Questions · Alex Neil · GB Politics

21 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out an evaluation of the Education Maintenance Allowance Programme being piloted by East Ayrshire Council.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Education Maintenance Allowances are being piloted in East Ayrshire over three years. The aim of the scheme is to encourage young people from low income families to stay in full-time education at school or FE college in order to achieve qualifications. The ef…

21 Jan 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the Local Enterprise Companies which do not provide financial assistance for modern apprentices aged 18 and over.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Modern Apprenticeships, which are part of the Skillseekers programme, are primarily targeted at 16 and 17 year olds. Once LECs have provided training places for 16 and 17 year olds they have discretionary power to allocate funding to training for young people…

14 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many serving councillors have been convicted of fraud or other forms of corruption broken down by local authority in each of the last three years and what their party of affiliation was at the time of conviction.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The information requested is not held centrally.

14 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2636 by Henry McLeish on 2 December 1999, given its general responsibility for Scottish Enterprise, whether it will provide details regarding the points raised in that question and, if not, why not and whether it will state by what mechanism members …

Answer · Henry McLeish: As the funding and performance monitoring of Scotland the Brand is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, I have asked the Chairman to write to the Member providing the information requested in his earlier question (S1W-2636). A copy of that reply wil…

10 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government with a view to negotiating for a share of oil revenues from the North Sea to be earmarked for public spending in Scotland.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Oil revenues, like other taxes and duties, are pooled at a UK level and the aggregate pooled revenues are then distributed in accordance with relative need. As is clear from the latest edition of Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland, covering the ye…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the First Minister has met with the Chairperson of Scottish Homes since May 1999.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: As Scottish Minister with responsibility for housing, I have regular business meetings with the Chairman of Scottish Homes. The First Minister is not involved in these meetings but has met the Chairman on a less formal basis.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1208 by Mr Jack McConnell on 29 November 1999, whether it will provide a breakdown of the budgeted and actual costs incurred by Scotland Europa in relation to Scotland House.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The breakdown of the budgeted and actual costs incurred by Scotland Europa is a matter for Scotland Europa and its members, both private and public sector. It is not a subsidiary of the Scottish Executive.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1734 by Iain Gray on 3 December 1999, whether it will specify the number of beds currently blocked in each of the health board areas for which figures are available.

Answer · Iain Gray: The information requested is set out in the table below. The figures, updated to include figures for the Board areas not available at the time of the question referred to, are the product of an informal survey of health boards conducted in October 1999. From …

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made or intends to make representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the systems used to measure and monitor the proportion of money distributed via the National Lottery which is allocated to Scottish projects.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive maintains close contact with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport on a routine basis as part of its procedures for monitoring National lottery funds allocated to Scottish projects. The shares of Lottery proceeds distributed by <B…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-891 by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 1999, whether it will publish the outcomes and outputs achieved as a result of the grants awarded in each year from 1996-97 to 1999-2000 to the Scottish Raptor Study Groups.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: No. Publication of information gathered by Raptor Study Groups on Scottish Natural Heritage's behalf is a matter for Scottish Natural Heritage. I have, however, arranged for SNH to write to Mr Neil with a view to setting up a meeting to provide a briefing on …

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the current amount of council tax arrears in each local authority in Scotland.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The information is set out in the attached table.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=547><TR><TD WIDTH="24%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=14><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="RIGHT"><P ALIGN="RIGHT"> </TD><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=14><P></…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to require Local Enterprise Company board members to be accredited by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Answer · Henry McLeish: We have no plans to bring Local Enterprise Company board appointments under the remit of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. They are private companies that operate under contract to Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the crite…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many public appointments made by Her Majesty's Government it is consulted about and what is the procedure for agreeing such appointments.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The Executive is consulted on all appointments to the sixty-five cross border<B> </B>public authorities. Details of each authority are provided in SI 1999 No. 1319.<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The procedure for agreeing appointments varies from appointment to…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2607 by Henry McLeish on 30 November 1999, what is the normal margin of error, in percentage terms, used in Regional Selective Assistance calculations.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Based on past experience of Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) forecasts, the margin of error, in percentage terms, for RSA expenditure is given in the table below:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=343><TR><TD WIDTH="43%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN=…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its ministers have met the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Answer · Donald Dewar: Two. Susan Deacon and Jack McConnell.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of all public appointments it makes, including judicial appointments, and which minister is responsible for making each appointment.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The information requested is shown in the tables below. The tables cover appointments to NDPBs sponsored by the Scottish Executive and judicial appointments.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Appointments made by individual Ministers<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 …

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the remits of all Executive staff employed within Scotland House in Brussels.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive EU Office has six members of staff - four are members of the Scottish Executive and two are locally engaged staff. <FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>The office has four main functions: <P>• to provide support and advice to the Scottish Execu…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1208 by Mr Jack McConnell on 29 November 1999, what was (a) the budgeted and (b) the actual cost of acquiring Scotland House.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Scotland House is leased by Scotland Europa and sublet to its resident members and the Scottish Executive EU Office. As stated in my answer to question number S1W-3174, the budgeted and actual costs of acquiring Scotland House are a matter for Scotland Europa.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2610 by Mr Jack McConnell on 1 December 1999, what estimate is made in the Scottish Executive's forecast budgets for local authorities for the current and each of the next two financial years for (a) pay awards and (b) redundancy costs.

Answer · Jack McConnell: It is for local authorities themselves to decide what provision to make for pay awards and redundancy costs when setting their budgets. The local government settlement for next year will allow spending to rise to £6,746 million, an increase of 3.7% over the c…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2607 by Henry McLeish on 30 November 1999, what was the (a) mean and (b) median average amount of Regional Selective Assistance provided to projects in Scotland, as a percentage of the total cost of all assisted projects, in each of the last three ye…

Answer · Henry McLeish: Regional aid ceilings are defined in terms of NGE (Net Grant Equivalent). The mean and median NGEs for RSA offers accepted over each of the last three years are given in the table below:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="40%" V…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2605 by Henry McLeish on 30 November 1999, what percentage of forecast Regional Selective Assistance expenditure is already committed in each year from 1999-2000 to 2002-03.

Answer · Henry McLeish: The figures requested are given in the table below :<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">RSA (gross)</TD><TD WIDTH="21%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">1999-2000</TD><TD WIDTH="17%" VALIGN="TO…

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed East Ayrshire Council's direct labour organisation in the last three months.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Under the terms of the section 19B Direction, the Scottish Executive is involved in regular contact with and monitoring of East Ayrshire Council's DLO.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed North Lanarkshire Council's direct labour organisation in the last three months.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Under the terms of the section 19B Direction, the Scottish Executive is involved in regular contact with and monitoring of North Lanarkshire Council's DLO.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed South Lanarkshire Council's direct labour organisation in the last three months.

Answer · Frank McAveety: No.

9 Dec 1999 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1036 by Henry McLeish on 6 September 1999, whether it will provide updated information on the number of young people who have secured sustained employment through the New Deal.