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-30705

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 25 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what rules, regulations or guidelines govern the selection and appointment of duty solicitors for prisoners on remand.

Duty solicitors provide representationfor the first appearance at court for accused persons appearing either from custodyor in response to a police undertaking. Prisoners on remand awaiting trial are ableto obtain criminal legal aid for their solicitor of choice.

The duty solicitor scheme isoperated by the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) in accordance with legal aidregulations. Regulation 5 of the Criminal Legal Aid (Scotland) Regulations1996 requires the board to make duty solicitors available in all sheriff and districtcourts. Solicitors must be eligible for the duty solicitor scheme in terms of criteriaset out by SLAB.

Question reference: S2W-31076

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each year since it came into force.

The available information is givenin the following table.

Persons proceeded against in Scottish courts for an offence underthe Dangerous Dogs Act 1991¹, 1991-92 to 2004-05

Year	Number
1991-92	24
1992-93	71
1993-94	65
1994-95	62
1995-96	46
1996-97	42
1997-98	51
1998-99	66
1999-2000	70
2000-01	54
2001-02	42
2002-03	51
2003-04	67
2004-05	68

Note: 1. Where main offence.

Question reference: S2W-30891

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimate is of the number of older people living in (a) absolute and (b) relative poverty and what the comparative figures were in (i) 1997, (ii) 1999 and (iii) 2003.

Question reference: S2W-30872

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 25 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average household income is in Scotland and what it estimates the average household income would have been if it had grown at the same rate as in the United Kingdom since May (a) 1997 and (b) 1999.

The following table presentsthe median weekly household income estimates for Scotland based on the Family ResourcesSurvey. Results have been presented using GB information as the Family ResourcesSurvey has only included Northern Ireland since 2002-03.

Table: Median Weekly Household Income for Scotland, 2004-05

£ Per Week	Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, Before Housing Costs	Equivalised Net Disposable Household Income, After Housing Costs
Scotland’s median in 2004-05	349	313
Scotland’s median if it followed a GB growth rate since 1996-97	339	301
Scotland’s median if it followed a GB growth rate since 1998-99	343	305

Source: Households Below AverageIncome, DWP.

Further information can be foundin the latest Scottish Households Below Average Income 2004-05 publicationhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/95793/0023203.pdf.

Notes:

Net disposable household income: Total income after deductions for income tax,National Insurance Contributions, council tax, pension contributions and maintenancepayments.

Housing costs: Net disposable income but with rent/mortgage payments,water charges, structural insurance premiums, ground rent and service charges deducted.

Equivalised net disposable householdincome: “Equivalised” Income is used to allowcomparisons of living standards between different household types. Income is adjustedto take into account variations in the size and composition of the household. Thisadjustment reflects the fact that a family of several people requires a higher incomethan a single person in order for both households to enjoy a comparable standardof living. The key assumption is that all individuals in the household benefit equallyfrom the combined (equivalised) income of the household. There are distinct equivalencescales used for income before housing costs (BHC) and income after housing costs(AHC).

Median: The income valuewhich divides a population, when ranked by income, into two equal-sized groups.The measure is most commonly used to represent average income due to the highlyskewed nature of the income distribution, which leads to the very high incomes ofa few having a disproportionate impact on the mean.

Question reference: S2W-30645

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all inspections and audits of its agencies and public bodies that have to be undertaken or commissioned by it or any of its agencies and how often each requires to be carried out.

Monitoring and financial auditrequirements are set out in the framework document for each Executive agency andsponsored public body. Copies of these documents are available from individual organisationsor via their websites. Performance Monitoring requirements are set out in furtherdetail in the corporate plans and/or business plans published by each agency orbody following agreement by Scottish ministers. Scottish Executive agencies andsponsored bodies must comply with the financial reporting and audit requirementsset out in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Public Finance andAccountability (Scotland) Act 2000.

Question reference: S2W-30647

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all performance indicators that it requires each of its departments to meet.

The performance indicators thatyou refer to are the drivers and measures contained within the Partnership Agreementand ministerial commitments. These have been distilled down through the ExecutiveDepartments and are underpinned by Building a Better Scotland and Spending Reviewtargets which departments all contribute to. Most of this activity is reflectedwithin departmental business plans which are published.

Details of a Building a BetterScotland (which includes the Spending Review 2004 targets) and the technicalnotes that accompany the targets can be found on the Executive’s websites:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/09/19984/43685http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20323/47384.

A final progress reporton targets that were set in September 2002 as part of the 2002 Spending Reviewwere published September 2006:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/06102312/0.

The end of term report on thePartnership Agreement and ministerial commitments was published on the interneton 29 December 2006 under A Partnership for a Better Scotland – DeliveringOur Commitments. A copy of this report can be found on the Executive’s website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/28151815/0.

Question reference: S2W-30646

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all performance indicators that it requires its agencies to meet.

Question reference: S2W-31078

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of its estimates in Government Expenditure and Revenues in Scotland (GERS), what total revenue has been raised from North Sea oil in each year since GERS was first published.

Question reference: S2W-30890

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the initial cost of construction was and estimated total lifetime cost to the public purse is for (a) Hairmyres Hospital and (b) Wishaw Hospital.

The initial construction costfor Hairmyres Hospital was £68 million and for Wishaw Hospital it was £121 million.The following tables show the annual payments over the period of the respectivecontracts. The aggregate of these annual payments however cannot be directly comparedto the construction costs as these payments include the provision of hard and softFM services over the life of the contract.

Had the hospitals been procuredby a traditional procurement route additional annual costs would be incurred includingcapital charges and costs for the provision of hard and soft FM services.

Hairmyres Hospital

Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)
2004-05	15.45	2011-12	19.31	2018-19	22.52	2025-26	24.98
2005-06	17.10	2012-13	19.78	2019-20	23.10	2026-27	25.48
2006-07	17.42	2013-14	20.15	2020-21	23.60	2027-28	26.84
2007-08	17.75	2014-15	20.78	2021-22	23.15	2028-29	27.38
2008-09	17.98	2015-16	21.12	2022-23	23.61	2029-30	28.07
2009-10	18.43	2016-17	21.58	2023-24	24.08	2030-31	28.49
2010-11	18.82	2017-18	22.10	2024-25	24.24	2031-32	6.15

Wishaw Hospital

Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)	Year	Amount (£ Million)
2004-05	22.51	2011-12	25.34	2018-19	28.26	2025-26	31.52
2005-06	23.08	2012-13	25.74	2019-20	28.71	2026-27	32.02
2006-07	23.45	2013-14	26.15	2020-21	29.16	2027-28	32.52
2007-08	23.81	2014-15	26.56	2021-22	29.62	2028-29	33.03
2008-09	24.19	2015-16	26.97	2022-23	30.08	2029-30	33.55
2009-10	24.57	2016-17	27.40	2023-24	30.55	2030-31	34.07
2010-11	24.95	2017-18	27.83	2024-25	31.03	2031-32	5.77

Question reference: S2W-31141

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 24 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any NHS employees are exempt from the pay agreements, structures or pay scales agreed as part of Agenda for Change and, if so, what roles these employees fill.