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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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Dates of parliamentary sessions

Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 4 May 2021
Current session: 13 May 2021 to 4 October 2025

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Displaying 122 questions Show Answers

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Question reference: S1W-03690

Asked by: Alex Salmond, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 27 January 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what is the total amount of funding committed by the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department to the Countryside Premium Scheme in the current financial year and how this compares with the previous five years in this or equivalent schemes.

The funding committed to the Countryside Premium Scheme (CPS) in 1999-2000 is £7.169 million; £6.029 is to ongoing commitments and £1.140 to new commitments. This is in addition to an ongoing commitment of £0.441 million to participants remaining in previous schemes. The funding committed in previous financial years to the CPS and equivalent schemes is set out in the table below.

Financial Year	Ongoing Commitments	New Commitments	Total funding Committed
1994-95	-	£0.014 million	£0.014 million
1995-96	£0.014 million	£0.198 million	£0.212 million
1996-97	£0.212 million	£0.181 million	£0.393 million
1997-98	£0.393 million	£1.571 million	£1.964 million
1998-99	£3.900 million*	£1.771 million	£5.671 million

*This figure is not the same as the previous year's total because the annual level of CPS payments depends on the content of the plans.Equivalent schemes in operation prior to the launch of the CPS in 1997 were the Habitats Scheme (HS) and Heather Moorland Scheme (HMS). These were closed to new applications at the end of 1996.

Question reference: S1W-03167

Asked by: Alex Salmond, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 23 December 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total cost to the NHS in (a) Scotland and (b) the former Grampian region was in each of the last four years was for methadone prescriptions.

The cost of methadone dispensed in the community in the Grampian Health Board area and in Scotland as a whole, for the four financial years to 1998-99, is shown in the table.GRAMPIAN HEALTH BOARD AREA

	GIC 1 (£000s)	ESTIMATED FEES (£000s)	TOTAL COST^2,3 (£000s)
1995/96	99	166	265
1996/97	108	159	267
1997/98	133	185	318
1998/99	154	271	425

SCOTLAND

	GIC1 (£000s)	ESTIMATED FEES (£000s)	TOTAL COST2,3 (£000s)
1995/96	1,244	2,080	3,325
1996/97	1,530	2,436	3,966
1997/98	1,840	2,657	4,497
1998/99	2,037	3,264	5,300

Notes:1. GIC = Gross Ingredient Cost2. The cost of methadone dispensed by clinics and hospital is not available centrally.A range of supplementary fees are paid to community pharmacy contractors in the Grampian Health Board area for supervising drug misusers who take their prescribed methadone on the pharmacy premises. The cost of these locally negotiated fees is not held centrally.