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: S3W-18189

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are registered for free off-peak concessionary bus travel, broken down by local authority area.

The issuing of national entitlement cards is the responsibility of each local authority.

Based on the information available to Transport Scotland I can advise you that the total number of valid national entitlement cards that were in circulation, giving access to Scotland-wide free bus travel for older and disabled People as of 23 October 2008 was 1,121,689. This is broken down by local authority and eligibility type as follows. Please also note that under the scheme there are no peak time restrictions for bus travel.

Eligibility Type

Local Authority	60 Years and Over	Disabled	Disabled Plus Companion	Visually Impaired	Visually Impaired Plus Companion	Totals
Aberdeen City	51,808	6,929	4,042	33	1,409	64,221
Aberdeenshire	39,670	2,083	1,466	79	400	43,698
Angus	23,409	781	604	240	117	25,151
Argyll and Bute	20,340	828	1,244	114	195	22,721
City of Edinburgh	79,775	3,969	8,998	597	1,180	94,519
Clackmannanshire	8,913	596	520	45	64	10,138
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	6,327	199	141	22	19	6,708
Dumfries and Galloway	30,415	1,649	1,123	102	423	33,712
Dundee City	29,630	1,265	2,302	287	407	33,891
East Ayrshire	22,697	1,573	2,416	107	219	27,012
East Dunbartonshire	21,510	611	1,078	71	133	23,403
East Lothian	18,931	853	1,654	69	232	21,739
East Renfrewshire	16,624	560	913	71	101	18,269
Falkirk	27,452	2,008	1,290	125	284	31,159
Fife	67,184	2,911	12,987	60	944	84,086
Glasgow	89,317	8,616	17,415	681	1,411	117,440
Highland	41,539	2,588	1,803	260	540	46,730
Inverclyde	15,944	1,168	2,203	117	200	19,632
Midlothian	15,404	826	1,607	24	232	18,093
Moray	15,348	986	690	62	201	17,287
North Ayrshire	28,254	1,716	2,877	192	344	33,383
North Lanarkshire	51,152	4,250	6,552	277	506	62,737
Orkney Islands	4,368	188	191	12	20	4,779
Perth and Kinross	29,039	914	898	201	240	31,292
Renfrewshire	32,237	2,051	3,519	215	355	38,377
Scottish Borders	23,443	1,260	819	209	219	25,950
Shetland Islands	4,271	147	217	20	17	4,672
South Ayrshire	25,256	1,421	1,989	150	253	29,069
South Lanarkshire	54,329	3,334	5,675	260	577	64,175
Stirling	15,509	984	563	116	132	17,304
West Dunbartonshire	16,083	1,073	2,252	94	234	19,736
West Lothian	25,999	1,269	2,948	55	335	30,606
Totals	952,177	59,606	92,996	4,967	11,943	1,121,689

Question reference: S3W-18192

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on Fairtrade products in 2007-08 and what proportion of overall spending on catering services this represents.

Question reference: S3W-18188

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many subsidised bus services are in place in each parliamentary constituency in the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport area.

Question reference: S3W-18176

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings have been held at ministerial or official level with (a) COSLA and (b) individual local authorities since the announcement on 2 October 2008 by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Young People that free school meals for children in the first three years of primary school are to be introduced by every local authority from 2010.

Ministers and officials meet frequently with COSLA and local authorities to discuss a variety of issues. There are also bi-monthly meetings between COSLA and Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning and John Swinney MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth. Since 2 October 2008, Scottish Government officials and COSLA officials met on 10 November 2008 to discuss the concordat commitments on free school meals.

Question reference: S3W-18194

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much VisitScotland allocated to promoting South Lanarkshire in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

VisitScotland''s promotion of Scotland and its areas, and the process by which marketing funds are allocated, is based on market research which identifies what potential visitors want from a trip to Scotland. This allows VisitScotland to focus marketing spend in order to generate the maximum economic value for Scotland, both locally and nationally. Accordingly, spend is not allocated on an area or local authority basis but spread across a wide variety of promotional activities, many of which will cover South Lanarkshire and its attractions.

Examples of these activities include the Be Inspired Campaign 2008; Go for it!; Real Scotland “ Local''s Guide; Winter White, and the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Accommodation Guide and Visitor Guide. In addition New Lanark World Heritage Site, Chatelherault Country Park and Scotkart featured in VisitScotland''s Citybreaks campaign.

VisitScotland works closely with South Lanarkshire Council, which provides funding directly to VisitScotland in order to deliver specified marketing for the benefit of the area, as well as the provision of information and inspiration via the area''s Visitor Information Centres. These activities are agreed through direct discussion between the local authority and VisitScotland, and form part of their annual partnership agreement which contributes to the promotion of the area to visitors. The council provided £97,000 under this partnership agreement in 2007-08, and the final amount to be provided in 2008-09 is still under discussion.

Question reference: S3W-18180

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding was provided for primary care services in (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09, broken down by NHS board.

Details of the funding provided for primary care services in 2007-08, comprising primary medical services, pharmaceutical services, general dental services and general ophthalmic services, are as follows:

NHS Board	Primary Care Funding 2007-08 (£000)
Ayrshire and Arran	152,797
Borders	39,822
Dumfries and Galloway	61,660
Fife	136,508
Forth Valley	114,529
Grampian	192,250
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	513,251
Highland	136,139
Lanarkshire	221,504
Lothian	295,494
Orkney	10,988
Shetland	10,527
Tayside	158,158
Western Isles	14,558
Total	2,058,185

Boards are funded to the level of their expenditure for demand led primary care services. Final funding levels for each NHS board for 2008-09 are not yet available. The total primary care services funding for 2008-09 is £2,412.4 million.

Question reference: S3W-18178

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time for audiology services is in (a) NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and (b) NHS Lanarkshire.

Question reference: S3W-18175

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the cost of providing free school meals, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S3W-18181

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2008

Question reference: S3W-18184

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 4 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of NHS board budgets is allocated to the provision of GP services, broken down by NHS board.

The provision of GP medical services is funded from each NHS board''s primary medical services budget, Details of the proportion of NHS board revenue resource limits in 2007-08 allocated to primary medical services are as follows:

NHS Board	Proportion of Budget Allocated to Primary Medical Services
Ayrshire and Arran	7.9%
Borders	8.2%
Dumfries and Galloway	8.0%
Fife	8.3%
Forth Valley	8.7%
Grampian	10.4%
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	7.7%
Highland	10.7%
Lanarkshire	7.7%
Lothian	10.7%
Orkney	14.3%
Shetland	10.6%
Tayside	8.7%
Western Isles	9.7%