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-15448

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 16 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new chief executive of visitscotland will be selected by visitscotland and, if so, what role the Executive will take in the new appointment, in particular, whether it will issue any guidance or guidelines to visitscotland with regard to the appointment process.

Question reference: S1W-15445

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 16 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the job specifications for the posts of chief executive and chairman of visitscotland as issued prior to the appointments of Peter Lederer and Rod Lynch.

The Chair, along with the other members of the visitscotland, oversees and provides strategic direction to the operations of visitscotland. The main duties are:

chairing meetings of visitscotland;

considering papers prepared by visitscotland;

taking a leading role in the determination of quality, planning and resource allocations;

representing the best interests of the tourism industry, and
representing the board at functions and events, in negotiations, and in discussions with Scottish Ministers.

The chief executive's role is exercised under the direction of the appointed board. It is to:

lead visitscotland in such a way as to enhance its reputation and profile;

manage the organisation and operations of visitscotland within the constraints of operating in the public sector;

play the lead co-ordinating role among the industry and public sector bodies, developing, championing and representing the tourism sector;

establish a clear short- and long-term direction for the business, acknowledging changing demands;

ensure that visitscotland has a structure that can deliver excellent service to its customers, whether from the tourist industry or as consumers, and

develop an organisation whose culture and ethos reflects the changing environment in which it operates.

Question reference: S1W-15155

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 16 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement by Ms Wendy Alexander on 11 April 2001, what methodology was used to estimate that there are 100,000 job vacancies in Scotland.

Currently, the only official source of information about vacancies in Scotland is from Jobcentre records maintained by the Employment Service. The latest figures show that in March 2001 there were 45,700 vacancies at Jobcentres in Scotland. Surveys of employers have historically shown that only around a third of vacancies in the economy are notified to Jobcentres. Hence the estimate that, in Scotland, there are at least 100,000 vacancies. The Office for National Statistics has recently started a simple regular enterprise survey-based approach to provide a fuller measure of vacancies in the UK although this is still in the experimental phase.

Question reference: S1W-15490

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 15 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to post a civil servant to the UK Embassy in Washington and, if so, what level of civil service post it will be, to whom the post will be accountable, how it will interact with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department of Trade and Industry, whether it will have an allocated budget and, if so, from what department or cost centre this will come.

Question reference: S1W-15488

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 May 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 15 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many graduates there were from each university engineering faculty in each year since 1995 and how many of these were from (a) Scotland, (b) the rest of the UK, (c) another EU country and (d) a non-EU country.

Information is not collected by faculty. However, available data by subject group for those graduating from higher education institutions in Scotland is as follows:

Graduates from Scottish Higher Education Institutions with Engineering & Technology as main subject

1994-95
Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	192	13	3	6	214
Glasgow School of Art	10	4	0	0	14
The Scottish College of Textiles	83	24	4	1	112
The Robert Gordon University	208	16	4	15	243
University of Paisley	310	5	26	10	351
Glasgow Caledonian University	142	1	0	1	144
Napier University	328	21	21	13	383
The University of Edinburgh	100	77	8	19	204
The University of Glasgow	198	29	55	180	462
The University of Strathclyde	344	67	35	107	553
The University of Aberdeen	87	26	5	56	174
Heriot-Watt University	227	107	32	53	419
The University of Dundee	111	40	0	0	151
Total	2,340	430	193	461	3,424

1995-96Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	371	26	23	20	440
Glasgow School of Art	11	2	1	0	14
The Scottish College of Textiles	55	26	2	1	84
The Robert Gordon University	210	13	11	14	248
University of Paisley	274	4	35	9	322
Glasgow Caledonian University	311	9	0	4	324
Napier University	369	22	37	7	435
The University of Edinburgh	84	72	10	51	217
The University of Glasgow	165	39	34	178	416
The University of Strathclyde	482	62	50	129	723
The University of Aberdeen	69	13	8	76	166
Heriot-Watt University	256	126	33	87	502
The University of Dundee	59	36	36	39	170
Total	2,716	450	280	615	4,061

1996-97Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	300	25	28	12	365
Glasgow School of Art	0	0	0	0	0
The Scottish College of Textiles	70	23	4	4	101
The Robert Gordon University	200	18	10	33	261
University of Paisley	155	1	32	7	195
Glasgow Caledonian University	192	6	4	2	204
Napier University	212	16	62	10	300
The University of Edinburgh	103	71	21	51	246
The University of Glasgow	129	32	36	178	375
The University of Strathclyde	447	55	92	135	729
The University of Aberdeen	97	15	5	97	214
Heriot-Watt University	227	128	48	72	475
The University of Dundee	41	29	43	39	152
Total	2,173	419	385	640	3,617

1997-98Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	163	14	18	18	213
Glasgow School of Art	0	0	0	0	0
The Scottish College of Textiles	100	26	2	6	134
The Robert Gordon University	267	21	12	49	349
University of Paisley	213	5	36	8	262
Glasgow Caledonian University	266	5	11	7	289
Napier University	176	16	56	1	249
The University of Edinburgh	110	83	20	57	270
The University of Glasgow	184	32	47	105	368
The University of Strathclyde	409	34	75	113	631
The University of Aberdeen	111	7	3	51	172
Heriot-Watt University	230	105	66	84	485
The University of Dundee	37	26	35	40	138
Total	2,266	374	381	539	3,560

1998-99Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	87	3	21	18	129
Glasgow School of Art	0	0	0	0	0
The Robert Gordon University	248	11	9	60	328
University of Paisley	184	6	46	8	244
Glasgow Caledonian University	211	9	10	4	234
Napier University	154	13	56	7	230
The University of Edinburgh	109	61	8	43	221
The University of Glasgow	161	27	42	128	358
The University of Strathclyde	413	35	68	93	609
The University of Aberdeen	100	17	8	62	187
Heriot-Watt University	351	121	107	127	706
The University of Dundee	44	17	46	23	130
Total	2,062	320	421	573	3,376

The Scottish College of Textiles merged with Heriot-Watt University on 1/10/98

1999-2000Institution	Scotland	Rest UK	EU	Non EU	Total
University of Abertay	45	1	26	18	90
Glasgow School of Art	0	0	0	0	0
The Robert Gordon University	271	16	13	81	381
University of Paisley	176	3	43	10	232
Glasgow Caledonian University	213	7	21	14	255
Napier University	193	15	63	9	280
The University of Edinburgh	123	31	16	23	193
The University of Glasgow	140	24	33	88	285
The University of Strathclyde	402	35	74	88	599
The University of Aberdeen	93	13	9	39	154
Heriot-Watt University	314	99	84	114	611
The University of Dundee	33	16	36	29	114
Total	2,003	260	418	513	3,194

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Question reference: S1W-14611

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 15 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13883 by Mr Jack McConnell on 23 March 2001, how many students started a secondary teacher training course with technological education as their main subject at each institution in each year since 1997-98.

Question reference: S1W-13411

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to amend the planning system to make it a requirement that fibre optic telecommunications are installed in new industrial parks and housing estates.

Question reference: S1W-13410

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that planning regulations address the telecommunications needs of the 21st century.

The Executive recognises the importance of the telecommunications sector to Scotland. As an example, the recent consultation package on "Planning and Radio Telecommunications", prompted by concerns about mobile phone masts, was drawn up in consultation with the telecommunications industry, among others. The revised planning controls for mobile phone masts should be in place by the middle of the year.

Question reference: S1W-13699

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new standard grade course in Technological Studies will proceed in the coming academic year and, if this matter is still under consideration, when a decision will be announced.

Question reference: S1W-15478

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 April 2001
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 14 May 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of fuel for ambulance service vehicles was, broken down by health board area, for the financial year 2000-01.

	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
Total	90	57	50
Moray House¹	31	0	0
University of Edinburgh	0	19	12
Northern College of Education	6	7	7
University of Glasgow	26	21	16
University of Strathclyde	27	10	15