Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-05634

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 3 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) start-up and (b) failure rate was for small businesses in (i) Glasgow, (ii) Edinburgh, (iii) Dundee, (iv) Aberdeen, (v) Stirling and (vi) Inverness in each year since 1995.

The tables below give VAT registrations and de-registrations expressed per 10,000 of the adult population between 1995 and 2002 (the latest year for which information is available). The information is only available at local authority area level. Consequently there is no data available for the city of Inverness, or for the city of Stirling. Instead information is given for the local authority areas of the Highlands and Stirling district. VAT registrations and de-registrations are published by the DTI Small Business Service.

Table: VAT registration rates, 1995-2002 (Per 10,000 of the population 16 years and over)

Local Authority	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
City of Glasgow	32	33	35	35	35	33	33	30
City of Edinburgh	35	35	42	42	38	40	37	33
City of Aberdeen	38	39	44	40	33	33	30	35
City of Dundee	18	22	21	23	21	23	23	19
Highland	36	35	37	39	34	32	32	33
Stirling	36	35	37	39	34	32	32	33

Sources: Department of Trade and Industry, Small Business Service VAT statistics.

General Register Office for Scotland mid-year population estimates.

Table: VAT de-registration rates, 1995-2002 (Per 10,000 of the population 16 years and over)

Local Authority	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
City of Glasgow	30	29	31	36	35	35	34	37
City of Edinburgh	30	29	31	33	38	34	34	35
City of Aberdeen	37	33	33	35	34	37	41	37
City of Dundee	22	20	18	20	21	20	22	20
Highland	37	35	37	39	34	32	32	33
Stirling	33	34	31	30	34	32	31	27

Sources: Department of Tradeand Industry, Small Business Service VAT statistics.

General Register Office for Scotlandmid-year population estimates.

Question reference: S2W-05638

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what academic and vocational education and training is available to young people serving custodial sentences.

I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:

HM Young Offenders Institute Polmontdeliver approximately 40,000 learning hours of education, over 50 weeks a year,contracted through Motherwell College. The curriculum covers the fivecore and basic skills, life skills, cookery, hospitality, arts and crafts.

Vocational Training isprovided and covers bricklaying, joinery, hairdressing, painting and decoratingand industrial cleaning. This equates to 1,400 hours per week.

Question reference: S2W-05635

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 2 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) part-time and (b) full-time fire officers were serving in the Scottish Fire Service in each year since 1997 in each region.

The actual numbers of staffin post in each of the eight Scottish brigades is shown in the following tables.It should be noted that the figures are summaries of the more detailedinformation compiled by Her Majesty’s Fire Services Inspectorate for Scotland andset out in their annual reports.

Central Scotland Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	243	154	9
1997-98	241	153	10
1998-99	240	162	10
1999-2000	243	173	7
2000-01	242	144	7
2001-02	236	150	7
2002-03	242	158	11

Dumfries and Galloway Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	92	183	16
1997-98	99	192	16
1998-99	98	194	9
1999-2000	101	194	9
2000-01	98	197	9
2001-02	104	193	9
2002-03	108	201	7

Fife Fire and Rescue Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	380	96	0
1997-98	384	95	0
1998-99	379	102	0
1999-2000	384	104	0
2000-01	372	100	0
2001-02	382	112	0
2002-03	388	106	0

Grampian Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	334	419	34
1997-98	335	427	36
1998-99	332	412	32
1999-2000	319	430	24
2000-01	322	413	23
2001-02	332	396	28
2002-03	344	391	27

Highland and Islands

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	108	385	918
1997-98	119	448	889
1998-99	127	509	864
1999-2000	132	497	869
2000-01	132	506	918
2001-02	134	597	767
2002-03	130	498	848

Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	739	289	0
1997-98	742	293	0
1998-99	736	287	0
1999-2000	745	311	0
2000-01	759	310	0
2001-02	757	317	0
2002-03	725	308	0

Strathclyde Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	2,197	602	250
1997-98	2,195	638	257
1998-99	2,187	622	255
1999-2000	2,194	627	216
2000-01	2,212	639	251
2001-02	2,199	615	222
2002-03	2,168	596	255

Tayside Fire Brigade

Year	Full-Time	Part-Time Retained	Part-Time Volunteer
1996-97	407	248	41
1997-98	407	254	44
1998-99	407	259	45
1999-2000	404	254	41
2000-01	406	246	38
2001-02	408	240	26
2002-03	401	249	27

Question reference: S2W-05636

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 2 February 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many attacks on fire fighters there have been in each fire authority region in each of the last five years.

Her Majesty’s Fire Services Inspectorate began compiling figures for attacks on fire service personnel in 2002-03 based on returns from brigades. There are no centrally coordinated statistics for the earlier years.

The figures for 2002-03 are as follows:

Total Number Of Incidents

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Operational Personnel	13	3	26	7	0	36	88	14	187
Non-Operational Personnel	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2
Total	13	3	26	7	0	36	90	14	189

Notes:

1 – Central Scotland Fire Brigade

2 – Dumfries and Galloway Fire Brigade

3 – Fife Fire and Rescue Service

4 – Grampian Fire Brigade

5 – Highland and Islands Fire Brigade

6 – Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade

7 – Strathclyde Fire Brigade

8 – Tayside Fire Brigade

9 – Scottish Total

As the request for brigades to record these incidents was made part way through the reporting year, it should be noted that the information shown represents only a partial picture of the problem of attacks on fire service personnel in 2002-03

Further details can be found in the 2002-03 report of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Fire Services for Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-05261

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements are scheduled to take place to the A90 on the sections from Balmedie to Tipperty and Ellon to Peterhead over the next 10 years.

An appraisal of the stretchof the A90 between Balmedie and Tipperty has recently been completed, usingScottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), and we are considering itsconclusions.

On the stretch of the A90 betweenEllon and Peterhead, carriageway realignment work is programmed to straightenout a series of bends, known as the Hatton Bends. This project will alsoinvolve the upgrading of a junction and the replacement of Midmill Bridge. Workis also scheduled to take place to improve the Cruden Bay North Junction withthe installation of a deceleration lane.

Question reference: S2W-05140

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 22 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will reply to the letter of 17 October 2003 from Alex Salmond MP regarding decommissioning offers.

Question reference: S2O-01103

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 January 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that an area of special transport difficulties would be an appropriate location for its proposed national transport agency.

Thelocation of the proposed national transport agency will be determined inaccordance with the Scottish Executive’s relocationpolicy, set out in parliamentary answer S2W-5401 and expanded upon by the Deputy Minister for Finance, PublicServices and Parliamentary Business in his opening statement to the FinanceCommittee on 13 January 2004.

Optionswill be analysed with a view to finding the best location for the agency. Therewill be opportunities for representations to be made about potential locationsfor the agency.

Question reference: S2W-05396

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andrew Welsh on 21 January 2004

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during Question Time in the last two years.

The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process, it is not possible to identify total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. Information given in relation to Question Time covers those visitors who accessed the public galleries between 14.00 and 16.30.

1 January 2002 – 31 December 2002		1 January 2003 – 31 December 2003
	14.00-16.30		14.00-16.30
1/1 – 4/1 -Recess		1/1 – 3/1 - Recess
10/01/02	252	09/01/03	200
17/01/02	274	16/01/03	319
24/01/02	281	23/01/03	315
31/01/02	322	30/01/03	268
07/02/02	275	06/02/03	266
14/02/02	355	13/02/03	402
28/02/02	434	20/02/03	347
18/2 – 22/2 -Recess		27/02/03	312
07/03/02	378	06/03/03	349
14/03/02	463	13/03/03	471
21/03/02	389	20/03/03	385
28/03/02	322	27/03/03	400
1/4 – 12/4 - Recess		31/3 – 30/6 – Dissolution/Election
18/04/02	388	05/06/03	307
25/04/02	356	12/06/03	323
02/05/02	289	19/06/03	460
09/05/02	333	26/06/03	366
16/05/02	402	30/6 – 29/8 - Recess
13/06/02	325	04/09/03	219
20/06/02	410	11/09/03	338
27/06/02	419	18/09/03	194
20/5 – 7/6 – Aberdeen Sitting		25/09/03	279
05/09/03	278	02/10/03	204
12/09/02	374	09/10/03	203
19/09/02	217	13/10 – 24/10 – Recess
26/09/02	253	30/10/03	208
03/10/02	260	06/11/03	213
10/10/02	274	13/11/03	283
1/7 – 30/8 - Recess		20/11/03	248
31/10/02	358	27/11/03	220
07/11/02	300	04/12/03	159
14/11/02	435	11/12/03	140
21/11/02	423	18/12/03	42
28/11/02	291	22/12 – 31/12 - Recess
05/12/02	376	Total	8,440
12/12/02	387	Average	281
19/12/02	188	1 January 2004 – 8 January 2004
23/12 – 31/12 - Recess			14.00-16.30
		1/1 – 2/1- Recess
		08/01/04	88
Total	11,081	Total	88
Average	342	Average	88

Question reference: S2W-05395

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andrew Welsh on 21 January 2004

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during First Minister's Question Time on each occasion since it was timetabled to commence at noon, compared with the equivalent day (a) one year and (b) two years previously.

The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process, it is not possible to identify the total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. The information at Table A therefore covers the number of visitors who accessed the public galleries between 09.00 and 12.30 following the move of First Minister’s Question Time to 12.00 on 11 September 2003. Table B shows the number of visitors who accessed the public galleriesfrom 14.00 to 16.30 (which covered First Minister’s Question Time) for the samecalendar period for each of the two previous years.

Table A

Date	09.00 12.30
11/09/03	252
18/09/03	446
25/09/03	260
02/10/03	222
09/10/03	324
13/10 – 24/10 Recess
30/10/03	457
06/11/03	319
13/11/03	296
20/11/03	366
27/11/03	246
04/12/03	227
11/12/03	385
18/12/03	249
22/12 – 2/1/04 Recess
08/01/04	109
Total	4,158
Average	297

Table B

Date	14.00 16.30	Date	14.00 16.30
12/09/02	374	13/09/01	454
19/09/02	217	20/09/01	478
26/09/02	253	27/09/01	390
03/10/02	260	04/10/01	437
10/10/02	274	8/10 – 19/10 Recess
14/10 – 25/10 Recess		25/10/01	415
31/10/02	358	01/11/01	448
07/11/02	300	08/11/01	386
14/11/02	435	15/11/01	270
21/11/02	423	22/11/01	328
28/11/02	291	29/11/01	447
05/12/02	376	06/12/01	471
12/12/02	387	13/12/01	282
19/12/02	188	20/12/01	188
23/12 – 3/1/03 Recess		24/12 – 4/1/02 Recess
09/01/03	200	10/01/02	252
Total	4,336	Total	5,246
Average	309	Average	375

Question reference: S2W-05394

Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andrew Welsh on 21 January 2004

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visitors there were in the public gallery during First Minister's Question Time in the last two years.

The information requested is given below. As access and egress of visitors is a continuous process, it is not possible to identify total numbers in the public galleries at any one time. Information given in relation to First Minister’s Question Time covers those visitors who accessed the public galleries between 14.00 and 16.30 prior to 11 September 2003 and from 09.00 to 12.30 thereafter.

1 January 2002 – 31 December 2002		1 January 2003 – 31 December 2003
	14.00-16.30		09.00-12.30	14.00-16.30
1/1 – 4/1 -Recess		1/1 – 3/1 - Recess
10/01/02	252	09/01/03		200
17/01/02	274	16/01/03		319
24/01/02	281	23/01/03		315
31/01/02	322	30/01/03		268
07/02/02	275	06/02/03		266
14/02/02	355	13/02/03		402
28/02/02	434	20/02/03		347
18/2 – 22/2 -Recess		27/02/03		312
07/03/02	378	06/03/03		349
14/03/02	463	13/03/03		471
21/03/02	389	20/03/03		385
28/03/02	322	27/03/03		400
1/4 – 12/4 - Recess		31/3 – 30/6 – Dissolution/Election
18/04/02	388	05/06/03		307
25/04/02	356	12/06/03		323
02/05/02	289	19/06/03		460
09/05/02	333	26/06/03		366
16/05/02	402	30/6 – 29/8 - Recess
13/06/02	325	04/09/03		219
20/06/02	410	11/09/03	252
27/06/02	419	18/09/03	446
20/5 – 7/6 – Aberdeen Sitting		25/09/03	260
05/09/03	278	02/10/03	222
12/09/02	374	09/10/03	324
19/09/02	217	13/10 – 24/10 - Recess
26/09/02	253	30/10/03	457
03/10/02	260	06/11/03	319
10/10/02	274	13/11/03	296
1/7 – 30/8 - Recess		20/11/03	366
31/10/02	358	27/11/03	246
07/11/02	300	04/12/03	227
14/11/02	435	11/12/03	385
21/11/02	423	18/12/03	249
28/11/02	291	22/12 – 31/12 -Recess
05/12/02	376	Total	4,049	5,709
12/12/02	387	Average	311	336
19/12/02	188	1 January 2004 – 8 January 2004
23/12 – 31/12 - Recess			09.00-12.30	14.00-16.30
		1/1/ - 2/1 -Recess
		08/01/04	109
Total	11,081	Total	109
Average	342	Average	109

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