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: S3W-29447

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of treating a case of preventable MRSA infection in hospital.

Question reference: S3W-29448

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of treating a preventable case of Clostridium difficile infection in hospital.

Question reference: S3W-29342

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 8 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed in (a) Dundee and (b) Angus in each of the last three years for which figures are available, broken down by (a) sector and (b) gender.

The official source of employment levels by local authority is the Annual Population Survey (APS). The latest available APS data is for April 2008 to March 2009. Table 1 shows the number of people employed in Dundee and Angus in each of the last three years by sector and table 2 provides the data by gender.

Table 1: Employment Levels by Broad Industry Sector, 12 months to March, 2007, 2008, and 2009

	Dundee City			Angus
	2007	2008	2009	2007	2008	2009
A-B: Agriculture and fishing	*	*	*	1,700	2,200	2,600
C,E: Energy and water	*	*	*	1,500	2,100	1,800
D: Manufacturing	6,900	5,600	6,800	7,000	6,700	6,000
F: Construction	4,900	5,000	4,100	5,700	5,800	5,400
G-H: Distribution, hotels and restaurants	13,800	13,400	13,500	9,700	9,100	10,000
I: Transport and communication	4,400	3,200	3,600	2,000	2,200	2,300
J-K: Banking, finance and insurance etc	7,100	7,600	7,200	5,200	4,900	5,200
L-N: Public admin, education and health	24,000	25,900	24,000	16,300	17,200	17,500
O-Q: Other services	4,200	5,500	4,000	4,000	3,400	3,500
All	66,400	67,000	64,400	53,300	53,900	54,500

Source: Annual Population Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

*Estimate suppressed as below reliability threshold.

1. Employment levels are for those aged 16 and over.

2. Data may not sum due to rounding.

Table 2: Employment Levels by Gender, 12 months to March, 2007, 2008, and 2009

	Dundee City			Angus
	2007	2008	2009	2007	2008	2009
Male	34,300	32,800	32,600	28,100	28,600	28,700
Female	32,000	34,300	31,800	25,200	25,300	25,800
All	66,400	67,000	64,400	53,300	53,900	54,500

Source: Annual Population Survey, Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. Employment levels are for those aged 16 and over.

2. Data may not sum due to rounding.

Question reference: S3O-08507

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 19 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce permitted development rights for micro wind turbines.

Question reference: S3W-28673

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has received from the UK Government to its request that Scottish Gypsies/Travellers be established as a minority ethnic group in the Equality Bill, as set out in the letter dated 26 June 2007 from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government; what discussions have since taken place on this matter, and what further actions it will take to ensure that Scottish Gypsy/Travellers are accorded this legal status.

The subject matter of the Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended) is reserved to the UK Government. Any change to such legislation is therefore a matter for the UK Government. Interpretation of race relations legislation is a matter for the tribunals or courts. The Deputy First Minister wrote to Ruth Kelly MP, then Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government on 26 June 2007, raising the concerns of Scottish Gypsies/Travellers around legal status. We have not had any response to that letter.

However, the Scottish Government recognises Gypsies/Travellers as minority ethnic communities and we have stated this in our Race Equality Scheme and Race Equality Statement published on 8 December 2008. Therefore, for all practical purposes, Gypsies/Travellers count alongside all Scotland''s minority ethnic communities in the Scottish Government''s work to tackle racism and promote race equality. We also encourage other public bodies to adopt this approach.

Question reference: S3W-28670

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its working groups include representation from Gypsy/Travellers or their representative organisations.

Question reference: S3W-28668

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its consultations have received input from Gypsy/Traveller groups or their representatives in each year since 2001.

Question reference: S3W-28669

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reconvene its Strategic Group on Gypsies/Travellers, given the poor progress reported by the Equal Opportunities Committee.

The Strategic Group on Gypsies/Travellers was set up in 2006 as a short-term working group. The priorities it identified were reflected in the Scottish Government Race Equality Statement, published on 8 December 2008. We are working with partners to deliver the commitments in the statement.

We are committed to engaging with Gypsy/Traveller communities and to seeking solutions to the barriers they face. Our forthcoming race equality conference events will provide a further opportunity to discuss issues affecting Gypsy/Traveller communities and how to overcome them.

Question reference: S3W-28671

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to Gypsy/Travellers and their representative organisations since May 2007 (a) in total and (b) specifically to support capacity-building.

The following funding has been provided to projects representing the interests of Gypsies/Travellers. All of these projects seek to build the capacity of communities or groups representing the interests of Gypsies/Travellers.

Name of Organisation	Year	Amount Since May 2007	Project
Scottish Traveller Education Programme	2007-10	£235,000	To work with Scottish education authorities in promoting and developing inclusive educational approaches for both settled and mobile Gypsy/Traveller families.
Save the Children Young Gypsy/Traveller Project	2007-08	£40,000	The project worked with a team of young people from the Gypsy/Traveller community to run awareness raising events and develop an educational pack for delivery to education authorities and other organisations seeking to reduce discrimination.
Gypsy/Traveller Education and Information Project	2007-08	£39,788	Provide information, advice, awareness and support to Gypsies/Travellers, the settled community, local authorities and the Police and the promote culture and history of the travelling community.
Gypsy/Traveller Education and Information Project - Gypsy/Traveller Advice and Support Project	2008-11	£105,000	To develop an information and advice service for Gypsies/Travellers to build a peer-led approach to information and advice around housing/site options. Providing direct access to legal advice and build the capacity of the community to understand their rights, how to challenge decisions and develop a community response to challenges.
Scottish Traveller Education Programme - e-learning community	2009-11	£125,000	To develop an e-learning community for Scotland''s Gypsy/Traveller children which will support learning and teaching by enabling mobile children and their teachers to stay in touch during the travelling season.
Article 12 “ Young Gypsy/Traveller Project	2009-11	£125,500	To work with a group of 30 young Gypsies/Travellers to develop key personal and life skills which will allow them to achieve their fullest potential and maximise their skills.

In addition to the funding listed, we have allocated a total of £30,000 over 2007-09 to Hilton Associates to deliver a project which works with Gypsy/Traveller groups to help in building capabilities within the community. The overall outcomes include more confidence in skills areas, including collaborative working, facilitation skills, planning and managing projects and governance.

Question reference: S3W-28672

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 18 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it has allocated to improving the position of Gypsy/Travellers in line with the commitment set out in its December 2008 Race Equality Statement.

The following table sets out resources committed to projects taking forward the commitments made in the Race Equality Statement.

Race Statement Commitment	Amount Allocated	Date	Project
To develop and implement an education strategy for Gypsies/Travellers.	£125,000	2009-11	The Scottish Traveller Education Project e-learning community for Scotland''s Gypsy/Traveller children.
Meeting the accommodation needs of Gypsies/Travellers through providing direct support to local authorities to develop Gypsy/Traveller transit sites.	£81,375	2008-11	£2 million over 2008-10 was made available to local authorities seeking to improve existing sites or create new transit sites. Only one local authority submitted a bid for a transit site. The Scottish Government provided £81,375 to support South Ayrshire Council to develop a new transit site in Ayr. An issue has arisen with the transit site location and we are currently considering how to support South Ayrshire Council and other local authorities to meet transit site need in their areas.
To support community development work with the Gypsies/Travellers communities, aimed at laying the ground work for the eventual emergence of representative bodies for the communities.	£30,000	2007-09	Hilton Associates community development project has been funded to work with Gypsy/Traveller groups to help in building capabilities within the community.
To develop further engagement work with young Gypsies/Travellers.	£125,500	2009-11	Article 12 will work with a group of 30 young Gypsies/Travellers to develop key personal and life skills which will allow them to achieve their fullest potential and maximise their skills. Gypsies/Travellers are disadvantaged by the relative absence of community-led groups or associations, the project could provide the opportunity for the youths of the community to form such a group without previous prejudice becoming a problem.