- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 7 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Riminyl will continue to be available under the NHS in Scotland as a treatment for patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Answer
Galantamine (Reminyl ®) willcontinue to be recommended for treatment by the NHS of patients who have moderateto moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discretionary powers local authorities have to grant business rate relief to registered charities that run shops or cafes in connection with their charitable purposes.
Answer
Rates relief for organisationsestablished for charitable purposes is governed in Scotland by theLocal Government (Financial Provisions Etc.) (Scotland) Act 1962 as amended. Itis for each local authority to determine whether a shop or cafe is used (a) whollyor mainly for the sale of goods donated to a charity, and (b) that the proceedsof sale (after deduction of expenses) are applied for the purposes of a charity.Subject to satisfaction that these criteria have been met, local authorities havepowers to award 80% mandatory rates relief. Local authorities may at their discretiontop this relief up to 100%.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 09 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 6 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what entitlement charities that run shops or cafes in connection with their charitable purposes have to business rate relief.
Answer
Registered charities are eligibleto receive 80% mandatory rates relief and up to 20% discretionary rates relief forrunning charity shops or cafes. It is for each local authority to determine whethera shop or cafe in their area is used (a) wholly or mainly for the sale of goodsdonated to a charity, and (b) that the proceeds of such sales (after deduction ofexpenses) are applied for the purposes of a charity. Subject to satisfaction thatthese criteria have been met, local authorities have powers to award 80% mandatoryrates relief. Local authorities may at their discretion top this relief up to 100%.
Where a property does not qualifyfor mandatory relief, local authorities are able to consider the award of discretionaryrate relief. Authorities have discretion to grant relief of up to 100% to certainnon-profit making bodies. To be eligible for consideration, the ratepayer must bea non-profit making body and the property used for charitable, philanthropic orreligious purposes, or concerned with education, social welfare, science, literatureor the fine arts, or used wholly or mainly for recreation by a not-for-profit clubor society.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether funding is available to assist students to pay for vaccinations in order to enable them to travel abroad as a compulsory part of their academic course.
Answer
Figures from the regulator(Ofgem) indicate that the total cost of the
Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order has been just over£109 million from its introduction in 2002-03 to 2004-05. The Executive doesnot hold information on the value to renewable generators, which is subject tothe commercially confidential agreements generators strike with suppliers. Inthe same period, payments made to Scottish Renewables Order projects from theFossil Fuel Levy totalled approximately £64 million.
Since the beginning offinancial year 2002-03, the Scottish Executive, its agencies and other bodiesfunded by the Executive have spent in total around £57 million on activitiesdeveloping renewable energy in Scotland. This is an estimate, as some spend on renewableenergy is a part of larger programmes.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 31 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what action can be taken by parents to appeal a decision by a local authority not to introduce a 20 mph speed limit outside a primary school.
Answer
There is no formal appeal mechanismin relation to 20mph speed limits outside schools. However, parents and representativescan of course raise such issues locally with their local authority and MSPs canof course initiate Parliamentary action.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether persons in receipt of (a) income support, (b) incapacity benefit and (c) disability living allowance are exempt from NHS dental charges in Scotland.
Answer
Those in receipt of incomesupport are exempt from NHS dental charges. Those in receipt of incapacitybenefit and disability living allowance are not exempt from NHS charges but maybe entitled to full or partial help under the NHS Low Income Scheme. This schemeis designed for those who are not automatically entitled to free treatment butmay have difficulty in paying.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 06 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it recommends that asthma sufferers be immunised against influenza.
Answer
The Scottish Executiverecommends that patients with asthma who require continuous or repeated use ofinhaled or systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospitaladmission should be offered seasonal influenza vaccination. This follows advicefrom the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the United Kingdomexpert group on vaccination and immunisation.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider extending entitlement to free bus travel to pensioners using community minibuses, for example on day trips organised by community organisations such as the Annandale Transport Initiative.
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-28724 on 25 October 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that a 60 mph speed limit is appropriate on a road outside a primary school which provides pupils with direct access to the school.
Answer
No, we would like to see theintroduction of a 20mph speed limit around all schools. It is, however, a matterfor each traffic authority to decide, based on their knowledge of the locations,whether or not to implement such a limit at individual schools on roads for whichthey have statutory responsibility.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it supplied to each local authority in (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05 and (c) 2005-06 to introduce 20 mph speed limits outside schools.
Answer
The information requested isgiven in the following table. The table includes additional funding for the periods2006-07 and 2007-08 made available as part of the Spending Review 2004.
| Authority | 2003-04 (£ Million) | 2004-05 (£ Million) | 2005-06 (£ Million) | 2006-07 (£ Million) | 2007-08 (£ Million) | Total (£ Million) |
| Aberdeen City | 0.188 | 0.408 | 0.408 | 0.457 | 0.466 | 1.927 |
| Aberdeenshire | 0.211 | 0.467 | 0.467 | 0.512 | 0.526 | 2.183 |
| Angus | 0.107 | 0.234 | 0.233 | 0.239 | 0.244 | 1.057 |
| Argyll and Bute | 0.095 | 0.212 | 0.211 | 0.203 | 0.209 | 0.930 |
| Clackmannanshire | 0.045 | 0.099 | 0.099 | 0.107 | 0.109 | 0.459 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 0.150 | 0.330 | 0.330 | 0.327 | 0.334 | 1.471 |
| Dundee City | 0.152 | 0.331 | 0.330 | 0.312 | 0.317 | 1.442 |
| East Ayrshire | 0.117 | 0.257 | 0.257 | 0.264 | 0.271 | 1.166 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 0.099 | 0.220 | 0.220 | 0.238 | 0.243 | 1.020 |
| East Lothian | 0.082 | 0.183 | 0.183 | 0.210 | 0.217 | 0.875 |
| East Renfrewshire | 0.083 | 0.186 | 0.186 | 0.204 | 0.211 | 0.870 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 0.399 | 0.875 | 0.876 | 1.013 | 1.044 | 4.207 |
| Eilean Siar | 0.043 | 0.093 | 0.091 | 0.057 | 0.058 | 0.342 |
| Falkirk | 0.132 | 0.294 | 0.295 | 0.330 | 0.340 | 1.391 |
| Fife | 0.331 | 0.736 | 0.738 | 0.792 | 0.815 | 3.412 |
| Glasgow City | 0.653 | 1.414 | 1.412 | 1.274 | 1.304 | 6.057 |
| Highland | 0.224 | 0.496 | 0.494 | 0.465 | 0.478 | 2.157 |
| Inverclyde | 0.087 | 0.189 | 0.189 | 0.183 | 0.186 | 0.834 |
| Midlothian | 0.076 | 0.169 | 0.169 | 0.184 | 0.190 | 0.788 |
| Moray | 0.082 | 0.182 | 0.182 | 0.192 | 0.196 | 0.834 |
| North Ayrshire | 0.135 | 0.296 | 0.295 | 0.300 | 0.306 | 1.332 |
| North Lanarkshire | 0.310 | 0.680 | 0.682 | 0.720 | 0.739 | 3.131 |
| Orkney | 0.030 | 0.065 | 0.065 | 0.042 | 0.043 | 0.245 |
| Perth and Kinross | 0.128 | 0.284 | 0.285 | 0.306 | 0.315 | 1.318 |
| Renfrewshire | 0.169 | 0.370 | 0.371 | 0.379 | 0.388 | 1.677 |
| Scottish Borders | 0.108 | 0.239 | 0.239 | 0.243 | 0.251 | 1.080 |
| Shetland | 0.038 | 0.084 | 0.083 | 0.049 | 0.051 | 0.305 |
| South Ayrshire | 0.108 | 0.236 | 0.236 | 0.247 | 0.253 | 0.580 |
| South Lanarkshire | 0.288 | 0.637 | 0.638 | 0.676 | 0.694 | 2.933 |
| Stirling | 0.084 | 0.187 | 0.188 | 0.198 | 0.204 | 0.861 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 0.101 | 0.220 | 0.220 | 0.204 | 0.209 | 0.954 |
| West Lothian | 0.145 | 0.327 | 0.328 | 0.373 | 0.387 | 1.560 |
| Scotland | 5.000 | 11.000 | 11.000 | 11.300 | 11.600 | 49.900 |
