Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-25140

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was collected through business rates in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Business rates are collected by local authorities who make returns covering the whole of their areas to the Scottish Government. The information provided is not broken down by parliamentary constituency across Scotland. Business rates information collected by each local authority is provided in the answer to question S3W-25139 on 3 July 2009. All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-25141

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual distribution of income from business rates was in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The table below shows the amount of business rates income distributed for each year since 1999-2000 broken down by local authority.

The Scottish Government guarantees each local authority a combination of distributable business rates plus general revenue grant, with the total amount calculated on the basis of assessed need in each local authority area. The actual amount of business rates collected by each local authority is then deducted from this guaranteed funding with the balance paid as general revenue grant. The amount of business rates collected locally therefore has no effect on the total guaranteed funding.

Business Rate Income Distributed 1999-2000 to 2004-05

Local Authority	1999-2000 £ millions	2000-01 £ millions	2001-02 £ millions	2002-03 £ millions	2003-04 £ millions	2004-05 £ millions
Aberdeen City	60.7	69.2	64.6	71.0	75.5	78.5
Aberdeenshire	63.7	73.5	69.0	76.3	80.9	85.2
Angus	31.0	35.7	33.3	36.7	38.6	40.6
Argyll and Bute	25.5	29.2	27.2	29.8	32.5	34.1
Clackmannanshire	13.7	15.8	14.7	16.3	17.1	18.0
Dumfries and Galloway	41.4	47.8	44.6	49.0	52.7	55.3
Dundee City	41.9	47.6	43.8	47.9	51.8	54.1
East Ayrshire	34.3	39.4	36.7	40.5	42.9	44.9
East Dunbartonshire	31.2	35.6	33.6	37.2	38.6	40.2
East Lothian	25.0	29.1	27.5	30.7	32.1	34.0
East Renfrewshire	24.9	28.6	27.1	30.2	31.9	33.6
Edinburgh, City of	126.5	146.2	137.1	152.3	160.0	168.1
Eilean Siar	7.9	9.1	8.4	9.1	9.4	9.8
Falkirk	40.3	46.8	43.8	48.5	51.8	54.6
Fife	98.0	113.3	106.0	117.7	124.6	131.5
Glasgow City	172.0	201.2	185.6	204.7	206.2	216.6
Highland	58.7	67.6	63.3	70.1	74.4	78.1
Inverclyde	24.3	27.7	25.9	28.4	30.0	31.4
Midlothian	22.7	26.3	24.8	27.6	28.8	30.2
Moray	24.2	27.9	25.9	28.5	31.0	32.5
North Ayrshire	39.3	45.4	42.3	46.6	48.4	50.9
North Lanarkshire	91.8	106.1	99.5	110.1	114.4	120.5
Orkney	5.6	6.3	5.9	6.5	6.8	7.2
Perth and Kinross	37.5	43.2	40.7	44.9	48.1	50.7
Renfrewshire	50.1	57.7	53.8	59.4	61.6	64.5
Scottish Borders	29.9	34.5	32.3	35.9	38.1	40.3
Shetland	6.5	7.4	6.9	7.5	7.8	8.2
South Ayrshire	32.3	37.2	34.7	38.3	40.0	41.9
South Lanarkshire	86.4	99.7	93.3	103.3	107.7	113.3
Stirling	23.5	27.0	25.7	28.6	30.7	32.3
West Dunbartonshire	26.9	30.8	28.8	31.8	33.3	34.8
West Lothian	42.8	49.7	47.0	52.6	56.7	60.0

Business Rate Income Distributed 2005-06 to 2009-10

Local Authority	2005-06 £ millions	2006-07 £ millions	2007-08 £ millions	2008-09 £ millions	2009-10 £ millions
Aberdeen City	77.5	75.5	73.9	79.4	88.1
Aberdeenshire	86.0	86.4	85.9	90.6	100.7
Angus	40.3	40.3	39.9	41.9	46.2
Argyll and Bute	34.2	33.8	33.2	35.1	38.4
Clackmannanshire	17.9	17.9	17.8	18.8	21.0
Dumfries and Galloway	55.2	54.9	54.1	56.8	62.4
Dundee City	53.7	52.6	51.9	54.5	59.8
East Ayrshire	44.8	44.4	43.6	45.8	50.3
East Dunbartonshire	40.1	39.5	38.7	40.5	44.1
East Lothian	34.2	34.0	33.5	35.6	39.7
East Renfrewshire	33.6	33.2	32.7	34.3	37.6
Edinburgh, City of	168.2	168.3	167.1	177.8	197.0
Eilean Siar	9.8	9.7	9.6	10.1	11.1
Falkirk	54.7	54.7	54.4	57.4	63.4
Fife	132.1	131.5	130.2	137.7	151.7
Glasgow City	216.5	214.3	211.3	222.7	244.9
Highland	78.4	78.4	78.0	82.6	91.5
Inverclyde	31.2	30.6	30.0	31.3	34.1
Midlothian	29.9	29.5	28.9	30.4	33.5
Moray	32.8	32.5	32.2	33.3	36.6
North Ayrshire	51.0	50.5	49.6	52.0	57.1
North Lanarkshire	120.7	119.7	118.1	124.2	136.7
Orkney	7.2	7.2	7.2	7.6	8.4
Perth and Kinross	51.0	51.0	50.5	53.8	59.8
Renfrewshire	64.1	63.3	62.1	65.1	71.4
Scottish Borders	40.6	40.5	40.1	42.3	46.9
Shetland	8.2	8.1	8.0	8.4	9.2
South Ayrshire	41.9	41.5	40.8	42.8	47.0
South Lanarkshire	113.7	113.3	111.8	118.0	130.3
Stirling	32.4	32.0	31.7	33.7	37.1
West Dunbartonshire	34.6	34.1	33.4	35.0	38.3
West Lothian	60.4	60.4	59.8	63.6	70.6

Note: The figures above are taken from relevant annual local government finance circulars issued by the Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-25139

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was collected through business rates in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows the amount of business rates collected by each local authority for each year since 1999-2000.

The Scottish Government guarantees each local authority a combination of distributable business rates plus general revenue grant, with the total amount calculated on the basis of assessed need in each local authority area. The actual amount of business rates collected by each local authority is then deducted from this guaranteed funding with the balance paid as general revenue grant. The amount of business rates collected locally therefore has no effect on the total guaranteed funding.

Business Rates Collected By Local Authority 1999-2000 to 2004-05

Local Authority	1999-2000 £ millions	2000-01 £ millions	2001-02 £ millions	2002-03 £ millions	2003-04 £ millions	2004-05 £ millions
Aberdeen City	107.9	111.5	117.1	117.1	122.8	123.6
Aberdeenshire	48.5	51.2	51.7	56.5	54.6	59.6
Angus	21.1	22.5	22.8	24.5	22.4	24.6
Argyll and Bute	23.7	27.2	29.1	30.0	25.0	31.0
Clackmannanshire	11.5	8.6	11.9	11.8	10.7	11.7
Dumfries and Galloway	33.4	33.9	33.8	36.1	36.8	39.4
Dundee City	43.7	51.3	52.4	54.5	54.6	58.2
East Ayrshire	23.4	23.3	24.7	25.6	24.6	27.1
East Dunbartonshire	16.0	16.7	18.4	18.3	18.1	19.6
East Lothian	26.8	25.9	26.5	23.8	24.7	24.5
East Renfrewshire	11.2	10.3	10.7	11.8	11.9	12.4
Edinburgh, City of	208.3	218.3	232.7	242.1	244.5	254.4
Eilean Siar	4.8	5.0	5.3	5.4	5.3	5.7
Falkirk	46.4	48.7	53.4	53.7	53.5	57.7
Fife	91.2	103.7	109.9	111.9	101.3	105.9
Glasgow City	239.2	260.6	266.2	256.9	267.4	280.0
Highland	56.7	57.4	64.4	64.6	65.9	74.1
Inverclyde	18.2	18.0	20.3	20.5	19.0	20.5
Midlothian	14.6	15.2	16.4	17.5	17.2	18.3
Moray	20.0	21.9	23.2	23.8	23.8	25.4
North Ayrshire	39.0	40.0	39.0	38.0	37.5	39.4
North Lanarkshire	68.6	74.5	80.0	83.0	84.2	93.5
Orkney	6.4	6.3	6.8	6.7	6.4	6.8
Perth and Kinross	36.6	38.8	41.5	43.7	44.3	45.8
Renfrewshire	49.1	55.4	55.5	64.4	66.0	70.8
Scottish Borders	18.8	20.5	20.6	22.5	22.0	23.8
Shetland	13.0	12.5	13.1	13.0	12.5	11.7
South Ayrshire	29.4	28.2	30.8	31.8	31.8	34.2
South Lanarkshire	74.7	76.2	80.7	84.0	86.5	92.4
Stirling	27.0	30.7	31.9	33.7	33.7	36.5
West Dunbartonshire	23.2	19.0	25.2	25.7	25.3	27.2
West Lothian	44.3	44.3	54.8	52.2	52.1	57.3

Business Rates Collected By Local Authority 2005-06 to 2009-10

Local Authority	2005-06 £ millions	2006-07 £ millions	2007-08 £ millions	2008-09² £ millions	2009-10³ £ millions
Aberdeen City	127.3	122.6	138.5	132.1	139.5
Aberdeenshire	51.2	53.1	53.4	55.8	57.9
Angus	22.2	22.8	22.2	22.5	22.6
Argyll and Bute	27.0	26.6	26.4	23.4	25.7
Clackmannanshire	11.6	11.8	10.8	11.8	11.2
Dumfries and Galloway	34.6	34.2	34.9	36.6	37.8
Dundee City	58.8	57.8	57.8	58.4	62.2
East Ayrshire	26.2	25.1	25.2	25.8	25.8
East Dunbartonshire	19.0	19.1	19.0	19.6	20.0
East Lothian	14.6	16.1	16.5	19.0	18.6
East Renfrewshire	11.5	11.7	11.6	12.3	12.4
Edinburgh, City of	279.4	280.7	278.9	293.2	305.2
Eilean Siar	5.5	5.3	5.5	5.4	5.7
Falkirk	56.5	55.6	53.7	53.5	55.4
Fife	117.8	117.3	116.9	107.4	109.1
Glasgow City	282.7	287.5	287.1	299.3	314.5
Highland	75.6	86.0	76.4	83.4	88.6
Inverclyde	19.4	18.6	18.3	19.1	19.8
Midlothian	19.3	19.7	19.8	21.1	21.5
Moray	23.6	17.9	23.8	23.1	24.4
North Ayrshire	32.5	30.4	30.9	31.5	31.7
North Lanarkshire	94.3	91.8	92.2	91.5	102.1
Orkney	6.9	7.2	7.0	7.2	7.0
Perth and Kinross	43.2	45.4	42.5	46.1	40.5
Renfrewshire	68.7	67.9	69.9	75.0	75.9
Scottish Borders	21.0	22.2	23.0	22.8	22.9
Shetland	12.5	12.1	12.2	12.4	12.6
South Ayrshire	34.0	35.2	34.2	36.3	35.3
South Lanarkshire	182.8	176.9	169.6	175.3	184.6
Stirling	34.9	35.6	34.6	36.4	37.6
West Dunbartonshire	58.8	56.6	55.1¹	58.9	62.3
West Lothian	60.0	62.3	60.7	66.6	70.5

Notes:

1. The figures for 1999-2000 to 2007-08 are from final audited figures for local authorities provided to the Scottish Government, with the exception of West Dunbartonshire''s 2007-08 return which is a final, unaudited amount.

2. The 2008-09 figures are based on the latest available mid-year returns made to the Scottish Government by local authorities.

3. The 2009-10 figures are based on estimates made by local authorities to the Scottish Government (known as provisional contributable amounts).

Question reference: S3W-25142

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 July 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual distribution of income from business rates was in each year since 1999, broken down by parliamentary constituency.

Business rates are distributed by the Scottish Government to individual local authorities. This information is not broken down by parliamentary constituency across Scotland. Information on the business rates distributed to each local authority is provided in the answer to question S3W-25141 on 3 July 2009. All answers to parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3O-07394

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 25 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in encouraging schools to procure food from local sources.

Question reference: S3W-24786

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 June 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the energy performance certificate methodology in light of the potential impact on the values of rural properties of liquid petroleum gas (LPG) users.

Question reference: S3W-24441

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 29 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered NHS dentists there have been in each year since 1999, broken down by Scottish Parliament constituency.

The number of NHS dentists (head count) who have provided NHS general dental services, broken down by Scottish parliamentary constituency for years ending 31 March 2000 onwards, is shown in the following table.

Years Ending 31 March

Parliamentary Constituency	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Scotland	1,982	1,991	2,037	2,078	2,105	2,153	2,301	2,474	2,576
Aberdeen Central	64	62	66	72	70	67	71	79	71
Aberdeen North	19	16	11	15	17	17	18	15	49
Aberdeen South	15	13	13	11	11	11	12	13	13
Airdrie and Shotts	28	25	24	24	24	23	23	23	26
Angus	37	40	38	40	39	38	48	47	49
Argyll and Bute	23	22	22	23	27	27	30	35	42
Ayr	42	44	44	42	47	48	48	48	48
Banff and Buchan	27	26	25	20	19	22	21	25	28
Caithness	20	21	20	16	17	18	22	25	19
Carrick	18	13	14	14	16	15	14	28	35
Central Fife	27	32	30	31	32	29	57	61	56
Clydebank and Milngavie	30	30	30	31	29	30	32	32	30
Clydesdale	26	28	30	30	29	25	28	27	31
Coatbridge and Chryston	26	25	27	27	29	29	33	34	32
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	26	26	26	25	32	35	29	27	24
Cunninghame North	27	29	31	32	30	30	27	27	31
Cunninghame South	27	25	26	26	27	26	29	26	26
Dumbarton	37	34	33	32	31	32	37	38	39
Dumfries	29	29	26	27	28	25	26	37	50
Dundee East	29	32	30	32	33	35	35	43	45
Dundee West	52	50	49	50	51	52	59	64	57
Dunfermline East	30	30	30	31	28	27	26	26	26
Dunfermline West	28	30	32	32	27	31	31	31	38
East Kilbride	34	32	36	39	42	42	44	41	44
East Lothian	27	27	28	28	29	30	30	32	32
Eastwood	44	45	45	45	46	51	53	54	52
Edinburgh Central	44	50	50	56	53	51	60	61	55
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	35	30	32	31	38	40	36	39	55
Edinburgh North and Leith	61	64	73	78	74	67	66	70	67
Edinburgh Pentlands	20	18	20	22	21	21	22	19	20
Edinburgh South	56	58	57	59	55	54	61	70	85
Edinburgh West	48	46	47	43	41	42	40	42	40
Falkirk East	20	23	22	23	22	23	23	24	32
Falkirk West	33	33	34	32	31	34	38	49	50
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	18	15	14	16	16	18	18	25	22
Glasgow Anniesland	22	22	22	25	24	26	27	27	25
Glasgow Baillieston	15	17	17	16	14	16	18	18	20
Glasgow Cathcart	24	24	29	31	31	34	33	32	33
Glasgow Govan	56	53	56	59	59	66	59	66	67
Glasgow Kelvin	69	72	75	73	75	87	93	100	110
Glasgow Maryhill	35	32	34	34	37	36	35	34	39
Glasgow Pollok	23	21	23	21	21	24	26	26	31
Glasgow Rutherglen	27	26	27	27	27	27	27	29	28
Glasgow Shettleston	40	38	36	35	36	41	39	38	47
Glasgow Springburn	31	32	33	33	34	35	32	32	34
Gordon	24	21	22	23	21	23	24	31	25
Greenock and Inverclyde	22	24	25	22	26	24	24	30	34
Hamilton North and Bellshill	48	46	46	47	47	53	49	47	49
Hamilton South	18	21	19	21	21	24	27	26	35
Inverness East	50	50	52	52	49	54	58	70	91
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	32	32	29	33	35	34	36	38	43
Kirkcaldy	37	36	35	38	37	35	36	38	37
Linlithgow	32	33	34	35	36	36	37	39	45
Livingston	45	39	37	37	37	41	44	46	46
Midlothian	22	19	18	21	19	19	19	20	22
Moray	23	23	23	24	26	28	27	31	27
Motherwell and Wishaw	26	25	28	29	30	34	34	36	36
North East Fife	30	28	26	28	26	25	25	25	26
North Tayside	39	44	46	47	48	46	44	45	52
Ochil	20	21	21	22	19	17	19	18	25
Orkney Islands	6	6	7	6	9	9	11	12	12
Paisley North	35	35	39	35	36	32	33	34	37
Paisley South	44	51	53	52	51	49	51	54	53
Perth	36	37	41	47	39	41	55	61	61
Ross	23	24	24	24	28	29	31	33	24
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	24	24	28	26	24	23	25	27	32
Shetland Islands	8	7	11	11	12	12	13	16	18
Stirling	36	35	40	40	39	41	44	36	38
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	34	33	35	40	47	50	51	47	49
Tweeddale	27	28	29	27	25	24	25	31	28
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	24	23	22	23	27	30	32	31	25
West Renfrewshire	21	24	24	23	21	20	22	21	24
Western Isles	12	12	7	10	9	10	14	15	15

Source: MIDAS (Management Information & Dental Accounting System).

Notes:

1. This data relates to the number of dentists in post, not the whole-time equivalent figure, as information on the working hours of each dentist is not collected.

2. This data includes the number of NHS non-salaried and salaried principals, assistants and vocational dental practitioners, based on the location of the dental practice.

3. The sum of the number of NHS general dental practitioners in each Scottish parliamentary constituency exceeds the number practising in Scotland: an NHS general dental practitioner may enter into more than one arrangement with an NHS board if he/she has more than one practice, or enter into an arrangement with more than one NHS board if he/she practises in more than one NHS board area.

4. Clinical and management information on salaried general dental services is now partly being recorded on a new computer system (R4) that transmits data to Practitioner Services Division as if from a central location. Although treatment continues to be provided from a large number of locations, these arrangements for recording information will in some instances suggest that the number of dentists providing salaried NHS general dental services treatment has significantly increased or reduced. The effect of dentists beginning to transmit their data from a central location will be most acutely observed across smaller areas, such as Scottish parliamentary constituency.

Question reference: S3W-24181

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many flood prevention schemes are being constructed, broken down by local authority.

I am aware of 11 flood prevention schemes being constructed this year by the undernoted local authorities.

Local Authority	Flood Prevention Scheme
Argyll and Bute	Kilbride Road, Dunoon
City of Edinburgh	Braid Burn
City of Edinburgh	Water of Leith
Falkirk	Bo''ness
Fife	Dunfermline
Glasgow City	White Cart
Highland	South West Inverness
Moray	Forres (Burn of Mosset)
Moray	Rothes
Renfrewshire	North Renfrew
West Lothian	Broxburn

Question reference: S3W-24424

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 28 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 8 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average audiology waiting time has been for adults, broken down by NHS board, in each year since 1999.

Information relating to audiology waiting times in NHS boards has been collected since April 2007 and Information Services Division (ISD) is actively working with the boards to improve the consistency, completeness and timeliness of these data. Progress was reviewed in November 2008 but fundamental problems remained with comparing data between NHS boards and a revised dataset was introduced in December 2008. Audiology waiting times will be included within the 18-week referral to treatment standard by 2011 and systems are being developed to report progress towards that target.

Question reference: S3W-24182

Asked by: Nanette Milne, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 May 2009
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 June 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many flood prevention scheme proposals are under consideration, broken down by local authority.

Chamber and committees