Parliamentary questions

Richard Lochhead

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

18 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each ministerial (a) committee and (b) sub-committee created since May 1999, giving the membership and the dates established and terminated in each case.

Answer · Jack McConnell: Prior to the winter of 2001-02, no formal committees or sub-committees of Cabinet existed. The decision to have committees arose from a review of the preceding, less formal arrangement of ministerial groups. In addition to formal committees and standing minis…

10 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many High Court sentences have been reduced (a) under human rights legislation and (b) for any other reasons in each of the last three years and how many such sentences were originally life sentences.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information relating to successful appeals against sentence in High Court cases is contained in the following table:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=349><TR><TD WIDTH="68%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD><TD WIDTH="11%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>1998</TD><T…

9 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of general dental practitioners is in NHS board areas and what average number of (a) NHS and (b) private patients is registered to general dental practitioners in each NHS board area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The average number of general dental practitioners in NHS board areas and the average number of NHS patients registered to general dental practitioners in each NHS board area are shown in the table. Information on private patients is not available.<P>General …

9 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what average number of patients is currently registered to salaried dentists in each NHS board area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29068 on 20 September 2002. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:<P><A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliame…

6 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of patients is that are currently registered with salaried general dental practitioners in each NHS board area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The average number of patients that were registered, as at 30 June 2002, with salaried general dental practitioners in each NHS board area is show in the following table.<P>Average Number of Patients that are Currently Registered with Salaried General Dental …

6 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for an appointment to see a salaried general dental practitioner in each NHS board area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: This is a matter for the relevant Island NHS Boards and Primary Care NHS Trusts. The information requested is not held centrally.

6 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the ratio of whole-time equivalent general dental practitioners to population is in (a) each NHS board area and (b) each local authority area.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The ratio of general dental practitioners to population in (a) each NHS board area and (b) each local authority area is shown in the following tables. Whole-time-equivalent information is not available.<P>(a) Ratio of General Dental Practitioners (GDPs) to Po…

6 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many places there were and what the ratio of applications to places available was at each dental school in each of the last three years and what the figures are for the current year.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: The information requested by the member is currently being collated. I am awaiting a response from Dundee Dental School. Once complete, I will write to the member with a full response and place a copy in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

5 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown by local authority, expressed also as a ratio of the number of private water supplies in each area, of the #850,000 for the production of a comprehensive education and support package to professionals and users in respect of the potential risks of private…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive are presently in discussion with a number of bodies including representatives from local authorities and industry professionals regarding the production of an effective education package.<P>Although a final decision regarding the format and dist…

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to paragraph 1.10 of the Draft Agricultural Holdings (Scotland) Bill: Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment, on what basis it determined that an absolute right to buy for tenant farmers could result in a legal challenge under the European Convention of Human Rights unless it c…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive believes that the creation of an absolute right to buy could result in landowners incurring loss in the value of their assets. We also believe that a court of law might view provisions introducing an absolute right to buy as amounting to an inte…

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many limited partnership tenancies there are in the agricultural sector and how many such tenancies have been created in each of the last 10 years.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The information requested is not held centrally.

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many secure tenancies there are in the agriculture sector and how many such tenancies have become available in each of the last ten years.

Answer · Ross Finnie: There were estimated to be around 14,000 full tenancy agreements active in Scotland in 2001. The Executive does not hold information which breaks this figure down further by type of tenancy. Nor do we collect information about the number of new tenancy agreem…

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what winter maintenance payments for non-trunk roads were awarded to each local authority in 2001, expressed per capita and detailing separately any top-up awards that were made.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Support for local authority expenditure on general and winter road maintenance is provided within the general grant allocations to each council, and is not separately identified.

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its Environment and Rural Affairs Department's budget had no linkage to European funding in (a) the current year and (b) each of the last five years and how much is projected to have no such linkage in the next year, expressed in both percentage and monetary terms and as a per…

Answer · Ross Finnie: The following table sets out estimates of the requested proportions based on the relevant published spending plans for the years 1997-98 to 2003-04.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=604><TR><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Year</TD><TD WIDTH="15%…

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases have been dismissed by the courts as a result of incomplete paperwork or any other error by the (a) Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) Crown Office in each of the last three years.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The information requested is not available but Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Management reviews each instance of this and takes steps to ensure that lessons are learned to seek to avoid repetitions.

4 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were marked "no proceedings" in each district and regional procurator fiscal office in each of the last three years.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The information requested is as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 WIDTH=595><TR><TD WIDTH="19%" VALIGN="MIDDLE"><P>Cases Marked: "No Proceedings"</TD><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="MIDDLE"><P>April 1999 to March 2000</TD><TD WIDTH="27%" VALIGN="MIDDLE"><…

3 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to Her Majesty's Government in respect of projected levels of North Sea oil and gas exploration activity following any changes to the UK continental shelf tax regime.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: We are in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including the oil and gas industry.

3 Sep 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it plans to take in respect of projected levels of North Sea oil and gas exploration activity following any changes to the UK continental shelf tax regime.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This is a reserved matter. We remain in regular contact with the oil and gas industry on a wide range of issues, in particular through PILOT, of which I am Vice Chair. We will continue to work with the industry and with the UK Government through PILOT, to str…

26 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what public transport funding grants it has given per capita to each local authority in each of the last three years.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The following table shows the total funding committed by the Scottish Executive in the last three years to each local authority under the Public Transport Fund, the Integrated Transport Fund and the Rural Public Passenger Grant element of the Rural Transport …

26 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a breakdown of income raised by each local authority from (a) parking charges and (b) parking fines in each of the last five years, expressed (i) per capita and (ii) as a percentage of total income.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Information for each local authority on the levels of income raised from parking charges and fines (not shown separately), total income and population levels, is available for each year from 1996-97 in the the Parliament's Reference Centre: <I><P>Rating Revie…

23 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding (a) in total and (b) per capita it has allocated to tackle alcohol misuse in each NHS board area and to which organisations any such funding was allocated.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Funding to tackle alcohol problems is provided within NHS boards' and local authorities' general allocations and cannot be separately identified. The Executive is providing £1 million in 2002-03 to Alcohol Action Teams to assess local needs and draw up local …