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-31472

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of mothers were recorded at their six to eight week review as breastfeeding in NHS Tayside and NHS Grampian in each year since 2000.

Centrally held information onpre-school child health surveillance reviews are derived from the Child Health SystemsProject–Pre-School system (CHSP-PS). NHS Grampian do not participate in this systemand therefore the requested information for NHS Grampian is not centrally available.Information for NHS Tayside is shown in the following table.

NHS Tayside – Breastfeeding atthe Six to Eight Week Review by Year of Birth

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Number of Reviews¹	3,647	3,690	3,491	3,731	3,718	3,795
Percentage Breastfed²	39.4	38.5	39.5	38.4	37.0	40.1

Source: ISD Scotland,CHSP-PS November 2006. Ref: IR2007-00255.

Notes:

1. Excludes reviews where breastfeedinginformation is not valid.

2. Exclusively breast-fed orfed mixed breast and bottle.

Question reference: S2W-31256

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what capital and revenue allocation has been made available to Angus College in each year since 2003-04.

The Scottish FundingCouncil, and its predecessor the Scottish Further Education Funding Council, hasbeen responsible for allocating funds to further education colleges during theperiod in question. The information requested for Angus College isas follows:

Year	Capital Grant £	Revenue* £
2003-04	638,015	7,681,468
2004-05	0	8,908,147
2005-06	0	9,205,875
2006-07	0	9,598,118

Note: *Includes recurrent grant-in-aid andnon-project specific capital funding.

Question reference: S2W-31258

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much specific funding has been allocated for drug and alcohol treatment services in (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire in each year since 2003-04.

Funding is allocated to healthboards for drug treatment and care services and to tackle alcohol problems.Angus falls within the boundaries of Tayside Health Board and Aberdeenshirefalls within the boundaries of Grampian Health Board.

The following table sets outthe funding that has been made available to Tayside and Grampian Health Boardsfor drug treatment and care services since 2003-04.

Health Board	2003-04 (£000)	2004-05 (£000)	2005-06 (£000)	2006-07 (£000)
Tayside	1,483	1,559	1,965	1,965
Grampian	1,314	1,963	2,202	2,202

Health Board

2003-04

(£000)

2004-05

(£000)

2005-06

(£000)

2006-07

(£000)

Tayside

1,483

1,559

1,965

Grampian

1,314

1,963

2,202

Angus Council received£146,000 per annum over the period 2003-04 to 2004-05 to tackle drug misuse.Aberdeenshire Council received £302,000 per annum over the same period totackle drug misuse.

The following table sets outthe funding that has been made available to Tayside and Grampian Health Boards totackle alcohol problems since 2004-05.

Health Board	2003-04 (£000)	2004-05 (£000)	2005-06 (£000)	2006-07 (£000)
Tayside	0	168	556	556
Grampian	0	212	699	699

Health Board

2003-04

(£000)

2004-05

(£000)

2005-06

(£000)

2006-07

(£000)

Tayside

168

556

Grampian

212

699

Question reference: S2W-31263

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many recipients of council tax benefit aged 60 or over there were in (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire local authority areas in each of the last three years for which the information is available, also showing what percentage of the over-60 age group they represented.

The data relating to recipientsof council tax benefit are presented in terms of benefit units, which are basedon households in receipt of council tax benefit and as a result may contain twoor more persons (possibly one of whom may also be aged under 60). These data arereported in the following table.

Number of Benefit UnitsContaining One or More Persons Aged Over 60 Receiving Council Tax Benefit**

Local Authority	2004	2005	2006
Aberdeenshire	7,240	7,490	7,640
Angus	5,160	5,410	5,570

Note: **The data have been providedby the Department of Work and Pensions and relate to benefit units, not counts ofpersons. Figures include benefit units where there is a single person aged over60, and benefit units containing two or more persons where at least one is agedover 60. Council tax benefit figures exclude any second adult rebate cases. Thesource is the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information Systemquarterly caseload.

It is not appropriate to dividecouncil tax benefit units by population figures for the over-60 age group, as theseare on a different basis.

Question reference: S2W-31261

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from low-income backgrounds in the (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire local authority areas have had their university fees paid in each year since 2002-03.

The following table highlightsthe number of fees paid by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to studentsat higher education institutions from low-income backgrounds who were domiciledin the (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire local authority areas in each year since2002-03:

Students from Low-IncomeBackgrounds who have had their University Fees Paid, by Local Authority Area

Academic Year	(a) Angus	(b) Aberdeenshire
2002-03	350	575
2003-04	320	625
2004-05	325	600
2005-06	350	625

For the purposes of this answerstudents are defined as being from “low-income” backgrounds if they have declaredparental/spousal income details of not more than £17,500, which was the SAAS means-testedthreshold in 2005-06 for receipt of full financial support through the YoungStudents Bursary (YSB). For comparable results over the period in question thisthreshold has been kept constant, even although the full YSB threshold has changedin this period.

Students who have not declaredparental/spousal income details and those that are classed as exempt from parentalcontribution have not been included in the above table.

Question reference: S2W-31260

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates from (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire have returned to work in their local authority area in each of the last three years for which the information is available.

The following table shows thenumber of graduates at post graduate, first degree or sub-degree level that weredomiciled in (a) Angus, (b) Aberdeenshire before they started their course. To determinehow many of them left their local authority area to study and then returned to workin their local authority area requires information on commuting which is not availablecentrally.

Number of Graduates from HEIsfrom Angus and Aberdeenshire

Domicile Prior to Study	(a) Angus	(b) Aberdeenshire
2002-03	745	1,630
2003-04	800	1,725
2004-05	780	1,955

Note: The table includes studentsgraduating from a postgraduate or undergraduate course at a UK HEI (excluding theOpen University). All numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Question reference: S2W-31264

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest annual estimate is of the number of people earning the national minimum wage or below in the (a) Angus, (b) Gordon, (c) West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and (d) Banff and Buchan parliamentary constituencies.

The preferred source forearnings estimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, which is carriedout by the Office for National Statistics.

Table 1 shows the estimatednumber of employees earning the national minimum wage or below in Angus,Gordon, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and Banff and Buchan parliamentaryconstituencies in 2006 (latest data).

The estimates in the tableare based on a sample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

Table 1 Number of People Earningthe Minimum Wage or Below in Selected Parliamentary Constituencies, 2006

Constituency	2006
Angus	1600
Banff and Buchan	1000
Gordon	1700
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	600

Source: Annual Survey ofHours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. The estimates are basedon the hourly pay excluding overtime and shift premium payments.

2. The estimates are based on asample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

3. The estimates are basedon place of residence.

4. Parliamentaryconstituencies based on 2005 revision.

Question reference: S2W-31474

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 26 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 5 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to (a) Angus and (b) Aberdeenshire councils from the Strategic Waste Fund in each year since 2003.

The following table details theamounts allocated to Angus and Aberdeenshire Councils from the Strategic Waste Fundsince 2003.

Year	Angus Council (£)	Aberdeenshire Council (£)
2002-03	0	550,000
2003-04	359,000	1,979,000
2004-05	1,706,000	2,242,000
2005-06	2,753,000	4,742,000
2006-07	1,284,065	6,367,000
2007-08	1,209,000	4,078,000
Indicative Awards from 2008-09 to 2020	13,730,000	35,292,000
Total (including indicative awards).	21,041,065	55,250,000

Question reference: S2W-31253

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 1 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what dedicated funding has been made available to Angus and Aberdeenshire councils to tackle antisocial behaviour in each year since 2004-05.

The information requested isprovided in the following table:

Local Authority	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)	2006-07 (£)	2007-08 (£)	Total (£)
Aberdeenshire	248,000	275,750	320,000	335,000	1,178,750
Angus	369,000	409,400	480,000	519,000	1,777,400

Question reference: S2W-31255

Asked by: Marlyn Glen, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 22 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 1 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council-owned houses in Angus are now centrally heated as a result of the Executive’s central heating programme.