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-11799

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 1 May 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities subsidise the cost to young drivers of the Pass Plus training scheme.

Question reference: S3W-11802

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 30 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what grant allocations will be made to Sustrans for the period 2008 to 2011.

Question reference: S3W-11843

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual distribution of income from business rates has been in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

	2005-06 £	2006-07 £	2007-08 £
Aberdeen City	77,497,000	75,467,000	73,870,000
Aberdeenshire	86,024,000	86,373,000	85,941,000
Angus	40,332,000	40,269,000	39,850,000
Argyll and Bute	34,247,000	33,826,000	33,170,000
Clackmannanshire	17,885,000	17,894,000	17,751,000
Dumfries and Galloway	55,220,000	54,873,000	54,148,000
Dundee City	53,674,000	52,625,000	51,896,000
East Ayrshire	44,837,000	44,409,000	43,584,000
East Dunbartonshire	40,125,000	39,523,000	38,678,000
East Lothian	34,169,000	33,971,000	33,509,000
East Renfrewshire	33,640,000	33,240,000	32,706,000
Edinburgh, City of	168,187,000	168,283,000	167,119,000
Eilean Siar	9,790,000	9,741,000	9,626,000
Falkirk	54,736,000	54,698,000	54,443,000
Fife	132,053,000	131,534,000	130,219,000
Glasgow City	216,471,000	214,280,000	211,273,000
Highland	78,428,000	78,394,000	77,966,000
Inverclyde	31,153,000	30,576,000	29,979,000
Midlothian	29,900,000	29,530,000	28,906,000
Moray	32,807,000	32,539,000	32,166,000
North Ayrshire	51,026,000	50,455,000	49,581,000
North Lanarkshire	120,717,000	119,735,000	118,056,000
Orkney	7,243,000	7,233,000	7,151,000
Perth and Kinross	51,011,000	51,011,000	50,519,000
Renfrewshire	64,136,000	63,286,000	62,054,000
Scottish Borders	40,617,000	40,532,000	40,054,000
Shetland	8,204,000	8,138,000	8,031,000
South Ayrshire	41,855,000	41,489,000	40,802,000
South Lanarkshire	113,662,000	113,288,000	111,800,000
Stirling	32,398,000	32,038,000	31,732,000
West Dunbartonshire	34,630,000	34,115,000	33,363,000
West Lothian	60,400,000	60,404,000	59,784,000
Scotland	1,897,074,000	1,883,769,000	1,859,727,000

The distributable NDRI figures are taken directly from the relevant local government finance circulars.

Question reference: S3W-11842

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much revenue has been collected through business rates in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

	2005-06 £	2006-07 £	2007-08 £
Aberdeen City	127,291,272	122,604,982	128,281,815
Aberdeenshire	51,198,649	53,093,744	53,407,839
Angus	22,233,522	22,788,427	22,106,662
Argyll and Bute	26,967,799	26,627,574	24,741,152
Clackmannanshire	11,608,903	11,765,628	11,877,641
Dumfries and Galloway	34,560,389	34,187,475	35,235,601
Dundee City	58,846,940	57,802,261	56,495,973
East Ayrshire	26,249,971	25,055,970	25,108,900
East Dunbartonshire	19,016,800	19,053,393	18,903,905
East Lothian	14,612,022	16,113,738	16,501,932
East Renfrewshire	11,485,371	11,658,305	11,912,674
Edinburgh, City of	279,396,486	280,708,369	285,735,933
Eilean Siar	5,510,520	5,305,408	5,451,737
Falkirk	56,466,473	55,641,107	49,238,500
Fife	117,830,098	117,327,909	110,305,773
Glasgow City	282,733,441	287,465,074	279,351,230
Highland	75,585,529	86,018,529	81,129,265
Inverclyde	19,430,495	18,555,568	19,152,086
Midlothian	19,253,630	19,734,603	20,215,144
Moray	23,578,141	17,874,681	23,551,095
North Ayrshire	32,547,321	30,365,478	31,864,985
North Lanarkshire	94,321,138	91,786,391	93,651,339
Orkney	6,880,760	7,156,821	7,014,668
Perth and Kinross	43,153,561	45,441,409	43,938,707
Renfrewshire	68,706,967	67,907,469	70,112,000
Scottish Borders	20,979,720	22,194,298	23,374,923
Shetland	12,498,598	12,129,176	12,333,096
South Ayrshire	34,013,912	35,228,816	35,016,062
South Lanarkshire	182,790,018	176,929,367	171,168,420
Stirling	34,855,168	35,559,764	34,759,764
West Dunbartonshire	58,839,361	56,614,123	58,282,473
West Lothian	59,987,456	62,321,312	58,720,357
Scotland	1,933,430,431	1,933,017,169	1,918,941,651

The 2005-07 figures are from local authorities'' own audited returns. The 2007-08 figures represent local authorities'' own mid-year estimates.

Question reference: S3W-11794

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many 20 mph speed limit zones are in place outside Scottish schools.

Question reference: S3W-11798

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it is supplying to Cycling Scotland over the spending review period.

Question reference: S3W-11801

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage people to cycle (a) to work, (b) to school and (c) for all other journeys.

The Scottish Government is supporting a range of initiatives to encourage people to cycle to work, school and for other journeys. In the past two years, £32 million per year has been available for active travel projects including extending the National Cycle Network and providing safer routes to schools. Local authorities continue to receive £9 million per year for Cycling, Walking and Safer Streets projects and £1 million now rolled up into the local authority block grant that can be used to support School Travel Coordinators.

Since 2003, investment of over £17.5 million through Sustrans has been used to maintain and extend the national Cycle Network in Scotland for commuting and leisure purposes. The government provides funding to Cycling Scotland to promote cycling in Scotland through the mass participation ride, Pedal For Scotland, and to develop accreditation schemes for Cycle Friendly Employers and Cycle Friendly Schools. These schemes help employers and schools meet the needs of those who wish to cycle.

In tackling the school run, investment has created new shared walking and cycling paths and new secure cycle parking, provided various incentives to cycle or walk to school including reflective clothing and cycle training skill kits, almost all schools now have 20mph zones and over 61% of schools are working on a travel plan. In all, over 2,000 schools in Scotland have benefited from this funding.

Question reference: S3W-11797

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it is supplying over the spending review period for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents road safety activities in Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-11800

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what national targets are in place for cycling (a) to work, (b) to school and (c) in respect of all journeys.

In 1996, the UK''s National Cycling Strategy target was to quadruple the average number of cycle journeys made by bicycle per person per year from eight journeys to 32 journeys by 2012. The latest figures from the Scottish National Travel Survey show that this figure currently still stands at eight, although this is a very small sample size and anecdotal evidence points to an overall increase in cycling.

During the consultation for the National Transport Strategy in 2005, stakeholders said this target was unachievable and should be revised. We have a commitment in the National Transport Strategy to take this forward with Cycling Scotland which we will do this year.

Question reference: S3W-11796

Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 14 April 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is encouraging more 20 mph zones in residential areas.

Between 2003 and 2008 the Scottish Government made available to local authorities resources totalling £49.9 million for the introduction of 20mph schemes around schools, many of which are in residential areas, and related safety projects.

The Scottish Government has facilitated the introduction of 20mph speed limits in residential areas by making it possible to implement different types of 20mph speed limit to meet different situations. Guidance on the implementation of 20mph schemes has been issued to local authorities. It is ultimately for local authorities to implement such schemes on local roads.