Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-22779

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits the First Minister made to local authorities in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S2W-22784

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how the projected economic growth figures for the Scottish Borders over the next 10 years compare with the Scottish average.

Question reference: S2W-22743

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its permission, or that of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) management, was requested for flights by aircraft chartered by the CIA, or by agencies to whom the CIA has outsourced services, to land at airports operated by HIAL, and, if so, what response was given.

Question reference: S2W-22746

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any illegal transportation of prisoners on flights by the CIA, or by agencies to whom the CIA has outsourced services, landing at airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and, if so, when it became aware of such transportation.

Question reference: S2W-23014

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there are for social workers, broken down by grade and local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-23208

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 21 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vulnerable adults have been in supported accommodation in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Over 170,000 clients received housing support services in 2004-05 in various types of accommodation including mainstream housing, sheltered housing, special housing and supported accommodation. The following table gives figures for those in supported accommodation, but they only go back to 2003-04. However, because the data collection processes are still relatively new and developing some caution is needed in interpreting the data.

Clients Living in Supported Accommodation who Receive Housing Support through Supporting People

Local Authority	2003-04	2004-05
Scotland	10,790	10,465
Aberdeen City	102	103
Aberdeenshire	313	379
Angus	96	33
Argyll and Bute	63	115
Clackmannanshire	52	85
Dumfries and Galloway	0	593
Dundee City	498	606
East Ayrshire	139	3
East Dunbartonshire	132	165
East Lothian	111	213
East Renfrewshire	87	137
Edinburgh	2,641	1,313
Eilean Siar	9	22
Falkirk	146	140
Fife	878	1,343
Glasgow	3,442	1,978
Highland	524	674
Inverclyde	0	555
Midlothian	50	33
Moray	118	103
North Ayrshire	9	8
North Lanarkshire	134	569
Orkney	17	18
Perth and Kinross	180	160
Renfrewshire	0	13
Scottish Borders	0	130
Shetland	25	33
South Ayrshire	76	128
South Lanarkshire	123	154
Stirling	249	83
West Dunbartonshire	309	333
West Lothian	267	243

Question reference: S2W-22851

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 20 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many experienced allied health practitioners have applied for travel scholarships of up to £5,000, broken down by NHS board area.

The number of Allied Health Professionals who have applied for the first round of the travel scholarship scheme is shown in the table:

NHS Board	Applications
Ayrshire and Arran	1
Dumfries and Galloway	1
Grampian	3
Greater Glasgow	9
Forth Valley	1
Lanarkshire	2
Tayside	1

Question reference: S2W-22951

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what monitoring is in place with regard to the operation of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman was established under The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002. Paragraph 2(2) of schedule 1 of this act provides that the ombudsman, in the exercise of her functions is not subject to the direction or control of any member of Parliament, any member of the Scottish Executive or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

Separate provision does, however, require the ombudsman to lay an annual report before Parliament and the Parliament may give directions as to the form and content of an annual report. Copies of the annual report are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The ombudsman must also keep accounts and prepare annual accounts for each financial year in accordance with such directions as Scottish ministers may give.

In terms of the Act, the SPCB has to pay any expenses incurred by the ombudsman in the exercise of her functions. As part of this process, the SPCB invites the ombudsman on an annual basis to prepare a budget submission which is scrutinised by the SPCB and which scrutiny may include discussions between the SPCB and the Ombudsman prior to the bid being reported to the Finance Committee as part of the SPCB’s overall budget submission.

Question reference: S2W-22952

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the operating cost of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has been in each year since the office’s inception.

The operating costs of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman since the office’s inception on 23 October 2002 are as follows:

	2002-03 (part year)	2003-04	2004-05
Operating costs	£163,000*	£2,779,228*	£2,169,000

Note: *These figures include costs associated with the setting up of the new office.

Question reference: S2W-22783

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Borders Council in respect of the council’s plan to remove an £85,000 minibus subsidy and whether this will impact on school pupils’ extra-curricular sporting and learning activities.