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-28505

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how ministerial confidence in the Executive’s financial planning can be reconciled with the data in Statistics Release: Free Personal and Nursing Care Scotland 2002-2005 which omit figures for West Lothian in Table 13 and also imply that in 2004-05 the (a) gross cost per hour, gross of all on-costs, of delivering personal care in the domestic situation in Renfrewshire and (b) net cost per hour, net of all on-costs, in the largest authority, Glasgow City, was less than the hourly minimum wage.

The statistics mentioned arebased on information provided by and quality assured by local authorities. Theyare not published as National Statistics as there are known problems with coverageand data quality which are gradually improving over time. All figures are provisionaland subject to possible change in next year’s publication as local authorities continueto improve their data collection systems.

The Executive’s financial planninguses data from a variety of different sources and does not just rely on reportedpast expenditure. The distribution of funding to local authorities follows the GrantAided Expenditure (GAE) allocation process and for social work services in 2004-05this amounted to a total allocation of £1.7 billion.

GAE lines are agreed by the Executivein consultation with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and areset using a number of indicators. The GAE lines for Social Work services are notring-fenced allowing local authorities to set budgets and manage their financesaccording to local priorities and needs.

Question reference: S2W-27966

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how potential bidders for the Gourock-Dunoon ferry tender can comply with the condition to demonstrate that they have concluded several contingent contracts for a Gourock to Dunoon ferry service with VesCo by 30 October 2006, as referred to in the invitation to tender, given that VesCo does not yet exist.

Question reference: S2W-27836

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the statement made in correspondence from the Lord Advocate on 8 June 2006 indicating that there was no legal requirement for the Assignation Statement relating to the Skye Bridge tolling regime to be signed, whether it will indicate what statutory authority permits the statement to be unsigned, undated and anonymous.

Question reference: S2W-27837

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 17 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the statement made in correspondence from the Lord Advocate on 8 June 2006 indicating that there was no legal requirement for the Assignation Statement relating to the Skye Bridge tolling regime to be signed, how many other such instruments which are the responsibility of the Executive are unsigned.

Question reference: S2W-27907

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, when formulating any response to HM Treasury’s Independence for statistics: A consultation document, it consulted any external organisations or individuals and, if so, whether it will provide a list of these organisations or individuals.

Question reference: S2W-27903

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has begun any form of consultation with statisticians, statistical users or the UK Government regarding a review of the concordat relating to the production of statistics.

Question reference: S2W-27906

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to reduce the time during which ministers and civil servants have pre-publication access to statistics from approximately 40 hours to three hours as recommended by the House of Commons Treasury Committee in its Tenth Report of Session 2005-06: Independence for Statistics and whether, in doing so, it will also adopt the recommendation that opposition spokespeople should be entitled to pre-publication access to statistics at least one hour in advance of publication.

The Executive does not have plansto reduce the pre-publication access which for most statistics releases is in factfive days as is standard for National Statistics across the UK. It considersthis to be an important part of ensuring that ministers are able to respond to immediatedemands at the time that statistics are released. It will be considering its arrangementsfor pre-release access as part of the consideration of its broader position on statisticsreferred to in the answer to question S2W-27904 on 11 September 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Question reference: S2W-27904

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has formulated a position on HM Treasury’s proposals referred to in Independence for statistics: A consultation document and, if so, whether it will make that position public.

Question reference: S2W-27905

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 21 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made a written submission on HM Treasury’s proposals referred to in Independence for statistics: A consultation document and, if so, when the submission will be published.

Question reference: S2W-27777

Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 August 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 September 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding the expiry of the United Kingdom’s derogation from Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003, which allows private boat owners to purchase red diesel at reduced duty levels; whether it has considered the impact which the expiry of the derogation would have on Scotland’s boating industry and on the economic benefits generated by the industry and maritime tourism for Scotland’s coastal areas and island communities, and whether it will make representations to the UK Government to maintain the derogation.