Parliamentary questions

Andrew Wilson

771 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how and where the net change of #25 million over the period 2001-02 to 2003-04 announced by the Minister for Finance and Local Government on 28 June 2001 will be made within the transport budget and what projects will lose funding as a result, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The adjustments to the transport programme, which are to fund other Executive priorities, are set out in the table. The SPT adjustment will bring provision in line with payments due under the franchise and is not expected to affect operations and services. I …

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what revisions to the method of collecting or reporting manufacturing employment levels have taken place since 1997 and what impact any such revisions have had on the levels of employment reported.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Estimates of employee jobs in Scotland are produced by the Office for National Statistics from their Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). This survey has run from December 1998, replacing the Annual Employment Survey (AES) which last ran in September 1998.The AE…

31 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of manufacturing employment was in each quarter since 1979.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The number of employee jobs in manufacturing in Scotland since 1981 are given in the following table:(Not seasonally adjusted)<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=557><TR><TD WIDTH="12%" VALIGN="TOP">Year</FON…

2 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16039 by Angus MacKay on 27 June 2001, whether the information made available to it by Her Majesty's Government, in accordance with the terms of Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly or otherwise, …

Answer · Angus MacKay: Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly - A Statement of Funding Policy sets out the comparabilities that operate at a Departmental level. These are based on sub-programme expenditure in the year befor…

6 Jun 2001 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it plans to have with the Irish Government and what issues will be discussed.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Scottish Ministers enjoy regular contact with counterparts in the Irish Government, on a range of issues. The First Minister and other Scottish Ministers will meet the Taoiseach on 20 June, when he visits Scotland as the guest of the First Minister and the Se…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will (a) list any surveys, polling exercises or data collection exercises which are currently being conducted by any departments, agencies or bodies under its control, (b) detail any organisations employed to conduct such exercises and (c) detail the regulations governing the …

Answer · Angus MacKay: In answer to parts (a) and (b), the Scottish Executive conducted 113 in the year up to April 2001. In addition, the Central Research Unit of the Scottish Executive is conducting the following projects - as of 8 June 2001.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDIN…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics are available on the level of investment within the Scottish economy and for which years.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Gross Fixed Capital Formation data for Scotland were published for 1988 to 1995 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 1998, on a European System of Accounts 1979 basis, in Economic Trends No 530. ONS are currently working on estimates on a Eur…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics are available on the rate of inflation within the Scottish economy and for which years.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Macro-economic policy and financial instruments are reserved to Westminster, and applied at the UK level. Indicators of inflation are also produced at the UK level, and no such measure is currently produced for Scotland.

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what statistics are available on personal savings in Scotland and for which years.

Answer · Angus MacKay: There are a number of sources of statistics on personal savings. Amongst these, are the DSS' Family Resources Survey (FRS), the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) and the Inland Revenue's Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI). FRS data are available from 1994-95 to 1…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list for each year since 1945 for which figures are available (a) the percentage real annual growth in the Scottish Gross Domestic Product, (b) the actual monetary Gross Domestic Product in market prices and at factor cost, including an explanation of what these measures a…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Table 1 gives the annual constant price percentage growth in Scottish GDP (output measure) for each year since 1964, the earliest year for which information is available. Consistent information for the Continental Shelf over the same period is not available.<…

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what relationship it has with the Office for National Statistics in terms of the gathering, sharing and use of statistical information.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Memorandum of Understanding and Statistics Concordat set out the principles that underlie the working relationships between the UK Government and the devolved administrations.

1 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the categories of official statistics gathered in Scotland since July 1999 in those areas under its responsibility, outlining in each case the organisation responsible for gathering and reporting the statistics.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The following is a list of organisations responsible for collecting information in those areas under the responsibility of the Scottish Executive. Official Statistics are taken to include National Statistics and those collected by or for the Government Statis…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the components are of the "Reconciliation" item in Table 8. Other expenditure categories, 1998-99 of Government Expenditure and Revenue Report 1998-99 and whether it will give detailed comparison of expenditure on this item for those years for which figures are available.

Answer · Angus MacKay: An explanation of the estimated reconciliation item for Scotland is set out in Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland, 1998/99 (second paragraph, page 28).More detail on the estimated reconciliation figure for Scotland is at Table 1. The ta…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the overall Scottish budget has been as a percentage share of equivalent UK budgets in each year for which figures are available and broken down into available categories.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The table shows that, for the years for which comparable data are available, the Scottish budget remains stable as a proportion of the overall UK budget.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=555><TR><TD WIDTH="22%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH=…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the estimated Scottish share of UK income tax revenues in 1997-98 and 1998-99 according to government expenditure and revenue analysis reports and explain any variations in this share between the two years.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland, 1998-99 contains in section 7 a detailed description of both Scotland's share of UK income tax revenues and the comparison of 1997-98 and 1998-99 figures.

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why "Local authority debt interest" in Table 7. Other expenditure categories, 1998-99 of Government Expenditure and Revenue Report 1998-99 is 30.7% of the equivalent figure for the UK and whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of this expenditure.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The UK Local Authority Debt interest figure is provided by Treasury. The Scottish value is sourced from Scottish Executive estimates of external interest payments by Scottish local authorities, based on information from the annual survey of local authority bo…

30 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why the "Other items" category in Table 7. Other expenditure categories, 1998-99 of Government Expenditure and Revenue Report 1998-99 is 15.8% of the equivalent figure for the UK and whether it will provide a breakdown of each component of this category and the expenditure thereon.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The "Other Items" line in Table 7 of Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland is a subset of "Other Expenditure". "Other Expenditure" captures items included in National Accounts measures of expenditure which are not…

16 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current economic value is of the LINK enterprise budget programme; how many jobs have been created as a result of the programme since it started, and how many and what percentage of Scottish businesses are currently involved in the programme.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: LINK is the UK Government's principal mechanism for supporting pre-competitive collaborative research between industry and the science base. Seven Government Departments, including the Scottish Executive, and five Research Councils provide up to 50% of the…

16 May 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses were in operation in Scotland in the latest year for which figures are available, broken down by si'e and sector, and what each of these figures represents as a percentage of the equivalent UK figures.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The following table shows the number of businesses in Scotland in November 1999, broken down by employee sizeband and sector. The enterprises are allocated to the sizebands on the basis of their total number of employees in the whole of the UK.<TABLE BORDER C…