Parliamentary questions
Donald Gorrie
955 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
31 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that all local authorities have a local archive.
Answer · Tavish Scott: This is a matter which will beconsidered as part of the development of the Scottish Public Records Strategy whichI announced in the answer given to question S2W-3740 on 30 October 2003. One of the aims of the strategy is to promote archives and improve their …
29 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all works being carried out on southbound slip roads at the A80 Auchenkilns interchange relate solely to the upgrade of the interchange and why such works are not shown on the workscope plan for the project.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: All the works under constructionrelate solely to the upgrade of the A80 Auchenkilns interchange and were shown inthe plans displayed at the public exhibitions.</p>
23 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5690 by Mr Tom McCabe on 2 February 2004, how it will enable and encourage all interested parties to air their personal views as part of its set piece consultation on smoking in public places.
Answer · Tom McCabe: As my response to question S2W-5690indicates, the consultation aims to provide opportunities for all individuals, businesses,representative groups and other organisations to air their views on this topic.</p><p>The public consultation willbe launched in early…
17 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of current provision for housing-related support services funded by the Supporting People initiative and the rules governing future grants.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Supporting People grants of £421 million for 2003-04 have been allocated to local authorities. A further £408 million has been announced for 2004-05. This includes part year allocations to West Dunbartonshire and Argyll and Bute councils. The allocation is al…
15 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the up-to-date figures are on how many cases of alleged offences aggravated by religious hatred (a) have been reported by police to Procurators Fiscal, (b) brought to court and (c) resulted in a conviction.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: During the period 27 June2003 (when Section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003 came intoforce to permit an offence to be proved to have been aggravated by religiousprejudice) until 29 February 2004, the police reported 262 cases including anallega…
4 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants working for it, or the former Scottish Office, on grade B1 and above have been dismissed in each of the last 10 years, broken down by ground for dismissal.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested can be found in the following table.</p><p>Staff in Band B and Above in Scottish Executive (Scottish Office) Core Departments at Time of Dismissal</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=615> <thead> <tr> <td> <p al…
3 Mar 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what practical support and mechanisms have been, or will be, put in place to help pupils to access further education places as part of their secondary school education.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I agree entirely with the need for practical support to pupils.</p><p>Pupil welfare and support is one of the four key themes of our current review of school/college links. I launched the review’s consultation paper last month inEdinburgh’s Telford College. …
1 Mar 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its civil servants have (a) moved and (b) been seconded to public service posts outwith the Executive in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the number of its civil servants.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The available informationrequested can be found in the following tables:</p><p>Table A: Scottish Executive Staff whose Reason for Resignation was a Move To a Public Sector Post Outwith The Scottish Executive</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 widt…
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths as a consequence of physical violence occurred in each constituency in each of the last five years, broken down by age and gender.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The following table provides the latest available information for Scotland. Detailed tables presenting similar information for parliamentary constituencies have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 31358).</p><p>Deaths from Assault, b…
24 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many deaths by suicide occurred in each constituency in each of the last five years, broken down by age and gender.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The following table provides the latest available information for Scotland. It combines deaths from events of undetermined intent and deaths from intentional self-harm, as the majority of the former are likely to have been suicides. Detailed tables presenting…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3978 by Nicol Stephen on 19 December 2003, what monitoring systems are in place in relation to the usage of the feeder bus service from Cumbernauld and how many passengers have used the service since its inception, broken down by month and time of da…
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The operation of the feederbus service is the responsibility of Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT). SPThave various procedures in place for monitoring all of its contracted busservices.</p><p>TheCroy Interlink services commenced operating on 29 September 2…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3977 by Nicol Stephen on 21 November 2003, whether it now anticipates that there will not be any significant increase in traffic volumes on ancillary roads as a result of the proposed online upgrade of the A80, in light of the traffic incident at Hag…
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The recent incident requiredan unplanned temporary carriageway closure of the A80 for safety reasons duringpeak traffic hours. The proposed upgrade works will maintain two way, two lanetraffic flows at peak times. This means that there will not be any signifi…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what long-term plans it has to address any impact of the withdrawal of the Transitional Water and Wastewater Charges Scheme on domestic consumers and when any such plans will be made public.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Executive announced on 3February that the Transitional Reduction Scheme will continue for a furtherthree years. Households on council tax benefit will receive a reduction in theirwater and sewerage bills in the financial year 2004-05 where their bills exc…
19 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure adequate and continued funding for Alcohol Focus Scotland's Local Councils on Alcohol to enable them to extend their counselling services, especially in rural areas.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive recognises thevaluable contribution made by voluntary sector organisations, including local councilson alcohol, in providing services and in other action in the Plan for Action onalcohol problems. The Executive provided core funding of £228,000 …
18 Feb 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when its review of local government finance will commence and whether it will address the specific issues faced by pensioners in paying their council tax.
Answer · Andy Kerr: We are committed to an independent review of localgovernment finance and are currently discussing the remit and format of thisreview with COSLA.</p><p>However,when reviewing council tax alongside possible alternatives, the review islikely to look at issues su…
12 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding to local authorities and voluntary organisations has been allocated through competitive bidding by (a) it and (b) the Scottish Office and what information it has on such funding schemes run by (i) NHS boards and trusts, (ii) local authorities, (iii) the lottery, (iv) enterpr…
Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on all these funding schemes is not held centrally. This is an operational matter for each of the bodies concerned.</p><p>The following schemes have been identified from within the Scottish Executive as resulting from competitive bidding:</p><p>Pu…
6 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider transferring the responsibility for fire safety inspection in care homes to the fire service.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive will await the outcome of the inquiry into the Rosepark tragedy beforeconsidering what, if any, changes need to be made to the current arrangements.</p>
23 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve access to the current Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme for Band A and B households.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Executive has announcedthat the current scheme will continue beyond 31 March 2004.The scheme will assist those households that are in receipt of council taxbenefit and would otherwise have to pay for water services at a ratesubstantially in excess of that…
23 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the costs to domestic users of ending the current Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme in March 2004 and what those estimates are.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Executive has announcedthat the current scheme will continue beyond 31 March 2004.The effects of ending it on 31 March would have depended on the circumstancesof the individual households affected by the scheme.</p><p>The Executive estimates thathousehold…
21 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is monitoring the extent to which councils are meeting statutory requirements and providing services prescribed by children's hearings.
Answer · Euan Robson: Localauthorities and managers of serviceshave responsibilities to monitor and improve their performance. Overall, the Scottish Executive undertakes monitoring through the social work services inspectorate annualreport and periodic thematic and specific report…
21 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements it has made to review whether current monitoring provides sufficient information about the quantity and quality of services for young people on supervision.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Performance monitoringreports of services for children on supervision are published regularly byAudit Scotland, Social Work Services Inspectorate’s Annual Reports,Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration’s Annual Report and the Scottish Executive on <a hr…
21 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements it has made to monitor the performance of services for children and young people on supervision and probation.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: National objectives and standardsfor social work services in the criminal justice system, which cover thesupervision aspects of probation orders, were established in 1991. The nationalstandards set out detailed guidance on management and practice and seek top…
20 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has made available to support its Plan for Action on Alcohol Problems and how much has been distributed to date and to what projects.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive has made £2.77million available through central budgets in 2003-04 to support local andnational action to tackle alcohol problems. This includes support for local alcoholaction teams, funding for national communications campaign, support for a n…
19 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any recognised qualifications for the post of personal fitness trainer; whether it will produce guidelines for any such qualifications, and whether it will ensure that proper regulation and accreditation of personal fitness trainers will take place as soon as practicable.
Answer · Frank McAveety: The Executive has acommitment to encourage more people to act as coaches and physical activitytrainers. This is essential if we are to meet our targets of increasingactivity levels in the population.</p><p>An SVQ level 3 in personaltraining is available from …
19 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what checks the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body has undertaken on the financial viability of RMJM (Scotland) Ltd with regard to any costs that might arise from any litigation over the building of the new Parliament.
Answer · George Reid: The Parliament has acontract with RMJM (Scotland) Ltd, inherited by the SPCB from the Scottish Executive in June 1999, for the provision of mechanical and electrical servicesto the new building. The SPCB has since had no reason to carry out specificchecks on …
19 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer from where the Kemnay Granite used in the construction of the new Parliament building has come.
Answer · George Reid: The Kemnay Granite used inthe construction of the new building came from Kemnay Quarry, Kemnay,Aberdeenshire.</p>
19 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds it has allocated to North Lanarkshire Council for the upgrade of Motherwell town centre and what guidelines it has issued to the council in respect of how the money may be spent.
Answer · Andy Kerr: North Lanarkshire Council receives general allocations of capitalspending consent and Quality of Life Funding. However it is for the council todecide how it allocates its funding, taking account of local needs andpriorities.</p>
8 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body will make public the annual rental it pays for the accommodation, other than the Assembly Hall, which parliamentary staff and MSPs occupy.
Answer · John Scott: The answer given to questionS1W-30522 on 7 November 2002 provided details of the financial arrangements thenapplying in respect of the Assembly Hall and other accommodation.</p><p>By way of update, the termsunder which our various properties are let from City…
8 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what share of the total budget for the proposed online upgrade of the A80 is being provided by European structural funds, expressed both in cash and percentage terms.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: None.</p>
7 Jan 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it is ensuring access to musical instrument tuition for students after primary six.
Answer · Peter Peacock: It is forlocal authorities and schools to make decisions on the level of instrumentaltuition that will be made available to pupils. However, the Scottish Executive provides advice on the provision ofmusic tuition in the classroom in the 5-14 Expressive Arts G…