- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any limits will be placed on Audit Scotland regarding access to commercially confidential information in each Scottish PFI project agreed to date.
Answer
The Executive will not place any limits on the access of Audit Scotland, or any other auditors, to commercially confidential information in its possession which the auditors require in connection with audits or value for money studies.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 10 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the official engagements of the Minister of Finance for each day since his appointment to the present and those planned until the end of the year.
Answer
Information on specific public engagements made by Ministers is available through the Information Directorate of the Scottish Executive. The diaries of Scottish Ministers are not published as a matter of course: it is important that legitimate organisations and interests are able to speak privately to Ministers without their confidentiality being compromised. We would, however, be happy to respond to questions about specific events or contacts with specific organisations.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 10 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive Scottish Executive to itemise each level one expenditure line in the Scottish budget as a percentage of GDP for each year for which figures are available.
Answer
I refer you to the table below which gives level one expenditure as a percentage of GDP and projected GDP.
Portfolio main | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 |
| Central Government support for Local Authority expenditure | 10.31 | 9.82 | 9.25 | 8.50 | 8.17 | 8.18 | 8.03 | 7.82 |
| Children and Central Government Education | 0.29 | 0.29 | 0.31 | 0.39 | 0.41 | 0.46 | 0.51 | 0.51 |
| Communities | 0.93 | 0.76 | 0.62 | 0.64 | 0.82 | 0.77 | 0.80 | 0.78 |
| Crown Office | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.06 |
| Enterprise and Lifelong Learning | 2.87 | 2.74 | 2.79 | 2.69 | 2.57 | 2.56 | 2.47 | 2.47 |
| EU Structural Funds | 0.19 | 0.19 | 0.21 | 0.24 | 0.26 | 0.24 | 0.21 | 0.22 |
| Forestry | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.04 | 0.04 |
| Health | 6.69 | 6.53 | 6.56 | 6.47 | 6.57 | 7.00 | 6.91 | 6.93 |
| Justice | 0.78 | 0.73 | 0.75 | 0.72 | 0.69 | 0.79 | 0.70 | 0.69 |
| New Deal | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.04 | 0.03 |
| NHS and teachers pensions | 0.32 | 0.42 | 0.35 | 0.42 | 0.49 | 0.40 | 0.38 | 0.41 |
| Rural Affairs | 0.77 | 0.83 | 0.93 | 0.76 | 0.78 | 0.69 | 0.73 | 0.73 |
| Scottish Executive Administration | 0.26 | 0.26 | 0.25 | 0.21 | 0.22 | 0.24 | 0.22 | 0.20 |
| Scottish Executive Associated Departments | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Scottish Parliament | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.09 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
| Transport and Environment | 0.60 | 0.56 | 0.98 | 0.80 | 0.73 | 0.79 | 0.74 | 0.73 |
| Unallocated Capital Modernisation Fund | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 7 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes to the budget plan outlined by the Minister for Finance last month have been made to accommodate subsequent announcements by the Minister for Health and Community Care and the Minister for Communities.
Answer
None.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what is the Scottish budget as a share of Scottish GDP in each year for which figures are available.
Answer
The table below sets out the total Scottish Budget as a % of Scottish GDP and projected Scottish GDP.
1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-00 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 |
24.1 | 23.2 | 23.1 | 21.9 | 21.8 | 22.4 | 22.0 | 21.7 |
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish full details of financial appraisal and public sector comparison information for each PFI project which has been agreed to date and, if not, why not.
Answer
On 24 June this year I announced that the practice of making Full Business Cases publicly available would be extended to all central Government public/private partnerships agreed from that date. Prior to this, Full Business Cases for a number of health projects had been made available.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what is the total discounted cost of each PFI project in which the Scottish Executive is involved; what is the equivalent full project cost without the use of a discount rate; what is the current discount rate used in the appraisal of each PFI project in which the Scottish Executive is involved to date, and what scope it has for altering the required discount rate for the calculation of the discounted costs and benefits of PFI projects.
Answer
The estimated total discounted and undiscounted costs in real terms, of the PFI projects in which the Scottish Executive is directly involved is as follows:
Project | Total Discounted Cost (NPV) | Discount Rate (Real) | Total Undiscounted Cost |
Skye Bridge | £28m | 6% | £83m |
M6 DBFO# | £214m | 6% | £728m |
Kilmarnock Prison | £130m | 6% | £400m |
# Scottish section only.
For other projects, the information is available in full business cases. These are already published in the health sector and, in line with my statement in the Scottish Parliament in June, will be published in future for all Government public-private partnership projects in Scotland.The current discount rate used in the appraisal of PFI projects in which the Scottish Executive is directly involved is 6% (real). Given close ties between the Scottish and UK economies I see no need for a different approach at the current time.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 29 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive to list the categories of revenue receipts administered by departments, agencies and authorities in its responsibility which are given over to Her Majesty's Treasury, and the amount of each of these in each year for which figures are available in 1998-99 prices.
Answer
The table below gives details of receipts given over to Her Majesty's Treasury in 1998-99 prices.
£000's
| 1997-98 | 1996-97 | 1995-96 | 1994-95 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total |
| Housing receipts from Scottish Homes | 7 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Interest and loan repayments | 3708 | 3932 | 2284 | 1946 |
| Excess Appropriation in Aid | 0 | 484 | 499 | 132 |
| Receipts in respect of planning appeals | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Roads and transport rents | 85 | 65 | 544 | 186 |
| Rate income foregone in enterprise zones | 190 | 785 | 810 | 0 |
| SCS/SCA Fines | 12716 | 11285 | 10661 | 0 |
| Contributions from ESF towards expenditure by SE & HIE | 29176 | 19350 | 32635 | 25892 |
| NHS & teachers superannuation | 230 | 337 | 0 | 0 |
| Scottish Enterprise proceeds from ex-SDA investments | 805 | 1996 | 3264 | 2798 |
| Road traffic fixed fines and penalties | 11956 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous - Agriculture & Fisheries | 1623 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous - Other Environmental Services | 11 | 48 | 50 | 18 |
| Miscellaneous - Transport | 1322 | 0 | 1698 | 6050 |
| Miscellaneous - Industry, enterprise & training | 716 | 0 | 16 | 27 |
| Miscellaneous - Education | 134 | 181 | 57 | 0 |
| Scottish Prison Service | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3405 |
| Police Services | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4015 |
| Scottish Fire Service | 0 | 0 | 0 | 103 |
| Museums, Galleries and other Arts | 882 | 54 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 63572 | 38533 | 52534 | 44591 |
Accounts for 1998-99 will be published following approval by the Controller and Auditor General.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 25 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will (a) describe the term "accruing resources" as specified in its proposed amendment No. 6 to the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Bill and (b) list the description and amount of resources covered by this type in each year for which figures are available in constant prices.
Answer
This term has been selected to encompass all resources which may accrue to the Scottish Ministers (and other directly funded bodies) in the course of a year.As the Executive is moving from a cash to resource accounting regime, numbers for previous years on a resource accounting basis are not available. Information on the expected receipts of affected bodies for 1999-2000 can be found in Scotland's Supply Estimates and Scotland's Autumn Supplementary Supply Estimates.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 25 November 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive which Scottish based banks were invited to tender to the Scottish Executive in connection with the development and provision of its Government Procurement Card.
Answer
In October 1998, The Scottish Office invited Government Procurement Card (GPC) service proposals from the banks included in a UK framework arrangement. The banks in question were Barclays Bank, Midland Bank, National Westminster Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank. Following rigorous evaluation, Barclays Bank was selected. Neither the Bank of Scotland nor Clydesdale Bank participated in the UK framework arrangement; I understand that this is because they do not at present provide corporate procurement card services. A subsequent pilot exercise confirmed that the service was satisfactory, and the scheme has now been made available to the entire Scottish Executive.
