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: S4W-03911

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 15 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-03448 by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 November 2011, whether it will now provide an estimate of the total receipts from excise duty only, excluding VAT, that would have been raised in 2009-10 from the sale of alcohol consumed in Scotland at the then applicable rates of duty if there was a minimum price of (a) 45p and (b) 50p per unit.

It is not possible to provide an estimate for excise duty receipts only. The information provided in response to question S4W-03448, answered on 7 November 2011, was drawn from the Sheffield University modelling which was carried out in 2010 to inform the setting of a minimum unit price. The modelling only provides estimates of the total estimated reduction in revenue from VAT and excise duty combined as a result of any minimum price set, not individually.

Question reference: S4W-03527

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S4W-02894 by John Swinney on 20 October 2011, whether, on the basis of the information provided, it considers a figure of 40,000 to be an accurate estimate of the number of jobs created as a result of the introduction of the small business bonus scheme.

Further to my earlier answer to question S4W-02894, I can confirm that official statistics published on 27 October 2011 show the number of recipients of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) has increased to 85,199 properties. This represents two out of five commercial premises in Scotland.

While it is difficult to estimate precise numbers, the Scottish Government estimates that the SBBS has sustained many thousands of jobs in small and medium sized enterprises across Scotland.

Question reference: S4O-00337

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2011
Current Status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 10 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it remains its policy not to reduce the number of emergency fire control rooms.

Question reference: S4W-03448

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 November 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much revenue would have been raised from excise duty on alcohol consumed in Scotland in 2009-10 at the then rates of duty if the minimum price of alcohol had been (a) 45p and (b) 50p per unit.

As duty is applied to the volume of sales and with the introduction of a minimum price this is estimated to reduce overall, there will be an impact on duty receipts. The actual effect will depend on the specific minimum price per unit set.

Total receipts from VAT in the UK were £83,616m in 2009-10 and from alcohol duties in the UK were £9,246m. Estimates from the Sheffield modelling suggest that for a 45p minimum price, there would be a reduction of around £9m and for a 50p minimum price a reduction of around £16m. This represents a reduction of 0.01% or 0.02% of total receipts from VAT and alcohol duties in the UK respectively.

Question reference: S4W-02894

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 September 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 20 October 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs it estimates have been created as a result of the introduction of the small business bonus scheme and what the revenue cost of the scheme has been in each year.

The Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS) has removed or reduced the rates burden for tens of thousands of small Scottish businesses.

Official statistics show that at least 74,000 premises benefit under the scheme. Since the introduction of SBBS in 2008, the scheme has supported thousands of jobs across Scotland and provided a lifeline to tens of thousands of small businesses throughout the economic downturn.

In 2010, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises accounted for 99.2% of enterprises in Scotland, 52.9% of employment and 37.4% of turnover.

Revenue costs of the SBBS, since introduction on 1 April 2008 are as follows -

Year	Revenue cost of SBBS (£m)
2008-9	73
2009-10	108
2010-11	117*
2011-12	129*

Note:* Estimate.

Updated official statistics on SBBS are expected to be published on 27 October 2011.

Question reference: S4O-00103

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the availability and provision of drugs to treat cancer.

Question reference: S4W-00605

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 17 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the receipts that will be generated from the sale of land and property by territorial NHS boards in (a) the current financial year and (b) future years.

A figure for capital receipts attributable to the sale of assets in the health portfolio for the current financial year is given in Schedule 3.1 Health: Details of Proposed Budget, page 34 of Scotland’s Budget Documents 2011-12: Budget (Scotland) Bill supporting documentation for the year ending 31 March 2012, published on the Scottish Government website on 21 January 2011, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52344).

An estimate of capital receipts from asset disposals by territorial NHS boards will be made for the period 2012-13 to 2014-15 as part of the preparations for the final three years of the UK Spending Review due to complete in autumn 2011.

Question reference: S4W-00604

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 16 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what capital receipts were generated by each territorial NHS board from the sale of land and property in each of the last four financial years.

Capital receipts generated from the sale of land and property are included in a total figure for the “proceeds of disposal of property, plant and equipment” in a line in the audited annual Cash Flow Statement of individual territorial NHS boards. NHS boards are individually audited and they prepare and publish a set of annual accounts on their website. These can be collectively found at:

http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/organisations/index.aspx.

Question reference: S4W-00267

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what the initial revenue allocation to all NHS boards (a) was in 2010-11 and (b) has been in 2011-12 and what it would have been had the NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee target share been used in these years.

The initial revenue allocations to the territorial NHS boards for 2010-11 and 2011-12 are shown in the following table.

Please note that the allocations are not directly comparable. The 2010-11 baseline on which uplift has been calculated has been restated prior to calculating 2011-12 allocations reflecting the withdrawal of funding from HM Treasury in respect of cost of capital; the position is neutral as the associated expenditure is no longer incurred. The impact of other corporate budget transfers and in-year recurrent allocations through 2010-11 have also been reflected in the baseline prior to applying funding uplift.

Initial Revenue Allocation (£ million) in Financial Year

Territorial NHS Board	2010-11	2011-12
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	570.2	574.7
NHS Borders	166	167.3
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	238.3	241.7
NHS Fife	502.9	507.1
NHS Forth Valley	398.8	402.8
NHS Grampian	678.5	691.1
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1,871.4	1,895.6
NHS Highland	480.6	484.8
NHS Lanarkshire	798.4	815.6
NHS Lothian	1,018.2	1,054.4
NHS Orkney	31.3	31.5
NHS Shetland	36.8	36.7
NHS Tayside	592.9	596.4
NHS Western Isles	58.1	57.7
Total territorial NHS Boards	7,437.4	7,557.4

The allocations to each territorial NHS board had the total initial revenue allocation instead been distributed using the NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee (NRAC) target shares is shown in the table below.

Hypothetical allocation had total initial revenue allocation been allocated using NRAC target share (£ million) in financial year:

Territorial NHS Board	2010-11	2011-12
NHS Ayrshire and Arran	551.2	558.9
NHS Borders	154.5	157.8
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	224.0	227.2
NHS Fife	512.4	519.3
NHS Forth Valley	408.3	413.9
NHS Grampian	705.2	725.6
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde	1,812.5	1,832.6
NHS Highland	469.9	477.2
NHS Lanarkshire	817.3	827.4
NHS Lothian	1,086.8	1,112.6
NHS Orkney	31.6	31.8
NHS Shetland	33.3	33.7
NHS Tayside	583.1	593.2
NHS Western Isles	47.0	46.0
Total territorial NHS Boards	7,437.4	7,557.4

Question reference: S4W-00268

Asked by: David McLetchie, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 7 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a timescale for achieving NHS Scotland Resource Allocation Committee targets in all NHS boards and, if so, what it is.