- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive what the capital consent has been for (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council in each year since 1997.
Answer
In each year since 1997, Argyll and Bute Council and West Dunbartonshire Council have been issued capital consents for non-housing capital expenditure from borrowing and grants as follows:Argyll and Bute
| £ Million |
| 1997-98 | 14.962 |
| 1998-99 | 11.521 |
| 1999-2000 | 10.693 |
| 2000-01 | 10.936 |
| 2001-02 | 12.463 |
| 2002-03 | 16.564 |
West Dunbartonshire
| £ Million |
| 1997-98 | 4.141 |
| 1998-99 | 5.773 |
| 1999-2000 | 6.650 |
| 2000-01 | 6.439 |
| 2001-02 | 6.213 |
| 2002-03 | 7.587 |
Outwith the local government settlement, Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire receive allocations of around £1.6 million and £5.7 million respectively each year for housing capital expenditure.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 25 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) Argyll and Bute council area have received education maintenance allowances in each year since 2001.
Answer
Education maintenance allowances (EMAs) were first piloted in West Dunbartonshire from the start of academic year 2001-02. Five hundred and twenty-six West Dunbartonshire young people received EMAs during 2001-02 and in year 2002-03 there are currently 680 being paid EMA.EMAs are not available to young people in Argyll and Bute unless they attend a secondary school in West Dunbartonshire. In 2001-02, five Argyll and Bute young people received EMAs and in 2002-03 there are 10.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #24 million childcare package was allocated to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council and how the money was distributed.
Answer
In July 2001, £24 million additional resources for child care were allocated through the child poverty package over 2001-04. The money was allocated as follows: £8.5 million was made available for child care grants for lone parents in full-time higher education to pay for child care. This grant is administered through the Students Awards Agency for Scotland. Figures for the 2001-02 allocation are not available, as payments were manual and not automated. The number of students receiving the £1,000 grant in 2002-03 is as follows:Argyll and Bute Council - 13West Dunbartonshire Council - 30£7.5 million was made available to further education colleges throughout Scotland to widen child care provision, based on locally identified needs. Responsibility for administering this money lies with the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. Information on awards made by this body is not held centrally. £8 million was made available to local authorities to help stabilise and sustain out-of-school care projects, especially in disadvantaged areas. The money was allocated over a three-year period as £2 million in 2001-02, £3 million in 2002-03 and £3 million in 2003-04. Of this, Argyll and Bute council was allocated £31,400 in 2001-02 and £47,500 in 2002-03 and 2003-04. West Dunbartonshire Council was allocated £22,800 in 2001-02 and £34,100 in 2002-03 and 2003-04.Allocation of this money within each local authority area is a matter for the individual council as they have responsibility for the allocation of funds at a local level. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a strategy for promoting businesses run by women.
Answer
Within the framework of A Smart, Successful Scotland, the Executive is strongly committed to encouraging and supporting women in business. A range of new measures was introduced by Scottish Enterprise under its New Approach to Entrepreneurship strategy, launched last year. At a strategic level this includes specific targets for the number of start-ups by women supported by the network, together with practical promotional activity, for example the Executive and Scottish Enterprise jointly funding a brochure promoting successful women entrepreneurs last year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27797 by Iain Gray on 19 August 2002, when it will publish the feasibility study undertaken by Paisley Enterprise Research Centre on establishing a National Centre for Women's Enterprise.
Answer
The Executive plans to publish the feasibility study in March 2003.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-27798 by Iain Gray on 19 August 2002, whether it will establish a national centre for women's enterprise to promote new businesses run by women and disseminate best practice.
Answer
The Executive is currently considering the case for a national centre for women's enterprise and I hope to announce a decision on the way forward in March.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24446 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 16 April 2002, what percentage of microcredit loans for start-up businesses go to women.
Answer
While this is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise, I understand that there are currently 19 microcredit groups operating across the Scottish Enterprise area supporting some 149 clients. Approximately 92% of the clients are women.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any input into the Department of Trade and Industry's Women's Enterprise Strategic Framework due to be published shortly and how it intends to respond to the recommendations in this report.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has provided an input to the development of the Department of Trade and Industry's Women's Enterprise Strategic Framework. The Executive is currently considering the draft framework for Scottish interests.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 24 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the courts are applying drink-driving rehabilitation programmes as part of sentencing procedure and whether it is monitoring uptake of such programmes.
Answer
In 2001, Scottish courts referred 562 offenders to the Drink Driving Rehabilitation Scheme as part of the sentencing procedure. In 2002, this number had increased to 1,487. The scheme itself is reserved under section 34A of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, and it is the Department for Transport which monitors the provision of courses nationally, including the amount of referrals by courts in England, Scotland and Wales, the number of courses run and the total number of offenders completing a course.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 February 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 21 February 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether police forces are receiving any specialised diversity and hate crime related training.
Answer
The Scottish Police College has developed a National Equal Opportunities Training Strategy (NEOTS) which covers all aspects of equal opportunities. NEOTS training has been incorporated into the new Probationer Training Programme. In addition to this centrally delivered training, all police forces in Scotland are now running NEOTS courses. The college also delivers a two-day Diversity Awareness course.The Scottish Police College has recently appointed a Diversity Co-ordinator and is in the process of setting up a diversity panel, made up of officers from all police forces, whose remit will be to advise the college on diversity issues.
