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-13841

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the impact will be for residents in the Scottish Borders and East Lothian of the reported £5 million shortfall within Lothian and Borders Police.

Question reference: S2W-13441

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 13 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the population was in (a) 1999 and (b) 2004 and what the projected population figures are for 2010, broken down by Scottish parliamentary constituency.

Sub-national population estimates and projections are not calculated for Scottish parliamentary constituencies. Information for local authority and health board areas is available on the General Register Office for Scotland website at http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/library/index.html.

Results from the 2001 Census, published by the Registrar General on 25 March 2003, show that the resident population at 29 April 2001 for each Scottish parliamentary constituency was:

Parliamentary Constituency	Total Population
Aberdeen Central	70,104
Aberdeen North	69,935
Aberdeen South	72,086
Airdrie and Shotts	77,762
Angus	77,083
Argyll and Bute	63,443
Ayr	71,382
Banff and Buchan	76,871
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross	52,405
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley	81,388
Central Fife	75,092
Clydebank and Milngavie	67,517
Clydesdale	81,888
Coatbridge and Chryston	66,789
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	64,552
Cunninghame North	69,124
Cunninghame South	66,693
Dumbarton	76,074
Dumfries	80,595
Dundee East	76,557
Dundee West	68,512
Dunfermline East	70,115
Dunfermline West	65,508
East Kilbride	83,893
East Lothian	76,365
Eastwood	89,311
Edinburgh Central	74,270
Edinburgh East and Musselburgh	74,555
Edinburgh North and Leith	75,571
Edinburgh Pentlands	73,963
Edinburgh South	81,413
Edinburgh West	82,575
Falkirk East	75,956
Falkirk West	69,235
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	67,170
Glasgow Anniesland	63,385
Glasgow Baillieston	64,106
Glasgow Cathcart	61,847
Glasgow Govan	61,555
Glasgow Kelvin	64,472
Glasgow Maryhill	64,628
Glasgow Pollok	62,756
Glasgow Rutherglen	65,720
Glasgow Shettleston	55,926
Glasgow Springburn	69,324
Gordon	78,720
Greenock and Inverclyde	62,478
Hamilton North and Bellshill	70,817
Hamilton South	60,743
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber	85,390
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	79,562
Kirkcaldy	63,598
Linlithgow	72,160
Livingston	86,554
Midlothian	64,327
Moray	79,003
Motherwell and Wishaw	65,630
North East Fife	75,116
North Tayside	78,651
Ochil	74,826
Orkney Islands	19,245
Paisley North	61,100
Paisley South	66,358
Perth	78,400
Ross, Skye and Inverness West	71,119
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	57,480
Shetland Islands	21,988
Stirling	69,272
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	81,252
Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale	65,898
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine	79,217
West Renfrewshire	67,134
Western Isles	26,502

Question reference: S2W-13279

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 3 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what concerns it has that local authorities may have moved funding from handyman services and aids and adaptations for tenants in the socially-rented sector in order to provide the required contributions to funding the Care and Repair Scheme.

Aids and adaptations andhandyman services for tenants in the social rented sector are funded from rentsand specific grants from Communities Scotland. This funding would not beeligible to be used to support Care and Repair services, which work to improvehousing conditions in the private sector.

Additional information onCare and Repair funding is available in the report “Care and Repair NationalIndicators 2003-04” published by Communities Scotland:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/web/FILES/carerepair2004.pdf.

Question reference: S2W-13280

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 10 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 3 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether providing capital funding for works undertaken by the Care and Repair Scheme, which may include aids and adaptations and a handyman service, through the private sector housing grant disadvantages those in the socially-rented sector from accessing such services.

We are committed to meetingthe housing needs of people in all tenures across Scotlandincluding owner occupiers. Care and Repair projects help older owner-occupiersand private sector tenants to arrange repairs and adaptations to their homes,and may also provide handyman services for small household jobs. Clients mayapply for grants from the local authority, funded by Private Sector Housing Grant,to help with the capital costs of major works.

In the social rented sector,repairs and adaptations will be arranged by the landlord, and are funded fromrents and specific grants available from Communities Scotland. RegisteredSocial Landlords can provide handyman services for their older tenants if theywish, to help with jobs that would normally be the tenant’s responsibility. Insome areas agreement may be reached for one agency to provide handyman servicesto people in all tenures. This should be arranged with appropriate financialcontributions from all partners.

Question reference: S2W-13709

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the objectives in its Financial Inclusion Action Plan of January 2005, what target it has for people living in "vulnerable and disadvantaged groups" working in sustained employment.

There is information on the Executive’s closing the opportunity gap website, http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/people/social-inclusion/17415/opportunity about targets relating to sustained employment for workless people dependent on Department of Work and Pensions benefits in key areas, 16 to 19-year-olds not in education, training or employment, employees of public sector and large employers on low wages, young people leaving care and residents of the most deprived neighbourhoods.

Question reference: S2W-13708

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the objectives in its Financial Inclusion Action Plan of January 2005, how many people living in "vulnerable and disadvantaged groups" were in sustained employment in (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002, (d) 2003 and (e) 2004.

Figures for all people in Scotland in employment in the years concerned are as follows. It is not possible, however, to define how many of these are in vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, nor how many are in sustained employment.

Levels*		Thousands
Year	Quarter	Employment
2000	Sep-Nov	2,360
2001	Sep-Nov	2,351
2002	Sep-Nov	2,370
2003	Sep-Nov	2,402
2004	Sep-Nov	2,446

Note: *Levels are for those 16+.

Source: Labour Force Survey.

Question reference: S2W-13707

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the objectives in its Financial Inclusion Action Plan of January 2005, how many people were designated as being in "vulnerable and disadvantaged groups" and living in Scotland in (a) 2000, (b) 2001, (c) 2002, (d) 2003 and (e) 2004, broken down by local authority area.

The Financial Inclusion Action Plan refers to the Executive’s six closing the opportunity gap (CTOG) objectives, announced on 12 July 2004. One of these is: to increase the chances of sustained employment for vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

The CTOG objectives are underpinned by targets identifying key aspects of poverty and deprivation on which progress is required. Details are available on the Executive’s CTOG website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/topics/people/social-inclusion/17415/opportunity.

Specific CTOG targets refer to workless people dependent on Department of Work and Pension benefits in key areas, 16 to 19-year-olds not in education, training or employment, employees of public sector and large employers on low wages, young people leaving care and residents of the most deprived neighbourhoods. The definition of “vulnerable and disadvantaged groups” is a wide one, however, and includes people with a wider range of characteristics such as disability or caringresponsibilities. Some people have multiple such disadvantages. It is notpossible, therefore, to give overall numbers, nor to break these down by yearor local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-13036

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 December 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 February 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has to link deprivation in communities with crime and family breakdown.

There is a substantial body of evidence linking deprivation with crime and family breakdown available to the Executive. The evidence comes primarily from regular statistical surveys such as the British Crime Survey (BCS) and its Scottish equivalent, the Scottish Crime Survey (SCS), and from research on neighbourhood deprivation, social exclusion and poverty, undertaken at research centres across the UK, including research funded by the Executive on Life in Low Income Families, published in 2003.

The BCS has consistently revealed that individuals living in deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to register higher levels of victimisation and fear of crime than those living in less deprived neighbourhoods. The SCS confirms these findings for a range of crimes such as vehicle crime, violent crime and domestic abuse.

Research on poverty and social exclusion continues to draw attention not only to the extent of income and material deprivation experienced in poor families but also to the social consequences for the families concerned, including family breakdown.

Question reference: S2W-13228

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 31 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will introduce a policy of continuously monitoring morale among members of children's panels to ensure that retention levels do not fall below current levels.

Question reference: S2W-13636

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 January 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 January 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the Social Justice Indicators of Progress for 2004.

Our new Closing the Opportunity Gap approach has refocused our social justice strategy, and set out new objectives and targets, and action to deliver those targets. The targets were announced in the Scottish Parliament on 9 December 2004 and are referred to in the answer given to question S2W-12888 (answered on 9 December 2004), and more information can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/closingtheopportunitygap.Data on the social justice milestones continue to be available at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Social-Inclusion/17415/milestones#top.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/wa.search.