Parliamentary questions
Donald Gorrie
955 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
18 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many housing support services, including bed-spaces, are provided specifically to (a) drug misusers, (b) alcohol misusers and (c) both drug and alcohol misusers.
13 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it announced its policy of creating new indoor full-size football pitches; what the current position is in respect of each project, and (a) what progress is being made on, (b) how much has been spent on and (c) what the budget is of each project.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Football will be a major beneficiaryfrom our National and Regional Sports Facilities Strategy launched in March 2003. Of the ten projects allocated Stage One funding underthat strategy in 2004, five include full-size indoor football pitches. Progressand fundi…
13 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much public money it has given the Scottish Football Partnership to match the £63 million given over four years in England to the Football Foundation.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Football Partnershipwas established to distribute Scotland’s share of funds held by the now dissolved Football Trust.The Football Trust’s funds comprised donations from the Football Associations ofEngland, Scotland and Wales, the FA Premier Leagu…
13 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding (a) the Executive, (b) the Scottish Football Association, (c) local authorities and (d) other sources agreed to put into football’s Youth Development Plan and how much each body has contributed so far.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The £31.1 million to the YouthFootball Action Plan is being funded by Exchequer and Lottery Sports Fund monies(£2.2 million); New Opportunities Fund/Big Lottery Fund Monies (£10 million); theSFA (£14.5 million), and local authorities (£4.4 million).</p><p>We …
13 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide the Scottish Rugby Union with funding to cover some of the loss arising from the reconstruction of Murrayfield Stadium, in light of the contribution of £8.25 million which it and the Scottish Office made, along with the additional £3.5 million from sportScotla…
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: At the time of theredevelopment of Murrayfield, the Scottish Rugby Union did not approach thethen Scottish Office for financial assistance. However, as a consequence of thefinancial constraints placed upon the Union by the redevelopment of Murrayfield,the the…
7 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many alleged offences aggravated by religious prejudice were committed in each sheriffdom or local authority area in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06 and how many of these offences (i) were reported by the police, (ii) were brought to court and (iii) resulted in convictions.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The number of offences aggravatedby religious prejudice is not separately identifiable in the recorded crime statisticscollected centrally.</p><p>The Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service’s case management database contains information about charges repor…
7 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many loans per 1,000 of the population were made by each local authority library in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06, also showing the percentage change over the same timescale.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: This is a matter for local authorities.The information requested is not held centrally. Although Audit Scotland reportson certain performance indicators in respect of local Authority libraries, thesedo not cover the data sought. Further information may be ava…
1 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to fund mental health charities to enable them to create new services to replace services currently reliant on European Social fund payments.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Executive has no specificplans to fund mental health charities in order to replace any shortfall in servicesthat will occur as a result of the conclusion of the current European Social Fundprogramme at the end of 2006.</p>
1 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding has been specifically focused on services for people with mental health problems in each of the past five years.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: NHS boards and localauthorities receive a general allocation of funds and it is for those agencies towork together with their partners to decide how best to use these funds to meetthe assessed needs of their resident population, including mental health servic…
21 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision was made in any of the transactions in respect of the reconstruction of Hampden Park for the public purse to benefit from a share in any profit made in its running.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: No provisions were in place forthe public purse to benefit from the profits of running Hampden Park. However,provisions were put in place for a specificproportionate repayment of grant in the event of Queen’s Park Football Club Limitedselling, leasing (otherw…
21 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it or the Scottish Office provided, and on what dates, towards the reconstruction of Hampden Park.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Office contributed£3.5 million to Phase I which involved the redevelopment of the north and east stands.That work was completed in 1994. As part of the Phase II redevelopment, which involvedthe construction of a new south stand and improvements t…
13 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is regarding the provision of adventure playgrounds or play facilities designed for pupils with additional learning needs.
Answer · Robert Brown: A number of strands ofScottish Executive policy recognise the importance of play and access to playfacilities and other services for children with additional support needs. Theprimary responsibility for assessing what individual services and facilitiesare nee…
13 Jul 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list adventure playgrounds and playgrounds particularly designed to provide safe play and professional support for children who need learning support, giving the amount of financial support each receives from public funds.
Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally. The primary responsibility for providing adventure playgrounds andplaygrounds, including for children who need learning support, lies with localauthorities. Details of spend on this area by each local authority are notco…
21 Jun 2006 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any concerns about the impact on the environment of building houses on public parkland and ground adjacent to it.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: Protecting and enhancing thequality of the environment, in both urban and rural areas, is a key objective of theplanning system. National planning policy states that new housing development shouldnot be located on open space which contributes to local communi…
14 Jun 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the number of secondary schools specialising in sport, music or any other activity, broken down by local authority area and specialist activity.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The following individual secondaryschools provide national specialist provision supported through the Executive’sCentres of Excellence programme:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=143 valign=top> <p align=center>Loca…
13 Jun 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that, as part of its Health Promoting School strategy, schools provide the time, space and opportunity for of outdoor play and encourage participation in it.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Physical activity is integralto the whole school approach to health promotion in schools. The Scottish HealthPromoting Schools Unit (SHPSU), which supports the Executive’s commitment for allschools to become health promoting by 2007, includes a National Devel…
13 Jun 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its response is to the findings of research by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and Community Care Providers Scotland identifying reductions which housing associations are having to make in their services to homeless, disabled and elderly people and deficits of £2 mill…
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A comprehensive process for monitoringthe impact of the budget changes made to Supporting People funding was agreed withlocal authorities, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), CommunityCare Providers Scotland (CCPS) and others. The first mo…
12 Jun 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many conferences on policy-related issues it has supported, financially or in other ways, in each of the last three years; at how many such conferences ministers or deputy ministers have spoken, and which outside agencies or organisations were involved in organising each conference an…
Answer · Tom McCabe: This information is not heldcentrally.</p>
30 May 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when voluntary organisations will be able to deal directly with Disclosure Scotland to obtain disclosure checks for their volunteers free of charge, rather than going through the Central Registered Body in Scotland.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Disclosure Scotland is workingon the changes necessary to allow voluntary organisations to register directly forfree disclosure check for volunteers. Most importantly, a revised application formwill be necessary, with associated changes to IT systems. The app…
27 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will have the delivery plan to be produced following the review of Sport 21 scrutinised by an independent person or body not represented on the review group.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The delivery plans prepared aspart of the review of Sport 21 will be submitted by the Steering Group to Scottishministers for consideration.</p>
25 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24753 by Robert Brown on 19 April 2006, how much funding each organisation listed received from the Unified Voluntary Sector Fund in 2004-05 and how much it is proposed that each will receive from this source in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
Answer · Robert Brown: The Children, Young People andFamilies Unified Voluntary Sector Fund can support renewable core funding for headquartercosts, non-renewable project funding and one-off capital grants. The answer to question S2W-24753 identified the organisations currently rec…
25 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to parliamentary question S2W-23786 which received a holding reply on 17 March 2006.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The answer to question S2W-23786was issued on 4 May. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">www.scottish…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that the Prison Outreach Project comes into operation as soon as possible.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The Prison Outreach Project hasbeen operational since April 2000 and currently provides services at HM Prison Edinburgh,HM Prison and YOI (…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will (a) publish and (b) implement its employability framework.
Answer · Allan Wilson: We aim to publish the EmployabilityFramework within the next two months.</p><p>The framework is intended tosupport local partnerships in seven priority areas to achieve targets to reduceworklessness in their areas by 2010. The framework will support the actio…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it has to ensure that Community Planning Partnerships are able to fund employability schemes following the ending of the New Futures Fund.
Answer · Allan Wilson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21485 on 14 December 2005. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is made in local authority grant aided expenditure allocations for the funding of administrative support, consultative meetings and other expenses incurred by community councils.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The legislative frameworkunder which community council schemes are established gives local authoritiesthe freedom to determine for themselves the appropriate level of funding andsupport for community councils in their area. There is no specific grant aidedexp…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision is made in local authority grant aided expenditure allocations for the funding of effective methods of consulting local people on local or national issues.
Answer · Tom McCabe: There is no specific grant aidedexpenditure provision included within the core local government financesettlement in respect of local authorities’ expenditure incurred consultinglocal people on local or national issues. The core local government financesettle…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been, or will be, put in place to ensure that voluntary and community bodies are able to contribute to policy making and to fully consult local people on local or national issues following the ending of Scottish Civic Forum funding.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executivealready has effective arrangements in place for involving a wide range ofbodies and individuals in our policy and decision-making processes. There is noneed for us to make any new arrangements simply because we no longer fund the Scottis…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that each NHS board provides at least one full-time qualified nurse in each secondary school catchment area.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Each secondary school shouldhave access to a qualified school nurse. However, the Executive’s policy on theschool nursing service reinforces the development of integrated teams which matchthe appropriate professional skill with the identified health need.</p>…
20 Apr 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many specialist nurses in chronic disease management there are and what plans it has to increase this number.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The planning of the workforceto deliver first class health services, including specialist nurses who work withsufferers of chronic conditions to patients in Scotland, is primarily a matterfor individual NHS boards. As at 30 September 2004, there were 219 nurs…