Mr Brian Monteith

19 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been provided for the 2004 Western Isles Tourist Board campaign by (a) it, (b) Executive agencies and (c) the Western Isles Tourist Board.

Answer · Frank McAveety: None. The funding of the WesternIsles Tourist Board campaign is an operational matter for the board.</p>

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-885 by Nicol Stephen on 20 June 2003, what performance indicators are publicly available with regard to the digging up, and reinstatement, of roads by utility companies.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Performance indicators are containedin the Code of Practice <i>Specification for the Reinstatement of Openings inRoads</i> and the <i>Code of Practice for Inspections</i>. Detailed figures area matter for the relevant roads authority.</p>

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-885 by Nicol Stephen on 20 June 2003, how many fines have been levied on utility companies under section 130 of the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 in each year since its inception.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Executive is not aware ofany such fines being levied.</p>

30 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-885 by Nicol Stephen on 20 June 2003, what changes have been made, or are under consideration, to the national agreed standards for reinstatement of roads by utility companies.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: A revised Code of Practice <i>Specificationfor the Reinstatement of Openings in Roads</i> which sets out revised requirementson materials, workmanship and the standard of reinstatement came into force on 1 October 2003.</p><p>This Code of Practice was prepare…

25 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any intention to review family contact orders and registered agreements, including the enforcement of such orders, to ensure a better degree of compliance.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive believe that it is generally best for both parents to continue to be involvedin their child’s upbringing following separation or divorce, where this is in theinterests of the child. We have no immediate plans to review contact orders an…

25 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to pilot family mediation schemes, either based on the New Approaches to Contact schemes or the family resolution pilots taking place in England.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive recognise the importance of mediation in helping families to resolve difficultiesand arrange contact arrangements that are in the best interests of their children.</p><p>To this end, we provide grantaid to Family Mediation Scotland and …

24 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated budget is for the implementation of access rights, including core path networks, local access forums and an education programme, and what funding will be made available to local authorities and agencies for the implementation of these rights and any on-going management …

Answer · Allan Wilson: A total of £22 million for theperiod 2003-4 to 2005-6 has been made available to local authorities in respectof access related activity. Over the sameperiod, the two national park authorities are spending £0.7 million on the developmentand the provision of ac…

24 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it has provided to Caledonia Youth in each year since 1999 and what additional funding has been provided to the organisation for the establishment of new clinics in Falkirk and Aberdeen.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The funding provided is set out in the following table by financial year. The Executive’s support for Caledonia Youth is in the context of an integrated project to provide start-up costs for the establishment of four new centres, and to contribute to the runn…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of NHS general dental service dentistry in the last full year for which figures are available and broken down into (a) the amount paid by (i) patients and (ii) the taxpayer, expressed also in percentage terms and (b) the total cost of (i) continuing care patients,…

Answer · Tom McCabe: The information requested isshown in the table below. </p><p>NHS General Dental Services Expenditure:1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=544> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Heading</p> </td> <td> <p align=right…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of sickness absence has been in each NHS trust and board over the last five years; what average estimated annual amount is paid by NHS trusts in occupational sick pay, and whether there are any plans to reduce levels of sickness absence in the NHS.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A pilot collection of occupational health and safety statistics has been made over the period 2000-01 to 2002-03 and these are due to be published shortly. The published data is not considered robust enough to be issued by NHS employer and will be shown by Sc…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the management procedures are for sickness absence in the NHS.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The management proceduresfor promoting attendance are set out in the Managing Health at Work PartnershipInformation Network guideline. NHSScotland employers are expected to meet orexceed the guideline which can be seen at following website address <ahref="htt…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Health Department has established a common definition of sickness absence and collated and disseminated any central information on levels of sickness absence across NHS trust on the same basis as the exercise carried out in England.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Department established a common definition for the calculation of sickness absence as part of the occupational health minimum dataset pilot collection. The three years information is due to be published shortly and while the pilot data is not consi…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost of replacement bank, agency and locum staff was to the NHS in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The total costs associatedwith bank nurse, agency nurse and locum usage for 2002-03 are as follows:</p><p>Bank Nurse spend - £39million</p><p>Agency Nurse spend - £28.1million</p><p>Locum spend<b> </b>(fordirectly employed medical and dental locum staff in NH…

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost to the NHS was of the total amount of staff time lost to sickness absence and how much was paid to staff in occupational sick pay, over the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is notcollected centrally.</p>

16 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of contracted hours of NHS trust and board staff were lost to sickness absence in 2002-03 and what the trend has been of sickness absences over the last five years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A pilot collection of occupational health and safety statistics has been made over the period 2000-01 to 2002-03 and these are due to be published shortly. The published data is not considered robust enough to be issued by NHS employer and will be shown by Sc…

2 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for the enforcement of a child contact order were submitted in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003, stating the outcome of such applications.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive does not collate centrally information on the number of applicationsfor enforcement for child contact orders.</p>

2 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many court actions over child contact and residence took place in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003, stating what the total legal aid bill was for such cases and how the legal aid bill was distributed between (i) parents with and parents without residence and (ii) mothers and fathers.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: In 2002 there were 1,138court actions for child contact and residence in the Sheriff Court.There were also 6,422 divorce actions some of which may have includedapplications for contact or residence. In the Court of Session there were 68“Family Actions” raised…

2 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1438 by Tavish Scott on 31 July 2003, how much (a) mandatory and (b) discretionary relief was provided to businesses in 2002-03, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Notified figures for 2002-03 are provided in the following table. The final audited figures for 2002-03 are not yet available, with seven returns from local authority auditors outstanding. Updated mandatory and discretionary relief provided by each authority …

2 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-832 by Peter Peacock on 23 June 2003, what proportion of the education budget for 2004-05 has been allocated to children with any form of special needs.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Funds are distributed tolocal authorities through Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE). In 2004-05, the GAEfor Education is £3,808 million. This figure includes £256 million forprovision for special educational needs. However, a number of Programmes withinEducation …

2 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1101 by Mr Andy Kerr on 3 July 2003, what the administrative cost of collecting non-domestic rates has been in 2003-04, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The following table provides budget estimates of total expenditure on collection of non-domestic rate income for each authority for 2003-04, and is the mostup-to-date information that we hold on local authority expenditure.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 ce…

25 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it is spending in the current year on publicity and advertising to encourage the take-up of broadband and how much it expects to spend in the next two years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The campaign to encouragethe take-up of broadband is a joint publicity initiative between ScottishEnterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and the Scottish Executive. In the current year, a total of £172,653.99 has been spent by the Executive on pub…

25 Feb 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport next plans to meet Scottish Opera and what issues will be discussed.

Answer · Frank McAveety: ScottishOpera has been asked to prepare a forward business plan, based on the availablebudget, for consideration by the Scottish Arts Council and the Executive. Iexpect to meet the Scottish Opera Board and Scottish Arts Council to discussthe plan after its su…

23 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any non-financial incentives were offered to Hoover as part of the agreement to retain research and development and manufacturing at its Cambuslang plant.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The incentives offered to Hoover areas outlined in the answer to S2W-5032 on 12 February 2004 with the addition that South Lanarkshire Council has agreed to lookinto reviewing Hoover’s rates as a result of its reduced floorspace. Therewere no non-financial in…

23 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5032 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 February 2004, what the original terms were of Hoover's regional selective assistance offer of #1.7 million.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Hoover was offered a regional selective assistance grant of£1.7 million in October 1998. The project involved planned capital expenditureof over £5,195,000 and the planned safeguarding of 475 jobs which was lateramended to 361 safeguarded jobs. The £1.7 milli…

23 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage fathers, in cases of divorce or separation, to stay in contact with their children and to simplify the legal process and what the planned timescale is of its proposed bill on family law.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive believes that both parents should continue to be involved in theirchild’s upbringing following separation or divorce, where this is practical andin the best interests of the child. The Children (Scotland)Act 1995 provides the court with…

23 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the family income threshold for qualifying for the Educational Maintenance Allowance before the scheme is rolled out nationally in the academic year 2004-05.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Income thresholds will be expanded for national rollout of the EMA programme in academic year 2004-05.</p><p>Thresholds have been developed in line with Treasury and Inland Revenue advances in the Tax Credit system.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpaddin…

23 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the Education Maintenance Allowance pilot schemes in (a) East Ayrshire, (b) Glasgow, (c) West Dunbartonshire and (d) Dundee in each of the financial years in which the schemes operated.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) pilot areas have spent as follows: </p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p align=center>Financial Year</p> <p align=center> </p> <p align=center> </p> </td> <td> <p align=c…

17 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many votes were cast and how many spoilt ballots papers there were in each local authority election since unitary local authorities were created in 1996.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Information is not collectedon the number of spoilt ballot papers at local government elections.</p>

11 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3235 by Mr Andy Kerr on 31 October 2003, how much has been spent on advertising the healthyliving advice line in each month since November 2003.

Answer · Andy Kerr: To reiterate my previous answers to similar questions the Healthy Living call centre information line is an integral, but only one, facet of a campaign designed to raise awareness, stimulate attitudinal and behavioural change as well as provide advice and inf…

10 Feb 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many (a) MSPs and (b) staff have been issued with vouchers under the Parliament's childcare voucher scheme in each calendar year since the inception of the scheme and what the total cost was for each year.

Answer · Duncan McNeil: The number of MSPs and staff that have been issued with vouchers under the Parliament’s childcare voucher scheme in each calendar year since the inception of the scheme and the total cost for each year is as follows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpaddi…