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: S1W-07552

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 30 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial and non-financial input it has had to the operation and policy framework for the National AIDS Helpline.

The Executive contributed £170,000 in 1999-2000 towards the costs of both the National AIDS and Drugs Helplines.

The Scottish Office was involved with the Department of Health in England in the process of re-tendering the contract for the Helpline, in 1998. Since then, the Executive has received regular activity reports from the current contractor, Healthwise, and will be involved in the evaluation of the service provided.

Question reference: S1W-07551

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Angus MacKay on 30 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial and non-financial input it has had to the operation and policy framework for the National Drugs Helpline.

Question reference: S1W-07395

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 30 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the current division of responsibilities between Railtrack, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and local authorities for the maintenance and upgrade of lands surrounding railway bridges, including underpasses.

Question reference: S1W-07870

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 27 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review variations in prices of drugs for animals available in Scotland compared to other countries in the European Union and whether it will publish details of any measures it intends to take to improve the competitive position of the farming industry.

Question reference: S1W-04338

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive to provide a breakdown of the revenue support grant provided to North Lanarkshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and East Ayrshire Council in each of the past three years, including the current financial year; what grant will be provided for 2000-01; what annual percentage change in real terms these figures represent over the four year period and what percentage of grant aided expenditure for each council for each year these grant figures represent.

The total government grant, known as Aggregate External Finance (AEF), given to councils for the four years 1997-98 to 2000-01, expressed in real terms using the September 1999 Retail Price Index, is shown in the following table:

	Aggregate External Finance (AEF)¹
	1997-98	1998-99	1999-00		2000-01
North Lanarkshire
AEF at 1999 prices	338.292	332.046	336.005		345.867
% increase on previous year	..	-1.8	1.2		2.9
AEF as a percentage of
Grant Aided Expenditure (%)	97.2	94.7	93.6		94.1

South Lanarkshire
AEF at 1999 prices	308.348	297.987		305.589	313.719
% increase on previous year	..	-3.4		2.6	2.7
AEF as a percentage of
Grant Aided Expenditure (%)	96.3	92.9		92.6	92.3

East Ayrshire
AEF at 1999 prices	127.707	127.672		127.020	130.850
% increase on previous year	..	0.0		-0.5	3.0
AEF as a percentage of
Grant Aided Expenditure (%)	95.8	95.1		92.5	93.7

Source: prices based on RPI as at September 1999.1. AEF figures adjusted to exclude Urban Program adjustment for years 1997-98 to 1999-2000.

Question reference: S1W-07403

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the work it and its agencies are doing to promote and develop the (i) opto-electronics industry, (ii) textile industry, (iii) dairy industry and (iv) food industry, and what was the relevant spend on each industry in each of the last three years and the current year.

These and other sectors are supported through a range of schemes and initiatives promoted by the Scottish Executive and its agencies, in particular the Enterprise Network. Scottish Enterprise has identified the opto-electronics and food and drink sectors (including the dairy industry) as priorities for cluster development and further details are available from the Scottish Enterprise website. I announced plans for developing public support for the textile industry on 12 June. Comprehensive information on the spend from public sources on these sectors is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S1W-07203

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the capital spend estimates contained in table 2.5 of the Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive, 2000.

Question reference: S1W-07214

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the current spend estimates on commissions and committees contained in table 2.9 of the Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive, 2000.

A breakdown of the current spend estimates on commissions and committees for 2000-01 and 2001-02 is set out below:

	2000-01	2001-02
	£ million	£ million
Annual Expenditure Report	0.500	0.500
Local Government Boundary Commission	0.300	0.300
Local Government - Political Restrictions Exemptions Adjudicator	0.027	0.027
Joint Staffing Watch	0.012	0.012
Association of Scottish Community Councils Funding	0.029	0.029
Unallocated	0.086	0.086

Question reference: S1W-07212

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the current spend estimates on Equalities contained in table 2.8 of the Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive, 2000.

Question reference: S1W-07213

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the current spend estimates on Publicity and Policy contained in table 2.9 of the Annual Expenditure Report of the Scottish Executive, 2000.

	2000-01	2001-02
	£ million	£ million
Annual Expenditure Report	1.6	1.6
Departmental Research	1.2	1.2
Miscellaneous Departmental Committees and Information	0.4	0.4