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-30513

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to replicate the £250 million programme to tackle fuel poverty in England and Wales, given that an estimated £5 million of funding initially committed to the Warm Deal programme has now been allocated elsewhere.

To March 2006 we spent almost£276 million on fuel poverty programmes. Over 2006-08 we have allocated nearly £108million to these programmes.

In each of the years 2006-08we have allocated £5 million to the Warm Deal. From this year’s Warm Deal resource,£2.5 million has been allocated to work in the private sector and £2.5 million tolocal authorities and housing associations to deliver Warm Deal measures in theirproperties. We have recently allocated an additional £5 million to fuel povertyprogrammes in response to the continued high demand for these programmes.

Question reference: S2W-30515

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any decisions on whether to end the Warm Deal.

Question reference: S2W-30516

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Des McNulty on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many households it estimates would qualify for assistance and insulation under the Warm Deal programme from October 2007 to October 2008.

Question reference: S2W-30150

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average household incomes have been in each year since 1999, also broken down by parliamentary constituency.

The following income estimatesare based on the Family Resources Survey. As such, year-on-year changes should betreated with caution due to sampling variation. Identification of trends must bebased on data for several years. The Scottish Executive has funded a doubling of the Scottish sample since 2002-03; estimates from 2002-03 should be less prone tofluctuation than those for earlier years.

Estimates are only availableat Scotland level.

Table:Median Equivalised Net-Disposable Household Income in Scotland, 2000-01to 2004-05

	Scotland’s Median (£ Per Week)
	Before Housing Costs	After Housing Costs
2000-01	310	266
2001-02	326	280
2002-03	331	291
2003-04	346	310
2004-05	349	313

Source:Households Below Average Income, DWP.

Notes:

“Equivalised” income is usedto allow comparisons of living standards between different household types.

Net disposable household income:Total income from all sources (including Tax Credits) after deductions for incometax, National Insurance contributions, council tax, pension contributions and maintenancepayments.

Housing costs: Rent/mortgagepayments, water charges, structural insurance premiums, ground rent and servicecharges.

Question reference: S2W-30447

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the first supplementary to question S2F-2596 by Mr Jack McConnell on 30 November 2006 (Official Report, c. 29901), what additional funding has been provided for local authorities to monitor sex offenders within their jurisdiction for individual cases where the expenditure would not have been forseen in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority and indicating the amount (a) applied for and (b) awarded, and which local authorities had applications for such funding rejected.

Question reference: S2W-29781

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has given to Scottish Women’s Aid in each year since 1999.

Scottish Executive fundingof Scottish Women’s Aid in each year from 1999 is detailed as follows.

Year	Core	Project	Total Amount
1999-2000	£114,957	£125,168	£240,125
2000-2001	£114,957	£266,115	£381,072
2001-2002	£114,957	£174,708	£289,665
2002-2003	£114,957	£183,307	£298,264
2003-2004	£191,486	£223,905	£415,391
2004-2005	£225,576	£428,568	£654,144
2005-2006	£215,540	£274,790	£490,330
2006-2007	£259,001	£215,690	£474,691
Total 1999-2007	£1,351,431	£1,892,251	£3,243,382

These figures set out fundingthat has gone directly to Scottish Women’s Aid from the Scottish Executive andinclude core funding and funding for specific projects, such as training, children’swork and housing.

Question reference: S2W-30149

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 8 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many lone parent households there have been in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

The following table shows thenumber of households containing one adult with children, according to the householdestimates and projections made by the General Register Office for Scotland. Thiswill exclude households where an adult with children lives with other adults.

Number of Households ContainingOne Adult and One or More Children, 1999-2006

Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006
Aberdeen City	6,270	6,350	6,420	6,470	6,520	6,570	6,620	6,630
Aberdeenshire	3,410	3,520	3,610	3,720	3,840	3,990	4,150	4,270
Angus	2,360	2,420	2,480	2,540	2,590	2,660	2,740	2,800
Argyll and Bute	1,820	1,850	1,900	1,930	2,000	2,010	2,090	2,150
Clackmannanshire	1,400	1,450	1,490	1,540	1,580	1,640	1,700	1,750
Dumfries and Galloway	2,910	2,970	3,050	3,100	3,180	3,260	3,340	3,410
Dundee City	5,340	5,370	5,400	5,440	5,460	5,510	5,540	5,550
East Ayrshire	2,990	3,040	3,120	3,160	3,230	3,290	3,350	3,410
East Dunbartonshire	1,840	1,910	1,940	1,950	1,980	2,020	2,060	2,100
East Lothian	1,940	2,030	2,090	2,160	2,220	2,280	2,360	2,420
East Renfrewshire	1,490	1,550	1,600	1,640	1,670	1,710	1,740	1,790
Edinburgh, City of	10,020	10,210	10,380	10,490	10,610	10,780	11,020	11,260
Eilean Siar	430	440	450	460	470	490	500	510
Falkirk	3,780	3,900	4,040	4,170	4,320	4,490	4,630	4,780
Fife	8,940	9,250	9,560	9,800	10,050	10,330	10,670	10,980
Glasgow City	24,180	24,440	25,190	25,580	25,990	26,590	27,160	27,700
Highland	4,450	4,560	4,660	4,750	4,850	4,980	5,140	5,260
Inverclyde	2,710	2,760	2,800	2,820	2,840	2,890	2,910	2,930
Midlothian	2,010	2,100	2,160	2,210	2,270	2,320	2,380	2,430
Moray	1,140	1,140	1,140	1,130	1,130	1,120	1,130	1,140
North Ayrshire	4,450	4,540	4,630	4,650	4,660	4,850	4,990	5,090
North Lanarkshire	9,510	9,810	10,140	10,470	10,780	11,100	11,450	11,730
Orkney Islands	280	280	290	290	290	300	310	310
Perth and Kinross	2,630	2,700	2,750	2,810	2,890	2,980	3,070	3,150
Renfrewshire	5,000	5,100	5,190	5,290	5,400	5,450	5,540	5,600
Scottish Borders	1,900	1,970	2,030	2,090	2,140	2,190	2,250	2,300
Shetland Islands	430	440	450	460	470	480	500	510
South Ayrshire	2,450	2,510	2,580	2,630	2,690	2,750	2,820	2,880
South Lanarkshire	7,790	8,040	8,290	8,490	8,710	8,980	9,280	9,570
Stirling	1,790	1,850	1,880	1,910	1,950	1,970	2,000	2,020
West Dunbartonshire	3,420	3,450	3,480	3,490	3,500	3,520	3,580	3,620
West Lothian	4,020	4,220	4,390	4,540	4,690	4,850	5,030	5,200
Scotland	133,130	136,180	139,580	142,140	144,960	148,350	152,040	155,230

Notes:

1. Source: General Register Officefor Scotland household estimates and projections.

2. These figures are estimates,based on changes in the total population and trends in household formation.

3. These figures show the numberof households containing one adult and one or more children. Information on alllone parent families, for 2001 alone, is available from Census Table UV65 (www.scrol.gov.uk).

Question reference: S2W-30147

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 8 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of child mortality has been in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority area.

The information requested isgiven in the following table. To aid comparison, the table also gives an averagerate for the period 1999-2005.

Deaths Aged Under 16, by CouncilArea, 1999-2005

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	1999-2005 Rate¹
Scotland	451	457	449	432	429	411	439	45.7
Aberdeen City	12	15	12	12	19	17	14	42.4
Aberdeenshire	25	19	21	15	16	16	14	38.0
Angus	7	8	8	8	10	9	11	42.7
Argyll and Bute	7	12	5	5	3	5	6	36.7
Clackmannanshire	4	4	5	2	6	6	9	52.4
Dumfries and Galloway	10	9	12	12	14	6	8	37.2
Dundee City	13	11	22	16	16	7	17	57.5
East Ayrshire	13	11	17	11	7	8	20	52.9
East Dunbartonshire	6	6	8	8	4	13	3	32.0
East Lothian	6	9	4	7	7	5	9	36.1
East Renfrewshire	3	9	10	6	6	8	8	37.7
Edinburgh, City of	46	49	31	36	31	37	26	50.4
Eilean Siar	1	-	4	2	1	1	3	34.7
Falkirk	17	9	20	11	11	11	17	48.5
Fife	29	18	23	43	22	39	33	43.7
Glasgow City	61	73	62	64	56	71	44	59.1
Highland	18	17	14	14	15	13	17	38.1
Inverclyde	8	7	10	7	11	10	10	56.3
Midlothian	6	8	8	5	3	7	10	40.7
Moray	10	7	10	5	8	9	7	46.4
North Ayrshire	13	13	21	10	14	5	14	47.8
North Lanarkshire	21	43	37	27	46	31	31	51.7
Orkney Islands	2	-	1	1	1	2	1	30.2
Perth and Kinross	12	3	9	9	10	9	10	34.8
Renfrewshire	18	15	13	24	22	12	12	50.3
Scottish Borders	7	6	4	12	10	8	7	38.2
Shetland Islands	3	-	-	-	5	4	2	42.1
South Ayrshire	7	17	12	9	8	9	13	53.6
South Lanarkshire	33	32	16	26	16	11	20	37.2
Stirling	5	7	8	2	7	4	3	31.1
West Dunbartonshire	11	9	10	12	9	15	17	65.3
West Lothian	17	11	12	11	15	3	23	38.1

Note: 1 Average annual rateper 100,000 population aged under 16.

Question reference: S2W-30207

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that NHS Lothian has no funding available at the Department of Sleep Medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to provide a gum shield device for my constituent, Mr Neil Waugh, to prevent extreme snoring and that he is therefore unable to undertake his employment on train maintenance which is safety-critical, and what concerns the Executive has about this lack of funding.

the Scottish Executive is investing record resources in the NHS in Scotland. Healthboards have received uplifts in resources with an average 7.25% increase in fundingin 2006-07, well above the rate of inflation. It is for each NHS board to plan anddeliver services within these resources to meet the needs of its resident population.

At present there is no provisionby NHS Lothian for the fitting and supply of mandibular repositioning splints. However,NHS Lothian and the Department of Sleep Medicine are currently exploring ways ofproviding this service.

Question reference: S2W-30055

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 7 December 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided for the rehabilitation of offenders addicted to (a) alcohol and (b) drugs in each year since 1999.

The Scottish Executive has providedfunding to local authorities for the rehabilitation of offenders with substancemisuse problems in two main ways:

The following figures are forsection 27(1) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 which provides funding both for those offenderssubject to community disposals and those discharged from custody, excluding thecosts of specific court orders such as Drug Treatment and Testing Orders or drugcourts. Information for years 1999-2000 and 200-01 is not available.

In addition, £6.8 million perannum was provided to local authorities in financial years 2001-02 to 2003-04 specificallyto support drug rehabilitation services, to which offenders in the community willhave had access. Thereafter this funding was incorporated into Grant Aided Expenditure(GAE).

	2001-02 (£)	2002-03 (£)	2003-04 (£)	2004-05 (£)	2005-06 (£)	2006-07 (£)
Alcohol	201,742	238,694	247,291	253,291	259,623	259,623
Drugs	313,067	469,482	482,189	614,597	654,373	654,373
Total (alcohol and drug addiction)	514,089	708,176	729,480	867,888	1,813,996	1,813,996