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-29590

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 17 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 Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum accompanying 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-29602

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 17 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 Licensing (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.

The StandingOrders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to beaccompanied by a Financial Memorandum which sets out the best estimates of theadministrative, compliance and other costs to which the provisions of the bill wouldgive rise, best estimates of the timescales over which such costs would beexpected to arise, and an indication of the margins of uncertainty in suchestimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separately such costs aswould fall upon a) the Scottish Administration, (b) local authorities and (c)other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely availableon the Scottish Parliament's website.

The Licensing (Scotland) Act2005 will not come into force until 2009. So initial set up costs will not beknown until after that point.

Question reference: S2W-29584

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 17 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 Local Governance (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.

TheStanding Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all Executive Bills on introductionto be accompanied by a Financial Memorandum which sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other costs to which the provisions of the billwould give rise, best estimates of the timescales over which such costs would beexpected to arise, and an indication of the margins of uncertainty in such estimates.The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separately such costs as would fall upon(a) the Scottish Administration, (b) local authorities and (c) other bodies, individualsand businesses. These memoranda are freely available on the Scottish Parliament’swebsite.

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
Nil	£87,000	Nil	Nil	Nil	Nil

Question reference: S2W-29587

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 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 School Education (Ministerial Powers and Independent Schools) (Scotland) Act 2004 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum accompanying 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-29530

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 17 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 Scottish Local Government (Elections) Act 2002 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-29609

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 17 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 Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act 2006 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) costs have been to date since the Act came into force, in each category.

Question reference: S2W-29556

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 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 Local Government in 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.

By way of comparableinformation, actual initial set up costs and annual costs for the year 2005-06,in the same categories as the Financial Memorandum, are as follows.

Actual
Executive		Local Authorities		Other
Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual	Set Up	Annual
£1.65 million	-	-	£11.0 million	£0.5 million	-

Question reference: S2W-29615

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 17 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 Local Electoral Administration and Registration Services (Scotland) Act 2006 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum accompanying the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) costs have been to date since the Act came into force, in each category.

Question reference: S2W-29545

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 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 Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Amendment (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.

Question reference: S2W-29513

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 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 Public Finance and Accountability (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 Memorandum whichaccompanied the bill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The purposeof the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000 was to set a framework within which financialdecisions could be made and their consequences monitored. The Financial Memorandumindicated that there would be no additional costs arising from the provisions inthe bill. Actual costs are reported publicly by Audit Scotland.