Stewart Stevenson

21 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether community policemen stationed in rural areas receive specific training due to the nature of their beat.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Community policing is intended to be delivered in a range of settings and the training provided to community police officers draws on rural as well as urban circumstances.

19 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-17277 by Ross Finnie on 24 August 2001, when decisions will be made on the 476 applications submitted this year under the Rural Stewardship Scheme.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Decisions will be made as soon as possible after the Rural Stewardship Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2001 come into force.

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when its policy of 'onal aggregated public sector procurement for telecommunications, as set out in Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, will deliver for private businesses bandwidths of at least eight megabits per second downstream and at least 512 kilobits per second upstream in u…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Executive cannot specify speed, or capacity, of telecoms services to be made available to the private sector. This is a commercial matter for the telecoms providers and will depend upon demand. Our proposals for aggregated public sector procurement of tel…

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when its policy of 'onal aggregated public sector procurement for telecommunications, as set out in Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, will deliver access to broadband facilities in the Banff & Buchan parliamentary constituency.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Executive will decide, in the light of experience in pathfinder areas and developments in the telecommunications market, at what stage and how it should support aggregated procurement in zones other than pathfinder areas. Lessons from pathfinders will be …

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when its policy of 'onal aggregated public sector procurement for telecommunications, as set out in Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, will come into operation in rural areas outwith South of Scotland and Highlands and Islands.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Aggregated procurement is a new approach which we are testing first in pathfinder areas. The procurement process is likely to be lengthy, and contracts will have to be fulfilled, before any formal evaluation and consideration of wider deployment can proceed. …

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what minimum technical service standards, in respect of (a) upstream bandwidth, (b) downstream bandwidth, (c) network latency, (d) internet protocol standard, (e) target availability per annum, (f) mean time between failure and (g) mean time to repair, its policy of 'onal aggregated publi…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Precise requirements are currently being determined and are expected to vary depending on service area. For example, requirements for a hospital will not be the same as for a GP or a school.

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when its policy of 'onal aggregated public sector procurement for telecommunications, as set out in Connecting Scotland: our broadband future, will first allow access for small- and medium-si'ed enterprise in rural areas to broadband facilities at prices comparable to that of Asymmetric D…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Aggregated public sector procurement of telecommunications will be tested initially in two Pathfinder areas. Our aim is that, by guaranteeing a substantial volume of public sector demand, telecommunications companies are also encouraged to increase supply of …

23 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a response to the letter of 28 February 2001 from its Health Department Directorate of Finance to the acting director of finance at Grampian Primary Care NHS Trust regarding the redevelopment of Chalmers Hospital, Banff, and, if so, what the response was.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has not yet received a reply to the letter of 28 February.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">The plans for the redevelopment of Chalmers Hospital will be included in the NHS Grampian Action Plan, phase 1 of which will be completed by the end of October…

22 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce plans for the future of HM Prison Peterhead.

Answer · Jim Wallace: This is part of the Prison Estates Review on which I intend to consult later this year.

17 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that children in Aberdeenshire Council area have access to swimming facilities as part of the school curriculum.

Answer · Jack McConnell: As announced by Nicol Stephen on 24 May, we shortly intend to conduct a review of swimming provision available to pupils in Scotland. This information will establish a comprehensive picture and will be used to consider what, if any, action should be taken acr…

9 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive in what areas fisheries research vessels have been working in each week since 1 January 2001 and what assessments of fish stocks have been made as a result of such research.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have asked Professor Hawkins, Chief Executive of Fisheries Research Services to respond. His response is as follows:<P>A summary of the activities of the two fisheries research vessels, <I>Scotia </I>and <I>Clupea</I>, is provided in the table. The output f…

31 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much extra revenue it expects each local authority to receive in fees from the renewal of bingo hall licences as a result of the Gaming Act (Variation of Fees) (No.2) (Scotland) Order 2001.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The variation of fees is based on recommendations by the Gaming Board following a study of the board by the National Audit Office. It is designed to ensure that the licensing authorities (which in Scotland are the local authorities) recoup their costs without…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the measures to address the impact of rises in water and sewerage charges on people with low income will be operational.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Local authorities have now completed changes to their billing software, and have begun rebilling beneficiaries of the Water and Sewerage Charges Reduction Scheme. Rebilling is expected to be completed by October. Reductions will be backdated to 1 April 2001 w…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been to the NHS of providing paracetamol on prescription in each of the last five years.

Answer · Susan Deacon: The table below sets out the cost to NHSScotland of paracetamol dispensed in the community over the period 1995-96 to 1999-2000.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=555><TR><TD WIDTH="18%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Financial Year</TD><TD WIDTH="31%" VALIGN="…

24 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have recently been undertaken into GPs' workload.

Answer · Susan Deacon: A number of areas of current work cover aspects of GP workload. They are as follows:<UL><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY"><LI>The National Primary Care Research and Development Centre in Manchester is currently undertaking a survey which covers GP workload and which will ha…

23 Jul 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what actual and projected costs have been, or will be, incurred by the Commissioner for Local Administration in Scotland in each year from 1997 to 2002.

Answer · Peter Peacock: This is a matter for Audit Scotland. The information requested is not held centrally

25 Jun 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many accidents there were in each of the last seven years at the junctions of the A90 with (a) the A975 at Longhaven and (b) the unclassified Gask road at Longhaven.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The number of accidents in each of the last seven years (1994-2000) at the junctions of the A90 with (a) the A975 at Longhaven and (b) the unclassified Gask road at Longhaven is as follows:<P>A975 Junction<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=359><T…

12 Nov 2000 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the targets outlined in its draft budget 2004-05 will be delivered by the civil service.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Scottish Executive Ministers are responsible for the delivery of all the targets set out in <i>Draft Budget 2004-05</i>.</p>