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-23012

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of the 2002 Scottish House Condition Survey, how many households with children under five would be considered to be in fuel poverty if (a) the higher heating regime defined in the 1996 survey report was applied and (b) fuel prices rose by (i) 5%, (ii) 10%, (iii) 15%, (iv) 20% and (v) 25%.

If the higher heating regimeused in the 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey report had been used tocalculate fuel poverty for the 2002 report the number of households withchildren under five considered to be in fuel poverty would be 11,000. Theeffects on this figure of additional fuel cost increases of 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%and 25% are demonstrated in table 1.

Table 1: Effect Of Inclusionof Under Five Heating Regime and Additional Costs on Number and % of Householdswith Children Under Five in Fuel Poverty

	Number of Households with Children Under Five in Fuel Poverty	% of Households with Children Under Five in Fuel Poverty
2002 Fuel Poverty Statement (FPS) Heating regime	9,000	4
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime	11,000	5
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime and fuel costs increased by 5%	12,000	5
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime and fuel costs increased by 10%	16,000	7
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime and fuel costs increased by 15%	18,000	8
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime and fuel costs increased by 20%	20,000	9
FPS regime with under 5 heating regime and fuel costs increased by 25%	23,000	10

Question reference: S2W-23387

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 2 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities make provision for mobility training.

Question reference: S2W-23388

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 2 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide escorts for elderly and infirm people wishing to access public transport.

We do not hold thisinformation centrally. However, the Executive is committed to enabling accessby disabled people to public transport. Research has been commissioned toexamine how to improve transport for disabled people. This will include anassessment of the importance of improved public transport concessions fordisabled people but will go beyond that to include wider issues than justaffordability. This research project is expected to be completed in April 2006.

Question reference: S2W-23358

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding was allocated to social work departments to provide allowances for 16 to 18-year-olds in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority.

Prior to 1 April 2004, 16 to 18-year-old care leavers received benefits from the Department of Work and Pensions. In addition, local authorities had the power, through sections 29 and 30 of The Children (Scotland) Act 1995, to provide discretionary allowances on an ad-hoc basis. The amounts of these allowances varied between local authorities.

Since the Supporting Young People Leaving Care in Scotland Regulations came into force on 1 April 2004, local authorities have received the following funding to help plan and prepare for, and implement, the new duties.

	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Aberdeen City	32,739	130,957	163,696
Aberdeenshire	21,706	86,826	108,532
Angus	15,362	61,449	76,811
Argyll and Bute	11,654	46,616	58,270
Clackmannanshire	10,245	40,982	51,227
Dumfries and Galloway	20,273	81,093	101,366
Dundee City	41,268	165,070	206,338
East Ayrshire	26,356	105,423	131,779
East Dunbartonshire	10,471	41,884	52,355
East Lothian	13,685	54,738	68,423
East Renfrewshire	9,624	38,496	48,120
Edinburgh	81,563	326,252	407,815
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	2,553	10,211	12,764
Falkirk	26,783	107,134	133,917
Fife	64,972	259,889	324,861
Glasgow	210,204	840,816	1,051,020
Highland	31,416	125,664	157,080
Inverclyde	20,943	83,771	104,713
Midlothian	14,422	57,690	72,112
Moray	10,597	42,389	52,986
North Ayrshire	33,534	134,134	167,668
North Lanarkshire	73,210	292,841	366,051
Orkney	1,660	6,640	8,300
Perth and Kinross	16,597	66,388	82,985
Renfrewshire	38,175	152,700	190,875
Scottish Borders	12,328	49,312	61,640
Shetland	2,192	8,766	10,958
South Ayrshire	17,009	68,038	85,047
South Lanarkshire	55,949	223,797	279,746
Stirling	13,210	52,839	66,049
West Dunbartonshire	27,701	110,802	138,503
West Lothian	31,599	126,394	157,993
Total	1,000,000	4,000,000	5,000,000

From 1 April 2006 this funding will form part of the Grant Aided Expenditure allocation to local authorities.

Question reference: S2W-23365

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made with regard to extending the nationwide concessionary travel scheme to identified carers of people who qualify for the scheme.

Question reference: S2W-23359

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what supported accommodation is currently available for 16 to 18-year-olds who are not entitled to jobseekers allowance but who are living independently, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-23363

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged 16 to 18 were living independently having left foster care in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-23360

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what weekly payment is made to 16 to 18-year-olds who are living independently, are not in full-time education and not entitled to jobseekers allowance, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-23110

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 1 March 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many social work assistants there have been in each local authority area in each year since 1999.

The number of social work assistants working in each local authority is available in the Staff Of Scottish Local Authority Social Work Services publications. Between 1999 and 2004 (the latest year for which information is available) the number of social work assistants were as follows:

Year

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

SW Assistants (Number)

247

912

1,039

1,226

1,482

2,162

SW Assistants

(Whole-Time Equivalent)

225

799

889

1,049

1,303

1,917

As a result of changes in the classifications used on census forms, figures are not strictly comparable across years. Fuller information is available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/16135/7725.

Question reference: S2W-23218

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many successful prosecutions have taken place in each year since 1999 in which the alleged victim was an adult with learning difficulties, broken down by category of offence.