Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what 10 factors contribute most to CO2 emissions in Scotland, listed in descending order.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Levels of carbon dioxide emissions in Scotland by source are reported in the publication <i>Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: 1999-2001 </i>a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. …
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in the environment sections of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years, broken down by responsibility.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The tables below show the number of permanent full time equivalent staff employed in the environment sections of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years, broken down by pay band and area of responsibility.</p><p>Table A</p…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in the fisheries section of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years, broken down by responsibility.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The following tables show the number of permanent full time equivalent staff employed in the fisheries section of the Environment and Rural Affairs Department in each of the last three years, broken down by pay band and area of responsibility.</p><p>Table A</…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, during its recent negotiations with the European Union it has, either directly or through Her Majesty’s Government, secured any new measures that will enhance the influence of sub-state governments with primary legislative powers that do not apply to regions or local authori…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The EU Constitutional Treaty Protocol on the Application of the Principles of Subsidiarity and Proportionality specifically provides for the involvement of regional parliaments with legislative powers in the operation of the subsidiarity mechanism. This invol…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement it will have in next year's G8 Summit.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The G8 Summit will be held at Gleneagles from 6 to 8 July next year. The decision to hold the event in Scotland was made by the Prime Minister and is warmly welcomed by the Scottish Executive. </p><p>The summit is a tremendous opportunity for Scotland to demo…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget for its Environment and Rural Affairs Department was in each of the last five years, broken down by issue and detailing year on year percentage increases and decreases.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The period 1999-2000 to 2003-04 covers the transition between cash and resource budgeting and accounting which makes it difficult to compare expenditure data on a like for like basis. However, by excluding non-cash items such as cost of capital and capital de…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Minister for Environment and Rural Development has met his counterpart from Her Majesty’s Government, detailing the date and subject matter of each meeting.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Since I was appointed a minister in 1999 I have frequently met opposite numbers from the UK Government at both Cabinet and junior ministerial level to discuss issues of common interest. For example there have been regular meetings with UK Ministerial colleagu…
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of expenditure by research institutions was on the development of clean technologies in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
16 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any notification from, or had discussions with, Her Majesty’s Government regarding any likely reduction in civil service jobs based in Aberdeen and, if so, whether it has made any representations on the matter.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive has not received any notification from, or had any discussions with, Her Majesty’s Government regarding any likely reduction in civil service jobs based in Aberdeen. For those civil service posts that are the responsibility of UK minist…
15 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what importance it places on degree-qualified chemists.
Answer · Jim Wallace: A key aim of <i>A Science Strategy for Scotland</i>, published by the Scottish Executive in August 2001, is to ensure that enough people study science to a standard which will enable the future needs of the country to be met. However, the Executive does not h…
15 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates obtained a degree in chemistry from each of Scotland’s universities in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table shows the number of single and joint degree chemistry graduates from those higher education institutions offering chemistry degree programmes between 1998-99 and 2002-03, the latest year for which this information is currently available.</…
15 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish universities ran degree programmes in chemistry in each of the last five years.
Answer · Jim Wallace: According to data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, 13 Scottish higher education institutions ran single and/or joint degree programmes in chemistry in each year between 1998-99 and 2002-03. </p><p>These institutions were University of Abe…
14 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in securing additional monkfish quotas.
Answer · Ross Finnie: New scientific information generated by the Fisheries Research Service in partnership with the Scottish fishing industry has been made available to the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). The ICES Advisory Committee on Fishery Managem…
10 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Health and Community Care attended the informal EU Council of Health Ministers on 8 to 9 September 2004 and whether the minister or deputy minister will attend the EU Council of Health Ministers on 4 October 2004 where discussion on a revision of the Working Time …
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I did not attend the informal EU Council of Health Ministers and neither I, nor my deputy, will be attending the EU Council on 4 October. The Working Time Directive is a reserved matter but Executive ministers have participated in developing the UK line.</p>
8 Sep 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to reduce substance misuse amongst offenders.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The Executive has introduced a range of new initiatives to tackle substance misuse amongst offenders in the community, including roll-out of drug treatment and testing orders, piloting of drug courts and providing extra support to arrest referral schemes. Tog…
7 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the planned work programme of Councillor Eric Milligan’s “first impressions” review and whether Councillor Milligan or the Executive will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre regular reports on the success of this review.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Councillor Milligan is planning to visit international ports, airports and other gateways throughout Scotland. He will travel to London and Dover to see analogous facilities there. He will also make short visits to cities in Northern Europe and North America …
7 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what follow-up activity has been undertaken of its involvement in the (a) Scotland with Catalonia and (b) Scotland in Sweden series of events and whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre a report on the work undertaken by it, or its agencies, since the end of t…
Answer · Andy Kerr: Such follow-up activity would be undertaken by specific policy areas of the Executive along with their counterparts in the region visited. As such, no specific report, covering the areas where follow-up activity has taken place, is available.</p><p>The Scotti…
7 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre a report regarding the visits undertaken by four of its ministers as part of the Scotland in the Netherlands series of events.
Answer · Andy Kerr: A full evaluation of the Scotland in the Netherlands events will take place throughout the programme. This will include any ministerial involvement and will be available on the Scottish Executive website and in the Parliament’s Reference Centre in spring 2005…
7 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to follow up any of the ministerial and other activities scheduled as part of its contribution to the Scotland in the Netherlands series of events.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Individual policy areas in the Scottish Executive taking part in the Scotland in the Netherlands programme will follow up the ministerial programme. The nature of the follow up will vary depending on the individual activity. In some cases the follow up activi…
2 Sep 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost has been of homes built by Communities Scotland, and its predecessor organisation, in each of the last 10 years.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The following table gives details of the average total build cost of homes approved for construction through registered social landlords and o…
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce individual transferable quotas to the fishing industry and whether it considers that the impact of such a policy would be damaging to the industry.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is currently considering its response to the No 10 Strategy Unit report <i>Net Benefits: A sustainable and profitable future for UK fishing</i>. The introduction of individual transferable quota (ITQ) is one of the recommendations withi…
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the prison officer to inmate ratio has been in each prison in each of the last six months, taking account of vacancies and sickness levels.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p>The information is not available.</p><p>There is no predetermined staff to prisoner ration within SPS. The SPS staffing levels are made …
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of hours lost as a result of sickness absence has been per NHS employee in each (a) hospital and (b) NHS board area in each of the last five years or for the most recent years for which figures are available.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The overall time lost due to sickness absence for the three years 2000-01 to 2002-03 for which pilot data is available is set out at Section A of the May 2004 publication entitled <i>NHSScotland Occupational Health and Safety Minimum Dataset Pilot Data</i>. T…
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have been admitted to each hospital in each NHS board area for (a) drug-related and (b) alcohol-related conditions in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of all children’s admissions in each case.
Answer · Hugh Henry: Information on the number of children (aged under 16) discharged, with an alcohol related or drug misuse diagnosis from acute hospitals, mental illness hospitals and psychiatric units is presented by NHS board area of residence in table 1 and table 2. Informa…
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures have been taken to promote marine sources of energy production and what future plans there are for such measures.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The world’s first commercial wave energy project - in Islay - received support under the Scottish Renewables Obligation. More recently, the Executive has contributed over £2 million towards the establishment of the wave test facility at the European Marine En…
31 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of (a) households and (b) people on housing waiting lists has been in each local authority area in each of the last 10 years, expressed also as a percentage of the population in each case.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The numbers of applicant households on waiting lists for each local authority are published on an annual basis for 2000-01 onwards in the quarterly Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin (Housing Series) <i>Housing Trends in Scotland.</i> Table 16 in the lat…
27 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to commemorate next year’s 700th anniversary of the execution of William Wallace.
Answer · Frank McAveety: The 700th Anniversary of William Wallace’s death will be a significant attraction for visitors to Stirling in particular and Scotland as a whole. We are therefore working with Stirling Council, VisitScotland and Historic Scotland to develop an appropriate pro…
27 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken, or plans it has, to increase links between Scotland and Poland.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Scotland and Poland enjoy strong historic ties and I am pleased to note that partnerships continue to flourish today between our two countries across manysectors.</p><p>The Scottish Executive has participated in a wide range of activity to increase links betw…
23 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of beef imports from (a) EU and (b) non-EU countries to Scotland in each of the last five years, showing also percentage changes for each year and what information it has on such imports to the UK in each of the last five years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Import statistics are only available at UK level. The following table shows UK beef imports (bovine animal products) for each of the last five years with percentage changes. </p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p align=cen…
18 Aug 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal obligations there are on housing associations to explain rent increases to residents.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive, Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 introduced the Scottish Secure Tenancy (SST) for tenants of local authorities and registered social landlords, …