware of no such subsidies.

21 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much East Ayrshire Council has spent subsidising the wage costs of new staff at HM Prison Kilmarnock in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Whist this is properly a matter to be raised with the local authority concerned I have made some enquires and can confirm that we are not aware…

21 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been involved in any discussions in which it was decided that East Ayrshire Council should subsidise the wage costs of new employees at HM Prison Kilmarnock.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:I am not aware of any such discussions.

21 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has given any monies to East Ayrshire Council for the purpose of subsidising the wage costs of new staff members at HM Prison Kilmarnock and, if so, how much.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No such monies have been given by the Executive.

15 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to announce who its next permanent secretary will be.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I have previously announced that the appointment process should enable a decision to be made and announced after the Scottish Parliament general election in May 2003.

15 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any evaluation has been carried out of the Health Education Board for Scotland's (HEBS) Club Smoking campaign and, if so, what the main findings were.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: HEBS evaluates the media impacts of their teens advertising programme through the Teen Tracking Survey, which is carried out every two months with a monthly sample of 300 people aged 12 to 17. Key measures are awareness, understanding of message and emotional…

15 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget is for the Health Education Board for Scotland's Club Smoking campaign and how much has been spent to date.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The Club Smoking advertisement campaign forms part of a smoking strategy targeted at teenagers, which is part of the wider Think About It health campaign. There is, therefore, no specific budget for Club Smoking but approximately £520,000 has been spen…

15 Oct 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-5715 by Mr Jim Wallace on 10 October 2002, why it did not detail whether any aspect of its policies had been amended as a result of representations made by any member of the Royal Family since May 1999, accepting that such correspondence is private a…

Answer · Jim Wallace: Information relating to confidential communications between Scottish ministers and Her Majesty The Queen or other Members of the Royal Household is exempt from disclosure under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information.