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-06873

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 11 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds will be made available through formula capital to NHS boards for 2004-05.

NHS boards have been given a formula capital allocation of £200 million, an average increase over the 2003-04 formula capital allocation of 9.3%. Details of each board’s formula capital allocation are as follows: -

NHS Board	2004-05 £ (million)	Increase %
Argyll and Clyde	14.372	8.63
Ayrshire and Arran	13.389	10.02
Borders	3.732	8.17
Dumfries and Galloway	5.690	11.35
Fife	10.929	9.40
Forth Valley	9.029	8.91
Grampian	17.558	13.18
Greater Glasgow	50.963	14.24
Highland	8.363	11.36
Lanarkshire	17.571	10.37
Lothian	30.705	10.37
Orkney	0.488	6.09
Shetland	0.543	4.42
Tayside	15.445	8.46
Western Isles	1.193	4.65
Total	200.00	9.3

Island boards will also receive an uplift to obtain parity.

Question reference: S2W-06125

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is providing to public bodies and other groups to mark EU enlargement on 1 May 2004.

The Scottish Executive considers requests to support events to mark EU enlargement on anindividual basis. Scottish ministers have contributed to a number of conferences,debates and awareness-raising events on EU enlargement over recent months andwill continue to do so. For example, I have accepted an invitation to speak atthe New Europe conference taking place in the member’s constituency at the endof April.

In terms of financialsupport, the Executive endorsed the Edinburgh Consortium application forEuropean Commission funding to mark EU Enlargement, and has already committedmatch-funding for its exhibition on “Scots in Europe”.

Question reference: S2W-06126

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 09 February 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 1 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is giving any direct material support to any organisation seeking to explore the consequences of EU enlargement for Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-05408

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 13 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the new tobacco control action plan building on achievements to date which it committed itself to in Improving Health in Scotland: THE CHALLENGE.

Our Tobacco Control ActionPlan A Breath of Fresh Air for Scotland is published today. This is thefirst ever action on tobacco control designed specifically for Scotland. Itbuilds upon and responds to an excellent report by NHS Health Scotland andASH Scotland Reducing Smoking and Tobacco Related Harm: A Keyto Transforming Scotland’s Health which is also published today. The planoffers a programme of action covering prevention and education, protection andcontrol and the expansion of smoking cessation services and another £4 millionwill be made available with effect from 2005-06.

The plan also addresses theimportant issue of passive smoking and offers everyone the opportunity toengage in a national debate about steps which might be taken to reduce suchrisks. This takes forward the commitment made within A Partnership for aBetter Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-04817

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) manual workers and (b) managers are currently employed by Scottish Water.

Question reference: S2W-04816

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 08 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are in place to ensure that Scottish Water represents good value for money to the taxpayer.

Question reference: S2W-04054

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how the quality of life fund and health promotion budgets will be used to encourage better access to swimming pools and other sports facilities to the benefit of constituents of Greenock and Inverclyde.

In the three-year spendingreview period, we are more than doubling the money allocated to healthimprovements in Scotland. This will include expanding the active primary schoolsprogramme and supporting a school sports development officer in every secondaryschool to raise the level of physical activity for school children.

Inverclyde Council willreceive £3.099 million over the three-year period to 2005-06 for Quality ofLife projects. Quality of life funding is aimed at two specific themes: “IncreasingOpportunities for Children and Young People” and “Improving the LocalEnvironment”. It is up to councils to allocate their funding to specificprojects in line with these themes.

Inverclyde Council havechosen to allocate their Quality of Life funding as follows:

Inverclyde QOL
Children and Young People
	Organised Play & Play Areas	Youth Projects	Leisure Access (15- 26yrs)	Local Clubs	Total (£ million)
	Organised Play & Play Areas	Youth Projects	Leisure Access (15- 26yrs)	Local Clubs	Total (£ million)
2003-04	0.109	0.000	0.055	0.000	0.164
2004-05	0.000	0.150	0.000	0.050	0.200
2005-06	0.000	0.150	0.000	0.050	0.200
Total	0.109	0.300	0.055	0.100	0.564

Inverclyde QOL
Local Environment			Neighbourhood			Litter,
	Roads and Pavements	Road Safety Provisions	Safety (inc. lighting & CCTV)	Community Regeneration	Graffiti and Vandalism	Dog Fouling and Abandoned Cars
	Roads and Pavements	Road Safety Provisions	Safety (inc. lighting & CCTV)	Community Regeneration	Graffiti and Vandalism	Dog Fouling and Abandoned Cars
2003-04	0.210	0.000	0.097	0.000	0.000	0.025
2004-05	0.000	0.210	0.150	0.097	0.157	0.000
2005-06	0.000	0.210	0.150	0.097	0.324	0.000
Total	0.210	0.420	0.397	0.194	0.481	0.025
Inverclyde QOL
Local Environment	Parks, Cemetaries and Open Spaces	Provision for Elderly and Disabled	Flood Prevention	Recycling and Waste Management	Transport Initiatives	Other	Total £ (million)


2003-04	0.092	0.119	0.000	0.053	0.000	0.106	0.702
2004-05	0.000	0.000	0.119	0.000	0.100	0.000	0.833
2005-06	0.000	0.000	0.119	0.000	0.100	0.000	1.000
Total	0.092	0.119	0.238	0.053	0.200	0.106	2.535

Question reference: S2W-04056

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds will be made available to provide support to localised action and initiatives to divert young people away from crime, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-04053

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 24 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will develop accreditation schemes to allow greater numbers of people to act as coaches and physical activity trainers and how it will promote New Deal programmes which provide opportunities to train as sports assistants, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-04055

Asked by: Duncan McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 24 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will develop and support mentoring programmes for young people in Greenock and Inverclyde.

As part of the Executive’s partnership agreement commitment to provide opportunities for our children and young people to grow and develop, we are committed to develop our support for mentoring programmes for young people. We have not yet started to develop specific proposals on this commitment but expect to do so during the course of next year.

In the meantime we currently support mentoring programmes through our financial support of Big Brothers and Sisters – £30,000 in this financial year to contribute to core HQ costs. Big Brothers and Sisters provide adult volunteer mentors to children and young people aged six to sixteen from lone parent families. We have also provided project funding of £40,000 in the current year to the Fostering Network to run a mentoring scheme for young people leaving care.