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-29547

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Parliament’s website. The initial set up costs and annualcosts for 2005-06 incurred directly by the Scottish Executive are estimated respectivelyat £4,133,000 and £200,000 but fully comparable actual costs are not readily available.The Executive does not hold details of any expenditure by local authorities or othersas an immediate consequence of the act.

Question reference: S2W-29564

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Homelessness etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

Question reference: S2W-29562

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all Executive bills on introduction to be accompanied by a FinancialMemorandum which sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance andother costs to which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimatesof the timescales over which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indicationof the margins of uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguishseparately such costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish administration, (b) localauthorities and (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda arefreely available on the Scottish Parliament’s website.

Byway of comparable information actual initial set up costs and annual costs for theyear 2005-06 in the same categories as the Financial Memoranda is as follows.

Actual
Executive		Local Authorities		Other
Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual
0.490	1.463 million	NIL	NIL	NIL	NIL

Question reference: S2W-29524

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category

The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Parliament’s website. Due to the enabling nature of theact many of the associated costs are discretionary and linked to the general processof change in the housing sector. It is not practicable therefore to separate outall the costs which were an immediate consequence of the act from the cost of changemore generally The following table sets out the substantive costs of the act thatcan be estimated, using the annual costs incurred in 2005-06 and the same categoriesas the Financial Memorandum.

Costs to the Scottish Executive		Costs to Local Authorities		Costs To Individuals and Other Bodies
Set Up	Annual Costs	Set Up	Annual Costs	Set Up	Annual Costs
£0.964 million	– £0.339 million	£12.5 million	£21.624 million	£5.5 million	–

Question reference: S2W-29596

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

Question reference: S2W-29580

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2004 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Parliament’s website. Comparable actual costs are not readilyavailable. However, an evaluation of the High Court procedural reforms introducedby the act has been carried out and the report of the evaluation is likely to bepublished in early 2007. The evaluation report will include an annex, compiled bythe relevant justice agencies, on the financial impacts of the reforms.

Question reference: S2W-29518

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 30 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

The Financial Memoranda to thebill is available on the Parliament’s website. By way of comparable informationon actual initial set up and annual costs after the Ethical Standards in PublicLife etc (Scotland) Act 2000 came into force, the annual cost for the year 2005-06in the same categories as the Financial Memoranda is as follows.

Actual
Executive		Local Authorities		Other
Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual
£70,000	£611,000	Minimal	Minimal	Minimal	Minimal

Question reference: S2W-30060

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what software the Scottish Assessors have purchased in the last year and what software is under consideration for purchase.

Question reference: S2W-30128

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29259 by Mr Tom McCabe on 7 November 2006, whether it will provide a breakdown of the payments made under the category “other” to Holyrood Communications in 2004-05 and 2005-06.

The information sought is asfollows:

	2004-05	2005-06
Subscriptions	1,695	2,550
Event Sponsorship	14,100	10,000
Publications	39	7,518
Event Management Services	45,496	74,653
Other	2,782	3,934
Total	64,112	98,655

Question reference: S2W-29581

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.

The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandumwhich sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other coststo which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimates of the timescalesover which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indication of the marginsof uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separatelysuch costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish Administration, (b) local authoritiesand (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely availableon the Scottish Parliament’s website.

By way of comparable informationthe actual initial set up costs and annual costs for the year 2005-06 in the samecategories as the Financial Memoranda are as follows:

Actual
Executive		Local Authorities		Other
Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual
£190,000	£1,300	*	*	£392,000	£583,000

Note: *The new general dutiesplaced on local authorities in relation to biodiversity and Sites of Special ScientificInterest do not prescribe detailed implementation measures. It is for individualpublic bodies to determine, in context, how best to fulfil the obligations arisingunder the act. Information on costs is not collated centrally.