Parliamentary questions

Mike Watson

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

11 Apr 2001 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer whether epilepsy awareness training is provided to all members of Scottish Parliament staff who are employed in the education service, the visitor centre and the security service.

Answer · David Steel: I refer the member to my answer to his previous question, reference S1W-14994. I can confirm that the specific offices to which you refer each currently have qualified First Aiders among their staff and that all the staff will be included in the proposed prog…

11 Apr 2001 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what disability awareness training is available to Scottish Parliament staff, in particular on epilepsy awareness.

Answer · David Steel: The SPCB has commissioned work to produce an Equality Framework for the Scottish Parliament. The SPCB will shortly be considering the recommendations contained in the report but I understand that the framework will provide for a programme of training, includi…

11 Apr 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any disability awareness training is available to its staff and, if so, whether this includes any specific training on epilepsy awareness.

Answer · Angus MacKay: Disability awareness training is available to all staff within the Scottish Executive. The Corporate Induction programme includes training in equal opportunities, including disability awareness. In addition we provide disability awareness training on a regula…

22 Mar 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprentices are (a) male and (b) female, and how many are from ethnic minorities, broken down by industry in each case.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Of the total 17,345 Modern Apprenticeships in training, 13,829 (80%) are male; 3,387 (20%) are female; 47 (0.3%) are from ethnic minorities and 82 (0.5%) have opted not to state their ethnic origin. I will ask my officials to write to Mr Watson with a breakdo…

28 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that every teacher in pre-school, primary, secondary and tertiary education is given training in epilepsy awareness.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Guidelines for initial teacher education in Scotland, revised in 1998, require that courses prepare teachers entering the pre-school, primary and secondary sectors to be responsive to the needs of all pupils in respect of health and general well being.Whil…

12 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to make an announcement on the future funding of the New Life for Urban Scotland partnerships in Castlemilk.

Answer · Margaret Curran: When these partnerships reached the end of their 10-year life in 1998-99, continuation arrangements were put in place with special funding from the Executive for three years through to March 2002. We have concluded that after that date the Glasgow Alliance an…

7 Feb 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1O-1796 by Jackie Baillie on 25 May 2000, which Social Inclusion Partnerships returned information disaggregated by gender in their annual submissions and, for each such partnership, in relation to which areas of policy and services gender disaggregated…

Answer · Margaret Curran: The monitoring framework for Social Inclusion Partnerships includes 40 core outcome indicators. All area-based Social Inclusion Partnerships are required to monitor their progress against these indicators either annually, or at the baseline, interim and final…

31 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any changes to external finance limits set for each water authority this year, and what budgets it proposes to allocate each water authority in the next financial year.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: 1. The External Finance Limits (EFL) have been revised for the current financial year. These are:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=609><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN=3>£ million</TD></TR><TR><TD WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP"> </T…

8 Jan 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its announcement of the Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) funding allocation for 2002-03 to 2003-04 on 28 December 2000, whether this announcement included any SIP allocation to Castlemilk in Glasgow.

Answer · Margaret Curran: We announced recently that we are providing provisional funding allocations of £105.5 million to Social Inclusion Partnerships in 2002-03 and 2003-04. This figure does not include allocations for any of the three former New Life Partnership areas - Castlemilk…

15 Nov 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to introduce any changes to the arrangements for the dissemination of statistics.

Answer · Angus MacKay: We said in the Scottish Executive Statistical Plan 2000-2001, released as a consultation document in April, that we were undertaking a review of our dissemination of statistics. We invited comment on several options for chan…

15 Nov 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what support is being given to voluntary groups working with the families of drug users.

Answer · Iain Gray: Funding for such groups is a matter for decision locally, primarily by local organisations such as local authorities and health boards. A number of Social Inclusion Partnerships are also providing help and support to families of drug misusers from the £2 mill…

1 Nov 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that adequate health care is provided for rough sleepers.

Answer · Susan Deacon: Four million pounds has been allocated this year to health boards to support existing rough sleeping initiatives in Scotland. Guidance to health bodies on the needs of homeless people, including rough sleepers, will be issued shortly and a national health and…

27 Sep 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the employment implications of the housing stock transfer proposal in Glasgow and other parts of Scotland.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The employment implications of housing stock transfer will be a matter for individual councils. The Executive has made clear that proposals must take account of the obligations under the TUPE regulations and any agreed enhancements. The feasibility study into…

1 Aug 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many letters it received from (a) MPs and (b) MSPs concerning constituency issues in the period from 1 July 1999 to 7 July 2000.

Answer · Tom McCabe: This information is not available. The logging system of the Scottish Executive records only a broad description of the subject matter of MPs and MSPs letters. From the information recorded it is not possible to identify whether a letter has been written on b…

5 Jul 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any local authority is likely to be capped this year.

Answer · Jack McConnell: No. Most authorities have budgeted within guideline this year. Eight authorities have set budgets in excess of the guideline but most have done so by a very small amount. In the case of Aberdeenshire and East Dunbartonshire Councils, we allowed them to contin…

27 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can give the allocation of end-year flexibility by department.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I announced yesterday a total end-year flexibility allocation of £435 million. Table 1 shows end-year balances generated by vote.In discussion with my Cabinet colleagues we agreed that departments should retain a total of £362 million both …

27 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what amount of money generated by end-year flexibility will be available to the Scottish Executive this year.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Following discussions with departments I have agreed with Treasury that £435 million of resources carried forward from 1999-2000 will be available to the Scottish Executive. These resources were generated through prudent management and carried forward under t…

21 Jun 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what links exists between the Careers Service, local authority schools and the construction industry for the purpose of increasing awareness of the range of employment opportunities within that industry.

Answer · Henry McLeish: The Construction Industry Training Board's Educational Scheme employs five full-time members of staff who solely promote careers within the construction industry to young people, teachers and careers advisers. The scheme has strong links with both local autho…

14 Jun 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that the local labour market has the necessary skills base to benefit from any increase in jobs in construction projects generated by both the Public/Private Partnership programme in Glasgow's schools and the proposed housing stock transfer in Glasgow.

Answer · Henry McLeish: Glasgow City Council and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow are addressing this issue in order to maximise the employment and training benefits of these projects. Scottish Enterprise Glasgow are taking a proactive approach to the funding of training in the construct…

7 Jun 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what implications the requirements of asylum seekers placed with local authorities in Scotland will have for the housing stock transfer proposals.

Answer · Frank McAveety: Arrangements to accommodate asylum seekers should have no adverse implications for housing stock transfer proposals. Following a transfer, it will be open to the National Asylum Support Service to arrange accommodation with Registered Social Landlords or othe…

1 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the average hourly rates paid to part-time and full-time workers in Glasgow call centres differ.

Answer · Henry McLeish: The information requested on earnings of call centre workers in Glasgow is not held centrally. For more details, I refer Mike Watson to the answer I gave to question S1W-7520.

1 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive average (a) wage and (b) period of employment is of full-time workers in Glasgow call centres.

1 Jun 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are employed in the 59 call centres in Glasgow; how many of these are (a) full-time and (b) part-time workers and how many are (i) male and (ii) female in both the full-time and part-time categories.

Answer · Henry McLeish: In June 1999, Glasgow had 10,330 employees working in 65 call centres. However, there are no details available about the number of male or female employees, and the number of full/part-time workers.In December 1997, a Scottish Call Centre S…

31 May 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources are being made available to assist agencies in identifying the cause of the recent deaths of heroin users in Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Glasgow and Aberdeenshire DATs and health boards are currently carrying out an investigation into the cause of the recent deaths. They are liaising with each other, as well as with voluntary groups and experts from the medical professions from around the …

6 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a progress report on the work of the Glasgow Housing Partnership Steering Group.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Steering Group, which has been co-chaired by Councillor James Coleman and myself, has now finalised a framework within which tenants and others can be fully engaged in developing a housing transfer proposal in Glasgow. Arrangements are being made for the …

5 Apr 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the monies allocated from the Domestic Abuse Service Development Fund will specifically assist with service provision and support for women with drug or alcohol dependencies.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: Scottish Homes is to fund the provision of six self-contained units of refuge accommodation in North Ayrshire for women and children who are unable to be accommodated in communal refuges. This will include women with alcohol or drug dependencies currently on …

30 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will report on progress with the negotiations over Hampden Stadium.

Answer · Sam Galbraith: I am delighted to report that the negotiations to secure a rescue package for Hampden Stadium and its owners Queen's Park Football Club reached a successful conclusion last Friday evening.All the elements of the restructuring were in place …

9 Mar 2000 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assurances it has had from CGU that Perth will remain a significant centre in the merged company with Norwich Union and that the jobs there will be of a high quality.

Answer · Henry McLeish: It is a matter of public record that CGU and Norwich Union confirmed, in their joint press release, that Perth, which was identified in the press release as an important operating location, will be maintained following the merger of both companies.

21 Feb 2000 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what steps the Scottish Executive is taking to support manufacturing exports.

Answer · Donald Dewar: Scottish Trade International (STI), a joint organisation between The Scottish Executive and Scottish Enterprise, delivers government trade services on behalf of British Trade International in Scotland. Support is provided in the context of The International C…

16 Feb 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being introduced to support the voluntary and community sector.

Answer · Jackie Baillie: The SE is actively pursuing a range of measures designed to further its commitment to support the voluntary and community sector.These include: implementing the Compact across central government departments and agencies; attracting new forms of financial s…