Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-02601

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering allowing local authorities to designate socially-rented houses in the public sector as key workers’ houses.

The ScottishGovernment is committed to improving housing supply and helping to meet housingneed regardless of occupation. We have no plans to allow local authorities todesignate particular properties in their areas for rent solely to those inparticular occupations. However, under existing legislation local authoritiesand Registered Social Landlords already have discretion to reflect employmentstatus in their allocation policies if desired.

Question reference: S3W-02034

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 7 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all overseas engagements carried out by ministers in each year since 2002 and the costs of each visit.

Question reference: S3W-02002

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 6 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to students in part-time education at further education colleges in each year since 1999.

Various different types of funding are available to students in part-time education studying at advanced and non-advanced level at further education colleges. Where available the amounts of funding are given as follows (Table 1). Figures are rounded.

Table 1: Funding for Loans, Disabled Students Allowance (DSA), Fee Waiver and Childcare (£000s)

Session	Advanced level - Loans	Advanced level - DSA	Advanced level - Fee Waiver	Non-advanced level - Fee Waiver	Non-advanced level - Childcare	Total funding (advanced and non-advanced)
2000-01	69				494	563
2001-02	90	24	816	7,443	731	9,104
2002-03	92	82	860	7,922	958	9,914
2003-04	90	150	1,069	8,162	971	10,441
2004-05	107	139	978	8,275	967	10,466
2005-06	100	172	1,034	10,546	1,061	12,913

Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland and Scottish Funding Council.

Information on the amount of student support allocated through Bursary funding and Hardship funding specifically for part-time students is not held centrally.

A number of part-time students at further education colleges who are not eligible for other types of support qualify for funding through the Individual Learning Account Scotland scheme (ILA Scotland), which has been in operation since end 2004. The amount of ILA Scotland funding allocated is given as follows (Table 2).

Table 2: Funding from ILA Scotland (£000s)

Year	Funding Allocated
2005-06	1, 484
2006-07	2,164

Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-02375

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 3 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many referrals there were to residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board and identifying each facility.

Question reference: S3W-02004

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 2 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many road traffic (a) fatalities and (b) injuries there have been (i) in each of the last three years and (ii) so far this year, broken down by (A) police force area and (B) parliamentary region, expressed also as a percentage of all road traffic accidents and showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The numbers of road accidentfatalities and injuries by police force area are published each year in KeyRoad Accident Statistics (provisional figures) and Road AccidentsScotland (detailed figures). These figures, together with statistics for parliamentaryregions for the latest three years, are given in the following tables. Theyrelate only to accidents that were reported to the police. The statistics givenmay differ slightly from those which have been published previously, due to(e.g.) subsequent late returns and amendments. Comprehensive figures for thefirst quarter of 2007 are not yet available.

Fatalities by Police Forcearea

Police Force area	Number			Percentage of Total			Percentage Change over Previous Year
Police Force area	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Northern	32	27	30	10.4%	9.4%	9.6%	-15.6%	11.1%
Grampian	44	53	62	14.3%	18.5%	19.7%	20.5%	17.0%
Tayside	35	29	21	11.4%	10.1%	6.7%	-17.1%	-27.6%
Fife	30	15	19	9.7%	5.2%	6.1%	-50.0%	26.7%
Lothian and Borders	35	36	42	11.4%	12.6%	13.4%	2.9%	16.7%
Central	17	18	19	5.5%	6.3%	6.1%	5.9%	5.6%
Strathclyde	107	91	96	34.7%	31.8%	30.6%	-15.0%	5.5%
Dumfries and Galloway	8	17	25	2.6%	5.9%	8.0%	112.5%	47.1%
Scotland	308	286	314	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	-7.1%	9.8%

Fatalities by ParliamentaryRegion¹

Parliamentary Region	Number			Percentage of Total			Percentage Change over Previous Year
Parliamentary Region	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Highland and Islands	48	43	41	15.6%	15.0%	13.1%	-10.4%	-4.7%
North East Scotland	54	55	65	17.5%	19.2%	20.7%	1.9%	18.2%
Mid Scotland and Fife	60	42	46	19.5%	14.7%	14.6%	-30.0%	9.5%
West Scotland	24	27	17	7.8%	9.4%	5.4%	12.5%	-37.0%
Central Scotland	33	28	25	10.7%	9.8%	8.0%	-15.2%	-10.7%
Lothian	17	16	28	5.5%	5.6%	8.9%	-5.9%	75.0%
South Scotland	55	56	62	17.9%	19.6%	19.7%	1.8%	10.7%
Glasgow	16	18	27	5.2%	6.3%	8.6%	12.5%	50.0%
Not known ²	1	1	3	0.3%	0.3%	1.0%	n-a	n-a
Scotland	308	286	314	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	-7.1%	9.8%

Non-fatal injuries by PoliceForce area

Police Force area	Number			Percentage of Total			Percentage Change over Previous Year
Police Force area	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Northern	1,190	1,163	1,027	6.5%	6.6%	6.1%	-2.3%	-11.7%
Grampian	1,402	1,555	1,395	7.7%	8.8%	8.3%	10.9%	-10.3%
Tayside	1,426	1,283	1,285	7.8%	7.3%	7.6%	-10.0%	0.2%
Fife	982	914	889	5.4%	5.2%	5.3%	-6.9%	-2.7%
Lothian and Borders	3,648	3,566	3,506	20.1%	20.3%	20.8%	-2.2%	-1.7%
Central	926	876	832	5.1%	5.0%	4.9%	-5.4%	-5.0%
Strathclyde	8,054	7,557	7,311	44.3%	43.0%	43.4%	-6.2%	-3.3%
Dumfries and Galloway	564	676	618	3.1%	3.8%	3.7%	19.9%	-8.6%
Total	18,192	17,590	16,863	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	-3.3%	-4.1%

Non-fatal injuries byParliamentary Region¹

Parliamentary Region	Number			Percentage of Total			Percentage Change over Previous Year
Parliamentary Region	2004	2005	2006	2004	2005	2006	2005	2006
Highland and Islands	1,641	1,589	1,436	9.0%	9.0%	8.5%	-3.2%	-9.6%
North East Scotland	1,809	1,972	1,830	9.9%	11.2%	10.9%	9.0%	-7.2%
Mid Scotland and Fife	2,222	2,027	1,966	12.2%	11.5%	11.7%	-8.8%	-3.0%
West Scotland	1,952	1,854	1,829	10.7%	10.5%	10.8%	-5.0%	-1.3%
Central Scotland	2,176	2,120	2,098	12.0%	12.1%	12.4%	-2.6%	-1.0%
Lothian	2,712	2,645	2,733	14.9%	15.0%	16.2%	-2.5%	3.3%
South Scotland	2,642	2,581	2,362	14.5%	14.7%	14.0%	-2.3%	-8.5%
Glasgow	2,737	2,656	2,427	15.0%	15.1%	14.4%	-3.0%	-8.6%
Not known ²	301	146	182	1.7%	0.8%	1.1%	n-a	n-a
Scotland	18,192	17,590	16,863	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%	-3.3%	-4.1%

Notes:

1. Figures for parliamentaryregions are approximate as the road accident statistics system was not designedto provide figures for these areas. They are based on information collected andreported by the Police, and do not take account of any subsequent changes tothe statistical information about the location of accidents that localauthorities may have made, based on their knowledge of the roads and areasconcerned.

2. In a small proportion ofcases, the information provided about the grid co-ordinates of the location of the accident is insufficient to identify the Parliamentary constituency inwhich an accident occurred.

Question reference: S3W-01918

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 1 August 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how mortality rates per 100,000 population from (a) coronary heart disease, (b) strokes, (c) diabetes, (d) cancer, (e) smoking-related illnesses and (f) alcohol-related illnesses in the Scottish Borders compared with the Scottish average in each year since 1997.

The available data are shownas follows:

Age-standardisedMortality Rate per 100,000 Population Selected Causes of Death, Scotland andNHS Borders Area, 1997-2005

Cause of death	1997	1998			1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
(a) Ischaemic heart disease¹
Scotland	198.4	188.5			184.8	169.8	159.4	154.8	150.4	139.4	132.1
NHS Borders area	175.1	138.9			150.3	145.6	130.2	128.5	133.3	131.7	122.4
(b) Stroke²
Scotland	90.5	88.7			86.4	85.3	81.7	81.9	79.0	74.0	67.9
NHS Borders area	73.0	76.1			66.4	57.4	68.9	65.0	77.9	60.1	64.3
(c) Diabetes³
Scotland	7.5	8.3			9.5	8.6	9.8	9.3	9.7	10.2	9.8
NHS Borders area	7.6	7.1			7.7	7.0	6.6	8.4	9.6	4.6	6.0
(d) Cancer⁴
Scotland	225.6	222.0			220.6	219.3	221.3	217.2	214.6	211.1	209.8
NHS Borders area	204.9	209.1			207.9	204.3	189.6	224.5	192.3	186.7	195.8
(e) The data requested are not available. There is no agreed definition of smoking-related deaths.
(f) Alcohol-related deaths⁵
Scotland	20.2		21.5	23.5		24.2	25.7	27.3	27.4	26.4	26.7
NHS Borders area	8.2		11.7	9.0		8.0	10.9	12.0	9.6	17.5	8.6

Notes:

1 1997-1999ICD9 codes 410-414, 2000-2005 ICD10 codes I20-I25.

2 1997-1999ICD9 codes 430-438, 2000-2005 ICD10 codes I60-I69.

31997-1999 ICD9 codes 250, 2000-2005 ICD10 codes E10-E14.

4 1997-1999ICD9 codes 140-208, 2000-2005 ICD10 codes C00-C97.

5 1997-1999ICD9 codes 291, 303, 305.0, 425.5, 571.0-571.5, 571.8, 571.9, E8602000-2005ICD10 codes F10, G31.2, G62.1, I42.6, K29.2, K70, K73, K74.0-K74.2, K74.6,K86.0, X45, X65, Y15.

Question reference: S3W-01514

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the amount of unclaimed council tax benefit in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

Council tax benefit isadministered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Estimates of theamount of unclaimed council tax benefit are only available at a Great Britainlevel, and not at a Scotland or local authority level. The DWP’s latest estimateof the amount of unclaimed council tax benefit for the whole of Great Britainfor 2004-05 was in the range between £1,330 million and £1,800 million. Theestimated range simply reflects the uncertainty given the sample used.

Question reference: S3W-02027

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of sentence for crimes of indecency has been in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) main offence and (b) sheriff court district.

The available information isgiven in the following table. Average sentence lengths based on relativelysmall total number of cases can be expected to fluctuate from year to year.

Persons Convictedof Crimes of Indecency in Scottish courts, by Main Offence and Sheriffdom,2001-02 to 2005-06

Sheriffdom and main offence (total convicted)	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Glasgow and Strathkelvin
Indecent assault¹	6	8	14	17	12
Lewd and indecent behaviour	27	34	42	51	46
Offences related to prostitution	104	90	99	205	249
Other crimes of indecency	17	8	4	2	2
Total	154	140	159	275	309

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	11	9	9	6	7
Lewd and indecent behaviour	40	31	51	62	61
Offences related to prostitution	-	4	10	11	13
Other crimes of indecency	16	8	20	28	36
Total	67	52	90	107	117

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	18	18	19	30
Lewd and indecent behaviour	47	43	45	42	56
Offences related to prostitution	3	3	13	6	6
Other crimes of indecency	9	8	4	12	15
Total	61	72	80	79	107

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	7	5	11	13	6
Lewd and indecent behaviour	31	29	32	39	27
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	5	5	4	5	2
Total	43	39	47	57	35

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	4	3	11	10	10
Lewd and indecent behaviour	59	37	36	46	41
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	9	13	9	17	7
Total	72	53	56	73	58

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	11	16	13	13	17
Lewd and indecent behaviour	55	56	56	50	63
Offences related to prostitution	3	2	4	3	8
Other crimes of indecency	12	8	20	7	15
Total	81	82	93	73	103

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	46	38	38	45	38
Indecent assault¹	28	22	36	32	23
Lewd and indecent behaviour	38	42	34	30	20
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	23	20	31	32	27
Total	135	122	139	139	108

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	46	38	38	45	38
Indecent assault¹	69	81	112	110	105
Lewd and indecent behaviour	297	272	296	320	314
Offences related to prostitution	110	99	126	225	276
Other crimes of indecency	91	70	92	103	104
Total	613	560	664	803	837

Number of CustodialSentences

Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	2	4	-	3
Lewd and indecent behaviour	9	11	15	13	11
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	2	-	-	2
Total	13	15	19	13	16

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	1	2	4	2
Lewd and indecent behaviour	19	4	17	13	23
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	-	3	4	8
Total

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	1	5	5	4	7
Lewd and indecent behaviour	18	12	17	9	19
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	-	-	2	4
Total	20	17	22	15	30

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	-	3	3	1
Lewd and indecent behaviour	10	11	11	8	10
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1	2	1	2	2
Total	14	13	15	13	13

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	3	1	3	1	2
Lewd and indecent behaviour	18	9	9	13	14
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2	3	-	3	2
Total	23	13	12	17	18

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	2	3	5	6	6
Lewd and indecent behaviour	8	15	12	9	17
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2	2	1	1	3
Total	12	20	18	16	26

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	40	35	33	44	34
Indecent assault¹	22	21	25	26	16
Lewd and indecent behaviour	31	39	27	24	17
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	19	15	19	25	18
Total	112	110	104	119	85

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	40	35	33	44	34
Indecent assault¹	36	33	47	44	37
Lewd and indecent behaviour	113	101	108	89	111
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	27	24	24	37	39
Total	216	193	212	214	221

Average Lengthof Custodial Sentence (Days)²

Glasgow and Strathkelvin	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	547	471	388	-	1,025
Lewd and indecent behaviour	513	390	483	386	572
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	365	502	-	-	320
Total	510	416	463	386	626

Grampian, Highlands and Islands	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	91	365	502	342	594
Lewd and indecent behaviour	307	411	308	573	402
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	61	-	284	144	175
Total	276	402	323	447	358

Lothian and Borders	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	61	280	292	700	247
Lewd and indecent behaviour	392	337	539	378	536
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1,096	-	-	730	550
Total	411	320	483	511	470

North Strathclyde	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	254	-	324	396	1,096
Lewd and indecent behaviour	532	420	467	472	672
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	365	61	547	776	76
Total	461	365	444	501	613

South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	913	274	243	1,096	1,004
Lewd and indecent behaviour	319	568	412	730	476
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	548	365	-	770	456
Total	417	499	370	759	532

Tayside, Central and Fife	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Indecent assault¹	274	443	621	1,035	319
Lewd and indecent behaviour	557	554	586	814	521
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	107	472	456	182	446
Total	434	529	588	857	466

High Court	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	2,452	2,319	2,080	2,188	2,425
Indecent assault¹	1,349	1,600	1,533	1,674	1,701
Lewd and indecent behaviour	1,608	1,601	1,488	1,613	1,509
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	2,115	1,936	1,784	1,738	1,583
Total	1,944	1,875	1,741	1,865	1,927

Scotland	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Rape	2,452	2,319	2,080	2,188	2,425
Indecent assault¹	989	1,149	1,003	1,277	1,033
Lewd and indecent behaviour	734	896	719	845	663
Offences related to prostitution	-	-	-	-	-
Other crimes of indecency	1,606	1,342	1,490	1,339	901
Total	1,203	1,253	1,081	1,295	1,038

Notes:

1. Includesattempted rape.

2. Excludeslife sentences: 2 in 2001-02, 3 in 2002-03, 4 in 2003-04, 3 in 2004-05 and 4 in2005-06.

Question reference: S3W-02006

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the police clear-up rate has been in each year since 1999 for serious violent crimes, as referred to in Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008, expressed also as a percentage of all serious violent crimes and broken down by local authority area.

The requested information isgiven in the following table.

Clear Up Rate for Serious ViolentCrime by Local Authority Area, 1999-2000 to 2005-06

Local Authority Area	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Aberdeen City	48.2	47.1	51.6	49.8	59.5	59.0	57.6
Aberdeenshire	66.9	60.2	70.5	62.6	64.9	66.8	70.7
Angus	92.5	100.0	86.2	97.8	94.4	90.0	95.1
Argyll and Bute	79.3	84.4	77.3	74.0	75.4	69.3	80.5
Clackmannanshire	89.8	81.1	99.2	97.3	99.1	94.5	96.2
Dumfries and Galloway	83.7	86.4	82.8	79.9	79.6	85.3	84.7
Dundee City	80.6	77.5	68.0	89.8	92.0	85.4	80.3
East Ayrshire	67.4	70.8	64.5	75.1	79.9	73.4	68.9
East Dunbartonshire	60.5	58.1	64.5	61.7	64.0	59.3	59.1
East Lothian	70.5	86.1	75.0	75.8	75.3	65.7	77.3
East Renfrewshire	57.0	56.8	50.0	47.9	55.8	43.7	55.8
Edinburgh	56.5	54.9	54.0	59.0	49.4	53.5	51.3
Eilean Siar (W.Isles)	100.0	100.0	100.0	89.7	97.5	105.1	94.3
Falkirk	86.4	91.0	90.4	91.0	93.1	94.5	97.2
Fife	76.0	74.3	74.8	70.2	73.9	76.9	78.0
Glasgow	44.3	45.6	43.5	39.8	42.2	43.0	42.4
Highland	90.3	91.7	89.5	91.4	87.4	88.7	90.0
Inverclyde	60.6	60.4	64.7	55.1	58.4	54.9	52.4
Midlothian	79.3	70.9	76.5	72.0	68.3	73.2	73.7
Moray	76.5	63.2	82.5	74.5	71.3	71.7	79.5
North Ayrshire	63.6	60.4	59.9	65.7	67.8	66.6	65.1
North Lanarkshire	58.2	64.5	64.8	70.0	62.9	62.5	59.8
Orkney Islands	100.0	100.0	82.4	83.3	100.0	100.0	94.1
Perth and Kinross	86.6	95.5	82.9	81.4	94.9	88.4	90.6
Renfrewshire	51.2	47.4	51.2	50.3	49.5	47.6	52.8
Scottish Borders	85.2	93.4	91.8	93.5	85.3	90.2	87.1
Shetland Islands	109.1	96.0	100.0	90.9	100.0	93.9	82.4
South Ayrshire	76.2	76.7	68.8	78.9	80.4	78.2	74.1
South Lanarkshire	55.4	53.8	50.5	54.2	52.1	52.6	55.1
Stirling	79.1	91.3	89.5	87.5	95.5	93.6	99.4
West Dunbartonshire	62.0	63.1	58.2	57.1	56.9	55.6	51.3
West Lothian	67.7	69.2	69.8	63.9	68.3	60.6	59.2
All Scotland	58.9	59.7	58.7	58.8	59.0	59.4	59.8

Question reference: S3W-02012

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 31 July 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the budget for its Environment and Rural Affairs Department was in each of the last five years, broken down by issue and detailing year-on-year percentage increases and decreases.

Details of the budgets areset out in Tables 1.01 to 1.12 of the Environment and Rural Development Chapterof the Draft Budget 2007-08 which can be found at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/05131713/3.The distribution of the Budgets at level 2 and year on year changes are set outin the following table.

£ ‘000s	2002-03 Budget	2003-04 Budget (% Change on previous year)	2004-05 Budget (% Change on previous year)	2005-06 Budget (% Change on previous year)	2006-07 Budget (% Change on previous year)
Water	302,300	255,700 (-15.4)	200,800 (-21.5)	181,000 (-9.9)	190,800 (+5.4)
Natural Heritage	58,158	64,827 (+11.5)	67,631(+4.3)	70,471 (+4.2)	76,171 (+8.1)
Environment Protection	43,967	81,119 (+84.5)	158,362 (+95.1)	191,792 (+21.1)	213,163 (+11.1)
Research and Sustainable Action	3,626	5,126 (+41.4)	4,247 (-17.2)	4,022 (-5.3)	5,022 (+24.9)
Rural Development	124,283	135,564 (+9.1)	136,296 (+0.5)	148,090 (+8.7)	125,960 (-14.9)
Agricultural and Biological Science and Other Agricultural Services	94,239	119,020 (+26.3)	136,188 (+14.4)	108,903 (-20.3)	118,576 (+8.9)
Fisheries	69,561	50,528 (-27.4)	47,733 (-5.5)	80,569 (+68.8)	63,976 (-21.5)
Total	696,134	711,884 (+2.3)	751,257 (+5.5)	784,847 (+4.5)	793,668 (+1.1)

The table excludes spendingon Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Market Support measures decisions on whichare taken by the EU and the costs of which are entirely offset by EU funding.

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