Parliamentary questions
Mr David Davidson
1,095 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
22 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what charges will be applied by police forces for conducting checks on voluntary organisation personnel under Part V of the Police Act 1997.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Voluntary Issues Review Group which Jackie Baillie chaired, has recommended that enhanced criminal record certificates should be available free of charge to volunteers working with children. In recognition of the valuable work carried out by the many thou…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any exacerbation of migraine or epilepsy experienced by people living near windfarms, caused by rotating turbine blades.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: Annex A of the Scottish Executive Planning Advice Note "PAN 45. Renewable Energy Technologies" deals with planning implications for wind turbines in Scotland and includes consideration of various potential health and safety issues including "glinting" and "sh…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated any effect of "glinting" produced by wind turbine blades on the health of people living within sight of wind farms.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: A matt paint finish has been used to avoid any problems which might have arisen from glinting from wind turbine blades.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Annex A of the Scottish Executive Planning Advice Note "PAN 45. Renewable Energy Technologies" deals with plann…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated any effect of "shadow flicker" produced by wind turbine blades on the health of people living within sight of wind farms.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: No such investigations have been undertaken. However we commissioned a survey by System 3 of public attitudes to wind farms last year among over 400 people who live near Scotland's operational windfarms. None of the responses cited shadow flicker as a problem…
8 Nov 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its guidance for planning departments on whether a wind farm is considered to be an industrial application.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: We have no plans to issue such guidance. However, we expect to publish a revised National Planning Policy Guideline 6: Renewable Energy shortly.
30 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all NHSiS Trusts will be given the same repayment terms should the Executive seek to recover overspends.
Answer · Susan Deacon: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-10717 on 12 January 2001.
30 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-9978 by Susan Deacon on 26 October 2000, whether it will seek to recover in full overspends by each NHSiS Trust.
Answer · Susan Deacon: All NHS Trusts that have incurred an operational financial overspend have been asked to produce a financial plan which restores the Trust to recurring financial balance whilst protecting patient services.<I><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>Our National Health: A …
10 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to raise schoolchildren's awareness of vocational opportunities in business and of business issues in general.
Answer · Henry McLeish: Careers Service Companies throughout Scotland work with school pupils offering careers guidance, local labour market information and helping to arrange work placements and job fairs with local businesses.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The Executive supports a range of ed…
10 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a strategy to support the continuation of rural telephone exchanges which may be commercially unsustainable and how many such telephone exchanges there are in each local authority area.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: BT operates under a Universal Service Obligation (USO) and if a telephone exchange is closed the service has to be maintained in some other way. The Scottish Executive has no functions in relation to the regulation imposed by OFTEL on telecommunications compa…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-9662 by Sarah Boyack on 3 October 2000, how many individual responses were made and how far from the nearest wind farm each respondent lived.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The results of the research, Public Attitudes to Wind Farms in Scotland, was based on a total of 430 interviews with individuals in households living within 20km of wind farms in Scotland. Of these, 215 individuals lived within 5km of a wind farm, 108 lived o…
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a windfarm development is considered to be an industrial application in planning terms.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: It is for the planning authority in the first instance and ultimately for the courts to interpret planning legislation.
4 Oct 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to list the sectors of the economy in which it considers there to be a skills shortage.
Answer · Henry McLeish: Current indications are that the main sectors of the Scottish economy experiencing skills shortages are:<UL><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><LI>information technology/electronics;</LI><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><LI>financial services;</LI><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><LI>construction;</LI>…
19 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it will commit to the setting up of a task force to assist the Peterhead economy given the rundown of activity at RAF Buchan, the potential closure of Peterhead Prison and the number of business closures and job losses which have taken place over the last year.
Answer · Henry McLeish: Support for those in areas affected by economic and labour market change is provided in accordance with the principles set out in our PACE (Partnership Action for Continuing Employment) document launched in March.
19 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will conduct research into the implications for the Peterhead economy of the rundown of activity at RAF Buchan by 2004.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1O-1962.
19 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an explanation of any late payment of central resources to hospital Trusts throughout Scotland in 1999-2000 and the current year to date.
Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive does not make payment of central resources to NHS Trusts. Where appropriate, central resources are allocated to health boards and this is done at the earliest opportunity.
19 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it regards the proposed western peripheral route round Aberdeen as a trunk route development and what the reason is for its position on this matter.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-9222.
19 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to seek recovery of any overspends in the year 1999-2000 from hospital Trusts.
Answer · Susan Deacon: NHS Trusts which overspent in 1999-2000 have been asked to produce financial plans, which demonstrate how recurring financial balance will be achieved and which will also recover cumulative overspends. Maintaining sound finances is a prerequisite of deliverin…
14 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on the use of fixed and mobile magnetic resonance imaging machines in hospitals.
Answer · Susan Deacon: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners are vital tools in aiding the diagnosis of cancer and other conditions. The Scottish Executive recently provided an additional £13.2 million of capital to health boards for the provision of new or replacement equipmen…
14 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the proposals for 'onal management proposed by the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations.
Answer · John Home Robertson: I support wholeheartedly the principle of enhancing the regional dimension of the Common Fisheries Policy that is set out in the report entitled <I>Zonal Management - A new vision for Europe's Fisheries</I> produced by the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and …
14 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when farmers can expect to receive their arable aid, oilseeds support and set-aside payments for 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Payments under the Arable Area Payments Scheme (AAPS) 1999 in respect of oilseeds commenced on 1 September 1999 and in respect of cereals, linseed, protein crops and set-aside commenced on 18 October. The vast majority of payments were made within a short per…
14 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the changes to the Common Fisheries Policy envisaged in the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations' proposals for 'onal management submitted to it could be achieved within the existing Treaty provisions.
Answer · John Home Robertson: Some of the proposals set out in the Scottish Fishermen's Federation and the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations report on zonal management could not be accommodated within the existing Treaty provisions.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">For example, their prop…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many new business regulations it has introduced and (b) how many regulations it has removed in the year from 1 July 1999 and what the cost has been to business of these changes.
Answer · Henry McLeish: 10 regulations, with Regulatory Impact Assessments covering the impact on business, have been introduced since 1 July 1999. No RIA's have been prepared with respect to the removal of regulations. A meaningful assessment of the cost to business is not availabl…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money it owed its suppliers at the end of the 1999-2000 financial year and how much of that money was more than 30 days overdue.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The Scottish Executive aims to pay all valid invoices within 30 days of receipt, or within other agreed contractual terms. At the end of the 1999-2000 financial year the Executive, including its executive agencies and associated departments, held unpaid invoi…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will support the setting up of a national legal advice hotline for Scottish business.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The cost to business of litigation and possible need for a national legal advice hotline for Scottish business have not been raised with me in consultations I have held recently with business across Scotland but if the member wishes to provide me with informa…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will undertake research to evaluate any costs to business of litigation generally and to examine any specific areas in which litigation is occurring and trends in litigation affecting business.
Answer · Henry McLeish: I refer to my reply of today to question S1W-9664.
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the names and addresses of those people living within five kilometres of a wind farm who were referred to in its Press Release SE2329/2000 as responding favourably to wind farms, following the recent survey into public attitude towards such farms.
Answer · Sarah Boyack: As is normal practice in government social research, respondents who participated in this survey did so on the basis that their individual responses would be confidential. As such, disclosure of their names and addresses would be a breach of that commitment a…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to exempt small business from any current or future legislation.
Answer · Henry McLeish: The exemption of small businesses from regulation has been raised with me at meetings with business across Scotland and I am considering this with other matters raised.
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government regarding any disproportionate burden placed on small Scottish businesses by the movement of welfare support administration from the Department of Social Security to payroll departments.
Answer · Henry McLeish: Concern about the burden of welfare support administration upon business payroll departments has been highlighted in a series of meetings held with business across Scotland and I will ensure that the concerns of Scottish business on this issue are communicate…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of provision was for free school transport at the beginning of September 2000, broken down by education authority.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Scottish Executive financial support for local authority expenditure is not allocated for particular services. It is for each local authority to determine what provision is necessary for school transport and other services from the general resources available…
5 Sep 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much central provision for subsidised school transport was made available in 1999-2000 and what the projected support is for the next three financial years, all figures broken down by education authority.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Scottish Executive financial support for local authority expenditure is not allocated for particular services. It is for each local authority to determine what provision is necessary for school transport and other services from the general resources available…