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-23892

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many instances of serious injury of prison officers by prisoners there have been at HM Young Offenders Institution Polmont in each year since 1999 and how these figures compare with the incidence of such injuries at other prisons.

Ihave asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond.His response is as follows:

The information is not availableas incidents involving prison officers are not differentiated from those againstour other staff. Incidents of serious assaults on all staff are as follows:

Establishment	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Barlinnie	0	0	1	4	1	1
Cornton Vale	0	0	0	0	0	1
Castle Huntly	0	0	2	0	0	0
Dumfries	2	1	1	0	0	0
Edinburgh	1	1	1	1	1	0
Glenochil	3	3	1	2	3	0
Greenock	0	0	0	1	0	1
Inverness	1	0	0	0	1	0
Kilmarnock	4	1	2	6	1	1
Low Moss	0	0	0	0	0	0
Noranside	0	0	0	0	0	0
Perth	0	1	1	1	0	0
Peterhead	0	2	0	0	2	0
Polmont	2	2	1	3	1	0
Shotts	1	3	2	11	1	0”

Question reference: S2W-23661

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate or the Solicitor General offered advice to the Cabinet or individual ministers over the Shirley McKie case and, if so, what that advice was.

Question reference: S2W-23714

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to address the declining fertility rate

Fertility rates arelargely a product of personal choice and are not primarily a matter for the Executive.Scotland’s total fertility rate has been falling relativeto other parts of the United Kingdom, although remains slightlyabove the EU average. Despite this downward trend over the past two decades in Scotland, it is difficult to predict future fertility levels due to thecomplex factors which influence fertility decline

There are many social and environmentalfactors which influence successful conception, such as female bodyweight, smoking,alcohol, drug misuse and sexually transmitted diseases. Also, the widespread useof contraception amongst sexually active people, alongside social choices to havesmaller families or to have no children, mean that less children are being bornthan in the past.

The Scottish Executiveis committed to an on-going programme of both health and sexual health improvementand the promotion of informed lifestyle choices. Longer term labour market considerations continue to be addressedthrough initiatives such as Fresh Talent.

Question reference: S2W-23842

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21717, S2W-21718 and S2W-22016 by Cathy Jamieson and Mr Tom McCabe on 19 January, 20 January and 31 January 2006 respectively, what information it has on the total cost of the accommodation and meals provided to the 7,896 English and Welsh police officers deployed in Scotland in relation to policing the G8 summit and related events; whether this cost is additional to the £21,495 million spent on mutual aid to English and Welsh forces, and who met these costs.

Question reference: S2W-23834

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21753 by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006, why it does not consider it appropriate to state an opinion on claims made by Senator Marty, given the possible implications of some of his claims for the administration of law and justice.

Question reference: S2W-23837

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22494 by Tavish Scott on 30 January 2006, whether this answer indicates that its sole rationale for bypassing Muirhead, Chryston and Moodiesburn is for the practical purpose that “the appropriate standards could not be achieved by an online upgrade” on the route of the A80 at these towns and whether, if it was possible to upgrade the A80 to full motorway status along the entirety of its route, this would be its preferred option, meaning that no bypass would be built at these towns.

Question reference: S2W-23752

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22493 by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006, what its response would have been if the allegations did not pertain to civil aircraft.

Question reference: S2W-23964

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new private homes have been built in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

The following table shows thenumbers of new private sector dwellings completed, broken down by local authorityareas for years 1995 to 2004.

New Dwellings Completed; PrivateSector by Local Authority Area; 1995 to 2004

Local Authority Area	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
Scotland	18,310	18,092	17,839	18,326	19,398	18,033	17,720	18,762	19,698	21,359
Aberdeen City	944	720	1,069	731	777	795	388	451	501	724
Aberdeenshire	1,159	619	652	1,132	1,179	988	1,201	1,148	1,270	1,633
Angus	443	326	233	213	252	254	308	360	316	365
Argyll and Bute	213	293	85	132	114	98	175	169	238	276
Clackmannanshire	108	146	122	60	122	128	160	206	332	401
Dumfries and Galloway	370	430	375	231	314	300	362	305	530	618
Dundee City	256	280	393	432	320	445	229	397	647	326
East Ayrshire	208	376	385	469	248	471	400	321	221	239
East Dunbartonshire	414	234	187	312	141	192	77	79	143	191
East Lothian	424	379	478	361	285	218	451	443	288	288
East Renfrewshire	294	296	276	402	431	345	204	270	114	83
Edinburgh City of	1,694	1,935	1,319	2,562	2,434	1,142	1,953	1,164	1,378	2,463
Eilean Siar	117	90	101	87	57	59	48	97	92	81
Falkirk	525	575	722	631	478	598	757	724	1,085	929
Fife	962	778	1,157	1,041	1,620	1,259	1,094	1,619	1,714	1,587
Glasgow City	1,698	2,360	1,540	1,338	2,209	2,207	2,115	2,146	1,592	2,572
Highland¹	1,063	825	866	742	1,228	749	520	735	791	727
Inverclyde	103	328	211	210	195	172	164	244	222	246
Midlothian	190	256	339	232	288	221	167	115	165	82
Moray	572	460	340	117	200	290	298	447	324	267
sNorth Ayrshire	355	428	397	425	319	330	375	379	328	492
North Lanarkshire	1,586	1,363	1,720	1,640	1,868	1,658	1,145	1,356	1,261	1,504
Orkney	0	0	5	35	25	31	49	77	62	51
Perth and Kinross	577	386	702	670	348	438	520	779	895	847
Renfrewshire	812	853	750	779	495	539	400	422	472	504
Scottish Borders The	211	475	269	251	214	466	484	727	684	439
Shetland	95	96	69	122	48	210	66	78	61	79
South Ayrshire	274	337	421	375	362	278	341	206	324	353
South Lanarkshire	1,088	644	974	1,165	1,272	1,152	1,294	1,370	2,012	1,659
Stirling	337	499	453	313	352	366	337	511	286	123
West Dunbartonshire	332	204	236	78	99	299	421	198	202	194
West Lothian	887	1,101	993	1,038	1,104	1,335	1,217	1,219	1,148	1,016

Source: New Build returns bylocal authorities to the Scottish Executive Development Department: AnalyticalServices Division (Housing Statistics), housing association data provided byCommunities Scotland.

Note: 1. Includes estimates forHighland for 2004 due to outstanding returns.

Question reference: S2W-23930

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses have lain vacant and available for rent in each local authority area in each year since 1995.

The following table shows numbersof vacant local authority dwellings available to let by local authority area, 1996to 2005. Data for current local authorities is only available for 1996 onwards.The figures exclude dwellings which are vacant to be demolished, refurbished orwhich are to be used as temporary accommodation for the homeless.

Vacants (Available for Let) asat 31 March by Local Authority Area; 1996 to 2005

Local Authority Areas	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	9,831	9,721	10,336	12,821	14,666	13,453	12,229	10,312	8,756	8,993
Aberdeen City	649	808	768	878	854	1,298	1,197	1,252	1,309	1,606
Aberdeenshire	18	59	53	83	100	180	213	273	224	186
Angus	33	23	67	67	170	219	279	272	194	97
Argyll and Bute	68	48	70	53	102	125	67	277	69	82
Clackmannanshire	68	57	88	84	103	94	132	204	190	186
Dumfries and Galloway	86	86	109	131	147	150	157	116	0	0
Dundee City	1,139	731	957	853	501	519	406	414	511	282
East Ayrshire	468	330	390	459	642	638	637	650	575	348
East Dunbartonshire	36	41	68	56	20	36	23	39	36	17
East Lothian	83	117	77	123	49	68	75	86	50	72
East Renfrewshire	124	79	68	121	167	243	89	75	89	121
Edinburgh	1,638	1,623	1,210	864	780	429	552	645	585	413
Eilean Siar	186	591	55	56	56	38	29	38	24	17
Falkirk	474	470	170	141	182	314	363	363	248	145
Fife	1,247	1,253	833	814	837	945	788	960	1,058	989
Glasgow City	150	152	1,255	2,960	3,684	2,073	1,743	0	0	0
Highland	421	402	119	171	266	299	356	250	104	190
Inverclyde	49	35	655	509	694	618	434	305	516	672
Midlothian	26	17	58	42	37	48	32	51	39	26
Moray	303	184	19	20	20	31	42	28	24	22
North Ayrshire	600	659	288	288	226	352	133	107	122	73
North Lanarkshire	25	9	668	646	830	606	643	639	637	608
Orkney	120	165	17	18	13	6	8	13	9	7
Perth and Kinross	451	484	99	137	201	247	278	333	245	0
Renfrewshire	146	138	505	740	1,152	1,348	924	759	333	1,321
Scottish Borders	93	40	177	255	282	358	353	0	0	0
Shetland	0	0	102	114	119	144	102	122	111	76
South Ayrshire	367	409	137	148	240	239	303	305	220	232
South Lanarkshire	148	0	574	662	845	802	815	595	426	324
Stirling	497	533	50	139	90	93	88	134	140	186
West Dunbartonshire	79	50	592	507	724	686	859	888	621	667
West Lothian	39	47	38	41	16	30	28	82	29	28
Scottish Homes	0	81	0	641	517	177	81	37	18	0

Source: Scottish Executive DevelopmentDepartment; Stock 2 return.

Question reference: S2W-23992

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of debt each local authority has incurred in respect of the construction of council housing in each year since 1980.