- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 13 December 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to reduce the number of road accidents resulting in deaths in the Grampian police area.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to working towards GB casualty reduction targets for 2010, one of the aims of which is to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured by 40% against the average for the years 1994-98. As part of this strategy the Executive's Accident Investigation and Prevention Unit will continue to develop a programme of engineering measures to address specific accident types at locations on trunk roads identified by the annual interrogation of the accident database. It will also be examining, in the light of recent research, what other general measures may be taken on the trunk road network to improve safety.In addition, the Executive, as trunk road authority, is participating with Grampian Police, local authorities and other interested parties within the Grampian Police area to develop a safety camera cost recovery scheme in line with Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions requirements.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 December 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what proposals it intends to make regarding support for rural schools in Aberdeenshire.
Answer
All our policies for schools are directed towards ensuring that all children in rural areas benefit from school provision of the highest quality. It is, however, for Aberdeenshire Council to consider what specific measures may be needed to support schools in its area.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 December 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consult with the organisations representing the dental profession on whether there is a need to establish two-year post graduate training availability in all health board areas to encourage graduates to work in all areas of Scotland.
Answer
Two-year postgraduate training in dentistry, known as General Professional Training (GPT), has been the subject of discussions with the profession on several occasions in the past. It is also regularly discussed with representatives of the dental profession at meetings of the national Dental Committee of the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE) and also of the regional Dental Committees of that organisation.Postgraduate medical and dental education in Scotland is organised on a regional basis along the lines of the postgraduate medical deaneries. Each region covers several NHS Board areas. All regions in Scotland except one have formal GPT schemes.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 5 December 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it issues to local authorities on how public consultation should be structured regarding planning applications for waste management facilities, materials recycling facilities and energy from waste plants.
Answer
There are no separate statutory requirements for public consultation on planning applications for such proposals. The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992 sets out the basic statutory requirements for consultation on planning applications. Additional consultation may be required where, for example, environmental impact assessment is involved or development is contrary to the development plan.In November, we published a consultation paper Getting involved in Planning which contains a number of proposals aimed at encouraging more effective public participation in the planning system. Responses to the consultation, which runs until the end of March 2002, will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it will allocate to Grampian Health Board to ensure that the full complement of hospital dental consultants is recruited.
Answer
The Executive is investing record resources in NHSScotland and in Grampian. It is for NHS Grampian to determine how best to deploy these resources in accordance with their assessment of local needs and priorities and in the best interests of patients.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) revenues it received from non-domestic rates in each of the years from 1996-97 to 2000-01 and (b) forecasts it has made of the revenues from such rates in each of the years (i) 2001-02, (ii) 2002-03 and (iii) 2003-04.
Answer
The amounts of non-domestic rates collected by councils on behalf of the Scottish Executive for the years 1996-97 to 2000-01 are shown in the following table:
Year | £ million |
1996-97 | 1,332.1 |
1997-98 | 1,327.2 |
1998-99 | 1,435.9 |
1999-00 | 1,496.6 |
2000-011 | 1,541.0 |
Note:1. Figures for 2000-01 are estimates based on latest information available.The assumptions about yield that have been used to forecast revenue from non-domestic rates for each of the years 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 are £1,569 million, £1,577 million and £1,595 million respectively, as published in the
Annual Expenditure Report 2001 - The Scottish Budget.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from universities regarding funding deficits.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not received any formal representation from Scottish universities regarding specific funding deficits. The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council is responsible for monitoring the financial health of the higher education institutions it funds in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many appeals against non-domestic rates assessments are currently outstanding and on what grounds they were lodged.
Answer
As at 30 June 2001 (the latest information available), there were 51,610 non-domestic properties with appeals arising from the 2000 Revaluation outstanding. The Scottish Executive holds no information on the grounds on which these appeals were lodged with the Assessors. Information is not held centrally on outstanding rolling roll appeals (appeals arising from a change in occupier, tenant or owner or due to a material change in circumstances), or appeals not yet settled following earlier revaluations. The Scottish Assessors advise that to date 5,565 appeals have been lodged as a consequence of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 15 November 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been granted in relief through the rates relief scheme for businesses affected by the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak. since the first reported case of the disease.
Answer
The latest information available from councils indicates that £2,408,417 had been granted in rates relief for businesses affected by foot-and-mouth disease at 31 August 2001. It is currently estimated that around £4.1 million will be granted in total to affected businesses by the end of the year.
- Asked by: Mr David Davidson, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 16 October 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from Her Majesty's Government regarding the amount of Scottish Block grant that will be available to it in 2002-03 following the deduction of the Scotland Office budget for that year.
Answer
The baselines for 2002-03 are set out in the Draft Budget Document I published on 20 September, and in the UK Estimates. Copies of this document are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. no. 16314).
