Parliamentary questions

Stewart Stevenson

2,358 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

17 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent it advertises a geographic telephone number as an alternative to each non-geographic number used to access services provided by it or its agencies and non-departmental public bodies.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive advertises telephone numbers for services through British Telecommunicationsplc phonebooks, the Scottish Executive website and individual publications and leaflets.The Scottish Executive’s central switchboard and enquiry facility…

17 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many 0800, 08000, 0500 or other "free to the caller" numbers (a) it uses, (b) its agencies use and (c) non-departmental public bodies use and what revenue it has derived, or costs it has incurred, from each such number in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Information on the use of 0800,08000, 0500 numbers across the Scottish Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is notheld centrally and therefore the information requested could only be provided atdisproportionate cost. Communication…

17 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many 0845 numbers (a) it uses, (b) its agencies use and (c) non-departmental public bodies use and what revenue it has derived, or costs it has incurred, from each such number in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Information on the use of 0845numbers across the Scottish Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is notheld centrally and therefore the information requested could only be provided atdisproportionate cost. Communications and Informa…

17 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what 0870 numbers (a) it uses, (b) its agencies use and (c) non-departmental public bodies use and what revenue it has derived from each such number in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Information on the use of 0870numbers across the Scottish Executive, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies is notheld centrally and therefore the information requested could only be provided atdisproportionate cost. Communications and Informa…

10 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the context of its responsibility for social inclusion, it will respond to the Ofcom consultation on the analogue television switch-off which may commence in parts of Scotland in 2008.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Broadcasting is a reserved matter. However, Scottish ministers have made clear to the UK Government the importance the Scottish Executive attaches to social inclusion. Scottish ministers' position is that, when digital switchover is complete in Scotland, tele…

8 Feb 2005 · Written Question

Answer · Jim Wallace: The table reports the level ofmanufacturing employment in Scotland in 1979 and for the spring quarter in 1997, 1999 and2004.The manufacturing employmentestimate for 1979 is not directly comparable with the estimates for 1997, 1999 and2004 due to change…

7 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13372 by Tavish Scott on 26 January 2005, what the suicide rate was in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01, (c) 2001-02, (d) 2002-03 and (e) 2003-04, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The table presents the latest available information. It combines deaths from intentional self-harm with deaths from events of undetermined intent, as the majority of the latter are likely to have been suicides. Deaths from Intentional Self-Harm and Eve…

7 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents took place in bus lanes in each year since 1999.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Data about injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the Stats 19 statistical report form. These returns cover only road accidents in which one or more people were injured; they do not cover "damage only" a…

7 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its total spending on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) consultants was in each year since 1999; how many full-time equivalent PFI consultants were employed over this period; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was, and how many PFI consultancy firms it has used over…

Answer · Tom McCabe: The following table shows thetotal spending on consultancy services in support of Public Private Partnership(PPP) projects by the Executive in each year since 1999:<table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p…

7 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on (a) indoor bought plants, (b) indoor hired plants, (c) outdoor bought plants and (d) outdoor hired plants in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The spend on indoor bought plants in 2003-04 and 2004-05 was £19,173 and £18,083 respectively. Prior to 2003-04 spend was contained within annual maintenance expenditure and cannot be separated out.The spend on outdoor plants is contained within annual…

4 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13048 by Mr Tom McCabe on 24 January 2005, what costs have been incurred by the First Minister in respect of hospitality in each year since 1999.

Answer · Tom McCabe: We have centrally held information in relation to hospitality costs incurred by the First Minister from the financial year 2000-01. This is set out in the table. These figures provide the substantive answer to the member’s question S2W- 13048, which I indicat…

2 Feb 2005 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish businesses are trading on the internet.

Answer · Allan Wilson: Last year’s figures for VAT-registered companies indicate that around 64,500 of them are trading on the internet. Roughly 60,000 of these are buying online and 25,500 have websites in which customers can order products and services online.

31 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the listed buildings within its care would be likely to be served with listed buildings repairs notices if they were privately owned.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Information on the condition of the historic government estate in Scotland is contained in the Biennial Conservation Report: the Government’s Historic Estate 2001-03, published in 2004. A copy has been placed in the Parliaments Reference Cenre. The Sco…

31 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many listed buildings there are within its care, broken down by local authority area and Executive department.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Biennial Conservation Report: the Government’s Historic Estate 2001-03, published last year, reported the following figures:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> Department </td> <td> …

31 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the statement by Mr Tom McCabe at c 14063 in the Official Report on 27 January 2005 on the use of £100 figures for Executive accruals in its Budget (Scotland) (No. 2) Bill is consistent with (a) Annex C of HM Treasury's guide regarding departmental resource accounts that relate to Par…

Answer · Tom McCabe: I congratulate the member on his erudition. He will know that the first three references he gives are guidance on accounts, and that accounts come after the end of the relevant financial year. As I explained during the debate on Stage 1, the use of £100 in th…

27 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13056 by Hugh Henry on 24 January 2005, how many crimes of carrying a knife were recorded in (a) Scotland, (b) Aberdeen, (c) Dundee, (d) Edinburgh, (e) Glasgow and (f) Stirling in each year since 1997.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information for the relevant crime categories in the ScottishExecutive Justice Department classification of crimes and offences is given for the years 1997 and 1998 in the following tables. For information for the years 1999 to 2002, I refer the…

27 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13055 by Hugh Henry on 24 January 2005, how many people were sentenced to custody as a result of convictions for carrying a knife in (a) Scotland, (b) Aberdeen, (c) Dundee, (d) Edinburgh, (e) Glasgow and (f) Stirling in each year since 1997.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the table.Custodial convictions in Scottish Courts for handling an offensive weapon1, by selected area, 1997 to 2002<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> Area <…

26 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what weight will be given to the number of cancelled train services when assessing the performance of First ScotRail.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The ScotRail franchise agreement contains a number of benchmarks against which the operator’s performance is measured and assessed. Included in these benchmarks is a limit on the number of services which may be cancelled in any given period. Failure to meet t…

26 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of administering social inclusion partnerships in each year since 1999.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The total amounts claimed for administering social inclusion partnerships in each year from 1999 up to 2003-04 are shown in the table below. F…

24 Jan 2005 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many documents or publications have been lodged by MSPs with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre in each year since 1999.

Answer · George Reid: Documents are only formally lodged in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre by the Scottish Executive or by the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. From time to time, MSPs donate items to Information Centre stock, but details of the donor are not norm…

24 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why the electoral register produced by Grampian Joint Valuation Board restricts published electors' surnames and forenames to 25 characters each and whether such a restriction applies to other electoral registers.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive has no function in relation to electoral registration. The Scotland Office have advised that they are not aware of any issues relating to the length of voters’ names in the register and that there appears to be no legislation restrictin…