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-29117

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered blind people it employs, broken down by department and expressed also as a percentage of its workforce.

The number of permanent staffin the Scottish Executive core departments who have self-declared as having a visualdisability is shown in the following table, broken down by department and expressedalso as a percentage of the workforce. Visual impairment covers a variety of conditions.

	No of Staff who have Self-Declared a Visual Disability	Percentage of Workforce
Development Department	1	0.4
Education Department	2	0.6
Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Dept	3	0.7
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	1	0.1
Finance and Central Services Department	2	0.4
Health Department	4	1.1
Justice Department	1	0.3
Legal and Parliamentary Services	1	0.5
Office Of The Permanent Secretary	1	0.1
Total	16	0.4

Question reference: S2W-29118

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 13 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean and (b) median waiting times for appointments with a chiropodist have been in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Information onchiropody/podiatry waiting times is not routinely collected nationally.

Aone-off census of allied health professional (AHP) services was carried out on 14 September 2005 to help ascertain the magnitude, variety anddiversity of AHPs’ caseloads. A broad range of information, including information onwaiting times, was gathered, and the reportWaiting for AHP Services - A Review Of The Numbers Waiting And PossibleWaiting Times For An Appointment With An AHP was published on 6 July 2006. Thisis available at:

http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/collect2.jsp?pContentID=3896&p_applic=CCC&p_service=Content.show&.

The report provides summarydata concerning waiting times and numbers of patients waiting for appointmentson a particular day. The data suggests that 94% of patients could expect afirst appointment within 18 weeks and 75% of patients could expect a firstappointment in less than 10 weeks if they are to attend a clinic, six weeks ifthey are to be seen at home and two weeks if they are to be seen while an in-patient.

Question reference: S2W-29262

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many female remand prisoners have been sent from Aberdeen to Cornton Vale Prison in each of the last 24 months and, of these, how many were returned to Aberdeen for trial.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

The number of prisoners transferredfrom Aberdeen to Cornton Vale Prison in each of the last 24 monthsis as follows:

Month	2004	2005	2006
January	0	7	0
February	0	6	0
March	0	3	0
April	0	3	0
May	0	4	0
June	0	2	0
July	0	7	0
August	0	4	0
September	0	15	0
October	0	0	0
November	2	0	0
December	9	0	0

The information requested onthe number of prisoners transferred to Aberdeen for trial is not available.

Question reference: S2W-29209

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the eligibility criteria are for rural home ownership grants.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Rural home ownership grants aretargeted at areas where people have limited opportunities to build or buy a homethat meets their needs within their own communities. Grants are targetedat local people in employment who are first-time buyers. Previous homeowners canapply for grant assistance, although any capital gain from the sale of previousproperty is taken into account when deciding whether an application can be consideredfor funding.

Grant applicants should be onlow or modest incomes and are means tested. Grant awards are the minimum necessaryto allow projects to proceed, and do not normally exceed 33 per cent of approvedproject costs.

The size of the applicant householdis used to determine the size of the property that can be funded.

Question reference: S2W-29210

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses have been sold in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The following table shows thetotal number of sales of council dwellings from 1999 to 2005:

Sales of Council Dwellings: 1999to 2005

Local Authority Area	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	13,188	13,959	14,607	15,943	15,889	11,626	9,821
% change from previous year		6%	5%	9%		-16%	-16%
Aberdeen City	790	718	670	600	746	515	546
Aberdeenshire	320	441	387	449	393	277	325
Angus	228	256	194	236	251	237	314
Argyll and Bute	156	108	153	218	299	262	187
Clackmannanshire	124	104	136	191	230	120	109
Dumfries and Galloway	337	396	349	404	na	na	na
Dundee City	256	296	1,725	237	265	260	281
East Ayrshire	524	606	505	595	679	489	499
East Dunbartonshire	191	159	167	231	388	223	162
East Lothian	193	288	276	471	426	287	178
East Renfrewshire	60	118	127	167	141	86	100
City of Edinburgh	670	680	524	742	908	890	374
Eilean Siar	35	33	37	69	64	48	49
Falkirk	377	512	566	787	751	605	588
Fife	825	752	860	952	1,383	1,074	928
City of Glasgow	1,635	1,817	1,730	1,938	na	na	na
Highland	614	677	554	643	646	592	528
Inverclyde	364	389	287	286	282	..	..
Midlothian	204	186	241	330	384	276	158
Moray	165	158	147	203	183	195	198
North Ayrshire	391	420	387	493	585	499	487
North Lanarkshire	1,387	1,499	1,445	1,518	1,593	1,252	1,085
Orkney	45	29	22	24	34	27	18
Perth and Kinross	246	214	178	302	368	275	240
Renfrewshire	408	461	611	738	670	478	457
Scottish Borders	244	321	243	220	na	na	na
Shetland	108	71	54	85	60	33	50
South Ayrshire	247	227	235	280	470	380	249
South Lanarkshire	1,166	1,100	882	1,229	1,534	1,139	884
Stirling	212	231	218	309	295	264	176
West Dunbartonshire	251	209	224	305	430	331	295
West Lothian	415	483	473	691	846	440	356

Source: Sales 3 returns by localauthorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department Analytical ServicesDivision (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. Figures shown are for allsales including sales to sitting tenants,rent to mortgage, voluntary sales, sales to private developers, voluntary transfersto registered social landlords, tenants’ choice sales and other sales.

2. Due to housing stock transfers,figures for Dumfries and Galloway, City of Glasgow and Scottish Borders are excluded from 2003 onward, andthe percentage change between 2002 and 2003 is therefore not shown.

3. The following symbols areused:

- nil.

.. not available.

na not applicable.

Question reference: S2W-29215

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many homes have been compulsorily purchased in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Where the Scottish ministersact as the confirming authority, the informationrequested is not held centrally. Once an order has been confirmed, the acquiringauthority has up to three years to implement the order. Ministers may not subsequentlybe informed whether the order has been implemented.

Where the Scottish ministersact as the promoter of trunk road schemes a draft compulsorily purchase order (CPO)is prepared for the acquisition of all land and property required to build the scheme.The schedule to the CPO gives a description of all plots including any propertiesto be acquired. There are no separate records kept of the number of homes acquiredfor each scheme. Residential properties included in a draft CPO are often acquiredby agreement in advance of the making of the order thereby enabling the owners topurchase alternative accommodation at the earliest opportunity.

Question reference: S2W-29214

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average compulsory purchase order payment has been in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Question reference: S2W-29211

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses have been constructed in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

Thefollowing table shows the number of new build completions by local authorities from1999 to 2003.

New Build Completionsby Local Authorities: 1999 to 2003

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Scotland	81	95	72	51	53
Aberdeen City	-	-	18	27	53
Aberdeenshire	46	-	-	-	-
Angus	-	-	-	-	-
Argyll and Bute	-	-	-	-	-
Clackmannanshire	-	-	-	-	-
Dumfries and Galloway	-	-	-	-	-
Dundee City	-	-	-	-	-
East Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-
East Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-
East Lothian	-	-	-	-	-
East Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-
Edinburgh, City of	-	-	-	-	-
Eilean Siar	-	-	-	-	-
Falkirk	-	-	-	-	-
Fife	1	2	-	-	-
Glasgow City	5	89	-	18	-
Highland	12	-	-	1	-
Inverclyde	-	-	-	-	-
Midlothian	17	4	24	-	-
Moray	-	-	-	-	-
North Ayrshire	-	-	-	5	-
North Lanarkshire	-	-	30	-	-
Orkney	-	-	-	-	-
Perth and Kinross	-	-	-	-	-
Renfrewshire	-	-	-	-	-
Scottish Borders, The	-	-	-	-	-
Shetland	-	-	-	-	-
South Ayrshire	-	-	-	-	-
South Lanarkshire	-	-	-	-	-
Stirling	-	-	-	-	-
West Dunbartonshire	-	-	-	-	-
West Lothian	-	-	-	-	-

Source: Newbuild returns by local authorities to the Scottish Executive Development DepartmentAnalytical Services Division (Housing Statistics).

Notes:

1. There havebeen no completions of new local authority dwellings since 2003. However, Shetlandreport that six local authority dwellings were started in 2005.

2. The numbers of completions by local authoritiesis too small for the percentage change from year to year to be meaningful.

3. The followingsymbols are used – nil.

Question reference: S2W-29206

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many rural home ownership grants have been awarded in each relevant local authority area in each year since 1999, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The number of rural home ownershipgrants that have been awarded in each relevant local authority area since 1999,showing year-on-year percentage changes, is shown in the following table:

Number of Rural Home OwnershipGrant Awards by Relevant Local Authority Area (1999-2000 – 2005-06)

Local Authority	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Aberdeenshire	1	0	0	1	1	1	1
Argyll and Bute	4	4	8	1	10	9	6
Highland	16	22	15	27	36	42	32
Moray	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
Orkney Islands	14	17	25	26	28	38	36
Perth and Kinross	1	2	1	3	1	18	1
Shetland Islands	6	2	5	3	1	4	4
The Scottish Borders	4	2	1	2	3	5	5
Western Isles	3	2	0	1	3	2	2
Total	50	51	55	64	83	119	87
Percentage changes	n/a	2%	8%	16%	30%	43%	-27%

Question reference: S2W-29197

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 6 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to provide local authorities with funding from the Strategic Waste Fund to allow them to introduce kerbside recycling schemes for small businesses in areas where domestic kerbside recycling is already taking place.

No. Under the “polluter pays”principle, businesses must meet the costs of disposing of their own waste. However,we would encourage local authorities to explore the viability of integrating thecollection of recyclate from households and businesses whilst ensuring they recoverthe costs of collecting and disposing of the commercial waste.

The Scottish Waste AwarenessGroup has produced a directory of the recycling facilities available to businesses.This directory can be found at www.wasteawarebusiness.com.The Waste and Resources Action Programme has run some trials on the collection ofrecyclate from SMEs, to ensure that good practice can be shared.

We also support bodies such asEnvirowise and Business Environment Partnership which provide advice to businesson how to minimise their waste.