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-20574

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry’s view that making the Erskine Bridge toll-free would boost the west of Scotland economy by reducing business costs and getting people to work and goods to market more quickly.

Question reference: S2W-20580

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the results of the second phase of the Tolled Bridges Review.

Question reference: S2W-20577

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of the assessment by West Dunbartonshire Council that removal of the tolls on the Erskine Bridge would create 100 jobs and provide a significant boost to the economic development of West Dunbartonshire.

Question reference: S2W-20575

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to address congestion on the Kingston Bridge and Clyde Tunnel in Glasgow.

A number of initiatives have been implemented to address congestion on the M8 through Glasgow in recent years. These include ramp metering at junction 16 to allow smoother merging and improved traffic throughput; journey time information panels on eastern approaches to Glasgow on the M8 and M80, to allow drivers to take local diversion routes if appropriate; active queue management on gantries, and new Incident Support Units, introduced by AMEY, which help to tackle congestion by getting to and clearing incidents and hazards quickly.

Measures to tackle congestion on the local road network, including the Clyde Tunnel, are a matter for Glasgow City Council.

Question reference: S2W-19972

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all NHS boards have sufficient stocks of respirators for use in the event of a serious outbreak of avian flu among humans.

In the event of an outbreak of avian flu, respirators would be used as part of the protective clothing for people who came into very close contact with birds infected by avian influenza.

The Scottish Executive is currently discussing with the relevant bodies what protection would be required in the event of an outbreak of human pandemic flu. The Scottish Executive has already distributed 45,000 Full-Face Protection 3 face masks to NHS boards, hospitals and GP practices throughout Scotland. The Scottish Ambulance Service has recently purchased masks for all of its ambulance staff.

Question reference: S2W-19971

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any provision for commandeering sufficient eggs for the production of any new vaccine that might be required to deal with a serious outbreak of avian flu among humans.

Question reference: S2W-19970

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a list has been compiled of recently retired medical, paramedical and nursing staff who might be able to assist in the event of a serious outbreak of avian flu among humans, as recommended in the Health and Community Care Committee's 13th Report 2000 (Session 1), Report on Influenza Vaccination (SP Paper 192), and whether any training has been planned for such auxiliary staff.

Question reference: S2W-19969

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 21 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all NHS boards have joint emergency plans in place with local authorities to deal with any serious outbreak of avian flu among humans.

Question reference: S2W-20215

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 31 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 1 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it is reviewing its Publication Scheme, particularly in relation to allowances information, in the light of the experience of implementing the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Yes. Since the act came into effect on 1 January this year, the SPCB has been constantly monitoring its effect on members, staff and parliamentary resources. Our aim, since the creation of the Parliament in 1999, has been to live up to our principles of openness and transparency and the act was passed by the Parliament in that spirit.

Based on our experience of implementing the act to date, the SPCB is of the view that the current administration of the allowances scheme does not fit easily with the new freedom of information regime. We are – rightly in a democratic society – under intense scrutiny from the media and the SPCB is concerned that there is potential for the Parliament to suffer damage unless we act to alter the way in which we administer the scheme.

We have therefore decided to move to fuller disclosure of allowances information. It is our view that the Scottish Parliament is already ahead of the field in relation to the amount of information that is published in this regard but we have decided to go further.

A detailed breakdown of claims for the last financial year (2004-05) will be published in December. We will then move to a position where we publish information, with supporting vouchers and receipts, for 2005-06 onwards as soon as possible in 2006.

Clearly, there are difficult issues around personal security, bank account details and third parties which need to be addressed. Allowances staff also need to address the issue of how information is to be gathered from members in order to ensure disclosure along the lines described above. We will therefore set up a joint MSP/parliamentary staff working group to consider and report on these issues, including an analysis of best practice worldwide.

We will keep members informed of developments on a regular basis and I am writing today to all members to set this out more fully.

Question reference: S2W-17093

Asked by: Des McNulty, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 30 May 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 6 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how the £5 million per annum for the Financial Inclusion Action Plan announced earlier this year will be distributed.

In line with our Closing theOpportunity Gap target, this funding will be distributed to the areas where there are currently the greatest problems of financialexclusion. Based on levels of income deprivation and the numbers of Scottish peoplewithout a bank account or savings, funding will be distributed to the followingten local authorities weighted according to the extent of the problem in their areas.

Local Authority	% Households Without Bank Account or Savings	% of LA Population that are Income Deprived	Funding Allocation
Glasgow City	21.9	27.8	900,000
West Dunbartonshire	15.8	21.2	600,000
Inverclyde	15.2	18.8	600,000
North Lanarkshire	14.5	18.5	500,000
South Lanarkshire	14.1	15.5	500,000
Renfrewshire	13.1	15.8	450,000
Dundee City	12.9	19.7	450,000
West Lothian	10.6	13.8	350,000
East Ayrshire	10.5	18.0	350,000
Eilean Siar	8.9	15.2	300,000