Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-28638

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional revenue would be raised if empty properties were subject to council tax payments.

At 4 September 2006 there were 103,105dwellings exempt from council tax liability, of which 44,339 were classed as unoccupied.

Categories of unoccupied dwellingsinclude new properties not yet occupied, dwellings under repair, dwellings withdeceased owners, dwellings awaiting demolition etc.

No information, however, is held centrally regarding what revenue would be generated should these properties be subjectto council tax payments.

Question reference: S2W-28639

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional revenue would be raised if the council tax on second homes was paid in full with no discount.

Question reference: S2W-28690

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28167 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how many people are employed by the Relocation Advisory Service.

At the time of its launch inlate October 2005, the Relocation Advisory Service had six people, includingtwo immigration specialists seconded from the Home Office and Immigration AdvisoryService.

The staff numbers in the RelocationAdvisory Service have increased since the initial launch to incorporate a businessunit which provides information and advice to Scottish employers. An additional2.5 staff have been recruited/seconded to the business unit (including a full-timesecondee from Scottish Enterprise and a part-time secondee in partnership with Highlandsand Islands Enterprise). This means that the Relocation Advisory Service currentlyhas 8.5 members of staff.

Question reference: S2W-28689

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28167 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, who is responsible for running the Relocation Advisory Service.

Question reference: S2W-28687

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28167 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how the existence of the Relocation Advisory Service has been publicised.

The Relocation Advisory Service(RAS) has been marketed to international audiences both overseas and in Scotland, includingto careers services. RAS leaflets and materials carrying contact details for RASand the URL www.scotlandistheplace.com,which contains more information about relocating to Scotland, havebeen circulated at education exhibitions and workers fairs worldwide, includingChina, Canada, USA, India and Poland. This URL appears on the majority of the Executive’smaterials circulated to an overseas audience. We have also worked with partners,including the FCO, UKVisas and British Council Scotland to promote RAS services.In addition, RAS has promoted its services to businesses in Scotland viathe production of a newsletter and by partnering various events run by businessorganisations.

Question reference: S2W-28637

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 25 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 17 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered merging the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Learning and Teaching Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-28280

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many responses it has received to its consultation on the future position of Careers Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-25255

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 April 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total intake of students to medical schools has been in each year since 1997 and how many of these students graduated with a medical degree.

The numbers of students entering first degree courses in pre-clinical medicine at Scottish Higher Education Institutions and the number of students graduating from first degree level courses in clinical medicine at Scottish Higher Education Institutions are given in the following tables for the years 1997-98 to 2004-05. Graduates who had transferred from St Andrews to Manchester University are included for the years 2002-03 to 2004-05.

Entrants to First Degree Pre-Clinical Medicine Courses at Scottish Higher Education Institutions, 1997-98 to 2004-05.

Year of Entry	Number of Entrants
1997-98	955
1998-99	965
1999-2000	900
2000-01	920
2001-02	925
2002-03	975
2003-04	1045
2004-05	1060

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Note:

1. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five to protect confidentiality.

2. Numbers relate to entrants at first degree level.

Graduates of first degree clinical medicine courses at Scottish Higher Education Institutions, 1997-98 to 2004-05 (including transfers to Manchester for 2002-03 to 2004-05).

Year of Graduation	Number of Graduates
1997-98	720
1998-99	745
1999-00	735
2000-01	680
2001-02	800
2002-03*	840
2003-04*	875
2004-05*	920

Sources: Higher Education Statistics Agency and (*) Manchester University for 2002-03 to 2004-05 only.

Note:

1. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five to protect confidentiality.

2. Numbers relate to graduates at first degree level.

The data reported above contains entrants from St Andrews University each year.

Students who enter pre-clinical medicine courses at St Andrews University will traditionally complete their clinical medicine course at Manchester University – although they are free to continue elsewhere. The graduate data reported above from 2002-03 onwards contains graduates from Manchester University that originally studied pre-clinical medicine at St Andrews University. This information was provided by Manchester University.

Question reference: S2W-27999

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes and services its Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department delivers directly and what the current annual budget is for each.

The following table details theprogrammes and services of the Enterprise Transport and Lifelong Learning Departmentwhich it will deliver directly in 2006-07.

Budget Heading	Purpose	2006-07 Budget (£000)
Regional Selective Assistance	The Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) scheme contributes directly to the Executive’s aim of raising the long-term sustainable growth rate of the Scottish economy through encouraging investment projects which improve productivity, increase competitiveness and support employment in the assisted areas. In 2006-07 it is planned that accepted RSA offers will lead to the creation and safeguarding of 6,000 jobs in relatively underperforming parts of Scotland helping to improve business performance and close the opportunity gap in employment in these areas.	45,209
Innovation Support	Innovation Support is largely delivered via the SMART/SPUR grant scheme, which helps small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to improve their competitiveness by supporting early stage research and development of innovative products/processes. The remainder of the budget assists with a variety of other innovation initiatives with a national dimension; These include the SCORE (SME Collaborative Research) grants to support R&D projects, jointly undertaken between SMEs and public sector research bodies; the SEEKIT (Scottish Executive Expertise, Knowledge and Innovation Transfer) programme, for projects that improve the ability of Scotland’s science base to work with business, and support for companies in marketing and product launch.	12,599
Energy Efficiency	In the Executive’s continued commitment to lowering carbon emissions within the public sector, the Energy Efficiency Unit will provide £1.43m in 2006/7 to Scottish local authorities as a part of the Central Energy Efficiency Fund, which has been running since December 2004.	1,430
Renewable Energy	The Executive is committed to promoting a wide range of renewable energy technologies, and has set a target that 40% of Scotland’s electricity should come from renewable sources by 2020. The bulk of that spend is delivered on our behalf, e.g. the Scottish Community and Household Renewables Initiative and continued support for the European Marine Energy Centre on Orkney. A direct grant of £400,000 is being made this year towards the cost of installing a biomass boiler at Queen Margaret University.	400
Green Jobs	As part of their commitment to developing renewables, Ministers have made clear their wish to support as diverse a range of technologies as possible; this will help Scotland obtain the maximum economic potential from these sectors, particularly in the manufacture, installation and export of the components and technologies in question. In 2006, this will include grant expenditure of over £2.5 million towards Talisman Energy’s deepwater offshore wind demonstrator in the Moray Firth.	2,650
European Regional Structural Funds -European Regional Development Fund -European Social Fund	European Structural Funds support economic re-structuring, job creation and training across a wide range of areas in Scotland. ETLLD has devolved responsibility for implementing European Structural Funds programmes in Scotland. This includes spending on the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and the non-scheme elements of the European Agricultural Guarantee and Guidance Fund. Grants are issued to recipients from both the public and voluntary sectors for projects that have been approved by Scottish Ministers, following consideration by the partnership-based appraisal structures, under the supervision of the Programme Monitoring Committees, to make sure that they meet the criteria of the programmes.	103,216 67,083
Freight Grant Scheme	The Scottish Executive operates four freight grant schemes aimed at making transport more sustainable:- the Freight Facilities Grant (FFG), Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG), Track Access Grant (TAG) and the Company Neutral Revenue Support Grant (CNRS) schemes. They all support the partnership agreement commitment of encouraging the transfer of freight from road to rail and/or water and are based on the generation of environmental benefits by companies transferring freight from the road. FFG contributes to the capital costs of equipment and facilities for rail, inland waterway and sea freight. WFG assists with the operating costs of shipping projects and is aimed at new waterborne traffic but is also available to current operations where without WFG support freight will revert to road. TAG provides revenue support to offset track access charges on the rail network. CNRS provides revenue assistance for intermodal freight by rail, such as containers to and from sea ports, and goods moved between inland rail terminals.	13,900
Road Safety Scotland	Road Safety Scotland produces national road safety education resources, many for use in schools, and national publicity messages aimed at various groups. Education resources are distributed to schools and other target groups through local authority and police Road Safety Units, whose function is to undertake road safety education and publicity at local level.	1,766

Question reference: S2W-28508

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee.

Professor Wilson Sibbett willstep down as chair of the committee at the end of December. The Executive then plansto run the committee with the existing membership until at least 30 June 2007, underthe chairmanship of Professor Anne Glover, the Executive’s new Chief ScientificAdviser. During this time, Professor Glover will review with the committee how bestto ensure that the Executive is able to build on the work of its committee and enhanceits access to high quality independent advice on science. The Executive will alsobe inviting responses on this issue as part of its forthcoming consultation on scienceand innovation strategy.

Chamber and committees