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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1840 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S2W-27535

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 24 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the special advisers currently in post are appointed by the (a) First Minister and (b) Deputy First Minister; what the pay bands for such advisers are for 2006-07; how many advisers are in each band, and what the total cost was of employing its special advisers in 2005-06.

There are nine SpecialAdvisers appointed by the First Minister and three appointed by the DeputyFirst Minister.

Appointed by First Minister	Appointed by Deputy First Minster
Douglas Campbell	Matthew Clark
Adrian Colwell	Sam Ghibaldan
Laura Greatrex	Andy Myles
Peter Hastie
Rachel McEwan
Derek Munn
Danny Phillips
Andy Rowe
Douglas Trainer

The number of SpecialAdvisers in each pay band is:

Pay Band 1	5
Pay Band 2	4
Pay Band 3	2
Pay Band 4	1

The total cost for the 11Special Advisers in post in 2005-2006 including ERNIC and employer pensioncontribution was £709,309. Details are:

	Salary	ERNIC	Pension Contribution	Total
2005-2006	£565,051	£69,572	£74,686	£709,309

Salary

ERNIC

Pension Contribution

Total

2005-2006

£565,051

£69,572

£74,686

£709,309

The revised pay bands for2006-07 are:

Special Advisers Pay Bands2006-2007

Pay Band	1 April 2006
1	£38,100 – £49,300
2	£49,301 – £63,100
3	£62,800 - £81,100
3 (premium)	£80,700 - £97,500
4	£84,000 - £100,900

Question reference: S2W-26642

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-9490 by Hugh Henry on 30 March 2006, how many mesothelioma cases are currently being progressed and how many asbestos-related cases not involving a diagnosis of mesothelioma remain outstanding in Scottish courts, broken down according to whether the plaintiffs are from (a) island, (b) rural and (c) urban communities.

Question reference: S2W-26641

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what studies have been undertaken to estimate the number of people who may suffer from mesothelioma in the next (a) 5, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years living in (i) island, (ii) rural and (iii) urban communities.

I am not aware of any studiesinto the expected incidence of mesothelioma broken down by island, rural or urbancommunities in Scotland.However, the Health and SafetyExecutive have conducted a study into expected mortality from mesothelioma in Great Britainthat was published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2005. The paper The expectedburden of mesothelioma mortality in Great Britain from 2002 to2050 can be accessed at http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v92/n3/abs/6602307a.html.

Question reference: S2W-26640

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients diagnosed with mesothelioma live in (a) island, (b) rural and (c) urban communities.

Question reference: S2W-26698

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 12 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its employability framework.

I am pleased to announce thepublication today of Workforce Plus; an Employability Framework for Scotland. The framework asserts the Executive’sbelief that, for most people and their families, work is the surest way of raisingand sustaining people out of poverty, and that we must help everyone in Scotlandto contribute to a fairer and more productive society.

Workforce Plus sets out our approach, working with the UK Government,to both the national leadership and the local action needed to help more disadvantagedpeople both to prepare for work, and to gain and progress in employment. We aresetting a headline target of helping 66,000 people move from benefits to employmentby 2010. This is based on locally agreed targets set by seven local authority areaswhere the levels of worklessness and disadvantage are highest.

Workforce Plus has been developed on the basis of the evidence and viewsgathered during an extensive consultation process during 2005. We will support ourtarget employability areas with £11 million from the Closing the Opportunity GapFund between now and 2007-08.

Copies have been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39800).

Question reference: S2W-26568

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when the audit reports on local sports facilities will be published; what the lessons to be learnt from the audits are, and how the issues they identify will be addressed.

The National Audit of Scotland’s Sports Facilities summary report is being published by sportscotland today and can be accessed on sportscotland’swebsite at: www.sportscotland.org.uk.Copies are also available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 39798). The report highlights the significant investment required in Scotland’s existingfacilities largely as a result of poor design quality and inadequate maintenanceregimes. However, it also questions whether we have the right facilities in theright locations to meet the demands of changing sporting trends and demographics.It also highlights the importance of local sports facilities strategies as an essentialtool in establishing what facilities will be required to meet future demand.

We are at a key stage in thedevelopment of sport in Scotland. The report provides valuable information and poses importantquestions. These will be considered more fully in the context of the updated sportsstrategy at a summit the First Minister is convening in September.

Question reference: S2W-26565

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 7 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it plans to take to improve arrangements for regulating and scrutinising devolved public services in Scotland.

The Executive has decided toundertake a review of the current arrangements for scrutiny and regulation in Scotland, meaningthe inspection, regulation, audit, and procedures for formal external investigationof complaints relating to devolved public services in Scotland. Thereview will recommend how to ensure that that the scrutiny regime is fit for purposein a reformed public sector, and it will pave the way for more proportionate andstreamlined regulation of public services. The review will be led by an independentChair, Professor Lorne Crerar and will last approximately 12 months. It will produce an interim report to ministers in early2007, followed by a final report and recommendations.

The review will draw on complementaryevidence and recommendations from work that is underway by the Scottish ParliamentFinance Committee Inquiry into Accountability and Governance.

Question reference: S2W-25614

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 5 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will take forward its commitment to publishing a renewed policy statement on architecture, which it announced earlier this year in Scotland’s Culture, its response to the Cultural Commission report on its review of culture in Scotland.

Education Department

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive howit will take forward its commitment to publishing a renewed policy statement onarchitecture, which it announced earlier this year in Scotland’s Culture,its response to the Cultural Commission report on its review of culture in Scotland.

(S2W-25614)

Patricia Ferguson: I am pleased to announce the launch today of a public consultation exerciseon the policy on architecture for Scotland. The consultation is designed to stimulate public debateon the future direction of architecture policy; to seek views on the Executive’sprogress to date in implementing its previous policy, and to inform the developmentof a renewed policy on architecture. The consultation paper is available onlineat www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations

The consultation will be formallylaunched by me in Perth this afternoon at the annual Convention of the RoyalIncorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).

Question reference: S2O-09490

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 30 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how quickly cases of compensation for mesothelioma suffers are now being dealt with by the Scottish courts following changes to the handling of such cases; how many mesothelioma cases are currently being progresses and how many asbestos-related cases not involving a diagnosis of mesothelioma remain outstanding in Scottish courts.

Question reference: S2O-09132

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 2 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to meet the targets set to reduce alcohol consumption by adults and children.

We are investing nearly £12 millionin each of 2005-06 and 2006-07 to fund alcohol-related prevention, allocation andtreatment services. Under Delivering for Health, we will require every NHS boardto show in their forward planning what they will do to reduce alcohol consumptionin adults.

We will also continue to supportwork focussed specifically on parents and children. At the same time, the new LicensingAct outlaws irresponsible drinks promotions and makes it a condition of both onand off licences that alcohol should not be supplied to young people without proofof age.