Parliamentary questions
Richard Lochhead
2,448 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to promote, develop and modernise the National Archives of Scotland and, if so, whether any additional funding will be made available, specifying the amount and timescale.
Answer · Tavish Scott: Promotion, development andmodernisation of the National Archives of Scotland is a continuing process,supported by the Scottish Executive.</p><p>At present, the Scottish Executive is providing £10 million to fund the refurbishment of HM GeneralRegister House, …
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has carried out, or commissioned, research into the comparative costs of replacing heating systems and boiler replacements as part of the central heating programme.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>As part of the central heatingprogramme, the comparative cost of central heating systems installed under theprogramme are recorded b…
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been cases where independent inspections have not been conducted of work carried out under the central heating programme.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>There have been no suchcases. All installations are inspected by Eaga’s technical monitoring officersas well as by one of two indepe…
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether boiler replacement schemes are available under the central heating programme and, if not, when these will be made available.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>As part of a pilot project,applicants to the programme who request a boiler only replacement can have thismeasure carried out provid…
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been any serious complaints made against (a) Eaga Partnership Ltd or (b) contractors with regard to implementing the central heating programme and what action has been taken with regard to any such complaints.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>The central heatingprogramme is a major programme of work impacting on the homes of individuals.The Executive expects that high stan…
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it last conducted inspections of (a) Eaga Partnership Ltd and (b) contractors implementing the central heating programme and what the results of these inspections were.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I have asked Angiolina Foster, the Acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Herresponse is as follows:</p><p>Communities Scotland meetwith Eaga on a regular basis to discuss progress being made on the central heatingprogramme and consider co…
3 Oct 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of any risk assessment carried out by NHS Scotland; what the top 20 risks in the NHS are, showing how risk associated with health compares with other forms of risk, and how any such assessment influences its priorities and objectives.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Like any major organisation,NHSScotland sees the management of risk as an important issue. Within the NHSthere are a number of types of risk, such as clinical, non-clinical, financial,systems, business and project and these risks are assessed and managed indi…
29 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new youth and community centre projects are currently (a) proposed and (b) being constructed in each local authority area.
Answer · Euan Robson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2F-184 which is available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp…
24 Sep 2003 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #10 million support package announced for shore-based fishing businesses has been disbursed.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The £10 million transitionalsupport package is targeted at the owners of vessels worst affected by EU cod recoverymeasures agreed last December. As of this week, grant payments of just over £2.2million have been paid to vessel owners and a further £2.6 millio…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assistance has been, or will be, made available to local authorities towards the costs of conducting housing needs assessments.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Local authorities are expectedto a carry out assessments of housing need in the process of preparing their localhousing strategies (LHS). Over the period 2001-02 to 2003-04, we made £4.5 millionavailable to local authorities for the preparation of their LHS.<…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that people are not priced out of their local housing markets due to increasing house prices.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive is committed to delivering good quality, sustainable and affordable housingfor all. The mechanisms for doing this are principally through the provision ofsocial rented housing but also through low-cost home ownership options. Developmen…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many rural home ownership grants have been awarded in each local authority area for each year since the scheme was created and what the average cost is of administering individual applications for such grants.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster,acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information in the form requestedis only available since 1996-97. The number of rural home ownership grants (RHOG)that have been awarded…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age of (a) private and (b) local authority housing stock is in each local authority area.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The following tables show Scottishhousing stock by sector and year of construction. The data are collected using bandsfor the year of construction, and the mean age reported is therefore an approximateestimate of the average age. Table 1 shows the Scotland le…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of housing investment has been in each of the last 10 years, showing year on year percentage changes and broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: The information requested isshown in the following tables. It should be noted that the total council housingstock reduced by 25% between September 1993 and September 2002.</p><p>HousingRevenue Account Gross Capital Expenditure Pre Local Authority Re-Organisat…
18 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward any proposed changes to the planning system.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: The Partnership Agreement commitsthe Executive to “improve the planning system to strengthen involvement of communities,speed up decisions, reflect local views better and allow quicker investment decisions”.The modernisation programme builds on measures set o…
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average age of (a) primary and (b) secondary school buildings is and what percentage of all school buildings are listed buildings in each local authority.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have been educated in temporary accommodation, expressed as a percentage of total number of pupils educated and broken down by local authority area in each of the last five years.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Responsibility for the detailedmanagement of the education service lies with the individual local authorities.The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual expenditure has been on temporary accommodation for pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools, in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of overall local authority education spending.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Responsibility for the detailedmanagement of the education service lies with the individual local authorities.The information requested is not held centrally.</p>
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in persuading the European Commission to support a significant reduction in industrial fishing in the North Sea.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive remains concerned about the scale of industrial fishing and itspotential impact on the marine ecosystem and has been active in discussingfuture management options.</p><p>In the course ofthis year, we have sought progress on two fronts.<…
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1327 by Ross Finnie on 31 July 2003, how many fishing vessels have been allocated decommissioning grants, broken down by port, and how much has been allocated under the transitional aid scheme.
Answer · Ross Finnie: There are currently 70 extantoffers of grant, of which 54 have been accepted by the owners concerned. The breakdownby port of administration of the 54 vessels for which grant has been accepted is:</p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadd…
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1326 by Ross Finnie on 31 July 2003, whether it plans to extend the timescale for the transitional aid scheme for the fishing industry in light of any on-going financial pressures facing the industry.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We are looking at the issue,including the EC State Aid implications. I hope to announce the outcome within thenext couple of weeks.</p>
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S2W-1326 and S2W-1327 by Ross Finnie on 31 July 2003, what funds remain to be allocated under the transitional aid scheme for the fishing industry and whether it plans to allow the continuation of applications whilst funds remain available.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We anticipate that, following outstanding payments in respect of the six-month period covered by the scheme, around half of the budget ceiling of £10 million will remain unallocated.</p><p>We are examining the case and arrangements for any scheme extension, i…
15 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority area will receive of the additional #16.85 million for cycling, walking and safer streets projects announced on 11 September 2003, expressed also on a per capita basis.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The allocations to localauthorities for 2004-05 and 2005-06 for cycling, walking and safer streetsprojects are set out below. </p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p>Population</p> </td> <td> …
5 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which onshore businesses have benefited from the support package announced for fishing communities earlier this year and how much aid has been granted to (a) fish processors and (b) other fishing-related onshore businesses.
Answer · Andy Kerr: In addition to TransitionalAid support for the catching sector, the 2000-06 Financial Instrument onFisheries Guidance programmes makes some £30 million available for fishingrelated onshore businesses. Businesses who have benefited within the processingsector …
5 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that fishing vessels that have successfully applied for decommissioning settle their debts with offshore businesses.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The question of settling anyoutstanding payment for goods or services is a matter between the parties involved.Civil remedies are available, if necessary, to address any difficulties that mayarise in that context. It would not be appropriate for the Executive…
5 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) primary and (b) secondary school teacher to pupil ratio has been in each of the last five years nationally and in each local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: Pupil to teacher ratios arepublished annually as part of the summary results of the school census. Copiesare available from the Parliament's Reference Centre. The Bib. numbers for thepublications for 1998 to 2002 are 7761, 20194, 20197, 22064, 29040.</p>
5 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many probationary in each of the last five years have remained in the profession following the completion of their probationary year, expressed also as a percentage of the number of probationers (a) nationally and (b) in each local authority area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
4 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will mark the European Year of Education through Sport in 2004 and, if so, how.
Answer · Frank McAveety: We will, together with <b>sport</b>scotlandand the Youth Sport Trust, consider how the year might be marked in Scotland.Meanwhile, <b>sport</b>scotland recentlyissued a briefing note produced by the Youth Sport Trust to organisations in Scotlandwhich might be…
4 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was represented at a conference hosted by the Italian presidency of the European Union on the issue of a preventative approach to health care and the promotion of healthy lifestyles scheduled for 3 to 4 September 2003 and, if so, by whom.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Officials from theDepartment of Health, on behalf of all the UK Health Departments, attended thisconference. Feedback from the conference will be made available to the devolvedadministrations.</p>
4 Sep 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when and where it expects the first regional advisory council proposed under the recent Common Fisheries Policy review to be established; what form it will take, and what its impact will be on the Scottish fishing industry.
Answer · Ross Finnie: We understand that theCommission are likely to publish a formal proposal for a Council Regulation inthe near future. Unless this proposal meets with unexpected opposition, we canexpect a Council decision establishing the first Regional Advisory Councils(RAC) …