Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-11715

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 9 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11345 by Johann Lamont on 18 October 2004, how many households lived in fuel poverty in each of the last five years, broken down by household type and local authority area.

According to the Scottish House Condition Survey 1996, 738,000 households lived in fuel poverty which made up approximately 35% of the total population. The Scottish House Condition Survey 2002 showed that 286,000 households lived in fuel poverty, approximately 13% of the total population. The Scottish House Condition Survey is the only source we have for reliably measuring fuel poverty, and it has now moved to annual surveys which will mean it will report more frequently in future.

For the breakdown of fuel poverty by household type in 2002, please see the answer to question S2W-11345 answered 18 October 2004. all answers to which can be found at:

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

Fuel poverty broken down by local authority area in 2002 was as follows:

Local Authority	Number of Fuel Poor Households (000s)	Percentage of Fuel Poor Households
Aberdeen City	8†	8
Aberdeenshire	15†	17
Angus	8†	16
Argyll and Bute	8†	21
Borders	8†	17
Clackmannan	2†	10
Dumfries and Galloway	14†	23
Dundee City	9†	13
East Ayrshire	6†	11
East Dunbartonshire	3†	7
East Lothian	4†	11
East Renfrewshire	4†	11
Edinburgh City	24	12
Falkirk	6†	10
Fife	17†	12
Glasgow City	38	14
Highland	18†	21
Inverclyde	4†	10
Midlothian	2†	7
Moray	8†	21
North Ayrshire	7†	11
North Lanarkshire	13†	10
Orkney	3	31
Perthshire and Kinross	9†	14
Renfrewshire	8†	11
Shetland	2†	25
South Ayrshire	7†	14
South Lanarkshire	14†	11
Stirling	4†	11
West Dunbartonshire	3†	8
West Lothian	4†	6
Western Isles	4	34
Scotland	286	13

Note: †Indicates an unweighted sample of 30 to 100.

Question reference: S2W-11754

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 8 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether legal advice given to parliamentary committees can now be made public, or will be made public, under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Question reference: S2W-11140

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 2 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of electricity used by buildings in each of its departments and agencies has come from renewable sources in each year since 1999.

Figures for individual buildings are not available, however since 1999 supplies of electricity have been governed by an overarching contract put in place by the Executive’s procurement staff. This contract covers all core Executive departments and buildings in Scotland, the majority of our Executive Agencies and a number of non-departmental public bodies. The current contract is used by 34 different public sector organisations and covers 770 sites across Scotland.

From July 1999 to July 2000 it is estimated that between eight and 10% of electricity supplied under the Executive’s contract was from renewable sources. This figure was based on the proportion of the supplier’s output which was from renewable sources. In July 2000 a new contract was awarded following competition. This contract provided for 100% of the Executive’s electricity to come from new renewable sources. When the Climate Change Levy (CCL) became effective, in April 2001, 100% of our supplies under the contract were certified as exempt.

Following a further competition a new contract was awarded in August 2003. Due to growth in the number of organisations and sites covered by this new contract it was only possible to secure 80% of our supplies from CCL exempt new renewable sources under this contact. However, the remaining 20% comes from non-CCL exempt renewable sources (i.e. large scale hydro-electric). The current contract, including options for renewal, may extend to 2006.

Question reference: S2W-11136

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the salary costs to it were in each department of employees working in public relations and publicity in each year since 1999.

The specialist Executive staff working on public relations and publicity activities within the core departments of the Scottish Executive are based in the Finance and Central Services Department. The activities covered are advertising, marketing and PR, publications, and the corporate website. Salary costs, (which include employers’ costs), since 1 April 2002 are set out in the table. It would only be possible to provide information prior to 2002 at disproportionate cost.

Financial Year	Salary Costs
2002–03	£425,095
2003–04	£553,183
2004– Sept 2004	£287,676

In 2003 the news website team assumed responsibility for development and running of the corporate website www.scotland.gov.uk and also the international promotion of Scotland website www.scotlandistheplace.com.An additional member of staff was also transferred from the Communications and Information Services Division to the web team, responsible for web compliance and corporate training.

Following a review of publications commissioning in 2002-03, a team of two was set up to deliver cost saving through improved commissioning efficiencies. In 2002-03 and 2003-04 the number of publications remained at approximately the same level while production costs were reduced by £100,000 over the two year period. The same team was instrumental in preparing the new Design, Print, Publishing and Associated Services contract which has been negotiated to deliver additional cost savings and improved efficiency estimated in excess of £100,000 p.a. over the next three years.

Question reference: S2W-11138

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the travel costs were of civil servants in each of its departments and agencies in each year since 1999.

The information requested is set out in the following table. The information includes subsistence costs as it is not possible to separate these from all the travel costs incurred by staff. Restructuring of Departments in the Scottish Executive over the period affects some of the year on year comparisons.

Year	1999-2000 (£000)	2000-01 (£000)	2001-02 (£000)	2002-03 (£000)	2003-04 (£000)
Department
Change and Corporate Services	1,232	1,035	921	1,060	944
Finance and Central Services Department	593	614	688	725	643
Education Department	184	238	271	372	418
Development Department	369	355	410	439	553
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department	376	354	338	313	516
Health Department	253	355	389	528	477
Justice Department	322	327	348	381	406
Environment and Rural Affairs Department	1,690	1,595	1,866	1,625	1,669
Total	5,019	4,873	5,231	5,443	5,626

Other Departments and Agencies
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service	400	415	487	531	704
National Archives of Scotland	26	30	31	30	31
Registers of Scotland	131	145	103	103	121
Historic Scotland	499	508	536	542	567
Student Awards Agency for Scotland	18	11	9	18	24
Communities Scotlandu	-	-	181	492	485
Fisheries Research Service	530	491	593	575	614
HM Inspectorate of Education	*	*	571	556	587
Office of the Accountant in Bankruptcy	1	4	9	13	13
Scottish Agricultural Science Agency	205	209	190	238	225
Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency	289	317	333	344	362
Scottish Prison Service	500	1,800	1,500	500	500
Scottish Public Pensions Agency	25	26	43	186	241

Notes:

u Communities Scotland became an Agency of the Scottish Executive on 1 November 2001.

* Included in Education Department costs.

Question reference: S2W-11139

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties are rented by each of its departments and what the annual costs were of each property in each year since 1999.

At present there are 13 properties rented by core executive departments. Both the number and level of rental costs of these properties varies from year-to-year. The following table is a summary of the historical position from 1999 as requested.

Rented Properties of the Core Executive Departments

		Rental Cost per annum
Department	Rented Property Identification	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
OPS:CCS:FES	Northern College of Education, Dundee	£32,000	£32,000	-	-	-
	Scottish Entp Tech Park, East Kilbride	£12,601	£12,601	-	-	-
	Pentland House	£1,163,250	£1,163,250	£1,314,573	£1,177,005	£1,351,250
	Unit 4A, Bonnington Ind Est, Edinburgh	£37,130	£38,451	£40,431	£38,187	£38,187
	Unit 4B, Bonnington Ind Est, Edinburgh	£19,270	£20,063	£18,621	£20,856	£20,856
	Unit 6B, Tower St., Edinburgh	£15,750	£15,750	£18,687	£18,700	£18,700
	139 Leith Walk, Edinburgh	£90,843	£85,250	£76,116	£87,279	£115,000
	17 Waterloo Pl., Edinburgh	£82,949	£82,949	£84,798	£9,379	-
	Old Fruit Market, Blochairn Rd., Glasgow	£8,500	£8,500	£7,583	£10,616	£9,100
	Meridian Court, Glasgow	£1,149,150	£985,706	£1,182,252	£1,056,220	£1,398,250
	Europa Building, Glasgow	-	-	£583,545	£575,052	£746,000
	Broxden, Perth	-	-	£139,869	£446,198	£446,000
	Mill St., Perth	-	-	£41,992	£17,353	-
	Ord Croft, Lairg	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000
	20 Shore St., MacDuff	£1,950	£3,720	-	-	-
	Ferry Terminal Office, Cairnryan	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000
	Greenside Lane, Edinburgh	£170,497	£200,334	£95,156	£308,437	-
	Southlands, 32 Reidhaven St., Elgin	£20,211	£14,467	£20,211	£16,169	£26,500
Justice Department	Northern College of Education, Dundee	-	-	£32,000	-	-
Justice Department	Scottish Entp Tech Park, East Kilbride	-	-	£12,601	-	-
ETLLD:Transport Group	Bandeath	£26,000	£26,000	£29,000	£29,000	£29,000

Question reference: S2W-11137

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed by each non-departmental public body in each year since 1999; what the budget of each such body was in each year, and what proportion of each such budget was allocated for administrative costs in each year, broken down into (a) pay and (b) other costs.

Information on non-departmental public bodies, including details of the number of staff employed is contained on the public bodies website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/government/publicbodies/.Prior to the website’s establishment in 2002, detailed information on public bodies was published in the annual Cabinet Office document Public Bodies. Copies of this document are available from http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/agencies-publicbodies/publicbodies/index.shtm.

Detailed financial information is included in the annual report and accounts of individual bodies.

Question reference: S2W-11135

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) capital and (b) running costs were of mobile phones in each of its departments in each year since 1999.

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05 (to end Sept.)
(£000)
SERAD	30	23	12
SE Admin	74	75	43
SEDD	13	12	11
SEED	14	11	10
SEELLD	12	11	8
SEFCSD	43	40	14
SEHD	26	31	14
SEJD	14	14	7
Total	226	217	119

There are no capital costs for mobile phones.

Figures shown here are for costs for 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 up to end September. The costs include rental charges, call charges, equipment charges - such as batteries, chargers, hands-free car kits and handsets where appropriate.

Information for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 is not available as the archived information does not differentiate between mobile phone costs and other telephony costs.

Question reference: S2O-03680

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what rural development policies it has implemented in the last year to encourage young people and families to live in the Scottish Borders.

We are committed to maintaining strong, prosperous and growing communities in the Scottish Borders. We have implemented a wide range of policies over the past year to support rural economic development, improve access to services and work to ensure that the same opportunities are available to all.

Some examples of what we have been doing in the Borders include:

A £50 million Public Private Partnership project to build three new secondary schools. £262,000 (in 2004-05) from the Rural Transport Fund to tackle transport problems. Support for the Waverley Railway Partnership’s plans for re-opening the Borders Rail link. And broadband to households and businesses through the Scottish Borders Rural Broadband service.

Question reference: S2O-03682

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what policy measures it has implemented to prevent young people and families from migrating from Scotland.

Through the Partnership Agreement the Scottish Executive is delivering a Scotland where people and families will want to stay – an open, welcoming and inclusive Scotland where opportunity exists for all; a Scotland where last month’s spending review provided record investment in health, education and child care, and a Scotland with a strong economy supporting businesses, jobs and our public services.

Chamber and committees