- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the statistics it holds indicate any reduction in deprivation levels in communities experiencing increased recruiting activity by representatives of the British armed forces.
Answer
The Executive does not hold informationon armed forces recruiting activity by community which would be required in orderto provide the analysis requested.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 24 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance ministers have issued to schools regarding the facilitation of recruitment and other visits by members of the British armed forces.
Answer
None. It is for local authoritiesand schools to consider how and by whom careers advice should be offered to pupils.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost was of issuing Executive strategy documents in each year since 1999, broken down by ministerial portfolio.
Answer
The Scottish Executiveissues a wide range of policy, strategy, consultation and other documentselectronically, in print and in other formats. No central record is kept of thecosts of issuing these documents for each ministerial portfolio.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of pensioners who have been entitled to claim council tax benefit in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested isnot available. This data is available only at Great Britain level.
Latest estimates of thenumber of pensioners in Great Britain who are entitled to Council Tax Benefit, along withPension Credit, Minimum Income Guarantee and Housing Benefit can be found inthe DWP report entitled Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in2003/2004. The publication can be found at:-
http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/income_analysis/final0304.pdf.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many pensioners have spent more than 10% of their disposable income on council tax in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The following table presentsresults from the Family Resources Survey on the number of pensioner householdswhich have paid more than 10 per cent of their gross income on council taxbetween 1999-2000 to 2004-05.
Table: Estimates of the numberof pensioner households which have paid more than 10 per cent of their grossincome on council tax between 1999-2000 to 2004-05
Thousands
| Years | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Number of pensioner households | 80 | 80 | 70 | 120 | 110 | 110 |
Source: Family ResourcesSurvey.
Data is not available at localauthority level.
Council tax benefit isdeducted from council tax in calculating the 10 per cent threshold, and is notincluded in gross income.
A pensioner household isdefined as either one pensioner living alone or a couple where at least one isa pensioner and the household does not contain any children.
The figures are estimatesbased on a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variation.Identification of trends should be based on several years of data.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many strategy documents it has issued in each year since 1999, broken down by ministerial portfolio.
Answer
Links to strategy, policy,consultation and other documents issued by the Scottish Executive in each yearsince 1999 are available on the Scottish Executive website. Each document isidentified against a policy heading (which may cover the interests of more thanone ministerial portfolio). Details of the Scottish Executive PublicationScheme are also available on the Scottish Executive website
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/FOI/19260/18084.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the number of pensioners who have claimed council tax benefit in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested,where available, is shown in the following table:
CouncilTax Benefit Recipients Aged 60 and Over (Thousands)
| Local Authority Area | May 1999 | May 2000 | May 2001 | May 2002 | May 2003 | May 2004 | May 2005 |
| Scotland | 299.0 | 275.0 | 281.0 | 284.0 | 275.0 | 275.4 | 278.0 |
| Aberdeen | | | | | | 8.3 | 8.4 |
| Aberdeenshire | | | | | | 7.2 | 7.5 |
| Angus | | | | | | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| Argyll and Bute | | | | | | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Clackmannanshire | | | | | | 2.3 | 2.4 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | | | | | | 7.6 | 7.5 |
| Dundee | | | | | | 9.9 | 9.6 |
| East Ayrshire | | | | | | 7.9 | 8.0 |
| East Dunbartonshire | | | | | | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| East Lothian | | | | | | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| East Renfrewshire | | | | | | 2.7 | 2.8 |
| Edinburgh | | | | | | 18.1 | 18.5 |
| Eilean Siar | | | | | | 2.1 | 2.2 |
| Falkirk | | | | | | 7.7 | 7.9 |
| Fife | | | | | | 16.1 | 15.8 |
| Glasgow | | | | | | 51.3 | 50.1 |
| Highland | | | | | | 9.7 | 10.1 |
| Inverclyde | | | | | | 5.8 | 5.9 |
| Midlothian | | | | | | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Moray | | | | | | 3.5 | 3.7 |
| North Ayrshire | | | | | | 8.0 | 8.3 |
| North Lanarkshire | | | | | | 20.7 | 21.1 |
| Orkney | | | | | | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| Perth and Kinross | | | | | | 5.3 | 5.5 |
| Renfrewshire | | | | | | 10.3 | 10.5 |
| Scottish Borders | | | | | | 5.4 | 5.5 |
| Shetland | | | | | | 0.7 | 0.8 |
| South Ayrshire | | | | | | 5.9 | 6.1 |
| South Lanarkshire | | | | | | 18.3 | 18.8 |
| Stirling | | | | | | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| West Dunbartonshire | | | | | | 7.4 | 6.9 |
| West Lothian | | | | | | 7.8 | 8.0 |
Notes:
1. 1999-2003figures are based on a 1% sample and are therefore subject to a degree ofsampling variation.
2. The datarefers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
3. Data below Scotland level is not available prior to May 2004.
4. 2004-05figures for non-responding authorities have been estimated.
5. Council TaxBenefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
6. “Aged 60 andover” is defined as benefit units where the claimant and/or partner are aged 60and over therefore figures will contain some claimants under 60 where there isa partner aged over 60 years.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to exempt people diagnosed with cancer from prescription charges.
Answer
No decision on whether to changethe current criteria for exemption on medical grounds will be taken until the ScottishExecutive’s review of NHS prescription charges and exemption arrangements is complete.
The consultation phase of thereview is under way and responses are invited up to the closing date of 30 April 2006. The Executivewill subsequently consider what action to take, based on the outcome of the review.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has undertaken a comparison of the cost-effectiveness of its public service broadcasts in the south of Scotland and the rest of Scotland and, if so, what the conclusion was.
Answer
We continually review the cost-effectivenessof all of our media platforms to ensure that we use the right media to reach therelevant audience for each of our campaigns.
The south of Scotland is coveredin a number of ways including television (Channels 4 and 5), radio (Radio Bordersand Westsound) and press (Tweeddale Press Group and Dumfries and Galloway Group).
We do not currently use BorderTV as it is not competitive in both cost and reach.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how it monitors the cost-effectiveness of its public information broadcasts.
Answer
The Scottish Executive procurestelevision and radio airtime through its contracted media buyer, Mediacom, who areresponsible for purchasing cost effective media pertinent to the target audiencefor the campaign in question.
