Parliamentary questions
Jamie Hepburn
761 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial profit Scottish Water Business Stream is projected to make in each financial year to 2010-11.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: This is an operational matterfor Scottish Water and its retail subsidiary, Business Stream. It will however besubject to the development of retail competition when the market generally openson 1 April 2008.</p>
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected running costs are for Scottish Water Business Stream in each financial year to 2010-11.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: This is a matter for Scottish Water and its retail subsidiary, Business Stream.</p>
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what costs were involved in the establishment and launch of Scottish Water Business Stream.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: This is an operational matterfor Scottish Water and its retail subsidiary, Business Stream.</p><p>Costs associated with retaillicensing were accounted for by the Water Industry Commission as part of its determinationof water charges for 2006-10.</p>
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what ministerial or parliamentary approval was given prior to the establishment of Scottish Water Business Stream.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Parliament approved the principleof establishment by Scottish Water of a retail undertaking in the Water Servicesetc. (Scotland) Act 2005. In accordance with that act, ministers approvedthe establishment of Scottish Water Business Stream as a retail subsidiar…
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which department is responsible for monitoring and evaluating the work of Scottish Water Business Stream.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The Water Industry and ClimateChange Directorate of the Scottish Government is responsible for monitoring ScottishWater’s delivery of ministers’ objectives for the water industry. This includesin relation to its retail subsidiary.</p>
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation took place with business water users before the establishment of Scottish Water Business Stream.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The planned creation by ScottishWater of a separate retail subsidiary, as part of the preparation for the introductionof retail competition in the non-household water sector, was included in the consultationon the draft Water Services etc. (Scotland) Bill in …
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) local authority, (b) NHS board and (b) government agency PFI/PPP contracts have increased in scope or complexity from the original proposals since 1999.
Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedis not held centrally for local authorities and NHS boards.</p><p>Of the threeGovernment PPP contracts (M6 DBFO, M77/GSO, HM Prison Kilmarnock) none haveincreased in scope or complexity to such an extent that there has been a major ch…
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish companies that have entered into PFI/PPP contracts with (a) local authorities, (b) NHS boards and (c) government agencies have subsequently been acquired by companies based outside Scotland since 1999.
Answer · John Swinney: The information requestedis not held centrally.</p>
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what alternatives are available to local authorities, NHS boards and government agencies that do not wish to use PFI/PPP contracts for infrastructure development.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3O-1086 on 1 November 2008. All answers to oral parliamentaryquestions issued as written answers are available on the Parliament’s website, thesearch facility for which can be found at. All answers to written parl…
7 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what standard indicators it uses to monitor and evaluate PFI/PPP contracts.
Answer · John Swinney: It is theresponsibility of individual public sector procuring bodies to monitor andevaluate their own PPP contracts and this is carried out through the paymentmechanism which is contained within the contract documentation. The payment mechanismconsists of per…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what aspirations it has for future traffic levels.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The recently publishedScottish budget set out our national performance framework. Fifteen national outcomessupport our plans to deliver a wealthier and fairer, smarter, healthier, safer andstronger and greener Scotland.</p><p>Working in partnershipwith local …
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended design maximum is for (a) daily and (b) hourly peak traffic flows for dual (i) two-lane and (ii) three-lane motorways.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: There are no recommendeddesign maxima for traffic flows for any category of road in either daily or hourlyterms. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Volume 5, Advice Note TA 46/97“Traffic Flow Ranges for Use in the Assessment of New Rural Roads”,se…
5 Dec 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on motorway and trunk road construction in each of the last eight years.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The information requestedis given in table number 11.1 of <i>Scottish Transport Statistics No 25: 2006 Edition</i>(updated version as at 8 November 2007) which is available on the Scottish Executive’s website at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Stati…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5931 by Stewart Stevenson on 12 November 2007, what the projected traffic growth is for the two stretches of road from 2004 to 2014.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The traffic growthrate between Mollinsburn to Auchenkilns is expected to be approximately 2.9% perannum, and at a rate of 2.3% per annum between Auchenkilns to Haggs. These ratesof growth are based on projections to the year 2025 using local transport modelst…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5931 by Stewart Stevenson on 12 November 2007, whether the answer indicates that there is no specific designated alternative route for the upgraded A80/M80 route in the event of emergency or closure.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The alternative routein the event of emergency or closure of the upgraded A80/M80 route would be determinedby the operating company responsible for this section of road in consultation withthe police and adjacent road authorities. This and other emergency pro…
28 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-5931 by Stewart Stevenson on 12 November 2007, whether it is satisfied that the surrounding road network has sufficient capacity to cope with traffic diverted from the upgraded A80/M80 route.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Yes. In the eventof an emergency or closure of the upgraded A80/M80 route the surrounding road networkwill have sufficient capacity to cope with diverted traffic.</p>
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what the population has been in each European (EU-15) member state in (a) 1950, (b) 1960, (c) 1970, (d) 1980, (e) 1990, (f) 2000 and (g) 2007 and what the Scottish population was in the same periods.
Answer · Jim Mather: The populations ofeach of the EU-15 member states and of Scotland are provided in the table below. Figures for EU member states are from theEurostat website (<a href="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/">http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/</a>)and are as at 1 Jan…
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what the average European (EU-15) population growth has been in (a) 1950-60, (b) 1960-70, (c) 1970-80, (d) 1980-90, (e) 1990-2000, (f) 2000-07, (g) 1950-2007, (h) 1960-2007, (i) 1970-2007, (j) 1980-2007 and (k) 1990-2007, broken down by member state, and what th…
Answer · Jim Mather: The percentage changesin population for EU-15 countries and Scotland are providedin the following table. Figures for EU member states are from the Eurostat website(<a href="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/">http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/</a>)and are as at…
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on what the average European (EU-15) population growth is forecast to be from 2007 to 2017.
Answer · Jim Mather: Eurostat’s (<ahref="http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/">http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu</a>) 2004-basedpopulation projections show that the population of the EU-15 is projected to riseby around 2.2 per cent between 2007 and 2017.</p>
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it has planned that are designed to counter the finding on page 14 of The Government Economic Strategy that “despite rising skill levels over the past twenty years, there has not been an accompanying rise in the level of influence which employees report they can exercise …
Answer · John Swinney: Both the <i>GovernmentEconomic Strategy</i> (GES) and <i>Skills for Scotland: A Lifelong LearningStrategy</i> identify the need to address this issue as part of translating Scotland’s relatively high skill levels into higherproductivity and growth. Both strat…
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what median gross weekly earnings have been in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · John Swinney: The preferredsource for earnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings(ASHE), which is carried out by the Office for National Statistics. The latestearnings available are April 2007.</p><p>I have placedtables from ASHE containing the median gro…
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of income was held by those in the three (a) lowest and (b) highest income deciles identified in The Government Economic Strategy in (i) 1950, (ii) 1960, (iii) 1970 and (iv) each year since 1980.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: Information for eachyear since 1994-95 is published on the Scottish Government Income and Poverty website:</p><p><ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Social-Welfare/IncomePoverty/CoreAnalysis">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistic…
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average life expectancy is for (a) males and (b) females in the three (i) lowest and (ii) highest income deciles identified in The Government Economic Strategy.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: We do not currentlyhold data for average life expectancy for male and females in Scotland broken down by income decile.</p>
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) individuals, (b) families and (c) children it estimates are in the three lowest income deciles identified in The Government Economic Strategy.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: It is estimated thatthere are (a) 1,500,000 individuals, (b) 860,000 families and (c) 350,000 children in the three lowest income deciles.</p><p>These estimates werecalculated using the Department for Work and Pensions’ 2005-06 Family ResourcesSurvey.</p>
26 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to encourage the widest possible geographic spread of training bases for participating teams at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Governmentis committed to ensuring that benefits from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Gamesare felt across Scotland, and will work with the Games Organising Companyand local authorities to enable this.</p><p>A Commonwealth GamesAssociation (CGA) Se…
20 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual passenger numbers were at (a) Croy, (b) Cumbernauld, (c) Greenfaulds, (d) Falkirk High and (e) Polmont railway stations in each of the last 25 years.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The ScottishExecutive do not hold the information requested.</p><p>ScottishMinisters became responsible for the ScotRail Franchise in November 2005. Passengercounts are carried out as part of the First ScotRail Franchise for trainplanning purposes. The passen…
20 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost is of imprisoning individuals serving custodial sentences for non-payment of fines and what the average level of unpaid fine is in such instances.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The SPS does not keepcost data specific to fine defaulters.</p><p>In 2006-07, therewas an average daily population of 46 fine defaulters…
20 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners served custodial sentences for non-payment of fines in each of the last 15 years, shown also as a percentage of the prison population, and what comparable information it has for (a) the rest of the United Kingdom, (b) each EU member state and (c) each OECD country.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The availableinformation is provided in the following table:</p><p>Average dailypopulation in custody for fine default by country and calendar…
20 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the prison population is from each of the top 10 postcode areas where prisoners are from and what percentage of the total population is resident in each of these postcode areas.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>Unfortunately, wedo not currently hold information on the prison population in the form that hasbeen requested. The information that is curren…
20 Nov 2007 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average daily prison population has been in each year since 1960.
Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I have asked MikeEwart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The average dailyprison population for each year since 1960 is given in the following table.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <…