Parliamentary questions

Tommy Sheridan

857 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average caseload is of social workers in children and families teams.

Answer · Euan Robson: This information is not heldcentrally.

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children have a supervision order imposed on them, expressed as a percentage of child population, and, of these, how many await allocation of a social worker.

Answer · Euan Robson: The most recent publishedfigures are from the annual report 2001-02 of the Scottish Children’s ReporterAdministration (SCRA). On 30 June 2001, 1% of Scotland's population of children were subject to a supervisionrequirement. SCRA will shortly be publishing mo…

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority education department has allocated this year for joint funding of residential school placements and whether Glasgow City Council has exceeded its allocation for this financial year.

Answer · Euan Robson: We do not separatelyidentify provision for residential school placements, which is part of the oneof the formulas that works out each authority’s single, unhypothecated revenuegrant figure. It is for each council to allocate its resources to meet localneeds a…

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children are currently accommodated in residential school placements and how many have been assessed as requiring such a placement but are awaiting funding.

Answer · Euan Robson: Statistics on childrenaccommodated in residential school placements were published on 31 October 2003, inChildren’s Social Work Statistics 2002-03 (Table 3). These figures areavailable on the Scottish Executive website at <ahref="http://www.scotland.go…

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the staffing ratio is within young people's residential units, broken down by local authority area.

Answer · Euan Robson: Statistics on staff ratioswith children’s residential units were published on 31 October 2003, in Children’sSocial Work Statistics 2002-03 (Table 19). These figures are available onthe Scottish Executive website at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/st…

11 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many looked after children there are, expressed also as a percentage of child population, in (a) residential care, (b) foster care and (c) care in the community in each local authority area.

Answer · Euan Robson: Statistics on looked afterchildren as a percentage of the child population were published on 31 October2003, in Children’s Social Work Statistics 2002-03 (Table 10). Thesefigures are available on the Scottish Executive website at <ahref="http://www.sco…

10 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any applications for support from the interim route development fund to create new services from Glasgow Airport.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: All Scottish airports areeligible to receive support from the route development fund and, wherever thereis a commercial interest, the Executive and Scottish Enterprise will progressapplications fairly and quickly. Discussions with airlines on the potential fo…

7 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of a short-term prisoner and how many prisoners have been categorised as such in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows.A short-term prisoner isdefined in section 27(1) of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland)Act 1993 (as amended) as a person who is…

4 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-1912 and S2W-1913 by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 October 2003, whether it will wait until it has received the report requested from NHS Glasgow and NHS Argyll and Clyde on patient choice in respect of maternity services across the two NHS board areas be…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Yes.

4 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty's Government, Superfast Ferries and Scotland's maritime unions regarding the impact on the operation of the ferry service of Superfast Ferries recognising the appropriate maritime trade unions in Scotland.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues,including employment rights and duties, whichare a matter for the UK Government. I understand that subject to work permitrequirements on certain domestic freight and…

3 Nov 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2924 by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 October 2003, how much the shortfall in wages referred to in that answer was.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested isnot held centrally.

27 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2724 by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2003, how many households are in receipt of the single occupier discount of 25%.

Answer · Tavish Scott: There were 886,821chargeable dwellings in receipt of 25% council tax discount on 1 September 2003,by virtue of containing a single liable adult.

27 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2724 by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2003, how many households are in receipt of a 50% discount because they qualify as second homes.

Answer · Tavish Scott: Second homes are notidentified separately from other dwellings receiving a 50% discount. At 1 September 2003there were 66,503 chargeable dwellings in Scotland subject to a 50% discount on council tax.

27 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2724 by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2003, what the average council tax bill is for a two-adult household where no discounts are applicable.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scotland average counciltax per dwelling for 2003-04 for those chargeable dwellings which are not inreceipt of any discount is £1,005.

21 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider ending its tendering programme for Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services in light of the European Court of Justice's judgement on the Altmark Trans bus company case.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-3520 on 18 November 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…

17 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what companies it has employed in the tendering processes for ferry services; what the costs of these contracts are, and whether there are any penalty clauses in respect of any premature closing of the tendering process.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table liststhe external expert advice which the Executive has commissioned to date tosupport its preparations for the tendering of the Clyde and Hebrideslifeline ferry services<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td>…

17 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who benefits from its ferry tendering process.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I am committed to themaintenance of affordable air and sea links to Scotland’s island and remotecommunities. Tendering protects the lifeline ferry services to the NorthernIsles and in the Clyde and Hebrides by ensuring that they are in line with EC rules andt…

17 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which of the four conditions set out in the European Court of Justice's judgement on the Altmark Trans bus company case regarding the classification of compensation as state aid apply to its tendering procedures for ferry services.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The consequences of the Altmark case for ferry services are far from clear. The European Court ofJustice’s decision in the Altmark case deals with the interaction between the treatyand the relevant state aid regulations for bus services. We have made initial …

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the statistical correlation is between a household's income level and the council tax band of the property resided in.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The following table gives,for each council tax band, the estimated percentage of households in eachhousehold income band. For example, an estimated 32% of households occupying aBand A dwelling have a gross household income of £150 or less per week,excluding a…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether water services and provision are as closely tied to the aspirations of communities as when they were under local authority control and whether it has any plans to return the control of water services and provision to local authorities.

Answer · Ross Finnie: When the three former waterauthorities were set up in 1996, they inherited infrastructure which had beenunder funded for decades. By the end of the current investment period, some £4billion will have been invested by Scottish Water and its predecessorauthorit…

8 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as stated by COSLA, any regeneration opportunities for housing, commercial and industrial developments are being adversely affected in Glasgow due to funding difficulties encountered by Scottish Water in providing water and waste removal services and, if so, what plans it has to …

Answer · Ross Finnie: As my answer to question S2W-3243on 3 November 2003 makes clear, record levels of funding are being madeby Scottish Water to begin redressing decades of underfunding.The Executive is currentlyworking with a range of stakeholders to formulate future inv…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2121 by Ms Margaret Curran on 16 September 2003, what assessment it has made of reasons for the 16% fall in new housing association units built for rent from 4,570 to 3,839 between 2001-02 and 2002-03.

Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, acting Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:The number of completions inan individual year is largely determined by the nature of the projects approvedfor construc…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the 2nd Report, 2003, of the Finance Committee on Cross Cutting Expenditure in relation to Children in Poverty, whether the level of poverty in Glasgow is the result of underfunding arising from the needs assessment technique used to determine the level of funding allocated t…

Answer · Andy Kerr: The local government financesettlement provides resources to fund universal services, which all councilsneed to provide. Some of these services are more expensive to deliver todeprived populations and the system recognises this. It is up to each councilto dec…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will now introduce legislation to create more smoke-free public places, in light of the latest study on the uptake of the Scottish Voluntary Charter on Smoking in Public.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive has commissionedASH (Scotland) and NHS Health Scotland to undertake a reviewof tobacco control policies and produce recommendations on what further actionshould be taken in Scotland. The joint report will be published in conjunctionwith…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department will measure the commitment to closing the opportunity gap in employment and training across Scotland.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: We are committed to closingthe opportunity gap in employment and training and our lifelong learningstrategy, Life Through Learning; Learning Through Life, published inFebruary of this year, demonstrates our commitment to this.In terms of measuri…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the tourism, culture and sport budget is committed to tackling disadvantage in communities across Scotland and how progress in achieving this objective will be measured.

Answer · Frank McAveety: The tourism, culture and sportportfolio has a commitment “to enhanceeveryone's quality of life in Scotland through widening participation in sport andculture and building on a successful and sustainable tourism sector to createjobs and opportunity across Scot…

7 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Justice Department's commitment to close the opportunity gap by working to reduce crime will be achieved and how the department's budget will be targeted to achieve this objective.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Closing the opportunity gapis part of the Executive’s overarching approach to social justice. A Partnershipfor a Better Scotland, published in May 2003, set out all the ways in whichwe will deliver on this, including the ways in which we will continue …

6 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2649 by Hugh Henry on 29 September 2003, when guidance was last issued to procurators fiscal regarding the treatment of cases involving the misuse of controlled drugs.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: Internal guidance, includingthat relating to the treatment of cases involving the misuse of controlleddrugs, was issued to Procurators Fiscal in July 2003. Internal guidance issued toProcurators Fiscal is confidential and is kept under review by the Crown Off…

6 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2604 by Hugh Henry on 26 September 2003, whether speeding offences detected by speed cameras and dealt with directly by courts or through fixed penalties are included in the overall number of traffic offences recorded by the police and how many fines…

Answer · Hugh Henry: Offences recorded by the police include speeding offences detected by speed cameras. Figures for all speeding offences in the last three years are as follows. However, the information held centrally does not separately identify those offences detected by spee…

6 Oct 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2594 by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003, whether the practice of slopping out in prisons is acceptable; when the practice will be brought to an end, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:The Scottish Prison Service accepts that “slopping out” isan undesirable practice and is committed to ending it as soon as possible.However, …