- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2724 by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2003, how many households are in receipt of the single occupier discount of 25%.
Answer
There were 886,821chargeable dwellings in receipt of 25% council tax discount on 1 September 2003,by virtue of containing a single liable adult.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2724 by Tavish Scott on 1 October 2003, what the average council tax bill is for a two-adult household where no discounts are applicable.
Answer
The Scotland average counciltax per dwelling for 2003-04 for those chargeable dwellings which are not inreceipt of any discount is £1,005.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 4 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, as stated by COSLA, any regeneration opportunities for housing, commercial and industrial developments are being adversely affected in Glasgow due to funding difficulties encountered by Scottish Water in providing water and waste removal services and, if so, what plans it has to address planning and co-ordination issues between its departments and Scottish Water.
Answer
As my answer to question S2W-3243on 3 November 2003 makes clear, record levels of funding are being madeby Scottish Water to begin redressing decades of underfunding.
The Executive is currentlyworking with a range of stakeholders to formulate future investment plans forScottish Water. To this end, a working group has been established as part of the wider Quality and Standards III process. It includes representatives fromScottish Water, COSLA, Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the buildingindustry, and officials from a number of areas within the Executive. Amongother issues, it is seeking to improve collective understanding of the natureand scale of such constraints, and to develop options to address constraints.
Dealing with constraints asthey arise is of course an operational matter for Scottish Water. ScottishWater is working very hard with all local authorities and its environmentalregulator to ensure that all parties have a much better understanding of thoseareas affected by development constraints, and to look creatively for technicaland other options for resolving these issues.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2604 by Hugh Henry on 26 September 2003, whether speeding offences detected by speed cameras and dealt with directly by courts or through fixed penalties are included in the overall number of traffic offences recorded by the police and how many fines have been imposed for speeding offences detected by speed cameras in each of the last three years.
Answer
Offences recorded by the police include speeding offences detected by speed cameras. Figures for all speeding offences in the last three years are as follows. However, the information held centrally does not separately identify those offences detected by speed cameras.
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Conditional offer fixed penalty notices | 104,479 | 101,961 | 108,897 |
| Fines imposed by Courts | 14,623 | 11,597 | 10,318 |
Notes:
(i) Some offences may appear in both rows if the fixed penalty notice was not paid.
(ii) Figures for 2002 are not yet available.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2649 by Hugh Henry on 29 September 2003, when guidance was last issued to procurators fiscal regarding the treatment of cases involving the misuse of controlled drugs.
Answer
Internal guidance, includingthat relating to the treatment of cases involving the misuse of controlleddrugs, was issued to Procurators Fiscal in July 2003. Internal guidance issued toProcurators Fiscal is confidential and is kept under review by the Crown Officeand Procurator Fiscal Service.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2586 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003, how many Scottish residents have been on the Newcastle waiting list for a lung or heart and lung transplant in each of the last five years.
Answer
The information is set outin the following table,
| Year | Lung and Heart/Lung Transplant |
| 1998 | 11 |
| 1999 | 19 |
| 2000 | 14 |
| 2001 | 15 |
| 2002 | 16 |
Total | 75 |
Source: UKTransplant.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive whether water services and provision are as closely tied to the aspirations of communities as when they were under local authority control and whether it has any plans to return the control of water services and provision to local authorities.
Answer
When the three former waterauthorities were set up in 1996, they inherited infrastructure which had beenunder funded for decades. By the end of the current investment period, some £4billion will have been invested by Scottish Water and its predecessorauthorities to help bring the water and wastewater infrastructure up toacceptable standards and to comply with the public health and environmentalstandards required by legislation. This is the biggest level of investment evermade in such services in Scotland.
I would hope that in sodoing, the current arrangements for provision of water and waste water servicesare closely tied to the aspirations of communities for clean water and a safeenvironment. In these circumstances, I can confirm that the Executive has noplans to return the control of water services and its provision to localauthorities.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2588 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 September 2003, who the Scottish Transplant Group consulted in developing its Organ Donation Strategy for Scotland and how many groups and individuals took part in the consultation exercise.
Answer
The Scottish TransplantGroup canvassed views from a number of sources in developing its OrganDonation Strategy for Scotland, including Dr Richard Simpson, who wasat that time preparing a report to the Health and Community Care Committee onthe issue of organ donation. The strategy was circulated to various groupsrepresenting patients’ interests, all NHS boards and trusts, the Royal Collegesin Scotland, the British Medical Association and healthprofessionals involved in transplantation.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 November 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2594 by Cathy Jamieson on 26 September 2003, whether the practice of “slopping out” in prisons is acceptable; when the practice will be brought to an end, and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
The Scottish Prison Service accepts that “slopping out” isan undesirable practice and is committed to ending it as soon as possible.However, it will be some time before slopping out can be ended completely. Themost realistic time that slopping out can be ended is about a year after thecompletion of the second of the two new prisons that were announced by the Executive on 5 September 2002 as part of its decisions on the prison estates review.A firm date cannot be given because a number of variable factors are involved;including future trends in prisoner numbers, issues affecting the timescale forcompletion of the new prisons such as the obtaining of planning permission, andthe need to make arrangements for decanting and moving prisoners to allowexisting accommodation to be improved.
- Asked by: Tommy Sheridan, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Socialist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 October 2003
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 31 October 2003
To ask the Scottish Executive how the Justice Department's commitment to close the opportunity gap by working to reduce crime will be achieved and how the department's budget will be targeted to achieve this objective.
Answer
Closing the opportunity gapis part of the Executive’s overarching approach to social justice.
A Partnershipfor a Better Scotland, published in May 2003, set out all the ways in whichwe will deliver on this, including the ways in which we will continue to workfor a safer Scotland, reducing crime, particularly violent and drug-relatedcrime and reducing re-offending.
The Executive’s DraftBudget 2004-05 contained our spending plans for 2003 to 2006. Within theExecutive, the Justice Department has responsibility, amongst other things, forthe police, criminal justice social work services, criminal justice policy, andadministrative support to the Supreme and Sheriff Courts. The budget documentset out not only the objectives and targets which have been set for the policeand the wider criminal justice system but also how the resources available tothe Justice Department have been allocated across these various agencies andservices. A copy of the full budget document is available on the Executive’swebsite at www.scotland.gov.uk.
