- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 14 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it will spend on schools in respect of (a) backlog repairs and (b) future maintenance work in the next five years, broken down by local authority.
Answer
Detailed spending decisions of this nature are matters entirely for local authorities.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many public house licences were withdrawn due to the sale of alcohol to (a) individuals below the minimum legal age and (b) inebriated individuals in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-14224 answered on 25 February 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/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its total spending on Private Finance Initiative (PFI) consultants was in each year since 1999; how many full-time equivalent PFI consultants were employed over this period; what the implied average cost of each PFI consultant was, and how many PFI consultancy firms it has used over this period.
Answer
The following table shows thetotal spending on consultancy services in support of Public Private Partnership(PPP) projects by the Executive in each year since 1999:
| Year | Amount (£) |
| 1999 | Nil |
| 2000 | Nil |
| 2001 | 315,000 |
| 2002 | 271,091 |
| 2003 | 348,486 |
| 2004 | 893,543 |
| 2005 | 57,160 |
The totals particularly for 2004,reflect the increasing investment in infrastructure, including use of PPP projects,as shown in Building a Better Scotland : Infrastructure Investment Plan (Bib.number 35376).
The Executive has used eightPPP consultancy firms during this period. The number of full-time equivalents employedby these firms is not readily available.
In addition, there are four secondmentsto the Executive’s Financial Partnerships Unit. The expenditure on these to theend of 2004 totals £46,404.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 March 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many criminal justice cases have been delayed or dropped due to the names of accused persons being (a) incorrectly and (b) incompletely recorded in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information requested isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to change the planning system to assist farmers to diversify or move towards retail activity.
Answer
On 7 February the Executivepublished a series of planning documents designed to grow the economy andencourage sustainable development in rural areas.
National planning policy, ascontained in Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 15: Planning for RuralDevelopment, recognises that planning authoritiesalong with others can support diversification in ways that benefit the economyand lead to good development on the ground. Indeed, it emphasises that ruraldiversification should be embraced to help, for example, farmers expand orstart new enterprises.
In addition Planning AdviceNote (PAN) 73: Rural Diversification highlights how the planning systemcan support rural diversification and shows how issues of accessibility,infrastructure, scale and design can be overcome to the benefit of the economy,the environment and rural communities.
Copies of SPP 15 and PAN 73have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 35317 and 35308respectively).
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that shops should be located in towns rather than rural areas and what guidance it issues to planners in rural areas such as the north east on the location of retail developments.
Answer
It is for planningauthorities to assess all applications for retail development against a widerange of factors and local circumstances and, in particular, national planningpolicy as set out in National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) 8:
TownCentres and Retailing and Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 15:
Planningfor Rural Development.
NPPG 8 gives priority tolocating new retail development in town centres or other centres well served bypublic transport. SPP 15 indicates that most retail development should befocussed at accessible locations and that major facilities should beconcentrated in the larger settlements.
Copies of NPPG 8 and SPP 15have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 1081 and35317 respectively).
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a presumption against retail development in rural areas.
Answer
There is no absolutepresumption against retail development in rural areas. It is for planningauthorities to assess all applications against national planning policy andother material factors.
National Planning PolicyGuideline (NPPG) 8: Town Centres and Retailing gives priority tolocating new retail development in town centres or other centres well served bypublic transport. Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) 15: Planning for RuralDevelopment indicates that most retail development should be focussed ataccessible locations and that major facilities should be concentrated in thelarger settlements.
Copies of NPPG 8 and SPP 15have been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. numbers 1081 and35317 respectively).
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 17 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the cost of raising a child to the age of 18 at 2004 prices.
Answer
There is no reliableinformation on these costs.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many NHS dentists there have been in (a) the NHS Grampian area, (b) Banff and Buchan, (c) Gordon, (d) West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine and (e) Eastwood in each year since 1997.
Answer
The following table providesa breakdown of the NHS dentists in the areas requested
Number of NHS General DentalPractitioners1,2,3 (at 30 September 2004)
| Year | NHS Grampian | Banff and Buchan | Gordon | West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine | Eastwood |
| 1997 | 160 | 24 | 16 | 28 | 43 |
| 1998 | 162 | 22 | 18 | 23 | 47 |
| 1999 | 167 | 23 | 19 | 21 | 43 |
| 2000 | 161 | 21 | 20 | 23 | 42 |
| 2001 | 157 | 22 | 21 | 26 | 42 |
| 2002 | 155 | 21 | 21 | 24 | 42 |
| 2003 | 164 | 17 | 19 | 25 | 44 |
| 2004 | 174 | 17 | 19 | 19 | 43 |
Source: MIDAS (Management Information and Dental AccountingSystem).
Notes:
1. Numbers are based on non-salaried and salaried principals(excludes vocational trainees and assistants).
2. Based on location of practice.
3. An NHSgeneral dental practitioner is counted once for each area where he/she has acontract to provide general dental services.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) regular, (b) full-time reserve and (c) part-time reserve police officers were medically retired as a result of being injured on duty in each year since 1997.
Answer
The total number of regular policeofficers medically retired from the eight Scottish forces since 1997 is shownin the following table.
| 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| 173 | 169 | 187 | 198 | 197 | 135 | 131 |
The number of regular policeofficers medically retired as a result of being injured on duty is not heldcentrally. There are no reserve police officers in Scotland.
