Parliamentary questions

Richard Lochhead

2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was consulted by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, or any other UK government department, on plans to disperse posts from London to elsewhere in the United Kingdom and, if so, whether it will give details.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive has not been consulted directly by the UK Department of Trade and Industry, or any other UK Government Department, on plans to disperse civil service posts from London. However, I have been assured that the UK Government is keen to see …

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any discussions within the UK Department of Trade and Industry on the possibility of transferring energy-related civil service posts to Aberdeen; whether its views were sought on any such proposal and, if so, whether it will provide details of any such discussions o…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-13284, on 19 January 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.uk/weba…

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to persuade the UK Department of Trade and Industry to locate additional energy-related civil service jobs in Aberdeen.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues including the potential to relocate UK civil service jobs in Scotland.Decisions about the deployment of civil service staff in UK departments are an operation…

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to use the opportunity of the United Kingdom's Presidency of the European Union in 2005 to change the timescale and nature of the decision-making process in respect of the annual fisheries negotiations which currently take place in late December.

Answer · Ross Finnie: At present, there are no suchplans.

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a summary of measures agreed to at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels in December 2004 that relate directly to the west coast.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Full details about all measures agreed at Council are set out in Council Regulations 27/2005 (TAC and Quota Regulation) and 2270/2004 (Deep-Sea Fish Stocks), which are available through the website of the Official Journal of the European Union.Measures…

10 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers the use of 80mm mesh in the southern North Sea by the flatfish fishery to be damaging to cod stocks due to the level of by-catches of cod juveniles and, if so, whether it raised these concerns at the recent Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels and what the ou…

Answer · Ross Finnie: All catches of cod have the potentialto damage the stock, including the southern North Sea small mesh fisheries. The Executive routinely ensuresthat the UK delegation raises our concerns over this fishery in allappropriate EU fora, including December A…

24 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of,patients are required to wait for six months or longer at each specialist obesity clinic.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the question S2W-13216 answered on 31 January 2005. All answers to written are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search">http://www.…

24 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients are waiting to be seen at each specialist obesity clinic.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the question S2W-13216 answered on 31 January 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp…

24 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting times are at each specialist obesity clinic.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested is not available centrally. Information on NHS waiting times is collected centrally only for first out-patient appointment at consultant-led clinics, following referral by a general medical or dental practitioner, at specialty level …

20 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12709 by Mr Andy Kerr on 15 December 2004, how many, and what percentage of, medical graduates left Scotland following completion of their pre-registration house officer post in each of the last three years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Table 1 gives details of pre-registrationhouse officers (PRHO) employed in NHSScotland at the 30 September 2000, 2001 and 2002,and of these, the number subsequently employed as senior house officers (SHO) inNHSScotland one year later.Table 1: Transitio…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many affordable homes have been built in each rural local authority area in each of the last seven years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The following table gives details of the total number of new and improved affordable housing units approved for construction by Communities Sc…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures exist to assist first time buyers to access the property market in their local area and how much funding was allocated for this purpose in each of the last seven years.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following are the main grants available to assist first time buyers to access the property market.Housing Association Grant (HAG) – HAG is a flexible way of providing funding which enables housing associations to provide, with the minimum public su…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether levels of rural home ownership grant awards are altered to reflect fluctuations in property prices.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The level of grant under the rural home ownership grants scheme is determined by taking into account the total costs of providing the property…

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has produced national guidelines for the promotion of rural home ownership grants.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The rural home ownership grants scheme was developed in April 1994 and national guidelines have been available since that time, with a recent …

16 Dec 2004 · Written Question

Answer · Allan Wilson: The Executive hascommissioned a research study which is currently developing projections offuture energy consumption in Scotland. The report will be published later this year.

15 Dec 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the provision of support for the development of renewable technologies.

Answer · Allan Wilson: We recently announced a renewable energy budget of £12 million for the next three years, and a £22 million Green Jobs Fund over the same period, which will support opportunities for Scottish renewable energy businesses. Our investment of £150 million over 10 …

14 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of income was generated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, independent of its central grant, in each of the last six years, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The income generated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in the last six years, independent of Grant in Aid from the Executive together with year-on-year percentage changes is shown in the following table:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cel…

14 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was provided to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in each of the last six years, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The amount of Grant-in-Aid provided by the Executive to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) over the last six years together with year-on-year percentage changes is shown in the following table:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <t…

13 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fishing vessels have been registered to each port in each of the last six years, showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Information about the numbers of vessels by port of registration is collected and maintained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Table 1 presents the number of vessels by port of registration and table 2 presents these figures as annual percentage changes.…

8 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11132 by Hugh Henry on 8 November 2004, what information it now has on waiting times for drug misuse treatment programmes from the national waiting times information framework for drugs services.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Information is collected on the length of wait that clients experience from referral to assessment, and from an agreed care plan to one or more of four different types of intervention (i.e. preparatory and motivational intervention, prescribed drug tre…

8 Dec 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding events to be held in Scotland as part of the UK Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive is working closely with UK Government to ensure that Scotland contributes fully to the UK Presidency of the EU – both in terms of identifying priorities in the UK-Luxembourg Operational Programme, which was adopted on 13 December, and i…

7 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the results of any research that has been commissioned into how much of each pound spent on groceries is received by farmers, as referred to by Nora Radcliffe MSP on 25 November 2004 (Official Report, col 12270).

Answer · Ross Finnie: I am not aware of the research mentioned by Nora Radcliffe.

7 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many energy-related civil service jobs there are, broken down by (a) department and (b) section and giving their location in each case.

Answer · Jim Wallace: In Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning department there are 24 energy-related civil service jobs in the Energy & Telecommunications Division, all located in Glasgow. In Environment and Rural Affairs department there are 4.5 full-time equivalent…

6 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs there have been in the (a) fish processing and (b) catching sector in each year since 1979, also broken down by (i) region and (ii) constituency and expressed per capita, outlining the methodology used to classify the jobs.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Information about the numbers of persons employed in the sea fisheries catching sector are compiled annually by the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. Each person employed is classified as regularly employed if employment in the catching sector is their ma…

6 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many single surveys have now been carried out in each pilot area, expressed also as a percentage of all surveys purchased in each area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: As at 7 December 2004, a total of 70 single surveys had been commissioned: 63 in the Greater Glasgow North and West pilot area, one in the Edinburgh North and Leith area, and three in each of the Dundee and Inverness areas. The Scottish Executive does not hol…

6 Dec 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses each local authority has purchased privately, and at what cost, in order to meet obligations under homelessness legislation.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally. We do collect information on the number of dwellings purchased by each local authority from the private sector, and this is shown in the table below for 2003 and for the first half of 2004. <table bo…

30 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, medical graduates left Scotland for their first post in each of the last three years, broken down by medical school and category of graduate.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The following table shows the destination of graduates from Scottish Medical Schools taking up their first NHS appointments as Pre-Registration House Officers (PRHOs) in each of the last three years. It is not possible from this data to differentiate between …

29 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that all the conditions that will allow the reopening of export markets for the beef industry are met should the closure of the Over Thirty Month Scheme be announced, with particular reference to each of any relevant shortcomings highlighted in the Eur…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive accept the report of the EU Food and Veterinary Office Mission on BSE controls, which visited Scotland in May this year. The Executive is, in conjunction with other UK Departments, making good progress towards addressing the findings of…

29 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of (a) electricity, (b) heating and (c) transport fuel used by it is generated from renewable sources.

Answer · Tom McCabe: (a) 100 percent of electricity consumed by the Scottish Executive was generated from renewable sources.(b) 4.4 percent of the energy used for heating the 14 largest Scottish Executive buildings was generated from renewable sources. Data is not held ce…

29 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of European funding has been secured for renewable energy projects in (a) each of the last three years and (b) this year.

Answer · Allan Wilson: European Structural Funds awards with a total value of £1,406,358 have been made to renewable energy projects within the current programming period (2000–06). Awards for each of the years are:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=129> <…