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: S2W-27285

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 31 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that allied health professionals should be subject to similar licensing requirements to tattooists and skin piercers.

The Civic Government(Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Skin Piercing and Tattooing) Order 2006 isessential to address public health risks, specifically that of transmission ofblood-borne viruses such as HIV and hepatitis B and C faced by potentialclients.

As the order currentlystands it encompasses registered health care professionals who undertakeprivate practice in acupuncture as an alternative therapy treatment. The policyintention was however, to capture those who did not have any formal training orregulation. As a result, it is now proposed to amend the Order to exclude allregistered healthcare professionals. A limited consultation exercise thatincludes this proposed change, which involves professional healthcare bodiesand local authorities, is currently being undertaken.

Question reference: S2O-10020

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement by the Minister for Communities on 14 March 2006 that the central heating programme and the Warm Deal scheme are to be extended until 2008, what additional resources have been committed in order to fund applications made between April 2006 and March 2008.

Question reference: S2O-09969

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 May 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Transport Scotland regarding the proposed upgrading work to the A77 between Spitalhill and the Dutch House roundabout.

Question reference: S2W-22631

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many loans have been approved under the Loan Action Scotland scheme in each year since the scheme was established.

Question reference: S2W-22632

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what carbon savings the Loan Action Scotland scheme has delivered in each year since the scheme was established.

Lifetime carbon savings (in tonnes)for each year of the scheme are detailed in the table below. Lifetime is definedas the period of time over which the energy efficiency asset is in place beforea further replacement is required.

1999-2000 (part year)	582
2000-01	855
2001-02	2,913
2002-03	1,582
2003-04	5,051
2004-05	5,856
2005-06 (to 31 December)	9,531
Total	26,370

Question reference: S2W-22634

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost per tonne of carbon saved under the Loan Action Scotland scheme has been since the scheme was established.

Question reference: S2W-22635

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what research it has carried out into awareness of the Loan Action Scotland scheme among small and medium-sized companies.

Question reference: S2W-22633

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of promoting and publicising the Loan Action Scotland scheme has been in each year since the scheme was established.

The primary means of promotion and marketing of the LAS scheme is through the Scottish Executive’s Business Adviser Network and the Business Environment Partnership. This is carried out as an integral part of their wider roles, to inform and assist business and the public sector on resource efficiency issues, and is not included in the costs given below.

The costs detailed therefore cover printing, publication of brochures, and the design and publication of the annual report.

1999-2000 (part year)	£8,783
2000-01	£277
2001-02	£13,377
2002-03	£19,446
2003-04	£15,551
0204-05	£3,046
2005-06 (to 31 December)	£2,462

Question reference: S2W-22630

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the targets have been for loans approved under the Loan Action Scotland scheme in each year since the scheme was established.

Question reference: S2W-22702

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the (a) 110-day rule and (b) 140-day rule have been extended in each year since 1999, broken down by sheriff court area.

The information requested as it applies to sheriff court cases is not held centrally.

High Court figures cannot be broken down by sheriff court area.

The number of High Court custody time bar extensions per year was not routinely collected until the introduction of an electronic case management system in April 2004. No data are held centrally for 1999 and 2000. The total number of custody time bar extensions from 2001-03 is not known, but research undertaken during Lord Bonomy’s review established that during 2001 in 32 of a sample of 141 custody indictments the 110-day period was extended at least once. An interim report of the evaluation of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2004 showed that between the start of January 2002 and the end of April 2004 there were 369 custody indictments in which the 110-day period was extended at least once, resulting in at least 709 extensions over the 28 month period. For the period from April 2004 to end March 2005, there have been 274 extensions granted by the High Court in respect of the 110-day time limit, relating to 144 custody indictments.

For extensions to the 140-day time limit in High Court cases in the period since the enactment of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2004, I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-22255 on 25 January 2006. 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.uk/webapp/wa.search.