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-08117

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total employment was in the public sector in the departments and agencies under the control of the Scottish Executive, and previously the Secretary of State for Scotland, in total and by department and agency in each year for which figures are available.

Question reference: S1W-08304

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 11 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any signed Private Finance Initiative or Public Private Partnership contracts in respect of which a business case is not currently available.

The policy to publish full business cases for Government public/private partnerships, announced last year on 24^th June in the Scottish Parliament, applies only to projects signed by Scottish Executive Departments and Agencies from that date. It is a requirement of the policy that business cases for projects with a capital value greater than £10 million are made available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe). Business cases for projects with a capital value of £10 million or less are to be put on view in the office of the contracting authority. No Scottish Executive projects have reached financial close since the policy was announced.

The NHS in Scotland has had a similar policy since May 1998 and has published full business cases for projects signed from that date. However, publication of full business cases by other bodies such as local authorities, joint police boards, water authorities, non-departmental public bodies is a matter for them. Steps are being taken to encourage them to publish.

7 full business cases, comprising 5 health and 2 water projects, have been placed in SPICe. A full list of Scottish PFI projects together with the date of financial close for each signed or completed project is also available in SPICe.

Question reference: S1O-02133

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 6 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive who was consulted over the recently authorised decision to close Langlands, Melrose, Glenhead, Abronhill, Whitelees, St Joseph's and Sacred Heart Primary Schools in Cumbernauld earlier than previously scheduled.

Question reference: S1W-08116

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 4 July 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total level of public sector employment was in each year for which figures are available, starting with the earliest possible year.

The number of employee jobs in the public sector industries since 1981 is shown in the table below. Figures include jobs in public administration, defence, education, and health related industries.Employee jobs in public sector industries, Scotland 1981-1999

Year	Employee jobs (000s)
1981	472
1982	471
1983	473
1984	473
1985	484
1986	490
1987	506
1988	524
1989	525
1990	527
1991	538
1992	532
1993	530
1994	539
1995	552
1996	559
1997	539
1998	555
1999	564

Source: Office for National Statistics, employee jobs series.Note: December figures each year, seasonally unadjusted.

Question reference: S1W-05769

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it can provide for the varying levels of annual inflation within health budgets in terms of procurement costs, wages and other items of expenditure for each year since 1995.

In line with other public expenditure programmes, inflation in the Health Programme is taken to be the GDP deflator. Details of the annual percentage change in the GDP deflator, the percentage cash and the real terms increases in the Health Programme are as follows:

	Outturn £ million	% Cash Increase	GDP Deflator	% Real Terms Increase
1994-95	3,948	4.5	1.4	3.1
1995-96	4,092	3.6	2.9	0.7
1996-97	4,237	3.5	3.2	0.3
1997-98	4,354	2.8	2.8	0
1998-99	4,589	5.4	3.3	2.0
1999-2000*	5,076	10.6	2.5	7.9
2000-01+	5,415	6.7	2.3	4.3
2001-02+	5,822	7.5	2.5	4.9
2002-03+	6,241	7.2	2.5	4.6
2003-04+	6,694	7.3	2.5	4.6

*Estimated outturn

+Planned Expenditure

Question reference: S1W-05675

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total central grant funding to Higher Education institutions was per student in each year since 1978-79 in real terms and at 1998-99 prices.

Information is not available in the format or time period requested. Scottish universities were not funded from the Scottish block until 1993-94. Funding for higher education institutions is not centrally allocated. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) receives a grant each year from the Scottish Executive which is then allocated to individual higher education institutions for a range of purposes. The main grant for teaching is allocated on the basis of student numbers and a range of unit costs for various subject areas. (In addition, institutions received income from tuition fees for each student.) Other grants (such as for research) are not allocated on the basis of student numbers. It is, however, for institutions to manage the total grant they receive.Information is given below which shows the total grant, the grant allocated for teaching and the associated number of student places. Places are on a full-time equivalent basis (FTE) so may not reflect the actual numbers of students:

Academic year	Total Grant £ million	Total Grant £ million (1998-99 prices)	Teaching Grant £ million	Teaching Grant £ million (1998-99 prices)	Student places eligible for funding (FTE) (planned)	Student places eligible for funding (FTE) (actual)
1993-94	363	415	222	254	-	110,723
1994-95	483	545	319	360	-	114,452
1995-96	491	538	331	363	118,200	116,361
1996-97	531	564	343	364	118,000	117,506
1997-98	551	569	355	367	118,700	119,260
1998-99	574	574	424	424	118,700	120,523
1999-2000	599	584	438	427	118,700	121,224

Question reference: S1W-05677

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual percentage real terms increase in funding was for the health service in Scotland in each year since 1945, or the earliest year for which figures are available.

Data is available from 1979-80 and is as detailed in the following table:

Year	Annual % Real Terms increases at 1998-99 Prices
1979-80	2.0
1980-81	6.7
1981-82	4.3
1982-83	1.2
1983-84	1.8
1984-85	1.9
1985-86	0.6
1986-87	2.8
1987-88	3.1
1988-89	4.2
1989-90	1.5
1990-91	1.3
1991-92	5.9
1992-93	6.2
1993-94	0.3
1994-95	3.1
1995-96	0.7
1996-97	0.3
1997-98	0
1998-99	2.1
1999-00*	7.9
2000-01+	4.3
2001-02+	4.9
2002-03+	4.6
2003-04+	4.6

*Based on estimated outturn

+Based on planned expenditure

Question reference: S1W-05676

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total funding for the health service in Scotland was for each year since 1945, or the earliest year for which figures are available, in cash and real terms at 1998-99 prices.

Data is available from 1978-79 and is as detailed in the following table:

Year	Expenditure in Cash Terms	Expenditure in Real Terms at 1998-99 Prices
	£000	£000
1978-79	870,000	2,815,045
1979-80	1,036,000	2,870,500
1980-81	1,307,000	3,062,540
1981-82	1,492,000	3,192,699
1982-83	1,614,000	3,229,982
1983-84	1,720,000	3,289,670
1984-85	1,845,000	3,352,519
1985-86	1,954,000	3,372,703
1986-87	2,071,000	3,466,599
1987-88	2,248,000	3,572,385
1988-89	2,501,000	3,722,244
1989-90	2,720,946	3,779,169
1990-91	2,971,997	3,827,985
1991-92	3,342,545	4,053,905
1992-93	3,668,313	4,306,494
1993-94	3,776,519	4,318,855
1994-95	3,948,001	4,451,365
1995-96	4,092,470	4,484,688
1996-97	4,237,356	4,498,553
1997-98	4,353,695	4,496,800
1998-99	4,589,002	4,589,002
1999-00*	5,076,000	4,952,195
2000-01+	5,415,000	5,166,689
2001-02+	5,822,000	5,419,545
2002-03+	6,241,000	5,667,865
2003-04+	6,694,000	5,931,032

*Estimated Outturn

+Planned Expenditure

Question reference: S1W-05679

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 19 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimated proportion of each of the level 1 budget headings is spent on labour costs.

The estimated proportion of each of the Level 1 Budget headings and the total budget spent on public sector pay is provided in the following table:

Level 1 Budget Heading	Estimate of Budget Spent on Public Sector Pay (%) 2000-01
Support for Local Authorities	54
Central Government Support for Children and Education	13
Communities	2
Crown Office	59
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning	36
EU Structural Funds	0
Executive Secretariat	0
Food Standards agency	90
Forestry	9
Health	71
Justice	34
New Deal	0
Rural Affairs	10
Scottish Executive Administration	61
Scottish Executive Associated Departments	86
Scottish Parliament	44
Transport and Environment	12
Unallocated Capital Modernisation Fund	0
Total Budget	49

Note: The table is based on estimates of resources spent from particular programmes specifically on public sector pay. It does not take account of resources paid across, for example, as grants to private/voluntary sectors or nationalised industries, which may in some cases end up being used to meet pay costs.

Question reference: S1W-06680

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual rise in (a) the average earnings of public sector workers and (b) overall average earnings was in Scotland in each year since 1979 and is estimated to be in each future year for which forecasts are available, and how each of these figures compares to the equivalent UK figure.

The following table shows the average annual increases in gross weekly earnings¹ in (a) the public sector and (b) all sectors for Scotland and Great Britain over the period for which comparable data is available. UK figures are not available.

Table 1: Average annual increase in gross weekly earnings (£)

	Public Sector		All Sectors
	Scotland	GB	Scotland	GB
1986-87	10.6	9.0	9.6	11.9
1987-88	12.4	14.2	13.4	16.7
1988-89	25.9	22.7	16.3	19.2
1989-90	9.1	8.9	18.7	19.4
1990-91	19.0	22.3	18.8	18.2
1991-92	9.4	15.4	17.3	15.3
1992-93	18.9	11.4	7.3	9.9
1993-94	5.6	12.4	0.2	4.6
1994-95	7.9	6.8	11.4	10.9
1995-96	7.9	8.4	10.1	10.1
1996-97	8.9	9.1	8.5	12.6
1997-98	8.8	9.8	12.2	14.9
1998-99	16.8	12.2	14.1	11.9

Source: Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. Estimates relate to all employees on adult rates, whose pay for the survey period was unaffected by absence.