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: S2O-08710

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 19 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the new cardiothoracic centre at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital will have on combating heart disease.

The establishment of the centreat the Golden Jubilee National Hospital will enable the creation of a state-of-the-artcardiothoracic facility for the west of Scotland, five years earlier than originally planned. It willbe one of the largest centres in the UK for the investigation and surgical treatment of cardiacand cardiothoracic patients, concentrating clinical expertise and the latest diagnosticand treatment techniques and equipment on one site.

The centre will provide manybenefits, including the provision of timely, high quality treatment for patientsin the west of Scotland by a dedicated team of highly skilled clinicians, betterplanning of patient care, and the potential to further reduce waiting times.

Question reference: S2W-21159

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the number of people from the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area who set up their own businesses.

The Scottish Executive is committedto encouraging and supporting more Scots to start-up in business. However, the provision of advice and support for businessstart-ups and growing businesses in East and West Dunbartonshire, is primarilyan operational matter for Scottish Enterprise working with local partner organisations.

Access to the range of localand national measures available to support new and growing businesses in the ScottishEnterprise area (including East and West Dunbartonshire) is available through BusinessGateway.

Question reference: S2W-21326

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of recipients of access bursaries have been domiciled in the (a) East Dunbartonshire and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area since the bursaries were introduced.

The following table highlights the percentage of young students’ bursary (YSB) recipients who were domiciled in (a) East Dunbartonshire and (b) West Dunbartonshire since academic year 2001-02 (when the bursaries were introduced):

Academic Year	All Students Receiving Young Students’ Bursary (YSB)	Percentage of Recipients of YSB from Local Authority Area
Academic Year	Total	(a) East Dunbartonshire	(b) West Dunbartonshire
2001-02	13,233	2.2%	2.0%
2002-03	21,870	2.2%	2.1%
2003-04	27,855	2.3%	2.2%
2004-05	31,500	2.3%	1.9%

Source: Student Awards Agencyfor Scotland (SAAS).

Question reference: S2W-21015

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the spin-out companies supported by Scottish Enterprise in the last 10 years have been opened in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-21299

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it gives local authorities on how they should tackle local roads classified as being in amber or red condition, as defined in Scottish Transport Statistics.

As a result of Spending Review2004, from next year local authorities will be able to spend an additional £60 millionper annum on improving the condition of Scotland’s local roads. The Executive agreed to the need for thisextra commitment and it will be up to every council to ensure that the additionalfunding is spent effectively on road maintenance in their area. I would expect eachcouncil to ensure that the additional funding is spent effectively on road maintenancein their area.

Question reference: S2W-21297

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure better monitoring, transparency and accountability by local authorities in respect of local roads maintenance.

The Scottish Executive put inplace Best Value arrangements which require continuous improvement in the dischargeof local authority functions, including better monitoring, transparency and accountability.These arrangements are subject to a rolling programme of monitoring by Audit Scotland.

To support local authoritiesin meeting their statutory responsibilities for local roads, the Spending Review2004 provided them with an additional £60 million per annum to help meet their callsfor more support in improving the condition of Scotland’s local roads from 2005-06.I would expect each council to ensure that the additional funding is spent effectivelyon road maintenance in their area.

Question reference: S2W-20968

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 22 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was allocated to the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area as a result of the creation of Careers Scotland in each year since its inception and what this funding was spent on.

Question reference: S2W-21354

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people in the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) East Dunbartonshire local authority area have received education maintenance allowances in each year since 2001.

The numbers of young people inreceipt of Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) in (a) West Dunbartonshire and(b) East Dunbartonshire are as follows:

Academic Year	(a) West Dunbartonshire	(b) East Dunbartonshire
2001-02 (pilot)	451	not in pilot
2002-03 (pilot)	552	not in pilot
2003-04 (pilot)	523	not in pilot
2004-05* (national rollout starts)	664	376

*Figures for 2004-05 includeyoung people claiming EMA at both school and college. Prior to this only schoolpupils were counted as information on college students was not available for thepilot phase.

National roll-out of the EducationMaintenance Allowance programme was introduced across Scotland from August 2004.

As West Dunbartonshire took part in the pilot phase of EMAs, information is available for eachof the pilot years (2001-02 onwards). As East Dunbartonshire did not participate in thepilot, information is only available from the first year of national roll-out (i.e.academic year 2004-05).

Question reference: S2W-21328

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 23 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time students from the (a) East Dunbartonshire and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area have received bursaries to support them at university in each year since 2003.

The following table reports thenumber of full-time students from (a) East Dunbartonshire and (b) West Dunbartonshirewho have received financial awards/bursaries to support them at higher educationinstitutions over the period in question:

Full-time Students inReceipt of Award Support

Academic Year	(a) East Dunbartonshire	(b) West Dunbartonshire
2002-03	1,009	757
2003-04	1,084	746
2004-05	1,090	740

Source: Student Awards Agencyfor Scotland (SAAS).

Students can receive a numberof financial awards/bursaries, including travel expenses, young studentsbursary, lone parents grant, standard maintenance allowance, disabled studentsallowance, lone parents childcare grant, young students outside scotlandbursary and dependant grant.

Question reference: S2W-21349

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will involve trade unions in both the pre-qualification and tendering process for the contract to run the Clyde and Hebrides lifeline ferry services.