Parliamentary questions

Andy Kerr

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

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA and with reference to the paragraph which states “some further funding that will also go to local government but which is additional to these totals”, what this further funding is, how much it is and in what years it will be available.

Answer · John Swinney: Future decisions onhow much of any further funding that is to be provided to local government willbe taken by the relevant Scottish Government minister and announced at the appropriatetime over the course of the next three years.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what the previous finance allocation per year of each fund referred to in Annex B was since its inception.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedhas been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44311).

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, which of the funds identified at Annex B to be rolled into the local government settlement (a) are currently determined by a bidding process, (b) are applicable to certain geographic locations only, (c) are funding pilots in certain local auth…

Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedhas been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44310).

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what the current baseline is and what new funding has moved into the new capital resource.

Answer · John Swinney: As per table 27.01in the Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 document, the baseline for supportfor capital in 2007-08 is £860.4 million. All additional funding for each of thethree forward years is as set out in the same table.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what the current provision is for prudential borrowing and capital grants.

Answer · John Swinney: The current provision for capital in 2007-08 is £860.4 million.This includes £305.2 million for supported borrowing. Local authorities are freeto undertake additional self-financed prudential borrowing, subject to affordability.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether there will be a process of prioritisation and bidding for police.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: It is for policeboards to set the budgets for their respective forces. The Scottish Government willcontinue to pay police grant to police boards in accordance with a formula basedon their relative need. It will be the responsibility of each local authority to…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether there will be a process of prioritisation and bidding for schools.

Answer · Maureen Watt: Under the terms of the concordat and its resources authorities will plan investment in schools accordingto their own priorities. No government bidding process is involved.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether there will be a process of prioritisation and bidding for roads.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Support for roadswill be provided through the core local government finance settlement and it willbe for the local authorities themselves to determine their priorities for spendingon local roads.Generally, it is theresponsibility of each local authorit…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it will meet any loss of non-domestic rate income for reasons other than its policy of reducing non-domestic rates.

Answer · John Swinney: The total fundingthat will be set out in Local Government Finance (Scotland) Order 2008, once approved by the Scottish Parliament, will be guaranteed.Any reduction in non-domestic rate income will be compensated for by an equal increasein revenue grant from t…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether universities have the capacity to deliver the teachers required to meet class-size reductions to 18 in primary 1 to primary 3 by 2011.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The concordat specifiesthat “year-on-year progress” be made on our class size commitment in the SpendingReview period. The capacity of universities, the maintenance of the quality of newteachers and the capacity of the school system to deliver quality student…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it will accept variations in class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 between local authorities across Scotland and, if so, whether there is any limit in the variations that it will accept and how it will monitor such variations.

Answer · Maureen Watt: We expect local government tomake year on year progress in reducing primary 1 to primary 3 classes to a maximumof 18 pupils. There will be different rates of progress according to local circumstances.We will enter into an agreement with every authority which …

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what is meant by “significant progress” in relation to maintaining teacher numbers in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10 and (c) 2010-11.

Answer · Maureen Watt: “Significant progress” in thatsection of the concordat does not relate to maintaining teacher numbers. It relatesto the policy of Scottish Government and local government to improve the learningexperience for children and young people by improving the fabric …

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what is meant by “significant progress” in relation to maintaining teacher numbers.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the specific arrangements are for local authorities to maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls, as referred to on page five of its concordat with COSLA.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The financial settlementagreed with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities provides sufficient fundingto allow local authorities to broadly maintain current teacher numbers against abackdrop of falling school rolls.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether the total capital fund includes an assumption of the continuation of the extra £40 million provided in the current year for school capital to meet class-size reductions.

Answer · Maureen Watt: The £40 million referredto was a one-off addition to the Schools Fund capital grant in the current financialyear. The total capital resourcesreferred to in the concordat are to secure investment in local government infrastructureover the next three years, inc…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how long it will take to achieve the class-size target if the target is funded only through the grant and school rolls fall.

Answer · Maureen Watt: We expect year onyear progress to be made in reducing class sizes in primary 1 to primary 3 classesto a maximum of 18.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the additional capital allocation shown on page five of its concordat with COSLA refers to capital in addition to the capital fund for local authorities or is included in the total for that fund.

Answer · John Swinney: The additional capital allocation mentioned on page five of the concordat with COSLA is included within the total capital funding to be providedto local authorities.

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what percentage of the £54 million to support recruitment of additional police officers will be for police staffing costs and whether it is subject to efficiency savings.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-7278 on 18 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what percentage of the £54 million to support recruitment of additional police officers will be for police pensions and whether it is subject to efficiency savings.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The £54 million willsupport the recruitment of 500 new officers, including their pension, training andsalary costs, as well as opportunities for increased retention and projects to improvethe effectiveness and efficiency of Scottish forces.Each police …

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what the estimated police pension costs are over the next three years.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The police pensionscosts included within the local government funding settlement announced by the CabinetSecretary for Finance and Sustainable Development on 13 December 2007 are (£000):2008-09: 197,7782009-10: 232,2072010-11: 215,246.</p…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture has made to parliamentary constituencies since May 2007, broken down by consituency.

Answer · Linda Fabiani: I have visited thefollowing constituencies since May 2007:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td valign=top> Constituency </td> <td valign=top> Number of Times </td> </tr> </the…

3 Dec 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what budget provision it made in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2007-08 to meet payments to local authorities for schools PPP projects; what the actual spending against budget was in 2005-06 and 2006-07; what the estimated amount is for 2007-08, and what provision is estimated to be nee…

Answer · Maureen Watt: ScottishGovernment budget provision for schools PPP revenue support offered to local authoritieswas initially £100 million, £80 million and £100 million in 2005-06, 2006-07and 2007-08 respectively. However, the funding requirements are dependent onprogress on…