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-20475

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 9 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any guidance has been issued to retailers regarding the sale of refrigerators in light of the advice issued by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Question reference: S1W-21095

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 December 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how hospital managers' salaries at the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust are structured and whether those salaries and any bonuses are dependent on throughput targets being met by the hospitals.

Chief executives, executive directors and senior management in NHSScotland are subject to the Executive Pay arrangements. Under these arrangements management posts are job evaluated and the integrity of the job evaluation process is maintained by a central evaluation committee. Individuals are appointed to a grade and are able to progress through the pay range, subject to fully acceptable performance. Managers' performance is assessed on the basis of achievement of aims and objectives set by the employer, taking account of national and local priorities.

Question reference: S1W-20815

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 25 December 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it is currently giving to befriending and mentoring services which assist people with health, social and educational difficulties and what future funding it plans to make available.

The Scottish Executive does not currently fund these services and has no plans specifically in relation to befriending and mentoring services. However, national voluntary organisations are free to seek financial support from the Scottish Executive's direct grant schemes. Details of how voluntary organisations can apply for funding can be found in the leaflet A Guide for the Voluntary Sector to Scottish Executive Grants, which is available from the Scottish Executive and the Parliament's Reference Centre. General advice on funding for the voluntary sector is available from the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations.

Question reference: S1W-20473

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 December 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how many redundancies in Forest Enterprise Scotland are likely following the annual Harvesting and Marketing Review.

Question reference: S1W-19700

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 November 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of composting bins issued by local authorities, whether it has issued any guidelines on benchmark figures for the amount of compost produced per bin that should form the basis of statistical calculations.

No. However, various studies have been carried out to investigate the amount of waste diverted from the waste collection service as a result of home composting. Several local authorities used their share of the Executive's £3 million grant for recycling and composting in 2000-01 to encourage home composting. The Executive has asked authorities to assess the impact of the projects supported by the grant on the amount of waste diverted from landfill.

Question reference: S1W-19547

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any further funding will be made available to local authorities for investment in waste disposal beyond the three-year period of the Strategic Waste Fund.

Question reference: S1W-19535

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 14 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether new Public/Private Partnership schemes are eligible for funding from the Strategic Waste Fund.

Question reference: S1W-19537

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will issue guidance on best practice in respect of suitability for awards from the Strategic Waste Fund.

Question reference: S1W-19533

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of the numbers of fridges that will need to be disposed of in Scotland in each of the next five years.

The Executive's research project The Determination of the Source, Nature, Amount and Disposal Routes of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Arising in Scotland, published earlier this year, and available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 14595) indicated that 224,000 domestic fridges, fridge-freezers and freezers were discarded in 1998-99. The UK Government has estimated a UK total of around 2.5 million. A 9% pro-rata apportionment to Scotland would be 225,000. This is the figure the Executive is using in its policy considerations.Annual arisings of 225,000 units equate to about 44 units per 1,000 of population. The Executive is not aware of any factors which will materially change this over the next five years.

Question reference: S1W-19534

Asked by: John Scott, MSP for Ayr, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 October 2001
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 13 November 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will establish baseline figures for biodegradable waste products for each local authority with regard to meeting the EC Landfill Directive target for 2010.

Following a public consultation the Scottish Executive announced, in May 2000, its intention to establish a system of tradable permits in order to meet the requirements in the Landfill Directive for the reduction of biodegradable municipal waste sent to landfill. The allocation of baseline figures between local authorities, and the level of annual permits, will be established following a further consultation in 2002.