Chamber and committees

The Partnership Agreement priorities for concessionary travel are to introduce a Scotland-wide free bus scheme for older and disabled people and a scheme of concessionary travel on bus, rail and ferry for young people.

However, as part of our commitment to reduce the cost of lifeline air links, we are currently looking at how air fares can be significantly reduced.

Earlier surveys on business research and development did not separately identify each source of investment. The latest available data is shown as follows.

Percentage of Scottish Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) Expenditure by Firm Ownership

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
Non-Scottish	n/a	n/a	63	75	71
Non-UK	41	27	56	69	63
Non-EU	n/a	n/a	48	58	53

 

Percentage Change in the Value of BERD Expenditure by Ownership

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Non-Scottish	n/a	n/a	50%	-24%
Non-UK	-33%	167%	54%	-26%
Non-EU	n/a	n/a	51%	-25%

Note: Latest data is for 2002-03.

Of the total non-EU Business Enterprise Research and Development (BERD) expenditure, only USA BERD expenditure is separately identifiable. The years for which this information is available are as shown.

Percentage of Non-EU BERD Expenditure by Firm Ownership

	2001	2002	2003
Total Non-EU	48	58	53
Of which:
USA	92	94	93
Other	8	6	7

 

The number of additional permanent jobs (full-time equivalent, rounded to the nearest whole number) in Scottish Executive core departments between April 2000 and October 2005 is listed as follows by local authority area.

(a) Urban*
City Of Edinburgh	371
East Lothian	3
Falkirk	35
Glasgow City	89
South Lanarkshire	20
(b) Rural
Aberdeenshire	3
Argyll and Bute	4
Eilean Siar	1
Moray	3
Perth and Kinross	10
Scottish Borders	5
Shetland	3

Note: *Council areas with a population density of one or more persons per hectare (at the 2001 Census) are defined as urban.

The requested information is as follows.

	Unsuccessful Applications Made in UK
Refused	16
Rejected	52
Void	1
Total	69

 

This data is based on internal Management Information from the Home Office and UKVisas and is provisional and subject to change.

Data on unsuccessful applicants made from outside the UK is not currently available.

A refusal is made where the application has been considered and does not meet the specified criteria. An application is rejected because it cannot be considered – this may be that required information is missing or the wrong fee has been paid.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-19986 on 17 November 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Proposals for a Users Charter relating to the services provided by Western Ferries between Inverclyde and Cowal were submitted to the Scottish Executive and Argyll and Bute Council by Western Ferries in 2004 and were the subject of subsequent discussions. These discussions were overtaken by the Executive’s announcement, on 8 December 2004, that it proposed to seek an operator willing to provide a service between Gourock Pier and Dunoon Pier on a commercial basis. The Users Charter proposal was not developed to the stage where it was possible or necessary to assess whether such a document would be legally binding. However, in principle, there is no reason why an arrangement of the type proposed should not be legally binding.

The same performance objectives are set for all health boards in Scotland, covering a wide range of patient–oriented issues. Currently, principal objectives are set out in Building a Better Scotland, in October 2004 and Fair to All, Personal to Each published in December 2004.

I conducted the annual review of NHS Western Isles on 12 September in Stornoway from which it was clear that the board has delivered in 2004-05 a high-standard of patient care, and has substantially improved its standards of staff and clinical governance. I expressed disappointment about the qualification of its accounts for the previous year and was personally assured by the chair of the board that the board’s financial management had already been radically improved. The Health Department is in close and regular touch with the board to ensure that the good progress, which has been made, is maintained.

The Scottish Executive Health Department has received a draft financial plan from NHS Western Isles in relation to 2005-06 and the following four financial years, which the department has reviewed and provided feedback on.

The final version of the plan is expected on 18 November and colleagues from the department have been engaging with NHS Western Isles to ensure that the plan is as robust as possible; departmental approval will be dependent upon the submission satisfactorily demonstrating a return to financial balance within the lifetime of the plan.