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: S3W-17153

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 13 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on tackling depression in the Lothians region in each year since 1999, also showing the year-on-year change.

Question reference: S3W-17510

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people most at risk in the Lothians has received flu vaccinations in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

Information relating to flu vaccine uptake is collected by NHS Board area and not local authority area. Uptake figures in the NHS Lothian area for those aged 65 and over in each of the last three years is as follows:

Year	Uptake
2005-06	80.4%
2006-07	77.6%
2007-08	77%

Information on the total number of people in the under 65 at risk group in any NHS board area (the denominator for any percentage calculation) is not held centrally. It is therefore not possible to calculate reliably the percentage uptake of flu vaccine on a NHS board basis. However, the total number of people vaccinated each year in each NHS board area is held centrally. For NHS Lothian these figures are as follows:

Year	Number of Vaccinations
2005-06	32,293
2006-07	25,266
2007-08	30,883

Question reference: S3W-17512

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many off-licenses in the Lothians have been found to sell alcohol to people under 18 in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

The available information is provided in the following table:

Number of offences recorded by the police in the Lothians in which a licensed person has sold alcohol to a person under 18, over the last five financial years:

	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
City of Edinburgh	11	9	17	33	19
East Lothian	0	0	3	41	20
Midlothian	6	10	12	9	17
West Lothian	1	2	1	10	43
Lothians	18	21	33	93	99

Question reference: S3W-17156

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been declared bankrupt in each quarter of 2008, also broken down by sheriffdom.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) maintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland and publishes statistics on personal insolvencies in Scotland by financial year and since 2005-06, by quarter, in their annual report.

Prior to 1 April 2008, all petitions for bankruptcy were considered by the Scottish Courts and numbers were therefore recorded by sheriffdom and by sheriff court area within each sheriffdom.

Since 1 April 2008, creditor petitions are considered by the sheriff and the Accountant in Bankruptcy has responsibility for bankruptcy awards as a result of debtor applications. Awards continue to be recorded by sheriffdom area and awards as a result of creditor petitions can be further broken down by sheriff court. Information in respect of debtor applications can be shown by sheriffdom area but are not allocated to individual sheriff court areas.

The following table provides the number of bankruptcies for quarter 4 of financial year 2007-08 (1 January to 31 March 2008) and for quarters 1 and 2 of 2008-09 (1 April to 30 June and 1 July to 30 September 2008). There has been a significant increase in the number of people becoming bankrupt in Scotland since 1 April 2008 compared to previous years. This increase is attributed to the bankruptcy reforms contained in the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc. (Scotland) Act 2007 including the introduction of the ˜Low Income, Low Asset'' (LILA) route for debtors applying for their own bankruptcy.

Further information, including the AiB annual reports, can be found on the Accountant in Bankruptcy''s website at www.aib.gov.uk.

Number of Awards of Bankruptcy by Sheriffdom and Sheriff Court

Sheriffdom (Sheriff Court)	1 January to 31 March 2008	1 April to 30 June 2008	1 July to 30 September 2008
Tayside, Central and Fife
Awarded by AiB		540	701
Alloa	15	4	5
Arbroath	16	4	4
Cupar	15	6	6
Dundee	86	105	14
Dunfermline	41	22	26
Falkirk	61	20	28
Forfar	18	4	1
Kirkcaldy	53	17	28
Perth	45	11	11
Stirling	18	8	4
Total awards for Sheriffdom	368	741	828
South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway
Awarded by AiB		428	681
Airdrie	66	30	41
Ayr	42	10	39
Dumfries	32	4	14
Hamilton	130	57	45
Kirkcudbright	2	1	1
Lanark	12	7	16
Stranraer	3	0	7
Total awards for Sheriffdom	287	537	844
North Strathclyde
Awarded by AiB		231	456
Campbeltown	5	2	3
Dumbarton	48	10	16
Dunoon	3	7	3
Greenock	15	8	8
Kilmarnock	48	30	67
Oban	6	4	2
Paisley	93	25	36
Rothesay	0	1	0
Total awards for Sheriffdom	218	318	591
Grampian, Highlands and Islands
Awarded by AiB		364	448
Aberdeen	50	31	23
Banff	6	4	0
Dingwall	4	0	3
Dornoch	4	0	0
Elgin	30	5	2
Fort William	3	0	4
Inverness	18	16	14
Kirkwall	1	1	0
Lerwick	2	2	0
Lochmaddy	1	0	0
Peterhead	18	15	7
Portree	4	0	2
Stonehaven	7	2	2
Stornoway	2	2	3
Tain	3	3	0
Wick	3	0	2
Total awards for Sheriffdom	156	445	510
Lothian and Borders
Awarded by AiB		329	550
Duns	4	1	2
Edinburgh	119	56	73
Haddington	30	36	84
Jedburgh	4	0	3
Linlithgow	41	26	24
Peebles	2	3	0
Selkirk	9	1	2
Total awards for Sheriffdom	209	452	738
Glasgow and Strathkelvin
Awarded by AiB		276	428
Glasgow	206	84	116
Total awards for Sheriffdom	206	360	544
Total awards for Scotland	1,444	2,853	4,055

Source: Accountant in Bankruptcy.

Question reference: S3W-17152

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 12 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many working days were lost in the Lothians region due to ill-health as a result of (a) depression and (b) other mental health problems in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) collects information on sickness absence during the reference week (usually the week before the respondent was interviewed).

The sample size of the LFS is not large enough to provide estimates of the number of working days lost because of sickness absence in the Lothians region as a result of depression and other mental health problems.

Alternative sources of sickness absence data include the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

Question reference: S3W-17154

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 12 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money recovered from convicted criminals under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 has been spent in the Lothians region, broken down by (a) parliamentary constituency and (b) project.

CashBack for Communities funding has been granted to the Scottish Football Association (£2.2 million), the Scottish Rugby Union (£1.4 million), Scottish Sports Futures and BasketballScotland (£1.7 million), the Sports Facilities Fund (£2 million) and Arts and Business Scotland (£0.6 million), which will include support for activities in the Lothians region.

Football activities in the Lothians include three programmes of street football across the region with a total of 42 projects delivered, seven Midnight Leagues in West Lothian, 46 schools enrolled in Soccer 1 and a School of Football for the South East region based in Dalkeith at Newbattle High School. Edinburgh City, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian received £5,000 each for Midnight Leagues and Street Football.

Over July, August and September, the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) delivered rugby coaching to 3,223 young people in East Lothian, 655 in West Lothian and 2,622 in Edinburgh. This will continue throughout the year along with the SRU''s Street Rugby and senior pupil volunteer coaching programmes.

Scottish Sports Futures is delivering basketball activities in Edinburgh through their recently-expanded programme of Twilight Leagues and Jump2It. They aim to connect and expand existing structures for basketball activities with a view to creating more opportunities for young people to participate.

Monies recovered under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 are distributed through the CashBack for Communities programme, which includes a range of partnerships with Scottish sporting, arts and business associations to provide diversionary activities for young people in Scottish communities. £3 million of this funding is administered by YouthLink Scotland and is allocated by local authority rather than parliamentary constituency. The breakdown of spending by project in the Lothians region is as follows:

East Lothian (allocated £31,000)
Round 1: North Berwick Dry Bar Association (Youth Caf©)	£10,587.00
	Tranent Youth and community Facility	£11,041.00
	Red School Youth Centre	£9,372.00
Total spent in East Lothian	£31,000.00
Edinburgh (allocated £220,000)
Round 1: Multi-cultural Family Base	£25,977.00
	HayWired Ltd	£10,458.00
	Sergeant of Leith Neighbourhood Action Unit	£18,616.00
	Circle	£22,095.00
	Edinburgh City Youth Caf© “ 6VT Youth Caf©	£24,965.00
	Youth Bus Project “ The Buz	£20,317.00
	Leith Acorn Centre YMCA	£12,319.00
	The BIG Project	£10,473.00
	Pilmeny Development Project	£2,080.00
	Wester Hailes Youth Agency	£6,654.00
	Craigmillar Adventure Project	£22,429.00
Round 2: Rural and Urban Training Scheme Ltd	£8,632.00
	The Ripple Project	£15,890.00
	Sikh Sanjog	£6,688.00
	Citadel Youth Centre	£2,355.00
	The Rock Trust	£4,713.00
	Fairbridge in Edinburgh	£5,339.00
Total spent in Edinburgh	£220,000.00
Midlothian (allocated £33,000)
Round 1: Gorebridge Community Development Trust	£8,132.00
Round 2: Top Service	£4,730.00
	Mayfield & Easthouses Youth Project	£9,337.00
	Midlothian Young Peoples Advice Project	£10,800.00
Total spent in Midlothian	£32,999.00
West Lothian (allocated £71,000)
Round 1: Bridgend Senior Youth Club	£12,600.00
Round 2: Edinburgh and Lothians Racial Equality Council	£9,280.00
	Loganlea Miners Welfare Charitable Society	£9,798.00
	YWCA Livingston	£2,408.00
Total spent in West Lothian	£34,086.00

Note: Remainder of West Lothian allocation to be distributed after discussions with local council.

Question reference: S3W-17513

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many off-licenses in the Lothians have had their licences suspended for selling alcohol to people under 18 in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S3W-13979 and S3W-16777 on 16 June 2008 and 21 October 2008 respectively. 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/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The reason for suspending a liquor licence is determined locally by liquor licensing boards and this information is not held centrally.

Question reference: S3W-17155

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 October 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 November 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many fine defaulters are currently held at HMP Edinburgh.

Question reference: S3W-16591

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 7 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what savings have been made from reducing the number of VisitScotland hubs.

It is too early to confirm the exact amount of any savings made as result of VisitScotland''s restructuring as of 1 April 2008. Estimated savings were listed in The Scottish Government''s Efficiency Delivery Plans 2008-11 which is already in the public domain, and was supplied to the Finance Committee, and can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/82980/0059111.pdf.

See: DG Economy 14 / Energy, Enterprise and Tourism (page 44).

Question reference: S3W-16592

Asked by: Gavin Brown, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2008
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 7 October 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what savings have been made from abolishing local enterprise companies and the subsequent re-structuring of the local enterprise network.