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-10109

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered the use of automated dialling systems in any telephone survey contracts that it awards.

Question reference: S2W-09825

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 September 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any post-graduate courses offered by higher education institutes do not attract state funding for fees or student support and, if so, which courses, broken down by institute.

Information on individual courses provided by higher education institutions (HEIs) is not held centrally. It is a matter for each institution to decide on which courses to offer.

HEIs in Scotland receive support for taught post-graduate provision throughthe Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC). SHEFC’s funding contributestowards the costs of providing teaching and learning for students in Scottish HEIs; it does not provide support for students. Currently SHEFC funds approximately 7,500 places for taught post-graduate study at Scottish HEIs. This amounts to approximately £28 million per annum. Support for post-graduate study is also available to students in Scotland through the Postgraduate Students’ Allowances Scheme (PSAS). Courses supported under PSAS are generally nine-month taught postgraduate diploma courses, on largely vocational subjects. Approximately 2,700 students are supported under PSAS each year, at a cost of approximately £17 million per annum.

In the UK as a whole, support for courses at masters and doctorate level is also provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) and six UK Research Councils.

However, it has never been the policy of this or any previous Government that every student accepted for a post-graduate course of study or research at HEIs should automatically receive support from public funds. Current funding arrangements are geared towards maintaining the excellence of UK research and contributing to the supply of highly trained manpower. Many students at this level obtain loans from banks, seek sponsorship, receive help from educational trusts or pursue their studies on a part-time basis.

Question reference: S2W-09866

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 06 August 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 30 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will encourage Scottish Water to bring forward infrastructure projects in the north and north east of Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-09826

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure access to all post-graduate courses at higher education institutes through appropriate student support.

Whilst limited public fundingfor post-graduate study is provided for some students, it has never been the policyof this or any previous Government that every student accepted for a post-graduatecourse of study or research at higher education institutions should automaticallyreceive support from public funds. Most post-graduate students will have receivedstudent support as of right during their undergraduate studies, but direct Government-fundedsupport at the post-graduate level has always been highly selective. Current fundingarrangements are geared towards maintaining the excellence of UK research andcontributing to the supply of highly trained manpower. Many students at this levelobtain loans from banks, seek sponsorship, receive help from educational trustsor pursue their studies on a part-time basis.

We have no plans to ensure accessto all post-graduate courses at higher education institutions through government-fundedstudent support.

Question reference: S2W-08903

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 11 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis the basic building block of the Scottish Deprivation Index will be assessed and when the assessment will be published.

Question reference: S2W-09648

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current average time taken by Disclosure Scotland is to answer applications for disclosure checks.

Question reference: S2W-09651

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 August 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) residential, (b) nursing and (c) elderly mentally infirm care beds were available in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area and giving the total annual cost of providing the beds in each category.

The information requested on care beds is shown in tables 1, 2 and 3. Figures are given for all care homes for older people and those with dementia. Most homes for elderly residents will cater for those who are mentally infirm.

Tables 1 and 2 show the number of residential and nursing care beds for the elderly for 1999 and 2000. The information draws from two different surveys and there will be an element of double counting between them. Table 3 shows combined care beds for 2001 to 2003. This comes from the Scottish care home census which eliminates double counting.

Table 4 shows the total net expenditure of funding care home residents from 1999 to 2003 by local authority.

Table 1

Residential Care Home beds for Older People by Local Authority (1999-2000)

Local Authority	1999	2000
Aberdeen City	604	551
Aberdeenshire	638	597
Angus	493	470
Argyll and Bute	498	465
Clackmannanshire	79	71
Dumfries and Galloway	615	668
Dundee City	402	408
East Ayrshire	333	291
East Dunbartonshire	130	104
East Lothian	270	242
East Renfrewshire	200	192
Edinburgh, City of	1,214	1,167
Eilean Siar	159	164
Falkirk	273	258
Fife	881	881
Glasgow City	1,711	1,601
Highland	837	779
Inverclyde	268	201
Midlothian	241	249
Moray	243	212
North Ayrshire	346	372
North Lanarkshire	530	498
Orkney Islands	96	97
Perth and Kinross	647	612
Renfrewshire	397	416
Scottish Borders	402	393
Shetland Islands	113	126
South Ayrshire	262	219
South Lanarkshire	517	735
Stirling	317	255
West Dunbartonshire	257	247
West Lothian	247	221
Scotland	14,220	13,762

Source: SEHD R1 Census Return.

Table 2

Private Nursing Home beds by Local Authority (1999-2000)

Local Authority	1999	2000
Aberdeen City	1,208	1,225
Aberdeenshire	1,328	1,387
Angus	561	536
Argyll and Bute	285	256
Clackmannanshire	60	120
Dumfries and Galloway	604	569
Dundee City	653	654
East Ayrshire	739	710
East Dunbartonshire	355	419
East Lothian	545	515
East Renfrewshire	459	447
Edinburgh, City of	2,241	2,155
Eilean Siar	65	65
Falkirk	679	685
Fife	1,424	1,376
Glasgow City	2,940	2,947
Highland	1,357	1,320
Inverclyde	363	362
Midlothian	355	355
Moray	305	305
North Ayrshire	905	922
North Lanarkshire	1,207	1,285
Orkney Islands	0	0
Perth and Kinross	816	766
Renfrewshire	832	794
Scottish Borders	652	604
Shetland Islands	0	0
South Ayrshire	914	908
South Lanarkshire	1,847	1,798
Stirling	598	598
West Dunbartonshire	356	356
West Lothian	660	687
Scotland	25,313	25,126

Source: ISD (S) 34 Census Return.

Table 3

Care Home Beds for Older People by Local Authority (2001-03)

Local Authority	2001	2002	2003 (Mar)	2003 (Sep)
Aberdeen City	1,729	1,688	1,604	1,609
Aberdeenshire	1,907	1,911	1,930	1,886
Angus	985	986	958	966
Argyll and Bute	762	769	794	785
Clackmannanshire	290	317	315	315
Dumfries and Galloway	1,267	1,255	1,254	1,250
Dundee City	1,076	1,021	996	1,015
East Ayrshire	837	890	845	836
East Dunbartonshire	578	557	561	561
East Lothian	735	724	696	691
East Renfrewshire	584	576	574	574
Edinburgh, City of	3,117	3,085	3,019	3,001
Eilean Siar	241	243	243	243
Falkirk	1,006	976	979	963
Fife	2,312	2,334	2,335	2,310
Glasgow City	4,343	4,321	4,304	4,280
Highland	1,993	1,986	1,960	1,954
Inverclyde	538	529	541	554
Midlothian	630	625	587	585
Moray	521	517	512	512
North Ayrshire	1,302	1,271	1,249	1,255
North Lanarkshire	1,693	1,708	1,708	1,711
Orkney Islands	101	97	102	98
Perth and Kinross	1,398	1,401	1,403	1,404
Renfrewshire	985	977	987	975
Scottish Borders	848	840	854	854
Shetland Islands	132	142	142	142
South Ayrshire	1,009	900	901	884
South Lanarkshire	2,524	2,524	2,570	2,589
Stirling	769	648	592	593
West Dunbartonshire	567	563	557	557
West Lothian	812	812	823	825
Scotland	37,591	37,193	36,895	36,777

Source: SEHD SCHC Census.

Table 4

Total Net Expenditure (000) for Care Home Residents by Local Authority

	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Aberdeen City	2,111	12,385	12,152	13,164	19,025
Aberdeenshire	8,737	9,608	10,043	10,924	17,989
Angus	7,470	7,283	6,112	7,074	11,426
Argyll and Bute	4,518	4,344	4,890	5,529	10,650
Clackmannanshire	1,509	2,466	1,559	2,155	2,933
Dumfries and Galloway	7,207	7,860	6,920	6,823	9,226
Dundee City	8,586	8,052	8,183	8,314	11,982
East Ayrshire	5,114	5,052	5,118	5,635	9,792
East Dunbartonshire	488	421	581	343	183
East Lothian	4,834	4,632	4,092	4,279	7,401
East Renfrewshire	2,947	3,234	3,412	3,408	10,042
Edinburgh, City of	13,565	12,826	13,626	14,820	35,509
Eilean Siar	3,551	3,705	3,726	3,948	4,644
Falkirk	7,791	7,614	7,704	8,291	8,061
Fife	15,541	15,404	15,743	16,594	26,042
Glasgow City	43,265	45,719	40,268	42,612	50,083
Highland	10,191	12,529	15,155	15,039	24,802
Inverclyde	3,694	4,330	4,287	4,733	7,178
Midlothian	2,952	3,496	3,719	3,623	5,915
Moray	4,110	4,396	5,078	4,397	6,248
North Ayrshire	5,481	5,928	6,217	7,655	11,183
North Lanarkshire	15,567	17,464	18,783	18,950	28,729
Orkney Islands	1,677	1,822	1,889	2,090	2,162
Perth and Kinross	4,133	5,866	5,249	7,172	12,440
Renfrewshire	7,742	6,801	8,107	8,490	11,893
Scottish Borders	5,702	5,289	5,033	5,313	5,702
Shetland Islands	1,217	1,066	1,301	1,485	1,694
South Ayrshire	5,908	5,634	5,502	5,456	10,442
South Lanarkshire	11,519	11,034	11,628	13,039	22,456
Stirling	2,929	3,321	3,449	2,457	5,664
West Dunbartonshire	6,231	6,553	6,230	7,289	7,721
West Lothian	4,908	5,298	4,928	5,251	2,664
Scotland	231,197	251,434	250,684	266,350	401,881

Source:SE FCSD:ASD, SSLG - LFR03 Statistical Returns 1998-99 to 2002-03.

Question reference: S2W-09649

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is has any concerns regarding an embargo by the City of Edinburgh Council on change of use applications for care homes to residential use and what action it proposes to take on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-09650

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 July 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 29 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have placed embargoes on change of use applications for care homes.

Question reference: S2W-09326

Asked by: Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 June 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 22 July 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made on its consideration of the research organisation assessment exercise carried out by its Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD).

The outcomes from the Research Organisation Assessment Exercise (ROAE) have been considered as part of the review of the research strategy which has been undertaken by the SEERAD Agricultural and Biological Research Group. A draft research strategy will issue for consultation shortly.

Implementation of ROAE recommendations is also being taken forward in discussion with each of the sponsored bodies concerned.