Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is of a school meal in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in total and also broken down by local authority.
Answer · Euan Robson: The average cost of a school meal in Scottish primary and secondary schools, as well as a breakdown of costs by local authority, is available in the annual school meals census. The latest census (June 22, 2004) is available on the Scottish Executive’s website…
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what further steps it will take to promote Aberdeen as the energy capital of Europe.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The ScottishExecutive has a broad range of energy related initiatives which assist allparts of Scotland, including Aberdeen. This includes £150 million over 10 years to fundITI Energy in Aberdeen which will develop and commercialise new energy andenergy relat…
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to HM Customs and Excise: Stopping illegal imports of animal products into Great Britain, published by the National Audit Office (NAO) on 23 March 2005, and what further steps it will take to prevent such imports from entering Scotland.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We welcome the publication of the NAO report and recognition of the good work that customs are doing to tighten controls and improve the UK's protection from illegal imports of animal products from countries outside the EU.</p> <p>We, in association with the …
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to Supermarkets: The code of practice and other competition issues, published by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on 22 March 2005, and what steps are being taken to protect the interests of food producers and farmers.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The report published by the Office of Fair Trading on 22 March is not yet the final advice to ministers. The OFT is seeking further hard evidence from suppliers about breaches of the Supermarket Code of Practice. We shall take careful stock of the final repor…
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes have been agreed and what changes are proposed in respect of the post of First Secretary (Scottish Affairs) and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer · Tom McCabe: All posts are kept under constantreview and changes are made as necessary in response to changing business needs.</p>
29 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre copies of any communications with Her Majesty's Government regarding the post of First Secretary (Scottish Affairs).
Answer · Tom McCabe: It is not our policy torelease information between UK Government Departments and the Executive onstaffing matters.</p>
22 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any rules governing the length of time between separate proposals to close a school being made and, if not, whether there are any plans to introduce legislation to that effect.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Education (Publication and Consultation Etc) (Scotland) Regulations 1981 set out the requirements on local authorities for consultation with parents and other interests on proposals to close schools. Authorities will take a range of local circumstances in…
22 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients from each NHS board have been treated at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in each of the last two years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isprovided in the table.</p><p>Number of Patients Seen and Treated*at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, by NHS Board of Residence in 2003-04 and 2004-05<sup>P</sup></p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> …
22 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much per capita funding has been allocated by each local authority to primary schools in each of the last five years.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested is given in table 2.2 (Total gross revenue expenditure per pupil in primary schools 1998-99 to 2003-04) of <i>Expenditure on School Education in Scotland 2005, </i>a Scottish Executive publication of 18 January 2005. A copy of this i…
17 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that increasing the number of fixed penalty notices issued does not prioritise efficiency over justice.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: We consider that fixed penalty notices, correctly and appropriately used, are an important part of a modern criminal justice system. They offer a quick, proportionate and effective response to a number of instances of minor offending making clear to the offen…
17 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether court business will be significantly reduced by an increase in the number of fiscal fines offered to persistent offenders.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: There are no plans to offer fiscal fines to persistent offenders who are on a course of criminal conduct. It is intended, however, to extend the use of fiscal fines and to introduce other alternatives to prosecution that will be appropriately used on the basi…
17 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive in what circumstances a persistent offender would appear in court rather than receive an offer of a fiscal fine.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: If there is sufficient evidenceof a crime being committed by an accused person, the prosecutor must consider whataction is in the public interest. Assessment of the public interest involves carefulconsideration of a number of factors including the seriousness…
17 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how persistent offenders who have previously been offered fiscal fines are identified.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: A record of previous fiscal finesoffered to an offender is available in the standard information obtained from the Scottish Criminal Records Office for each case. This information is available toprocurators fiscal at initial case processing stage and will be …
17 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the training available to lay justices has improved.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: We acknowledge the steps which have been taken in recent years, led by the District Courts Association, to improve the quality and consistency of lay justices’ training by publishing materials which allow competence based training to be undertaken.</p> <p>We …
16 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to reduce the level of discards of monkfish and other species and abandoned nets in the deepwater fishery as identified by the recently published report of the "DEEPNET" project.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The fisheries identified and considered by the DEEPNET project extend beyond the Scottish fishing zone, into other EU waters as well as Norwegian, Faroese and International waters. In order to reduce the amounts of abandoned fishing gear and high discard rate…
15 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to assess and estimate the future impact of climate change on each dam and reservoir; whether such information is available to the public and, if so, how it can be obtained.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned research on the climate change impacts on the safety of British reservoirs, the final report on which is available on the Defra website at <ahref="http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/w…
15 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which public authorities are responsible for carrying out safety inspections of dams and reservoirs; what the scope is of such inspections, and where the relevant reports can be obtained.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Reservoir safety is a matter for the reservoir undertaker. The Reservoirs Act 1975 places a duty on undertakers requiring all large raised reservoirs (those capable of storing more than 25,000 cubic metres of water above natural ground level) to be:</p> <p>ov…
15 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent information and assessments on the flood risk relating to each dam and reservoir are publicly available and where such information can be obtained.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The flood category of reservoirs subject to the Reservoirs Act 1975 is determined by specialist engineers using guidance published by the Institution of Civil Engineers, <i>Floods and Reservoir Safety, 3rd edition 1996</i>. The degree of resilience required b…
15 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that information on the condition of dams and reservoirs is easily accessible to the public, local planners and other interested parties.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The safety of a reservoir is a matter for the reservoir undertaker (generally the owner of the reservoir). Local authorities, as enforcement authorities for reservoir safety in Scotland, have a duty under the Reservoirs Act 1975 to maintain a public register …
10 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of (a) shops, (b) banks, (c) post offices and (d) other facilities there have been in rural communities in each local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table shows the number of shops, banks, post offices and other businesses in rural areas in Scotland, and the employment of these businesses. The data is for 1999-2003 and is split by local authority. </p> <p>Rural areas are defined as settlemen…
9 Mar 2005 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the execution of Sir William Wallace.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive is developing a programme of local andnational activities, in partnership with a range of organisations, to mark thissignificant anniversary.</p><p>This will includea Wallace website, an Edinburgh Book Festival lecture, and a gala dinne…
8 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will investigate the decision by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to withdraw a leaflet, "Do a Little, Save the Loch", relating to the pollution of Loch Lomond after receiving representations from the UK Cleaning Products Industry Association and, if so, whether it wi…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This is an operational matter for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).</p>
4 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a step-by-step explanation or flow chart showing how expenditure decisions that are designed to achieve policy objectives but take into account the impact on climate change are reached.
Answer · Tom McCabe: Sustainable development, of which climate change is a key element, has been a cross-cutting theme in the last two spending reviews. It is, therefore, central to our decisions on spending allocations. In Spending Review 2004, all portfolios had to show how the…
4 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that the affordability of homes is not adversely affected by any decision to pass the cost of connection to the water and sewerage network to developers and whether it will provide details of any such proposed decision.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: In my statement on 9 February in Parliament, I outlined our objectives for Scottish Water’s next investment programme.</p> <p>My announcement noted that funding of £14 million would be made available in each year of the next investment programme specifically …
4 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will prioritise the projects that will benefit under the recently-announced plans to connect 120,000 homes to the water and sewerage network and who will make the final decision on the matter.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-14582 on 1 March 2005. 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/webapp/wa.s…
2 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20034 by Malcolm Chisholm on 18 December 2001, how many places there have been at each dental school in each year since 2001 and what the ratio was of applications to places available in each year.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The information on applications received and available places at Dundee and Glasgow Dental Schools from 2002 to 2004 is provided in the following table.</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=617> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>Year</p></td>…
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated administrative costs are of implementing the Parliament's tax-varying powers.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive has made clearthat it does not intend to use the tax-varying power in the lifetime of the currentParliament. We have therefore not commissioned any work to estimate the potentialadministrative costs of collection.</p>
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers are available to local authorities or other bodies to compulsorily purchase derelict shops or other commercial properties for community use.
Answer · Johann Lamont: The power to acquire land is for certain statutorily defined purposes. The legislation to be relied upon depends on the purpose behind the acquisition rather than the nature of the land itself. For example, should the purpose be a school, then specific powers…
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) average number of patients per general dental practitioner and (b) number of general dental practitioner vacancies expressed as a percentage of overall posts is, broken down by NHS board area.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The average number of NHS patientsper NHS general dental practitioner, broken down by NHS board area, is shown inthe table below.</p><p>Information on the number ofpatients registered under private arrangements is not collected.</p><p>Informationon the number…
1 Mar 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to the report by the General Dental Council following its inspection of the Glasgow Dental School, where "fundamental and ongoing problems" were identified.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: I will be meeting Muir Russell,Principal of Glasgow University, to discuss the issues raised in the report. The standards of dental education are the responsibilityof the University of Glasgow and the General Dental Council. I am confident that progresshas be…