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-25552

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 11 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-14490 by Johann Lamont on 14 March 2005, what progress Registers of Scotland has made in meeting its target to eliminate stocks of domestic first registration applications over one year old.

In 2004-05, ministers set atarget to eliminate stocks of domestic First Registrations over 1 year oldduring the next three years with a milestone reduction of 25% from the stockposition at 31 March 2004 by 31 March2005. Registers of Scotland met this target. The 2005-06 target was to achieve a62% stock reduction against the 31 March 2004 baseline by 31 March 2006.Registers of Scotland achieved a 52% reduction.

Experience in workingtowards these targets demonstrated that factors outwith the control of theRegisters of Scotland may influence the time taken to complete domestic FirstRegistrations. The target for 2006-07 has therefore been amended to “achieverecording and registration turnaround times averaging no more than 100 workingdays for all domestic first registrations”.

Question reference: S2W-25530

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 10 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fatalities resulting from road traffic accidents were recorded by the General Register Office for Scotland in each of the last five years.

The information requested isgiven in the following table. Because of definitional differences, the numbersrecorded by the General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) may differ slightlyfrom those derived from police road accident statistics. For example, thelatter exclude deaths occurring more than 30 days after the date of theaccident.

RoadTraffic Accident Deaths Recorded by GROS

2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
343	369	321	351	326

Question reference: S2W-25538

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14458 by Mr Tom McCabe on 17 March 2005, which major capital procurement projects it is currently working on, broken down by procurement method and value of each project and indicating, where appropriate, the value of any associated art budgeted for or procured.

There are currently ninemajor capital projects (defined as projects with an estimated value of at least£5 million) being undertaken by core Executive Departments.

The breakdown is as follows:

Project	Value Cost (£ Million)	Procurement Method
Building project for the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency at Gartcosh	Not yet confirmed	Undecided
Jordanhill School Estate Development project	6.0	Conventional
Electronic Monitoring	38.0	Conventional
e-Counting	7.7	Conventional
System Integration	30.0	Conventional
Supply of ICT Contractors	21.0	Conventional
Scottish Schools Digital Network	37.5	Conventional
SSI Broadband	16.49	Conventional
eRDM	15.0	Conventional

There is no associated artbudgeted for or procured for any of these projects.

Since the reply to previousquestion S2W-14458 was answered, the number of major capital projects beingundertaken by the core Executive has decreased. This is due to the setting upof the Transport Scotland Agency which now deals with a number of capitalprojects for roads and rail. These are detailed on their website, the addressfor which is:

http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/.Information on any PPPprojects in Scotland is available on the Scottish Executive FinancialPartnership Unit’s website under projects at www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp.

Question reference: S2W-25539

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14238 by Mr Tom McCabe on 8 March 2005, whether it will make public the appraisals of the non-profit-distributing model pilot it has provided to authorities and their professional advisers and, if so, when it will do so.

The final business case for Argylland Bute Council’s non profit distributing model schools project is availablefrom the council’s website www.argyll-bute.gov.uk,and shows that the pilot project has demonstrated value for money. The model isnow being taken forward by two other councils for their schools projects.

General information about themodel which has been provided to interested authorities, professional advisers andthe market is available from the Executive Financial Partnerships Unit’swebsite at www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp.

Question reference: S2W-25535

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23496 by Mr Tom McCabe on 9 March 2006, whether consideration has been given to stipulating within PPP contracts the basis for costing variations.

Question reference: S2W-24839

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 8 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that appropriate facilities are available for Scotland’s top gymnasts to train for major championships.

The Executive and sportscotlandare working with local authorities, sports governing bodies and other partnersin taking forward the national and regional sports facilities strategy. Thisstrategy will see a number of regional sports halls developed across Scotlandwhich may be available to gymnasts for preparation for major championships. Fundingmay also be available from sportscotland’s Building for Sport programmeto support the development of gymnastics facilities.

Question reference: S2W-24854

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the proposals of the Campaign for a Scottish Olympic Team.

Question reference: S2W-24216

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police hours have been freed up so far as a result of the operation of the Reliance contract.

Question reference: S2W-24841

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 3 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it offers to Scottish athletes.

There are a number ofprogrammes in place to provide financial and other support to help Scotland’stalented and emerging athletes train and prepare for internationalcompetitions. This support is available to those who the relevant sport’sgoverning body are satisfied have demonstrated the potential to win medals orequivalent, on the international stage.

The programmes from whichour talented athletes can benefit are: Athlete Support; the Scottish Instituteof Sport and the Area Institute Network, and the World Class PerformanceProgramme.

Question reference: S2W-24914

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 27 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many visitors to Scotland arrived in (a) a Scottish airport and (b) elsewhere in the United Kingdom on a flight from Australia in each year since 1997.

There are currently nodirect flights from Australia to Scotland, although there are a number of indirect flights to Scotland connectingwithin the UK and elsewhere. The number of visitors to Scotlandfrom Australia who travelled by air to the United Kingdomsince 1997 is shown in the following table:

Year	Visitors (‘000)
1997	124
1998	82
1999	86
2000	76
2001	67
2002	77
2003	77
2004	93

Source: InternationalPassenger Survey.

The estimated number ofvisitors for 2005 is not available yet.

A number of visitors to Scotlandfrom Australia also enter the UK by sea or tunnel.