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-32919

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 17 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what auditing is done of neuroleptic and similar class drugs prescribed to children in private residential care homes.

Prescription data collected centrally are not patient-specific.Care homes for children are now regulated by the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care (the Care Commission). The commission regulates services by inspecting them against the legislative requirements and the relevant national care standards. The Regulation of Care (Requirements as to Care Services)(Scotland) Regulations 2002 require providers of some care services, including providers of care homes for children (independent and local authority), to keep a record of medicines for the use of service users which are kept on the premises from which the care service is provided.

Question reference: S1W-32923

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 15 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what studies are being conducted in prisons and other custodial and residential centres into the relationship between nutritional deficiencies and biomedical problems and violence and anti-social behaviour.

Question reference: S1W-32920

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 January 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of children in private residential care homes have been prescribed Ritalin and similar class drugs in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S1W-32668

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 6 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise to attempt, where possible, to resolve disputes by means of mediation, rather than litigation, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-32669

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 6 January 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is the policy of Scottish Enterprise (SE) not to consider giving any assistance to, or hold any discussions about assistance with, any party with which SE is in litigation about matters unrelated to such assistance and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Question reference: S1W-32236

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 December 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31634 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 November 2002, whether it has any figures for traffic levels on the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness on a monthly basis.

Yes, the undernoted traffic figures have been extracted from the Scottish Roads Traffic Database (SRTDb). The figures are two-way flows (i.e. northbound and southbound combined) and are shown as average daily flows for each month over the 12-month period between November 2001 and October 2002.There are three locations where data is not available (n/a) for all months, due to mechanical/technical faults with the recording equipment.

Location	Nov 01	Dec 01	Jan 02	Feb 02	Mar 02	Apr 02	May 02	Jun 02	Jul 02	Aug 02	Sep 02	Oct 02
A9 Inshes (B9006) to Raigmore Interchange (A96)	19,030	n/a	18,331	19,281	n/a	21,721	23,008	23,613	24,735	26,138	23,031	21,025
A9 Tomatin	6,711	6,320	5,822	6,361	7,234	7,758	8,374	8,913	9,605	10,519	8,867	8,186
A9 Kerrow (A86) to Lynwilg (B9152)	6,737	6,240	4,986	6,687	7,537	7,726	8,419	8,987	9,631	10,577	8,726	8,197
A9 Calvine to Dalwhinnie(A889)	6,370	5,814	5,250	6,206	7,230	7,675	8,501	9,156	9,945	10,909	8,842	8,136
A9 S of B847 - at Shierglas	6,650	5,983	3,991	6,309	7,269	7,720	8,374	8,965	9,668	10,525	8,752	8,171
A9 Pitlochry Bypass - S of A924	6,777	6,052	5,534	6,457	7,472	8,067	8,697	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
A9 Birnam	10,052	6,979	8,178	9,839	11,523	12,407	13,379	13,930	15,173	16,479	13,973	12,770
A9 N of B8063 - at Luncarty	n/a	11,775	10,950	12,466	14,146	15,103	15,996	17,283	17,530	19,002	16,192	14,929

Question reference: S1W-32237

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 December 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31634 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 November 2002, whether it has any figures for the percentage of commercial vehicles and HGVs using the A9 trunk road between Perth and Inverness and, if so, how these figures compare with the national average for non-dual carriageway trunk roads.

Yes, the Scottish Roads Traffic Database (SRTDb) has two Automatic Traffic Classifier Sites (ATCS) located on the A9 between Perth and Inverness at Birnam and Tomatin. The percentage of HGVs at these locations is 9.5% and 14.26% respectively.These figures are based on data collected for the 12-month period between December 2001 and November 2002.Information on national average HGV percentages for non-dual carriageway trunk roads is not currently published. However, a broad analysis of the information contained in the Scottish Roads Traffic Database suggests that the average figure is around 11% for Scottish Trunk Single Carriageway Roads.

Question reference: S1W-32171

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 December 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30833 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, why, if it is its policy to give crofting communities the opportunity to buy their croft land, it also plans to allow such communities to buy salmon fishings on contiguous land that is not theirs, with no further tests.

The bill does not permit crofting communities to buy salmon fishings located on contiguous land. It is the salmon fishings themselves which have to be contiguous.There are tests that apply to the acquisition of salmon fishings. These are the same as apply to the acquisition of the croft land. However, there is also a further requirement that the salmon fishings may only be acquired in conjunction with the croft land or within a year of acquisition of the croft land in accordance with the provisions of the bill.

Question reference: S1W-32173

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 December 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30835 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, whether it is satisfied, bearing in mind the opinion of the Court of Session in the case of County Properties v the Scottish Ministers and, in particular, paragraph 19 of that opinion, that the approval of applications made under Part 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill will be fair, given that none of the safeguards mentioned in paragraph 19 of the opinion will be present.

The approval of applications by Scottish ministers under Part 3 of the bill will be fair in that the provisions of that part are in accordance with the general principles laid down by the courts in both the County Properties and Alconbury cases. There is provision in section 78 for any interested party to refer any question arising from an application for consent to buy to the Land Court and section 88 provides a right of appeal against ministers' decision on questions of law.

Question reference: S1W-32169

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 02 December 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 13 December 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30830 by Ross Finnie on 18 November 2002, whether it will lodge an amendment to the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill that would enable crofting communities to buy salmon fishings on croft land and not those exercisable from croft land and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.