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-07385

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of information communications technology training by it and its agencies for each of the past two years and the current year, broken down by local enterprise company area.

Question reference: S1W-07404

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for tackling unemployment in Hamilton and Bellshill.

Question reference: S1W-07405

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for tackling unemployment in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

Question reference: S1W-07397

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the effectiveness of the tenant consultation and participation procedures being used by South Lanarkshire Council in respect of establishing the feasibility of housing stock transfers in the area and, in particular, to assess whether the council has given due regard to the role of the South Lanarkshire Federation of Tenants.

Question reference: S1W-07401

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by local authority area of the number of households receiving assistance through the Warm Deal programme including details of the level of grants awarded.

A total of 38,604 households benefited from the Warm Deal in the year ending 31 March 2000, the most recent period for which figures are available. Local authorities improved 22,554 of their own houses. The number improved by each authority is set out below. Resources go to authorities as landlords: the tenants do not receive grant. 16,050 households received a Warm Deal grant from Eaga, whose expenditure is not recorded by local authority area. The average grant was £315.

Warm Deal as Administered by Local Authorities: Number of Households Benefiting: 1 April 1999 - 31 March 2000
Council	Number of households	Council	Number of households
Aberdeen	672	Inverclyde	1,511
Aberdeenshire	925	Midlothian	322
Angus	580	Moray	484
Argyll and Bute	433	North Ayrshire	1,268
Clackmannanshire	636	North Lanarkshire	832
Dumfries & Galloway	398	Orkney	78
Dundee City	496	Perth & Kinross	-
East Ayrshire	887	Renfrewshire	586
East Dunbarton	421	Scottish Borders	414
East Lothian	343	Shetland	74
East Renfrewshire	274	South Ayrshire	857
Edinburgh	800	South Lanarkshire	1,209
Falkirk	694	Stirling	291
Fife	2787	West Dunbartonshire	1011
Glasgow City	2809	West Lothian	124
Highland	255	Western Isles	83
		Total	22,554

Perth and Kinross Council is not participating in the local authority part of the Warm Deal.

Question reference: S1W-07418

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value is of the outstanding repair and maintenance requirements of secondary schools in Kilmarnock and Loudoun.

Question reference: S1W-07412

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to change the categorisation of racing pigeons to make them a protected species.

Question reference: S1W-07400

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the number of people over 50 who are on the New Deal by local enterprise company area.

Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive. Many partner organisations at local level also provide New Deal services under contract or provide funds and other resources, including training funds to enhance the quality of New Deal in their areas. The public and voluntary sector organisations, which contribute in this way fall within the remit of the Scottish Executive.

The following table shows figures for current participation and cumulative starts for over 50 year olds on New Deal 25plus by Local Enterprise Company (LEC) area at end-March 2000.

LEC Area	Aged 50+ Current participation	Aged 50+ Cumulative starts
Ayrshire	262	909
Borders	39	92
Dunbartonshire	157	470
Dumfries & Galloway	148	377
Fife	123	475
Forth Valley	31	83
Glasgow	485	1,259
Grampian	69	260
Lanarkshire	208	727
Lothian & Edinburgh	234	726
Renfrewshire	174	557
Tayside	220	753
Argyll & Bute	64	188
Caithness & Sutherland	66	176
Inverness & Nairn	38	116
Lochaber	12	30
Moray & Badenoch	34	122
Orkney	20	58
Ross & Cromarty	29	96
Shetland	5	29
Skye & Lochalsh	14	35
Western Isles	9	27
Totals	2,506	7,667

The New Deal 50 plus was introduced on 5April 2000 to provide further help for people aged over 50 in their search for work.

Detailed management information is not yet available for New Deal 50plus.

Question reference: S1W-07408

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to set up a unit or agency to co-ordinate voluntary international aid efforts from Scotland.

Responsibility for international aid and for the Government's relationship with British voluntary organisations that work overseas lies with the Department for International Development. I recently met with George Foulkes MP at DfID's offices in East Kilbride on 5 June to discuss our common interest in the voluntary sector in Scotland.

A number of international aid/development agencies are based in Scotland. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), which receives support from the Scottish Executive, is assisting them to interface with DfID and to link with each other.

Question reference: S1W-07396

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the effectiveness of the national strategy for tenant participation within each local authority area.