Parliamentary questions
Robert Brown
1,531 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
3 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to support COSCA, the professional body for counselling and psychotherapy in Scotland.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive currently provides training support under section 9 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. £31,827 has been awarded this financial year.<P>A draft proposal from COSCA for continued funding is currently being considered by various depar…
2 Oct 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of PPP and PFI schemes on the level of appropriate community access to school buildings.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Although the Scottish Schools Standard PPP contract contains provisions for community use of school facilities, it is for individual local authorities to consider the provision of appropriate levels of community access in the light of local circumstances.
27 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any systems are currently in place to monitor the incidence of anti-social behaviour on public transport and, if not, whether it has any plans to introduce any such system.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Local transport providers and police forces keep records of incidences of vandalism and assault. We have no plans to collect this information centrally.<P>We continue to encourage public transport operators and the police to deal with incidents of anti-social…
27 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that public transport workers, passengers and vehicles are protected from the effects of anti-social behaviour, including violence, vandalism and smoking.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I take the issue of anti-social behaviour on public transport very seriously. We are awaiting a report from the Scottish Business Crime Centre about crime on buses, which will make recommendations on the way forward.<P>The Executive recently launched an actio…
26 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to provide more cognitive therapists.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A number of individuals from a variety of clinical backgrounds and who have undertaken appropriate postgraduate training in cognitive therapy may use the title of cognitive therapist.<P>We have recently launched <I>Working for Health, the Workforce Developmen…
25 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the total revenue received by VisitScotland from commissions on bookings made through its website since the site's launch has been (a) reinvested in (i) VisitScotland and (ii) visitscotland.com and (b) paid to any other organisation, broken down by organisation and givi…
Answer · Mike Watson: eTourism Ltd is responsible for the operation and management of visitscotland.com. eTourism Ltd is a public private partnership between VisitScotland, the area tourist boards, Partnerships UK and Schlumberger Sema. Details of revenue received through the webs…
25 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid to visitscotland.com from commissions on all bookings through the website since its launch.
Answer · Mike Watson: This is an operational matter for eTourism Ltd.
25 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many bookings for outdoor activities have been made through visitscotland.com since its launch (a) in total and (b) broken down by tourist board area.
Answer · Mike Watson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29960 today. 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/webapp/sear…
25 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many bookings for accommodation have been made through visitscotland.com since its launch (a) in total and (b) broken down by tourist board area.
Answer · Mike Watson: Visitscotland.com, the VisitScotland website, has been contracted out to eTourism Ltd, a joint venture company trading as visitscotland.com. Visitscotland.com is a commercial company and as such the Scottish Executive is not responsible for reporting on its p…
25 Sep 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to address any shortfall of new business start-ups in the greater Glasgow area.
Answer · Iain Gray: Scottish Enterprise is providing a range of measures under its New Approach to Entrepreneurship to increase the number of start-ups assisted across the Enterprise Network. I understand that a number of local measures are also being put in place by Scottish En…
18 Sep 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to transfer civil service departments and government agencies to the greater Glasgow area.
Answer · Peter Peacock: There are no plans to transfer civil service departments and government agencies to the greater Glasgow area. As set out in the answer given to question S1W-27024 on 26 July 2002, there are, however, several organisations currently undertaking relocation revi…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many central heating systems have been installed under its central heating installation programme to date in (a) local authority, (b) housing association and (c) private sector properties, broken down by the most appropriate geographical division available.
Answer · Hugh Henry: A breakdown of (a) local authority; (b) housing association, and (c) private sector houses that have been improved under the central heating programme is set out in the following tables. The table for local authorities shows the position for 2001-02 only. Inf…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to encourage local authorities to support couple counselling services.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Couple Counselling Scotland and Scottish Marriage Care receive funding from the Scottish Executive Justice Department under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968. A total of almost £339,000 will be made in grant payments to these organisations in 2002-03. Local…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money has been made available in the current financial year to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for research purposes.
Answer · Allan Wilson: No element of the grant-in-aid allocated to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is ring-fenced for any specific purpose. SEPA spent approximately £400,000 on research and development in 2001-02 and has budgeted to spend around the same amount in…
17 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the staff resources available to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency for the monitoring and enforcement of environmental standards.
Answer · Allan Wilson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-29496 on 25 September 2002, in which new resources of £11.2 million were announced for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for the period 2003-04 to 2005-06. It is for SEPA to decide what pr…
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to benchmark standards in community care.
Answer · Frank McAveety: There has been a recent change in the way care services in Scotland are regulated. The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 set up the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care. National Care Standards covering a wide range of care services were publis…
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to monitor and audit local authority community care plans.
Answer · Frank McAveety: Community care plans are essentially local documents. They are not formally monitored or audited but, along with other strategic documents, inform progress on policy implementation and development.
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what provision there is in the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area for dementia sufferers with behavioural problems.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is available from Greater Glasgow Primary Care Trust, who are responsible for ensuring that local services for dementia sufferers are safe, of high quality, and meet the needs of users.
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on asthma research in each of the last five years.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Chief Scientist Office (CSO), within the Scottish Executive Health Department has responsibility for encouraging and supporting research into health services and patient care within the NHS in Scotland.<P>The following table provides details of the amount…
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on passive smoking public information campaigns by the Health Education Board for Scotland in each of the last five years.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: A substantial proportion of the Health Education Board for Scotland's (HEBS) budget is devoted to anti-smoking measures. However, while activity in relation to passive smoking is an integral component of the HEBS anti-smoking strategy, it is not possible to s…
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which, and what percentage, of its publications produced by the Social Inclusion Division from May 1999 to June 2002 refer people to the Citi'ens Advice Bureau service for advice and assistance and whether Citi'ens Advice Scotland is made aware of such referrals prior to publication.
Answer · Margaret Curran: No publications by the Scottish Executive's Social Inclusion Division have referred people to the Citizens Advice Bureau service for advice and assistance.
10 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether law centres should work in close association with other agencies such as Citi'ens Advice Bureaux and Credit Unions.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive wants to see a joined-up, user-friendly and quality-assured network of legal information and advice for the people of Scotland. That is the ultimate objective behind the programme of work I announced back on 22 May. In that context, it will be i…
10 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote the development of community legal services.
Answer · Jim Wallace: On 22 May, I announced a practical programme of development work to take forward the recommendations of the <I>Review of Legal Information and Advice Provision in Scotland</I> published last November. That programme includes the creation of four pilot partner…
10 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27360 by Lewis Macdonald on 8 August 2002, what plans it has to progress further electrification of the rail network.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive has no current plans for further electrification of the rail network in Scotland.
28 Aug 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to protect emergency service crews from attack.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive is very concerned about attacks on emergency service personnel and I am sure that this Parliament joins me in condemning this totally unacceptable behaviour. We want those involved to be detected and apprehended by the police and dealt with firm…
22 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27361 by Hugh Henry on 1 August 2002, why (a) individual local authority figures for Scotland have not yet been published, given that such figures for England and Wales were published by Her Majesty's Government in June, and (b) it has not issued ins…
Answer · Hugh Henry: No figures at all have yet been published because, as I said in reply to question S1W-27361, the second Home Energy Conservation Act progress reports are currently being considered. I will write to Mr Brown on this issue when consideration of the second progr…
22 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to tackle levels of illiteracy amongst young adults in Glasgow.
Answer · Iain Gray: Glasgow City Council Community Learning Strategy Partnership has been allocated £3.7 million over three years to 2004 to help raise levels of adult literacy and numeracy. The partnership has submitted an action plan, which estimates that over 21,000 adults wi…
22 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is giving to building opportunity and capacity for participation by young people in civic society.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I am pleased that we have been able to directly support the Scottish Youth Parliament, the Young Scot youth information service and the National Youth Portal, Scotland's first interactive Youth Website. These all play a major role in informing and encouraging…
22 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether a full report has been made available to it on the financial and business issues affecting the Glasgow Science Centre.
Answer · Iain Gray: The Scottish Executive has been kept informed by Scottish Enterprise and the Millennium Commission of financial issues at the Glasgow Science Centre.
22 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) has been paid in recent termination packages to former senior staff of the Glasgow Science Centre and (b) public funding has been used to finance such packages, broken down by (i) the former Chief Executive, (ii) the former Director of Operations, (iii) the Science Director, …
Answer · Iain Gray: This is a matter for the Glasgow Science Centre and its funders.