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-12026

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 10 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to publish a response to the report Capercaillie: A Review of Research Needs.

No.

Since the Scottish Executive funded this review along with the Forestry Commission and Scottish Natural Heritage, I see no need for the Executive to respond formally to its findings. I am, however, concerned at the serious threat to the capercaillie which the report has highlighted and the same funding partnership will be commencing further work in early 2001 to build upon the recommendations in the review.

Since the publication in August 2000 of Capercaillie: A Review of Research Needs, the Executive has consulted widely on changes to the legal status of the capercaillie. At present, it is afforded legal protection under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is listed in Schedule 2, Part I. This means that the capercaillie may be hunted between 1 February - 30 September. The consultation seeks the views of Scottish interests on listing the species on Schedule 1 in order to prohibit hunting the capercaillie. This would give additional protection and provide stricter penalties.

I expect to publish the results of this consultation early in the New Year.

Question reference: S1W-12027

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 4 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of capercaillie in Scotland is estimated to have been over each of the last fifty years.

Question reference: S1W-12034

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 4 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended ratio is of bowel cancer consultants to head of population.

Question reference: S1W-12032

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many bowel cancer consultants there are in each health board area.

Question reference: S1W-12035

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people (a) were diagnosed with and (b) died from bowel cancer in each of the last five years in each health board area.

The numbers of incident cases registered and number of deaths, by health board residence for the period 1993-97 (the most recent year for which completed information is available) are as follows:

	1993		1994		1995		1996		1997
Health Board	Regs.	Deaths	Regs.	Deaths	Regs.	Deaths	Regs.	Deaths	Regs.	Deaths
Argyll & Clyde	252	146	290	149	295	152	299	153	276	138
Ayrshire & Arran	203	138	225	112	231	117	280	128	267	119
Borders	93	67	63	33	84	44	112	46	95	53
Dumfries & Galloway	109	61	105	71	111	57	110	47	110	42
Fife	215	114	217	99	229	122	255	124	220	112
Forth Valley	159	105	165	107	153	80	184	87	164	92
Grampian	342	175	358	172	332	159	354	173	306	172
Greater Glasgow	581	320	605	308	621	328	654	309	560	298
Highland	165	66	153	73	136	69	161	79	181	73
Lanarkshire	255	158	263	155	261	166	293	163	315	173
Lothian	507	261	486	253	485	231	471	227	503	216
Orkney	9	6	9	4	14	8	14	9	9	8
Shetland	13	3	13	9	20	4	13	9	21	11
Tayside	304	158	294	163	288	159	327	165	303	147
Western Isles	28	12	23	12	16	12	26	10	28	16
Scotland	3,235	1,790	3,269	1,720	3,276	1,708	3,553	1,729	3,358	1,670

Question reference: S1W-12029

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 January 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in rural Scotland were living in poverty in each of the last five years.

There is no trend data available on the number of people in poverty in rural Scotland. An analysis of a sample of the 1991 Census by the Scottish Office Central Research Unit estimated that there were 46,000 "multiply deprived" households in rural areas (8% of all rural households).

We are committed to improving our ability to measure poverty and deprivation across Scotland and we will give careful consideration to the findings of the Rural Poverty and Inclusion Working Group, which is working on indicators of rural poverty.

Question reference: S1W-12141

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 December 2000
Current Status: Answered by David Steel on 3 January 2001

To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body receives detailed audited accounts of the office of the Scottish Parliament Commissioner for Administration and, if so, whether these will be published on an annual basis.

The SPCB does not receive detailed audited accounts of the Scottish Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.

The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioners produces an annual gross Appropriation and Resource Account for all their work, which includes Scotland and Wales. These accounts are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and Health Service Commissioners prepare a separate resource account of the work of the Scottish Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration. This will be available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre in the near future.

This practice will continue until more permanent arrangements are put in place for the Scottish Parliamentary Ombudsman. The Scottish Executive is currently undertaking consultation on this issue.

Question reference: S1W-10932

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 29 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would cost it to bring the Skye Bridge into public ownership.

Question reference: S1W-11479

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 23 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are being made in Scotland to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's accession to the throne.

The fiftieth anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's Accession to the Throne will be celebrated during the summer of 2002. Tuesday 4 June 2002 has been proclaimed as a bank holiday in place of the Spring Bank Holiday, which would otherwise fall on 27 May in 2002, and Monday 3 June has been designated as an additional bank holiday to mark the Golden Jubilee.

Her Majesty hopes to travel within the United Kingdom as widely as possible during the summer months of May to July, and especially the weeks running up to and following the bank holiday weekend. She will attend the opening of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh on 25 May 2002. A number of other engagements will be undertaken in Scotland at this time, further details of which will be announced in due course.

The Scottish Executive has been kept fully informed of the events that are being planned at the United Kingdom level. The Prime Minister is today making an announcement to the UK Parliament regarding the wider programme of events to mark the Jubilee.

The fiftieth anniversary of Her Majesty's accession to the throne will, I am sure, be a happy occasion for the people of Scotland and it will create numerous opportunities for voluntary and community activity. The Queen has said that she sees her Golden Jubilee as an opportunity to express her thanks for the support and loyalty she has enjoyed during her reign. It will be a time both for celebrating the change and progress that has taken place in Scotland during Her Majesty's reign, and for looking forward.

Question reference: S1W-10088

Asked by: Mike Rumbles, MSP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 September 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 2 November 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the cost to abattoirs of meeting the requirements of EU Directive 64/433 on veterinary supervision and of implementing the recommendations of the Report of the Meat Inspection Charges Task Force.

The Food Standards Agency has advised me that the cost of implementing the recommendations of the Report of the Meat Inspection Charges Task Force, assuming 100% OVS supervision in 2000-01, is estimated to be £1.75 million for Scotland out of a GB total of some £19 million.An analysis of this is as follows:

Red Meat Slaughterhouses	1.25 million
Poultry Slaughterhouses	0.2 million
Cutting Plants	0.3 million
All Plants	1.75 million