Parliamentary questions

David Mundell

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

30 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the working capacity of a school is assessed for the purposes of the statutory school closure process and whether the methodology used is consistent with other guidance issued by it on space per pupil.

Answer · Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32843 on 26 March 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/w…

30 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether unelected representatives on local authority education committees are entitled to vote on a school closure following the statutory closure procedure.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Non-elected members of local authority education committees who represent churches and denominational bodies have voting rights in relation to matters dealt with by those committees. Other non-elected members do not.

29 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on whether a local councillor expressing an opinion on the closure of a school during the statutory closure process would affect that councillor's ability to carry out his or her duties at any future local authority committee meeting on that issue.

Answer · Tavish Scott: This is a matter for individual local authorities and the Standards Commission for Scotland.The current Code of Conduct for Councillors and guidance issued by the Standards Commission make clear that councillors who are responsible for matters such as plan…

27 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is available for sheriff officers on the execution of their duties.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Rules of court provide that an individual may not be an officer of court unless he has satisfactorily completed a three-year period of training and has passed the specified examinations. In addition, the Society of Messengers-at-Arms and Sheriff Officers has …

13 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what stretches of road in the south of Scotland fatal and serious road accidents have been recorded in each year since 1999.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Central Statistical Database contains information on the road class and number (if any), the grid reference of the locations of road accidents, local authority area and police force area.Figures for the numbers of accidents on individual roads can only…

13 May 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it or any of its agencies contributed to the Burns An' A' That Festival 2003.

Answer · Frank McAveety: The Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland and the Scottish Arts Council have invested resources totalling £365,000 to the Burns An' A' That Festival in 2003.

11 Mar 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-6183 by Lewis Macdonald on 9 January 2003, what information it has received about whether the interim analysis of the consultation responses to The Future Development of Air Transport in the United Kingdom has now been completed and, if it has been c…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The consultation for the white paper The Future Development of Air Transport in the UK has been extended to 30 June 2003. Many key stakeholders have yet to formally respond. Officials of the Executive and Department for Transport are currently followin…

11 Mar 2003 · Written Question

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Central Statistical Database contains information about the grid reference of road accident locations. It does not provide a plain language description of those locations. Information on fatal road accidents by road type for 1999 to 2001 is given in table…

5 Mar 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the school closures planned by Dumfries and Galloway Council as part of its public private partnership bid are consistent with the Executive's rural development strategies.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: It is for Dumfries and Galloway Council to consider what pattern of school provision is appropriate in their area and, in doing so, to take into account all relevant considerations, including rural development issues.

19 Feb 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-6413 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 February 2003, whether the circular will clearly set out that no school should be closed on the basis of lack of funds for repairs and maintenance.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The circular will set out the uses to which the Schools Fund may be put. It will not advise education authorities on the issues they might take into account in considering the circumstances in which the closure of a school might be proposed.

6 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be in Scotland of the UK Communications Bill, in particular with regard to the roll-out of broadband technologies.

Answer · Iain Gray: The UK Communications Bill will streamline the regulatory framework for communications across the UK, including Scotland. The bill is technology-neutral so it does not explicitly refer to broadband. However, the new amalgamated regulator, OFCOM, ge…

3 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new miles of trunk road have been constructed since May 1999.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The information requested, for the years 1999-2000 and 2000-01, is given in Chapter 5 paragraph 3.6, and table number 5.3 of Scottish Transport Statistics No. 21, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 23316). Fi…

3 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new miles of rail track have been laid since May 1999.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Since May 1999, the Scottish Executive has supported several railway projects within Scotland, including the Stirling to Alloa to Kincardine and Larkhall to Milngavie schemes. However, with the exception of the opening of the Edinburgh Crossrail scheme, which…

3 Feb 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what net increase there has been in bus services across Scotland since May 1999.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Data on the number of bus services in Scotland is not held centrally. Statistics from the Department for Transport, however, indicate a growth in bus passenger numbers on local bus services from 434 million in 1999-2000 to 441 million in 2001-02.

31 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown of (a) projects and (b) funding allocations under the #450 million package of transport improvements announced on 22 January 2003 and what the timetable of each project will be.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: A breakdown of the projects and the consultants' estimate of likely costs is contained within the Central Scotland Transport Corridor Studies - Decisions Report which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 26080) and on the inte…

29 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable to complete the Aberdeen western peripheral route is; whether it will give a breakdown of how much funding is required for the project, and what percentage of the funding is expected to be provided by (a) it and (b) the North East of Scotland Transport Partnership.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The timetable estimated by NESTRANS is given on page 5 of the evidence provided by the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS) to the Transport and Environment Committee on 19 December 2001, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Refere…

29 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown of the (a) funding and (b) timetable to complete the modern transport system for Aberdeen.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The information requested is given on pages 1 and 2 of the evidence provided by the North East Scotland Transport Partnership (NESTRANS) to the Transport and Environment Committee on 19 December 2001, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference…

29 Jan 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it will issue to local authorities on how they should spend the funding being made available to them under the schools estate funding package.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive Education Department will be issuing a circular to authorities in the course of the next few weeks which will provide further details.

27 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether freight facilities grants and track access grants currently available in Scotland will continue to be available, given the recent announcement by the Strategic Rail Authority that new applications for England for the next financial year will be closed from January 2003 and, if suc…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: These grants will continue to be available in Scotland. We are confident of achieving our target of freight facilities grant awards being made by March 2006 which will remove 25 million lorry miles from Scotland's roads each year by transferring freight to ra…

20 Jan 2003 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what progress the Scottish Executive has made in promoting the life and works of Robert Burns.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The life and works of Robert Burns are rightly celebrated the world over - promoting Scotland, our history and our culture. In Scotland, new resources are assisting Burn's promotion in schools, the arts and tourism. In particular, following the success of …

8 Jan 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the #24 million recently allocated to extend access to broadband services will be spent, broken down by (a) project and (b) parliamentary constituency.

Answer · Iain Gray: Proposals are currently being developed to accelerate and extend access to broadband services across Scotland and to increase take-up of existing and projected services. This will include separate infrastructure programmes in the Highlands and Islands and the…

8 Jan 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the future development of the Crichton campus will be funded.

Answer · Iain Gray: As recommended in the report of the South of Scotland Steering Group, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council has established a working group comprising the Higher Education and Further Education institutions active in the South and South west of Scotla…

1 Jan 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it anticipates any changes to the rules governing the signposting of tourist attractions on motorways and trunk roads.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions are being considered by the Department for Transport in consultation with the Scottish Executive, with a view to publishing any revisions in the course of this year.

20 Dec 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the definition of "capacity" is under the Education (Publication and Consultation etc.) (Scotland) Regulations 1981 which states "proposals must also be submitted to Scottish Ministers if the school concerned has attendance which is greater than 80% of its capacity."

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Capacity is not defined in the 1981 regulations, as amended. The Education (Publication and Consultation etc) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 1988, which amended the 1981 regulations, did, however, set out three criteria to which education authorities must h…

4 Dec 2002 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its policies will speed up the roll-out of broadband to rural areas.

Answer · Iain Gray: Our policies and initiatives on broadband are outlined in the broadband strategy update, which I published last week. You will see that there are specific initiatives in the more rural areas, which should help to speed up broadband provision there. These i…

2 Oct 2002 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the NHS will cope with long-term population change.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The NHS in Scotland will take into account population change as part of its strategic planning at NHS board level. This planning will be undertaken in the light of the assessed current and future needs of the local population.

19 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the nationwide advertising campaign launched on 10 September 2002 about its free local off-peak concessionary bus travel for elderly and disabled people will cost.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The cost of the nationwide advertising campaign, launched on 10 September 2002, to publicise enhanced concessionary fare arrangements for elderly and disabled people is £287,857.38 (including VAT).

18 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd will receive an increase in funding in the period to 2005-06 as referred to in the transport section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys and what any such extra funding will be spent on.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: In the period 2003-04 to 2005-06 the level of deficit and capital funding provided to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) will increase from £20.9 million to £22.1 million a year (excluding capital charges of £9 million per year). The level of fundin…

18 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services will receive an increase in funding in the period to 2005-06 as referred to in the transport section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys and what any such extra funding will be spent on.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I can confirm that planned provision for Clyde and Hebrides ferry services is £37 million in 2003-04 and £38 million in each of the years 2004-05 and 2005-06.The provision will allow existing services currently provided by Caledonian MacBrayne Ltd, togethe…

18 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the comparable levels of expenditure allocated to motorways and trunk roads and the methodology used in the figures provided in the transport section of Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys compared with the figures and meth…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The figures contained in Building a Better Scotland - Spending Proposals 2003-06: What the money buys are budget plans. Those in Scottish Transport Statistics are outturn figures except where the information is not yet available, in which case a foreca…