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-28324

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 28 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to provide the Scottish Rugby Union with funding to cover some of the loss arising from the reconstruction of Murrayfield Stadium, in light of the contribution of £8.25 million which it and the Scottish Office made, along with the additional £3.5 million from sportScotland through the Lottery Sports Fund, towards the reconstruction of Hampden Park.

At the time of theredevelopment of Murrayfield, the Scottish Rugby Union did not approach thethen Scottish Office for financial assistance. However, as a consequence of thefinancial constraints placed upon the Union by the redevelopment of Murrayfield,the then Scottish Office agreed to invest £3.5 million over five years from1996-97 to support the union’s development work. The Scottish Executive thensupported this work with an investment of £2.1 million over the subsequent fouryears. The Scottish Rugby Union now receives grant aid from sportscotlandfollowing consideration of its development plan for the sport in line withother sports’ governing bodies and therefore the Scottish Executive has noplans to provide any additional funding.

Question reference: S2W-28065

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to fund mental health charities to enable them to create new services to replace services currently reliant on European Social fund payments.

Question reference: S2W-28325

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 22 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding (a) the Executive, (b) the Scottish Football Association, (c) local authorities and (d) other sources agreed to put into football’s Youth Development Plan and how much each body has contributed so far.

The £31.1 million to the YouthFootball Action Plan is being funded by Exchequer and Lottery Sports Fund monies(£2.2 million); New Opportunities Fund/Big Lottery Fund Monies (£10 million); theSFA (£14.5 million), and local authorities (£4.4 million).

We do not hold up-to-date informationon payments made but I have asked sportscotland to write to you setting outthe details of the Exchequer and Lottery monies. You should approach the SFA andlocal authorities direct on what payments they have made so far for this plan.

Question reference: S2W-28189

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 21 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many alleged offences aggravated by religious prejudice were committed in each sheriffdom or local authority area in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06 and how many of these offences (i) were reported by the police, (ii) were brought to court and (iii) resulted in convictions.

The number of offences aggravatedby religious prejudice is not separately identifiable in the recorded crime statisticscollected centrally.

The Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service’s case management database contains information about charges reportedto procurators fiscal where the charge involved a religious aggravation. The followingtables provide a breakdown of such charges by sheriff court jurisdiction. As indicatedin table 4, some of these cases have not yet reached a conclusion.

Table 1: Number of Charges Receivedby Procurators Fiscal where the Charge included a Religious Aggravation

Sheriff Court Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	Total
Aberdeen	5	3	1	9
Airdrie	40	55	32	127
Alloa	0	2	5	7
Arbroath	1	2	0	3
Ayr	4	5	10	19
Banff	0	1	0	1
Campbeltown	1	0	10	11
Cupar	0	1	2	3
Dumbarton	1	3	9	13
Dumfries	1	2	1	4
Dundee	22	3	7	32
Dunfermline	3	3	5	11
Dunoon	0	1	0	1
Duns	0	1	0	1
Edinburgh	5	14	10	29
Elgin	0	0	3	3
Falkirk	2	2	12	16
Forfar	1	1	0	2
Glasgow	132	244	454	830
Greenock	0	8	6	14
Haddington	0	1	2	3
Hamilton	34	75	54	163
Inverness	0	3	0	3
Jedburgh	0	2	0	2
Kilmarnock	3	9	34	46
Kirkcaldy	0	1	0	1
Kirkcudbright	0	0	1	1
Lanark	0	8	4	12
Linlithgow	9	5	13	27
Lochmaddy	0	1	1	2
Oban	0	3	1	4
Paisley	4	4	12	20
Perth	0	4	8	12
Rothesay	0	1	0	1
Selkirk	0	1	0	1
Stirling	4	8	6	18
Stranraer	0	2	1	3
Grand Total	272	479	704	1,455

Table 2: Number of Charges (wherethe Charge included a Religious Aggravation) where Court Proceedings were initiated.

Sheriff Court Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	Total
Aberdeen	4	3	0	7
Airdrie	37	47	24	108
Alloa	0	2	5	7
Arbroath	0	2	0	2
Ayr	4	5	9	18
Banff	0	1	0	1
Campbeltown	0	0	9	9
Cupar	0	1	2	3
Dumbarton	1	2	6	9
Dumfries	1	1	1	3
Dundee	15	2	4	21
Dunfermline	3	1	5	9
Dunoon	0	1	0	1
Duns	0	1	0	1
Edinburgh	4	14	7	25
Elgin	0	0	2	2
Falkirk	2	2	11	15
Forfar	1	1	0	2
Glasgow	113	224	415	752
Greenock	0	6	6	12
Haddington	0	0	2	2
Hamilton	34	69	46	149
Inverness	0	3	0	3
Jedburgh	0	2	0	2
Kilmarnock	3	8	32	43
Kirkcaldy	0	1	0	1
Kirkcudbright	0	0	1	1
Lanark	0	1	3	4
Linlithgow	9	4	13	26
Lochmaddy	0	1	0	1
Oban	0	3	1	4
Paisley	3	2	8	13
Perth	0	3	7	10
Selkirk	0	1	0	1
Stirling	4	8	4	16
Stranraer	0	2	1	3
Grand Total	238	424	624	1,286

Table 3: Number of Charges (wherethe Charge included a Religious Aggravation) where a Conviction was recorded.

Sheriff Court Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	Total
Aberdeen	3	2	0	5
Airdrie	20	35	12	67
Alloa	0	1	2	3
Arbroath	0	2	0	2
Ayr	4	4	6	14
Banff	0	1	0	1
Campbeltown	0	0	4	4
Cupar	0	1	2	3
Dumbarton	1	2	4	7
Dumfries	1	1	0	2
Dundee	3	1	4	8
Dunfermline	2	1	3	6
Duns	0	1	0	1
Edinburgh	3	8	5	16
Elgin	0	0	2	2
Falkirk	1	1	8	10
Forfar	1	1	0	2
Glasgow	78	162	248	488
Greenock	0	5	5	10
Haddington	0	0	1	1
Hamilton	25	49	33	107
Inverness	0	1	0	1
Jedburgh	0	2	0	2
Kilmarnock	3	5	27	35
Kirkcaldy	0	1	0	1
Lanark	0	0	2	2
Linlithgow	6	2	8	16
Lochmaddy	0	1	0	1
Oban	0	2	1	3
Paisley	2	2	6	10
Perth	0	2	5	7
Selkirk	0	1	0	1
Stirling	1	5	4	10
Stranraer	0	1	1	2
Grand Total	154	303	393	850

Table4: Number of Charges (wherethe Charge included a Religious Aggravation) where no Verdict has yet been recorded.

Sheriff Court Area	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	Total
Aberdeen	1		0	1
Airdrie	0	0	9	9
Ayr	0	0	2	2
Campbeltown	0	0	1	1
Edinburgh	1		0	1
Glasgow	4	5	81	90
Hamilton	0	0	2	2
Kilmarnock	0	0	1	1
Linlithgow	0	0	1	1
Paisley	0	0	1	1
Grand Total	6	5	98	109

Notes:

1. The information in these tableshas been extracted from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s case managementdatabase. The database is a live, operational database used to manage the processingof reports submitted to procurators fiscal by the police and other reporting agencies.If a procurator fiscal amends a charge submitted by a reporting agency, the databasewill record details only of the amended charge.

2. The database is charge-based.The figures quoted therefore relate to the number of charges rather than the numberof individuals charged or the number of incidents that gave rise to such charges.

3. The tables reflect the positionat 14 September 2006.

Question reference: S2W-28188

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 21 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many loans per 1,000 of the population were made by each local authority library in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06, also showing the percentage change over the same timescale.

Question reference: S2W-28437

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many housing support services, including bed-spaces, are provided specifically to (a) drug misusers, (b) alcohol misusers and (c) both drug and alcohol misusers.

Question reference: S2W-28438

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many independent health care services, including bed-spaces, are provided specifically to (a) drug misusers, (b) alcohol misusers and (c) both drug and alcohol misusers.

Question reference: S2W-28439

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 18 September 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive how many care home services, including bed-spaces, are provided specifically to (a) drug misusers, (b) alcohol misusers and (c) both drug and alcohol misusers.

Question reference: S2W-27542

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 17 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it or the Scottish Office provided, and on what dates, towards the reconstruction of Hampden Park.

The Scottish Office contributed£3.5 million to Phase I which involved the redevelopment of the north and east stands.That work was completed in 1994. As part of the Phase II redevelopment, which involvedthe construction of a new south stand and improvements to the west stand, the Scottish Office contributed £2 million over the three financial years from 1997-98 to 1999-2000and the Scottish Executive contributed anadditional £2.75 million in 1999-2000. These payments were made via sportscotland.In addition, sportscotland contributed £3.5 million from the Lottery Sports Fund towardsthe west stand and sports clinic element of Phase II.

Question reference: S2W-27543

Asked by: Donald Gorrie, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 21 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 17 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what provision was made in any of the transactions in respect of the reconstruction of Hampden Park for the public purse to benefit from a share in any profit made in its running.

No provisions were in place forthe public purse to benefit from the profits of running Hampden Park. However,provisions were put in place for a specificproportionate repayment of grant in the event of Queen’s Park Football Club Limitedselling, leasing (otherwise than for football matches) or disposing any interestin Hampden Park without the prior consent of the then Secretary of State for Scotlandor Scottish ministers. This provision for Phase I redevelopment lapsed in 2005 andfor Phase II is in place until 2010.