Parliamentary questions

Stewart Stevenson

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

21 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many adults had an income of (a) less than #5,000, (b) #5,001 - #7,500, (c) #7,501 - #10,000, (d) #10,001 - #15,000, (e) #15,001 - #20,000, (f) #20,001 - #30,000, (g) #30,001 - #35,000, (h) #35,001 - #40,000, (i) #40,001 - #50,000, (j) #50,001 - #75,000 and (k) #75,001 - #100,000 in …

Answer · Margaret Curran: The following table presents estimates of the numbers of adults with gross income falling in the various income bands, for each of the years 1996-97 to 2001-02. The estimates are derived from the Family Resources Survey’s (FRS) Individual Incomes Analysis. Du…

14 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the target to ensure that rail passengers do not have to stand for more than ten minutes during their journey, announced on 17 December 2002, will be met.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring that there is a consistent standard to addressovercrowding across Scotrail’s services.Under the current franchise,the operator is required to meet obligations relating to managing overcrowding.These oblig…

14 Jan 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that an area of special transport difficulties would be an appropriate location for its proposed national transport agency.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Thelocation of the proposed national transport agency will be determined inaccordance with the Scottish Executive’s relocationpolicy, set out in parliamentary answer S2W-5401 and expanded upon by the Deputy Minister for Finance, PublicServices and Parliamenta…

13 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost is of administering the council tax system.

Answer · Andy Kerr: In 2001-02 local authoritynet revenue expenditure on council tax collection, council tax administrationand council tax valuation was £29.5 million, £10.2 million and £7.0 millionrespectively. In total, this represents 2.8% of income from council tax.

9 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during Question Time on each occasion since First Minister's Question Time was timetabled to commence at noon, compared with the equivalent day (a) one year and (b) two years previously.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process it is not possible to identify the total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. The information at Table A therefore covers the number of visitors who…

9 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during Question Time in the last two years.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process, it is not possible to identify total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. Information given in relation to Question Time covers those visitors w…

9 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during First Minister's Question Time on each occasion since it was timetabled to commence at noon, compared with the equivalent day (a) one year and (b) two years previously.

Answer · Andrew Welsh: The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process, it is not possible to identify the total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. The information at Table A therefore covers the number of visitors…

9 Jan 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during First Minister's Question Time in the last two years.

7 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the use of applets by the eProcurement Scotl@nd web service restricts or prevents its use by (a) buyers and (b) suppliers who use open systems computer software and hardware or who conform to cross-industry rather than proprietary standards.

Answer · Andy Kerr: TheeProcurement Scotl@nd service is made up of a number of elements, for example,transaction software and e-tendering software. The service provider is requiredto ensure that the service is not reliant on proprietary standards such as thetype of web-browser u…

5 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what budget is available to the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency for the replacement of fishery protection vessels.

Answer · Ross Finnie: A budget of £15.0 million hasbeen made available to the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency for thereplacement of FPV SULISKER by end 2005. To date no additional funds have beenallocated for further vessel replacements.

5 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the timetable is for the replacement of fishery protection vessels for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency for the next five years.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish FisheriesProtection Agency is currently procuring a replacement for FPV SULISKER to beoperational by the end of 2005 and the Agency’s planned requirements forfurther vessel replacements thereafter will be considered in future spending reviews.

5 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the next stage of its consultation on regulations to improve the quality and standard of private water supplies; how long the consultation period will be, and when it expects to publish the results of the consultation process.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Extensive research andcollaboration with stakeholders is required before the Scottish Executive will be in a position to finalise the next stage of its consultation onprivate water supplies. The Executive aims to complete that research andpublish a further co…

5 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements are scheduled to take place to the A90 on the sections from Balmedie to Tipperty and Ellon to Peterhead over the next 10 years.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: An appraisal of the stretchof the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty has recently been completed, usingScottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), and we are considering itsconclusions.On the stretch of the A90 betweenEllon and Peterhead, carriageway …

18 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will reply to the letter of 17 October 2003 from Alex Salmond MP regarding decommissioning offers.

Answer · Allan Wilson: Ross Finnie responded on 5January.

18 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many special constables there have been in Grampian police force in each year since 1995.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The numbers of special constables serving with Grampian in each year since 1995 are shown in the following table:Grampian PoliceNumbers of SpecialConstables<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> As at 31 March: </td…

11 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated under the rates relief scheme for harbours and businesses affected by white fish catch reduction, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The following localauthorities have granted hardship relief to harbours and businesses affected bythe reduction in whitefish catches (as at 8 January 2004):<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> Aberdeenshire </td> <td> £127…

11 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made under the rates relief scheme for harbours and businesses affected by white fish catch reduction and how many were successful on first application or appeal, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This is a matter for individuallocal authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.

8 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the average (a) household debt per annum and (b) household monthly income for each year since 1997.

Answer · Margaret Curran: There is no centrally heldinformation on levels of household debt in Scotland.The table shows estimatesfor median equivalised net household income, before and after housing costs, foreach of the years 1996-97 to 2001-02 inclusive, all in 2001-02 prices…

20 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many health staff working in prisons have contracted hepatitis C (a) during the course of their work and (b) in total in each year for which the figures are available, broken down by staff group.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:This information is notavailable.

13 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it gives to companies that sponsor educational scholarships.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive welcomes initiatives where by the support of business helps to advance its education and lifelong objectives. But such initiatives are appropriately a matter for those businesses and for the educational institutions with which they engage.

13 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its highest and lowest projections are for prison population for mid-year 2006.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:The latest availableinformation is given in table 1 of the Prison Population Projections, Scotland, 2002-2003 to 2012-2013</…

13 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much, and what proportion of, (a) its total spending and (b) gross domestic product was spent on policing in each of the last four years and what proportion of its total spending is projected to be spent on policing in the next two years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information is shown in the following table.<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> </td> <td colspan="3"> Expenditure on the Police Service in Scotland </td> </tr> <tr> <td> …

7 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to encourage the development of insulin pens that only contain small doses so that young children can manage their diabetes more independently than by the use of syringes.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Insulin pens suitable foryoung children are readily available and being used without any problems bypaediatric units in Scotland.

31 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on the devolved aspects of the recommendations of the Report of the Working Group on Extending the Gas Network and which areas of Scotland were identified by the working group as being suitable for extending the gas supply network.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Although the devolved administrationswere members of the Working Group on Extending the Gas Network, there were nodevolved matters covered among the recommendations of the working group’sreport.