- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4598 by Mr Jack McConnell on 20 March 2000, whether it will provide a breakdown of the spending on external consultants and contractors since 1 July 1999 by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department
Answer
I refer Mr Neil to my answer to question S1W-05831.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4598 by Mr Jack McConnell on 20 March 2000, whether it will provide a breakdown of the spending on external consultants and contractors since 1 July 1999 by the Education Department.
Answer
I refer Mr Neil to my answer to question S1W-05831.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 31 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4598 by Mr Jack McConnell on 20 March 2000, whether it will provide a breakdown of the spending on external consultants and contractors since 1 July 1999 by the Justice Department.
Answer
I refer Mr Neil to my answer to question S1W-05831.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by Department of its own targets and actual performance to date for recruiting New Deal trainees and employees, indicating the target and actual durations of such recruits and details of their employment destinations on leaving or completing their period with the Scottish Executive.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no individual departmental targets set for its participation in the New Deal programme. The programme is managed centrally and as New Deal staff are cleared for appointment they are assigned directly into departments. The Executive has an overall target to offer 50 New Deal places and has no plans to reduce its efforts once this target is reached. The table below outlines the Executive's achievements to date:
| | Number |
| Appointments Offered | 45 |
| Actual Starts | 31 |
| New Deal staff now in permanent positions with the Executive - Average period of time on New Deal with the Executive | 8 8 months |
| New Deal staff who have left the Executive*- Average period of time on New Deal with the Executive | 11 8 months |
| New Deal staff currently on the Programme | 12 |
*Destinations unknown
To date the Executive has offered a range of New Deal jobs; i.e. administration, secretarial, support, security and craft, in a range of locations; i.e. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Stirling, Peterhead and Dumfries. It is in regular contact with the Employment Service (ES) in an effort to attract as many applicants as possible for its New Deal positions. The Executive has given a general commitment to ES to interview all New Deal applicants that they consider suitable for its places and it has also informed ES that it is willing to consider applicants from all elements of the New Deal. It currently has employees in the 18-24, 25+ and Lone Parent elements of the programme.
Whilst I recognise the Executive's efforts to date, I am keen to see an increase in the number of New Deal staff employed in this important programme. I have, therefore, asked officials to consider how the Executive might increase further its participation. To that end, officials are in discussion with ES about further candidates for the Executive's places in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It will also seek to identify opportunities in other locations where the Executive has a presence.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4424 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 3 April 2000, whether it will define exactly what "a wider value for money scrutiny" entails, including in particular details of the criteria against which the comparative analysis of options is undertaken.
Answer
The Executive's scrutiny of transfer of council housing stock will be broadly in line with that which has been adopted for previous transfers of public sector houses, particularly Scottish Homes' stock. This will call for an assessment of each proposal to determine whether it represents value for money to the taxpayer and to assess the wider benefits of transfer for tenants and others.
The best price reasonably obtained in the circumstances of the sale must be sought, and Councils will therefore be required to commission an independent valuation of their stock. This will take the form of a tenanted market value, that is a valuation based on the assumption that the stock will remain available for letting to tenants with low incomes. The net present value of future rents and costs, based on this assumption, establishes a guide price against which a prospective purchaser's offer can be judged. In addition, the Department's scrutiny will include a comparison of the costs to the taxpayer of councils retaining their stock against transferring it. This assessment will look at the viability of a transfer option and wider aspects such as the Housing Benefit consequences.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of Investors in People Programme spending by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of its actual spend this year and its projected spend for next year on services for people with severe learning difficulties, including a breakdown by type of service provided.
Answer
Expenditure information does not separate those with "severe" problems from those with lesser needs. The Executive spends about £7.5 million on grants to organisations for people with a learning difficulty or learning disability. Funding for next year will be determined later this year.
Most services are, however, provided by local authorities or health boards, but they too do not differentiate between severe and other conditions.
We published on 11 May The Same as You?, which recommends major improvements to both the lifestyles of people with learning disabilities and the services they receive.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of tourism spending by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.
Answer
The breakdown of tourism spend by the Scottish Tourist Board and by the Area Tourist Boards by LEC area is not available. Spend by the Enterprise networks is estimated to be as follows:
| | 1998-99 £ | 1999-2000 £ | 2000-01 £ |
LECs in SE area*: |
SE Dunbartonshire | 2,446,750 | 2,575,750 | 7,056,409 |
SE Dumfries and Galloway | 626,102 | 534,695 | 794,004 |
SE Ayrshire | 987,750 | 922,000 | 1,444,000 |
SE Fife | 2,062,750 | 975,956 | 1,604,000 |
SE Forth Valley | 1,486,751 | 2,843,901 | 3,784,020 |
SE Glasgow | 975,798 | 2,129,453 | 9,077,362 |
SE Grampian | 950,500 | 1,016,454 | 1,092,000 |
SE Lanarkshire | 1,449,000 | 631,000 | 1,458,000 |
SE Edinburgh and Lothian | 5,318,850 | 8,314,722 | 5,463,400 |
SE Renfrewshire | 1,388,000 | 877,956 | 561,660 |
SE Borders | 846,500 | 457,000 | 520,000 |
SE Tayside | 809,805 | 1,940,500 | 1,404,200 |
| LECs in HIE area: |
Shetland Enterprise | 492,698 | 236,045 | 200,000 |
Orkney Enterprise | 610,000 | 580,000 | 450,000 |
Western Isles Enterprise | 1,159,695 | 740,131 | 140,000 |
Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise | 853,922 | 549,522 | 500,000 |
Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise | 919,629 | 670,423 | 565,000 |
Ross and Cromarty Enterprise | 195,800 | 385,200 | 300,000 |
Inverness and Nairn Enterprise | 471,669 | 81,495 | 100,000 |
Moray, Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise | 702,400 | *7,329,565 | 100,000 |
Lochaber Enterprise Ltd | 435,000 | 361,500 | 358,000 |
Argyll & the Islands Enterprise | 644,000 | 662,000 | 650,000 |
| | | | |
Scottish Enterprise National | 877,350 | 682,292 | 557,000 |
Highlands and Islands Enterprise | 280,000 | 400,000 | 200,000 |
* Includes approval for Aviemore Development.
Note: In the HIE area, spend on general business development and training programmes that benefit the tourism industry is also included.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what definition is used by police authorities to determine what constitutes a "drugs related death".
Answer
The definition used by Forces is the one contained in the Drugs Task Force Report 1994 which states "a death is defined as a drug-related death where there is prima facie evidence of a fatal overdose of controlled drugs. Such evidence would be recent drug misuse, for example, controlled drugs and/or a hypodermic syringe found in close proximity to the body and/or the person is known to the police as a drugs misuser, although not necessarily a notified addict".
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 30 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the minimum and maximum part-time and full-time nursing staff levels at Bowhouse Prison, Kilmarnock since its opening, including the current levels, and whether it will provide comparable figures for every other prison during the same time period.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. Mr Cameron's response is as follows:
The information requested in respect of HM Prison, Kilmarnock is not available. Staffing of Kilmarnock is a matter for Premier Prison Services. Nurse staffing levels for all other prisons in Scotland is in the following table:Scottish Prison Service Nursing Service
Establishment/Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Nursing Posts
Establishment | WTE |
Aberdeen | 5 |
Barlinnie | 36.5 |
Cornton Vale | 15 |
Dumfries | 5 |
Dungavel | 1 |
Edinburgh | 20 |
Glenochil* | 15 |
Greenock | 6 |
Inverness | 3 |
Low Moss | 4 |
Perth | 21.5 |
Peterhead | 6 |
Polmont | 14 |
Shotts** | 11 |
Total | 163 |
*Includes Young Offenders' Institution
**Includes Shotts Unit and National Induction Centre
