Parliamentary questions
Ben Wallace
205 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions since 1990 the ceiling on the Barnett Formula settlement reduced Treasury funding when taking European Structural Fund grants into account.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The only limits on the operation of the Barnett formula are the population percentage employed and the changes in comparable programmes for England and Wales.
16 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2420 by Mr Jack McConnell on 7 December 1999, when it expects to have available a more comprehensive assessment of the costs of answering parliamentary questions and whether this will include a detailed breakdown of the #100 average cost of answering…
Answer · Jack McConnell: We are finalising the arrangements for a major study to assess the amount of time Scottish Executive staff spend on dealing with parliamentary questions. This exercise will involve tracking up to 500 written and 200 oral questions. The data gathered from this…
16 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review current provisions for dental care in Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The provision of general dental services is kept under review by health boards and Primary Care NHS Trusts, which work to ensure availability of and improvement in dental services.
16 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all funds from the last European Structural Funds round have been allocated.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Yes.
16 Feb 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has plans to exempt Scottish students on specialist courses in England which are unavailable at Scottish institutions from paying tuition fees.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: In the programme of proposals debated and agreed in Parliament on 27 January, we explained the exemption from making a contribution to tuition fees from academic year 2000-01 would only apply to Scottish domiciled and EU students attending Scottish institutio…
9 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on external consultants in 1999.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Expenditure by the Scottish Executive, plus its executive agencies and associated departments, (these include Scottish Agricultural Science Agency, Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency, Fisheries Research Services, Students Awards Agency for Scotland, Registe…
2 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether organisations such as Care and Repair will be eligible to apply for European funding under the new structural funds plan.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The eligibility of organisations to apply directly for European Structural Funds supports depends on a number of factors, including legal status, the terms of any memorandum and articles of association, the activities which the organisation normally engages i…
12 Jan 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines were issued to health boards before Christmas in relation to epidemics or winter emergencies.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Guidance was issued to all Health Boards on the importance of robust planning to manage emergency admissions, seasonal pressures and other peaks in demand. Guidance was also issued by the Chief Medical Officer in Scotland on the administration of flu and pneu…
14 Dec 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be monitoring centrally the distribution of Objective 3 funding by geography and grant si'e.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Yes. The Scottish Executive will monitor the new Objective 3 Programme in a number of ways, including the geographical distribution of the grant awards and the amounts of grant awarded to individual projects.
25 Nov 1999 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer under what statutory authority the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body can meet an MSP's legal expenses.
Answer · David Steel: The Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body operates under the statutory authority of the Scotland Act 1998. Under section 21 of the Act it provides the Parliament, or ensures that the Parliament is provided, with the property, staff and services required for t…
11 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any further plans to promote its Scotland in Europe campaign.
Answer · Donald Dewar: Scotland's future is important in Europe. The Executive will continue to work to get Scotland the best possible deal out of Europe, supported and strengthened by being in Europe as part of the UK. The recently opened Scotland House is an important part of tha…
10 Nov 1999 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any further plans to promote its Scotland in Europe campaign.
Answer · Donald Dewar: Scotland's future is important in Europe. The Executive will continue to work to get Scotland the best possible deal out of Europe, supported and strengthened by being in Europe as part of the UK. The recently opened Scotland House is an important part of t…
1 Nov 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money was allocated in 1994-95 and 1997-98 to Health Boards, the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, the Health Education Board for Scotland, the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, the Scottish Council for Po…
Answer · Susan Deacon: The allocations were as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=616><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">1994-95</TD><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">1997-98</TD></TR><TR><TD …
26 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Scottish Executive has for the future funding of Tourist Boards.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I will consider the position in the light of the responses to our consultation exercise.
26 Aug 1999 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans the Scottish Executive has for the future funding of Tourist Boards.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I will consider the position in the light of the responses to our consultation exercise.
20 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the total spend by local authorities on transporting excluded pupils to alternative schools.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: This information is not collected centrally.
19 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it can take to alleviate the high costs many households are being required to incur in order to repair failures in old septic tank soakaways, given that many of these were part-constructed by local authorities, and whether it will implement any of these measures.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Meeting the costs of any repairs required is a matter for the householder in the first instance. Assistance may be available in some circumstances from the improvement and repairs grant scheme. The scheme is administered by the local authorities, and the reso…
19 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will re-examine the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 in order to re-define the Water Authorities' duty towards clearing up pollution caused by deteriorating drainage infrastructure.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: The Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 places duties on water authorities to provide and maintain drainage infrastructure. The 1968 Act does not deal with preventing pollution which is controlled under the Control of Pollution Act 1974. The Scottish Executive consi…
19 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will, in line with proposed legislation on transport, seek the re-opening of Laurencekirk Station to assist commuters taking the train into Aberdeen.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I understand that ScotRail, Great North Eastern Railways and Railtrack are at present considering with Aberdeenshire Council the operational and financial implications of having Aberdeen-Glasgow/Edinburgh services make a stop at Laurencekirk. I await the resu…
19 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior Doctors are presently contracted to work 72 or more hours per week.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The current target is that no junior doctor on an on-call rota should be contracted to work for more than an average of 72 hours per week. On 31 March 1999, 98.1% of junior doctors working in Scotland met this target. The number contracted to work in excess o…
19 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual budgeted cost of Scotland House in Brussels is and whether this cost is met from its block grant.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Scotland House is an inclusive body that involves a range of Scottish interests. Its principal components are the Scottish Executive EU Office and Scotland Europa, which in turn houses a number of subscribers.<P>The total running costs for the Scottish Execut…
3 Aug 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money was allocated in 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 to the following bodies: Health Boards, Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, Health Education Board for Scotland, National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland, Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Council …
Answer · Susan Deacon: The allocations were as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=668><TR><TD WIDTH="46%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">1995-96</TD><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="TOP"><P ALIGN="CENTER">1996-97</TD></TR><TR><TD …
21 Jul 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to ensure that labelling of meat or agricultural produce is more detailed in order to draw the consumer's attention to additives such as hormones.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Additives used in food are agreed at EU level. The use of such additives is controlled in Scotland by the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 which prescribe permitted additives to be used in certain foods. Food containing additives is required by…
21 Jul 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive in the light of the increasing number of incidents involving harmful internet material on school computers, what measures, further to the use of software guards, it intends to take to ensure that children and teaching staff are protected from inadvertently downloading or viewing such mate…
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The risk of inadvertently accessing inappropriate Internet material is small. The nature of such sites is usually evident from the search results displayed before the site is accessed. Good filtering software will prevent access to known harmful sites. The be…
1 Jun 1999 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take to safeguard the long-term future of Stracathro Hospital and to indicate its intended strategy for the retention of rural hospitals across Scotland.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Tayside Health Board is currently conducting a review of acute services in Tayside which is due to be completed later this year. The services provided at Stracathro hospital are part of that review. The intention is to establish an equitable network of acute …