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-13403

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many invoices it has received that have been disputed, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of invoices received, in each year since 1999.

Financial Year	FY 1999	FY 2000	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004 (Apr-Dec)
*%age Disputed – Total	0.47	0.48	0.40	0.08	0.52	0.65
*Total Number of Invoices – Total	192,292	172,649	130,862	174,364	140,162	138,481
*Number Disputed – Total	899	821	521	143	726	894

Note:

*Total includes SE Core, Agencies (including Registers of Scotland), Consolidated Invoice Transactions and Government Procurement Card Transactions (where applicable).

Question reference: S2W-13404

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the collection rates were for council tax for 2003-04, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S2W-13405

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties there are within each council tax band, broken down by local authority area and expressed also as a percentage of all properties within each area.

The information is contained in the following tables.

Table 1 Number of Properties on the Valuation List on 6 September 2004 Total number of Dwellings

	Band A	Band B	Band C	Band D	Band E	Band F	Band G	Band H	Total
Scotland	578,020	583,154	371,705	290,100	294,383	151,155	98,957	11,129	2,378,603
Aberdeen City	21,858	27,906	17,447	11,932	12,866	7,404	6,603	738	106,754
Aberdeenshire	20,840	15,540	13,133	15,360	17,587	11,327	7,132	438	101,357
Angus	15,468	12,241	6,534	7,337	6,374	2,283	1,167	146	51,550
Argyll and Bute	8,076	9,528	9,201	5,574	6,760	3,510	2,375	222	45,246
Clackmannanshire	6,466	7,065	1,773	2,219	2,672	1,209	631	41	22,076
Dumfries and Galloway	11,484	22,552	10,756	8,995	9,311	4,044	1,949	151	69,242
Dundee City	31,877	16,541	7,621	7,817	5,640	1,882	790	42	72,210
East Ayrshire	27,001	9,391	4,159	5,208	5,116	2,282	482	38	53,677
East Dunbartonshire	1,314	3,785	7,956	6,961	10,751	6,323	5,575	475	43,140
East Lothian	1,176	9,226	13,570	4,902	5,037	3,511	3,033	502	40,957
East Renfrewshire	1,498	5,267	3,836	5,945	7,979	5,798	5,684	664	36,671
Edinburgh, City of	24,431	45,441	40,690	32,683	35,037	21,530	18,466	3,258	221,536
Eilean Siar	4,945	3,672	2,662	1,443	803	123	30	4	13,682
Falkirk	22,701	18,844	5,838	7,585	7,365	3,597	1,466	48	67,444
Fife	41,968	47,796	19,840	17,014	19,785	9,824	5,073	394	161,694
Glasgow City	80,530	74,961	61,818	36,293	24,234	9,356	5,231	652	293,075
Highland	20,262	22,700	20,426	15,671	15,077	6,626	3,093	314	104,169
Inverclyde	22,899	4,986	2,828	2,815	3,118	1,614	1,221	178	39,659
Midlothian	1,005	11,827	9,711	3,830	3,903	1,937	1,309	147	33,669
Moray	11,940	9,915	5,798	5,419	4,599	1,484	513	106	39,774
North Ayrshire	21,956	18,327	5,952	5,855	7,918	2,609	1,037	43	63,697
North Lanarkshire	54,524	36,501	16,907	13,451	12,742	4,788	1,854	97	140,864
Orkney Islands	2,600	2,616	1,869	1,407	866	171	17	2	9,548
Perth and Kinross	9,248	14,589	10,732	8,940	10,425	6,084	4,430	573	65,021
Renfrewshire	15,183	25,742	12,169	9,462	9,585	5,247	2,991	200	80,579
Scottish Borders	16,538	12,482	6,193	5,139	5,428	3,680	3,004	369	52,833
Shetland Islands	3,210	1,767	2,489	1,484	959	172	37	2	10,120
South Ayrshire	7,411	12,452	8,234	7,663	9,039	4,332	2,689	227	52,047
South Lanarkshire	37,474	29,552	22,667	16,977	15,867	8,306	4,334	311	135,488
Stirling	6,498	8,342	3,949	3,856	5,703	4,621	4,272	574	37,815
West Dunbartonshire	8,132	17,424	7,255	4,365	4,396	1,417	486	30	43,505
West Lothian	17,507	24,176	7,692	6,498	7,441	4,064	1,983	143	69,504

Source: As reported by local authorities on statistical return CTAX Base 2004.

Table 2 Number of Properties on the Valuation List on 6 September 2004 Percentage of Total Dwellings by band

	Band A	Band B	Band C	Band D	Band E	Band F	Band G	Band H
Scotland	24.3%	24.5%	15.6%	12.2%	12.4%	6.4%	4.2%	0.5%
Aberdeen City	20.5%	26.1%	16.3%	11.2%	12.1%	6.9%	6.2%	0.7%
Aberdeenshire	20.6%	15.3%	13.0%	15.2%	17.4%	11.2%	7.0%	0.4%
Angus	30.0%	23.7%	12.7%	14.2%	12.4%	4.4%	2.3%	0.3%
Argyll and Bute	17.8%	21.1%	20.3%	12.3%	14.9%	7.8%	5.2%	0.5%
Clackmannanshire	29.3%	32.0%	8.0%	10.1%	12.1%	5.5%	2.9%	0.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	16.6%	32.6%	15.5%	13.0%	13.4%	5.8%	2.8%	0.2%
Dundee City	44.1%	22.9%	10.6%	10.8%	7.8%	2.6%	1.1%	0.1%
East Ayrshire	50.3%	17.5%	7.7%	9.7%	9.5%	4.3%	0.9%	0.1%
East Dunbartonshire	3.0%	8.8%	18.4%	16.1%	24.9%	14.7%	12.9%	1.1%
East Lothian	2.9%	22.5%	33.1%	12.0%	12.3%	8.6%	7.4%	1.2%
East Renfrewshire	4.1%	14.4%	10.5%	16.2%	21.8%	15.8%	15.5%	1.8%
Edinburgh, City of	11.0%	20.5%	18.4%	14.8%	15.8%	9.7%	8.3%	1.5%
Eilean Siar	36.1%	26.8%	19.5%	10.5%	5.9%	0.9%	0.2%	0.0%
Falkirk	33.7%	27.9%	8.7%	11.2%	10.9%	5.3%	2.2%	0.1%
Fife	26.0%	29.6%	12.3%	10.5%	12.2%	6.1%	3.1%	0.2%
Glasgow City	27.5%	25.6%	21.1%	12.4%	8.3%	3.2%	1.8%	0.2%
Highland	19.5%	21.8%	19.6%	15.0%	14.5%	6.4%	3.0%	0.3%
Inverclyde	57.7%	12.6%	7.1%	7.1%	7.9%	4.1%	3.1%	0.4%
Midlothian	3.0%	35.1%	28.8%	11.4%	11.6%	5.8%	3.9%	0.4%
Moray	30.0%	24.9%	14.6%	13.6%	11.6%	3.7%	1.3%	0.3%
North Ayrshire	34.5%	28.8%	9.3%	9.2%	12.4%	4.1%	1.6%	0.1%
North Lanarkshire	38.7%	25.9%	12.0%	9.5%	9.0%	3.4%	1.3%	0.1%
Orkney Islands	27.2%	27.4%	19.6%	14.7%	9.1%	1.8%	0.2%	0.0%
Perth and Kinross	14.2%	22.4%	16.5%	13.7%	16.0%	9.4%	6.8%	0.9%
Renfrewshire	18.8%	31.9%	15.1%	11.7%	11.9%	6.5%	3.7%	0.2%
Scottish Borders	31.3%	23.6%	11.7%	9.7%	10.3%	7.0%	5.7%	0.7%
Shetland Islands	31.7%	17.5%	24.6%	14.7%	9.5%	1.7%	0.4%	0.0%
South Ayrshire	14.2%	23.9%	15.8%	14.7%	17.4%	8.3%	5.2%	0.4%
South Lanarkshire	27.7%	21.8%	16.7%	12.5%	11.7%	6.1%	3.2%	0.2%
Stirling	17.2%	22.1%	10.4%	10.2%	15.1%	12.2%	11.3%	1.5%
West Dunbartonshire	18.7%	40.1%	16.7%	10.0%	10.1%	3.3%	1.1%	0.1%
West Lothian	25.2%	34.8%	11.1%	9.3%	10.7%	5.8%	2.9%	0.2%

Source: As reported by local authorities on statistical return CTAX Base 2004.

Question reference: S2W-12924

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements will be for rail passengers to buy Eurostar tickets at stations in Scotland after 23 December 2004, in light of the decision of GNER to cease selling such tickets at Waverley Station after this date.

Question reference: S2W-12963

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase will be from 2004-05 to 2005-06 in non-domestic rates paid by businesses whose rateable value increases by the Scottish average.

Question reference: S2W-12964

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) last published estimate was prior to the start of each financial year since 1999-2000 of the total amount of non-domestic rates to be collected and (b) total amount of non-domestic rates actually collected was in each year.

he published estimate prior to the start of each financial year of the total amount of non-domestic rate income (NDRI) to be collected, and the total amount of NDRI actually collected, are shown in the table.

Year	NDRI Forecast from Finance Circulars (£ Million)	Actual NDR Income (£ Million)
1999-2000	1,464	1,497
2000-01	1,555	1,577
2001-02	1,569	1,673
2002-03	1,584	1,705
2003-04	1,673	1,706

The actual figure for 2003‑04 is pre-audit.

Question reference: S2O-04760

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 23 December 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what evaluation has been made of the programme, Hungry for Success: A Whole School Approach to School Meals in Scotland.

Question reference: S2O-04238

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 25 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is with regard to the suitability of septic tanks for new housing developments in cases where restrictions imposed by Scottish Water prevent connection to the mains sewer

Where it is not practicable to connect to a public sewer, the disposal ofwaste water to a private septic tank or treatment plant is permitted under the Building Standards (Scotland) Regulations, provided this complies with the Technical Standards. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is responsible for ensuring that relevant environmental standards are met. Planning authorities should seek the views of the agency before coming to a decision on an application for planning permission.

Question reference: S2W-12009

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 19 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what process was followed in the recent appointment of the Chief Executive of Historic Scotland.

Question reference: S2O-04033

Asked by: Alasdair Morgan, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects training to be delivered to the first response volunteers in the Drummore area of Wigtownshire.

Over the past two years, the Scottish Executive has invested an additional £16.5 million in the Scottish Ambulance Service enabling it to put 220 more paramedics and technicians on to front line emergency ambulances. This investment has also enabled the service to begin to develop more than 50 community first responder schemes which are designed to augment the paramedic-led emergency service. Theseinitiatives are already leading to significant improvements in the responsiveness of the service to life threatening incidents.

Drummore is one of a number of communities from which volunteers have come forward in response to the Scottish Ambulance Service’s campaign to attract community first responders. I understand that the service plan to begin training the volunteers from Drummore early in the new year.