Parliamentary questions

Alex Neil

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

27 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional measures it intends to implement to eradicate child poverty.

Answer · Iain Gray: The Social Justice Annual Report sets out programmes and policies of the Scottish Executive and the UK Government, which will help to move towards our shared goal of ending child poverty in a generation. I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-…

27 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Ayrshire and Arran Health Board have refused to prescribe Inflaximab to any patients within their catchment area on the recommendation of an NHS consultant and, if so, whether such refusal infringes a patient's rights under the Human Rights Act 1998.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This is a matter for Ayrshire and Arran Health Board.Health boards determine their prescribing policy on new medicines, taking into account local needs and advice from their Area Drugs and Therapeutic Committee. The Scottish Medicines Consortium will provi…

22 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether grants to tenants by local authorities for the upgrading and repair of social housing can be used to pay off council tax arrears.

Answer · Iain Gray: This is a matter for local authorities.

22 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18802 by Angus MacKay on 19 November 2001, whether it will provide information on the number and percentage of applicants for public appointments who declared any political activity.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The information requested is not available. All applications for public appointments are considered very carefully against the criteria for the appointment in question. As the political activity declaration makes clear, neither activity nor affiliation is a c…

21 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on prescribing infliximab in each of the last three years, broken down by health board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16712 on 1 August 2001.

21 Nov 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional measures it intends to take to reform the public appointments system.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Executive has put in place a modern, fair and open public appointments system. The key requirement is that ministers are able to appoint individuals with the necessary ability and experience to run our public bodies. A number of additional measures to enh…

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much will be made available to each local authority from the (a) Excellence Fund, (b) New Community Schools and (c) Action Plan Funding initiatives in each of the next four years.

Answer · Jack McConnell: As indicated in my answer to question S1W-19611, the scope and operation of the Excellence Fund is currently under review. The review includes consideration of on-going commitments on local authorities arising from the fund. I shall announce the outcome of th…

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority has received from the (a) Excellence Fund, (b) New Community Schools and (c) Action Plan Funding initiatives in each year since they were established.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The New Community Schools and Education Action Plan Programmes are part of the Excellence Fund. Table 1 provides details of the total amounts allocated to authorities under the Excellence Fund in each year since it was established. Tables 2 and 3 provide sepa…

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14085 by Mr Jack McConnell on 29 March 2001, whether it will report on the progress being made in the national evaluation of the New Community Schools Pilot Programme.

Answer · Jack McConnell: As indicated in the reply of 29 March 2001, the three-year national evaluation started in April 2000. The evaluation team has met with the New Community Schools Ministerial Steering Group and with Scottish Executive officials on a number of occasions to repor…

1 Nov 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the Excellence Fund and Action Plan Funding initiatives.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The scope and operation of the Excellence Fund, which includes the programme for Education Action Plans, is currently under review by a working group comprising officials of the Scottish Executive Education Department and representatives of the Association of…

25 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18905 by Mr Jim Wallace on 22 October 2001, what plans it has to start recording annual figures on the estimated impact of retail crime on businesses.

Answer · Iain Gray: We have no plans to collect such information.

24 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18203 by Mr Jim Wallace on 28 September 2001, whether it will give a breakdown of the table in Appendix 5 to the Scottish Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts 1999-2000 on "breaches of discipline committed and punishments awarded in establishmen…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The tables give details of the number of breaches of discipline committed and the punishments awarded in establishments during …

24 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the attendance rate at meetings was for each board member of the Health Education Board for Scotland in each of the last three years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Attendance rates for the last three full calendar years, as well as the current calendar year to date, are given in the table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=599><TR><TD WIDTH="22%" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN=2 HEIGHT=17></TD><…

24 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S1W-18201 and S1W-18189, why it will not publish information on the number of whole-time equivalent nursing posts there currently are and the social work cost per prisoner and whether this is in line with its current freedom of information policy.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Figures giving the whole-time equivalent nursing posts in all SPS-run prisons were published in the answer to question S1W-18201. The fig…

24 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) private residential homes, (b) private nursing homes and (c) local authority residential homes there currently are in (i) Scotland and (ii) each local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is contained in the following table:Number of Homes: at 31 March 2000<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=3 WIDTH=406><TR><TD WIDTH="35%" VALIGN="TOP">Local Authority</TD><TD …

17 Oct 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has held any discussions with the Scottish Prison Service regarding its contract with Premier Prison Services to run Her Majesty's Prison, Kilmarnock.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Prison Service, which is part of the Scottish Executive has meetings, as necessary, to manage the contract with Premier Prison Services to run HMP Kilmarnock.

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual cost was of all crime against business in each of the past three years.

Answer · Jim Wallace: There are no regular statistics collected centrally on the costs of crime against businesses. It is therefore not possible to say what the annual cost of crime against businesses has been over the past three years.In November 1999, the Scot…

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were convicted of shoplifting in each of the past three years and of those, how many were given (a) a custodial sentence, (b) a fine and (c) a caution or admonishment, in (i) Scotland and (ii) each police force area.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The available information is given in the table. Data for the year 2000 are not yet available.Persons with a charge proved in Scottish courts where the main offence was shoplifting, by police force area, 1997-99<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 C…

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences for shoplifting were recorded in each of the past three years in (a) Scotland and (b) each police force area.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the following publications:Table 4A, page 21 of the Statistical Bulletin Recorded Crime in Scotland, 1998 published by the Scottish Executive in March 1999, a copy of which is available in the Pa…

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have (a) joined the New Deal for Young People and (b) moved into (i) subsidised and (ii) unsubsidised employment since the New Deal's inception, broken down by unit of delivery.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: 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 organisations.Figures requested by unit of delivery are no…

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total budget for the New Deal for Young People was in Scotland at its inception and how much has been spent to date

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have enrolled in the (a) employment (b) full-time education and training, (c) voluntary sector and (d) environmental task force options of the New Deal for Young People since its inception, broken down by each unit of delivery.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: 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 organisationsThe figures requested, by Unit of Delivery, a…

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have moved into unsubsidised employment directly from the Gateway stage since the scheme's inception, broken down by unit of delivery.

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of companies have taken on young people under the employment option of the New Deal for Young People since the New Deal's inception.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: 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 organisations.This information is not collected. However, …

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the use of the revenue from the Aggregates Tax Sustainability Fund will have in improving the environment.

Answer · Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-18893.

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what Scotland's share of the Aggregates Tax Sustainability Fund will be and what it will be spent on.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Scotland will receive approximately £3 million per year from 2002-03 as part of the allocation by the Treasury of the proceeds of the Aggregates Levy. Decisions on how it will be spent have yet to be made.

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scotland's share of the Aggregates Tax Sustainability Fund will be ring fenced.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Scotland's share of the Aggregates Tax Sustainability Fund will be added to the Scottish Executive DEL and is not ring-fenced.

5 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which further education colleges will benefit from the #15 million funding package announced by the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 3 October 2001 and how much each will receive.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: All Scotland's incorporated further education colleges will benefit from the £15 million in new money which the Scottish Executive is making available to the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. It is for the Funding Council to decide on the level of f…

2 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used to select the successful candidate for the recent vacancy of chairperson to the proposed Scottish Water and who carried out the interview.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The interview panel consisted of:John Graham, Head of the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs DepartmentAndrew Cubie, Senior Partner, Fyfe Ireland WS (Independent Assessor)Deirdre Hutton, C…

2 Oct 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria were used to select candidates for the (a) initial and (b) final shortlists for the post of chairperson of the proposed Scottish Water.

Answer · Ross Finnie: No shortlisting took place. As agreed with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments, all three chairs of the existing water authorities were invited to apply and were interviewed.