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-27233

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 July 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 August 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the publications that it has issued since 1 July 2005, giving the (a) circulation, (b) cost and (c) title of each publication.

A list of Scottish Executivepublications and their costs from 1 July 2005 to 31 May 2006 is given in ScottishExecutive List of Publications/Costs 1 July 2005 – 31 May 2006, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40127).

There is currently nocentral record held on the circulation of each publication and this could onlybe obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S2W-25693

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 24 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24928 by Nicol Stephen, on how many occasions it has revised Scottish Enterprise’s budget (a) upwards and (b) downwards in each year since 1999 and in how many years it did not revise the budget.

The information requested iscontained in the following table. There are two opportunities for budgetaryrevision within the financial year, as shown in the table.

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Budget Act	375.856	384.866	394.598	419.056	433.579	439.562	431.044
Autumn revision	*	386.684	394.444	415.231	465.880	431.967	445.527
Spring revision	398.000	392.824	398.226	422.905	453.037	433.904	444.089

*Note: Only one budgetaryrevision occurred in 1999-2000.

These figures are on a cashbasis. Since the introduction of resource accounting in 2003-04, Scottish Enterprisehas received annually an additional £9.622 million of non-cash provision.

Question reference: S2W-26804

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what actions are proposed for those locations identified as failing to meet the European standard for bathing waters to ensure that they meet the standard in future, broken down by location and indicating the cost and timescale for each action.

Three designated bathing watersfailed to meet the mandatory standard of the Bathing Water Directive (76/160/EEC)during 2005, the most recent season for which figures are complete. These were atEyemouth, Nairn (East) and Stonehaven.

It is the duty of the ScottishEnvironment Protection Agency (SEPA) to monitor every bathing water, and to producean annual report of its findings. SEPA also investigate the reasons for any failuresin compliance, also reporting on these in its publication. The 2005 report, whichcovers the three failures, is available on the SEPA website at:

http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/publications/bathingwaters/2005/bathing_waters_2005.pdf.

SEPA also produce individualPollution Reduction Plans for every bathing water. These outline the potential threatsto compliance and set out actions that SEPA, working with stakeholders such as ScottishWater, believe are necessary to achieve compliance.

The Pollution Reduction Plansfor the three bathing waters can be found on SEPA’s website at:

Eyemouth http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/data/bathingwaters/improve/9334.PDF.Nairn (East) http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/data/bathingwaters/improve/206178.PDF.Stonehaven http://www.sepa.org.uk/pdf/data/bathingwaters/improve/233617.PDF.

Bathing waters can be at riskof failure from both point and diffuse sources of pollution. At Eyemouth investigationsare continuing into the likely causes of the failure and therefore costs and actionscannot be detailed at this time. At Stonehaven, Scottish Water are to invest £10million to help meet compliance with the Directive’s standards and it is hoped thatthe new facilities will be in place ahead of the 2008 bathing waters season. At Nairn (East), whilst it would appear a technical failuremay have led to an instance of poor water quality, it is also likely that diffusepollution controls will be important for maintaining water quality in the future.At present the Scottish Executive is working with the farming sector to developmeasures to reduce the risks of diffuse pollution.

Question reference: S2W-26893

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what actions it will take to ensure the protection of the public in Dumfriesshire following the decision of local court solicitors to refuse to handle sexual offence cases from 1 August 2006.

We have made very clear thatthere is no justifiable reason for legal professionals to put public safety at risk.An interim offer remains on the table to increase the fees for solicitors in solemnwork. We plan to have further positive discussions with the Law Society of Scotlandwith a view to ensuring that the action that has been threatened by a number ofBar Associations across Scotland does not take place.

Question reference: S2W-26867

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which measure of inflation will be applied to determine the value of the Executive’s contribution to the Waverley line over the lifetime of the project.

Transport Scotland hasdeveloped and agreed an inflation methodology which shall be applied to the Executive’scontribution to the Waverley line project.

The methodology takes account of the fact that prices for certain specialist aspectsof railway works may often change at a different rate to that for other generalareas of construction. Therefore, indices will be kept under review to ensure theymost accurately reflect project and rail cost market trends.

Question reference: S2W-26866

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of Moving Forward - Review of NHS Wheelchair and Seating Services in Scotland were printed; to whom they were distributed, and what the cost was of (a) design, (b) printing and (c) distribution.

One thousand copies of MovingForward – Review of NHS Wheelchair and Seating Services in Scotland were printedat a total cost of £17,704.62 plus distribution, which was arranged in-house. Thecost of:

(a) design was £5,214.62;

(b) printing was £12,084.00;

(d) project management was £406.00.

This figure also includes theprice of publication on the Scottish Executive website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/30113633/0.

The report has been viewed by907 people since its publication on 9 June 2006.

Printed copies of the reportwere sent to:

Participants in the regionaland national consultation events who submitted their details;

Those who took part in the publicconsultation exercise who submitted their details (either as an organisation oras an individual);

MSPs;

Scottish MPs;

NHS Board Chief Executives;

Regional Wheelchair Centres inScotland (several copies for display);

Steering Group members;

National Centre for Trainingin Education in Orthotics and Prosthetics, and

Individuals who have contactedus since publication.

Question reference: S2W-26805

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 23 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the actions outlined in Bathing Water Strategy for Scotland will be sufficient to ensure that no Scottish beaches fail to meet the European standard for bathing waters and, if so, in what timescale this will be achieved.

The revised Bathing Water Directive,which came into force in March 2006, requires that all designated bathing waterscomply with its standards by September 2015.

In our new bathing water strategy,Better bathing waters: Meeting the challenges of the revised Bathing Water Directivein Scotland, which I launched in March, we set out the measures webelieve are necessary to meet such compliance. We have also asked Scottish EnvironmentProtection Agency to report on the risks to each bathing water, which they willcomplete by 2007.

We already recognise that thegreatest risk to achieving compliance now comes from diffuse agricultural pollution,and the strategy outlines the work we have already done with farmers, as well asfuture proposals to meet this threat. By its very nature, diffuse pollution is harderto control, and even with suitable measures in place, we are unable to guaranteethat there will be no future failures in compliance.

Our strategy is available onthe Executive’s website at www.scotland.gov.uk/Bathingwaterstrategy.

Question reference: S2W-26534

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 05 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of its response to the Care 21 Report, The Future of Unpaid Care in Scotland, were printed; to whom the copies were distributed, and what the total cost was of (a) design, (b) printing and (c) postage and distribution.

Two-thousand, seven hundred copiesof the Scottish Executive response to Care 21 report The Future of Unpaid Carein Scotland have been printed. Distribution is under way to the following groups:

MSPs; relevant Scottish Executive,UK, Wales and Northern Ireland Government officials; interested voluntary sectororganisations; NHS Health Board Chief Executives; Community Health Partnerships;Local Authority Directors of Social Work and Chief Executives; public libraries;Scottish higher education institutes; Scottish colleges; the Care 21 StakeholderGroup and people who attended Care 21 events.

Design and printing costs were£687.38 and £3,060.00 respectively. Projected costs of postage and distributionare £1,020.00.

Question reference: S2W-26450

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 16 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19286 by Tavish Scott on 28 September 2005, what stage the lessons learned report has reached and when it will be published.

Question reference: S2W-26449

Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 16 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the factors which led to the reported increase in cost of the Airdrie to Bathgate rail line could recur in the construction of the Waverley line and, if so, what these factors are and what the financial impact might be.