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: S1W-18074

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 25 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to have a representative in attendance at the meetings of the House of Lords committee inquiry into the Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre and, if not, how it plans to monitor the progress of the inquiry.

Question reference: S1W-18072

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take to restrict the manufacture, supply and ownership of imitation weapons.

Legislation on firearms is a reserved matter. The Government receives advice on firearms issues, including issues relating to replica and imitation firearms, which are defined in section 57(4) of the Firearms Act 1968, from the Firearms Consultative Committee. The committee is an independent body established by an Act of the UK Parliament to keep under review the workings of the Firearms Acts. Its 11th annual report is due to be submitted to the Home Secretary later this year.

Question reference: S1W-18073

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences involving the (a) use, (b) presentation or (c) possession of imitation firearms there were in the City of Edinburgh in each year since 1997.

The available information is given in the table:

Crimes and offences recorded by the police in the City of Edinburgh in which an imitation firearms was alleged to have been used

Crime/offence	1997	1998	1999
Robbery	1	-	-
Firearms Act 1968 offences¹	-	-	1
Petty Assault	2	1	-
Total	3	1	1

Notes:

1. For example, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, commit a crime etc. and other miscellaneous firearms offences.

Question reference: S1W-17563

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the sums expended and committed to date from the #10 million allocated to the Motorola task force.

I announced in Parliament on 25 April that the Executive would set aside up to £10 million to fund measures which may be required by the closure of Motorola's Bathgate plant.

To date, funding has been called on to deliver the activities detailed in the Motorola Task Force's Action Plan. The Action Plan, submitted by Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, was drawn up by local agencies to deliver an appropriate and comprehensive package of support.

Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian has produced a monitoring report for the period 1 April - 31 July, which shows total costs to date of £1.4 million (£0.4 million actual; £0.6 million committed; £0.4 million absorbed). These figures cover the first four months following the announcement, during which time a significant portion of the workforce remained on-site.

We will continue to provide additional resources to fund a range of training and supports over and above those provided by local agencies through their existing budgets. Over 800 people have secured alternative employment and 1,600 people are currently being supported through task force training.

There are around 700 workers still to leave Motorola whose training and support needs are currently being addressed. This may result in further calls on funding which will be considered as they arise.

Question reference: S1W-17458

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 24 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with English, Welsh and Scottish Railway and Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire with regard to expanding the Eurocentral rail freight facilities; what contribution such an expansion could make to its targets for moving freight from road to rail, and what representations it intends to make to the Strategic Rail Authority on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-17761

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 August 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 21 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many secondary schools there are in Scotland, broken down by local authority, and how many of these have offered technological studies to certificate level on an annual basis since 1997.

According to the 2000 census, there are 449 secondary schools in Scotland. The distribution across each local authority is shown in the table. In 2000, 228 schools offered technological studies at Standard Grade, Intermediate 1 and 2, Higher Grade and Certificate of Sixth Year Studies. The following tables provide details of the number of schools presenting pupils for examinations in technological studies since 1997 at these different levels. Information on the geographical spread of presenting schools is not held centrally.Secondary Schools in Scotland by Local Authority

EA code	Authority	Publicly funded	Independent	Total
100	Aberdeen City	13	6	19
110	Aberdeenshire	16	0	16
120	Angus	8	1	9
130	Argyll and Bute	10	1	11
150	Clackmannanshire	3	1	4
170	Dumfries & Galloway	16	2	18
180	Dundee City	10	1	11
190	East Ayrshire	9	0	9
200	East Dunbartonshire	9	0	9
210	East Lothian	6	2	8
220	East Renfrewshire	7	1	8
230	City of Edinburgh	23	14	37
235	Eilean Siar	13	0	13
240	Falkirk	8	0	8
250	Fife	19	3	22
260	City of Glasgow	30	8	38
270	Highland	28	1	29
280	Inverclyde	8	2	10
290	Midlothian	6	0	6
300	Moray	8	2	10
310	North Ayrshire	10	0	10
320	North Lanarkshire	26	0	26
330	Orkney Islands	6	0	6
340	Perth & Kinross	10	8	18
350	Renfrewshire	14	1	15
355	Scottish Borders	9	1	10
360	Shetland Isles	9	0	9
370	South Ayrshire	9	1	10
380	South Lanarkshire	21	2	23
390	Stirling	7	2	9
395	West Dunbartonshire	7	0	7
400	West Lothian	11	0	11
	Total	389	60	449

Source: SEED Schools Census - Sep 2000

Number of schools offering certification in Technological Studies 1997-200 by level

	1997	1998	1999	2000
Standard Grade	295	267	233	205
Higher Grade	179	156	152	139
CSYS	16	15	15	12
Total	303	281	246	228

Notes:

1. To ensure comparability, Intermediate 1 and 2 are not included as they were introduced for the first time in 2000.

2. Figures for Higher in 2000 include both SCE and NQ Higher.

3. The total is not the sum of the different levels, as many schools offer more than one level.

Question reference: S1W-17986

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many grants were made under the Powershift programme or related schemes to convert (a) private and (b) commercial vehicles to (i) liquid natural gas and (ii) liquid petroleum gas in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

The information required is set out in the table, provided by the Energy Saving Trust, which administers the Powershift programme in Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Executive.

Powershift grants (number of vehicles) for Liquid Petroleum Gas by Private and Commercial vehicles since 1997.
Number of vehicles
Local Authority		Private						Commercial
		1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	Total	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	Total
Aberdeenshire		0	0	2	6	0	8	0	0	6	11	0	17
Angus		0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	4	0	4
Dundee City		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	6	7	0	20
Dumfries & Galloway		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
East Ayrshire		0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	4	11	0	15
East Dunbartonshire		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
East Lothian		0	0	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh City of		0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	11	0	12
Falkirk		0	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	1
Fife		0	0	1	3	0	4	0	0	2	46	0	48
Glasgow City		0	0	0	3	0	3	2	0	243	47	3	295
Highland		0	0	0	3	1	4	0	0	1	3	0	4
Inverclyde		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1
Moray		0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	12	0	12
North Lanarkshire		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	0	16
Perth & Kinross		0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	2	0	3
Renfrewshire		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	22	0	23
Scottish Borders		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	4
South Lanarkshire		0	0	1	0	1	2	0	0	9	2	0	11
Stirling		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	7	0	14
West Lothian		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	13	0	16
Total		0	0	7	23	3	33	2	8	285	218	5	518
Powershift grants (number of vehicles) for Liquid Natural Gas by Private and commercial vehicles since 1997.
Number of vehicles
Local Authority	Private							Commercial
	1997		1998	1999	2000	2001	Total	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	Total
Edinburgh City of	0		0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2
Total	0		0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2

Question reference: S1W-17988

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 21 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made regarding any possible reduction in grants for commercial vehicles under the Powershift programme from 60% to 40%.

Question reference: S1W-17987

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 07 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 21 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many petrol stations currently receive local authority funding to provide (a) liquid natural gas and (b) liquid petroleum gas, broken down by local authority.

Question reference: S1W-17953

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 September 2001
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 19 September 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement on 7 August 2001 by the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning and Gaelic of a #36 million funding package to improve tourist and visitor facilities in the Highlands and Islands, what the source is of the #24 million funding from the private sector; how much of this is currently available; what funding the private sector will make available in each of the next three years; what individuals or businesses applying for assistance under this package will have to meet; whether any funding sought by an individual or business will require to be matched by that individual or business, and whether assistance received under this package will require to be repaid at any time.

The source of the £24 million from the private sector will be the estimated 600 businesses who are expected to apply for assistance from the schemes over the next two-and-a-half years. Projects already approved total £6.1 million private sector contribution. It is estimated that approximately 60% of the private sector commitment will be made in the first two years of the programme and 40% in the third.All applicants will require to produce a business plan including a marketing plan. Successful applicants will have to commit to Investors in People, and be members of the VisitScotland quality assurance scheme and Green tourism business scheme, and be members of their Area Tourist Board.It is anticipated that the average level of private sector contribution will be two thirds of the total cost. Grants are not normally repaid if the conditions of offer of assistance are fulfilled.