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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 8795 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S2W-26780

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to improve the treatment of strokes in each year since 1999.

This information is not heldcentrally. NHS boards do not receive a specific budget for the treatment ofstroke. NHS boards receive an annual allocation. It is for each NHS board toutilise the funds available to meet the health care needs of its residentpopulation, including the cost of treatment for stroke, taking account of nationaland local priorities. The general allocations to boards since 1999 are asfollows:

1999-2000- £4,566.26 million

2000-01- £4,919.40 million

2001-02- £5,272.54 million

2002-03- £5,932.08 million

2003-04- £6,384.51 million

2004-05- £7,465.22 million

2005-06- £8,112.94 million.

£40 million of additionalfunding has been allocated to boards to help implement the recommendations of the CHD and Stroke Strategy since 2002. Approximately 50% of this funding wasallocated to priority projects identified by each Stroke MCN. In addition, afurther £15 million has been ring-fenced in 2006-07 to help boards improve CHDand stroke services.

Question reference: S2W-26784

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to improve the treatment of cancer in each year since 1999.

More than £250 million hasbeen targeted specifically at cancer services over the past five years. £25million is the recurring Cancer in Scotland investment and from 2006this was distributed to NHS boards via the general allocation.

NHS boards do not receive aspecific budget for the treatment of cancer. NHS boards receive an annualallocation. It is for each NHS board to utilise the funds available to meet thehealth care needs of its resident population, including the cost of treatmentfor cancer, taking account of national and local priorities. Cancer is aclinical priority for both the Scottish Executive and NHSScotland.

The general allocations toNHS boards since 1999 are as follows:

1999-2000- £4,566.26 million

2000-01- £4,919.40 million

2001-02- £5,272.54 million

2002-03- £5,932.08 million

2003-04- £6,384.51 million

2004-05- £7,465.22 million

2005-06 - £8,112.94 million.

Question reference: S2W-26711

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on (a) police forces, (b) fire brigades and (c) the prison service in the (i) Argyll and Bute and (ii) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1999.

The available information isshown in the following tables. There are no prison establishments in either of theselocal authority areas.

Net revenue expenditure on policeforces and fire brigades in the Argyll andBute and West Dunbartonshire local authority areas from 1999-2000

Police Forces

1999-2000

(£ Million)

2000-01

(£ Million)

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

Argyll and Bute

8.302

8.172

8.501

8.304

9.830

9.678

West Dunbartonshire ¹

11.935

12.033

12.547

24.775

27.648

27.490

Source: Local Financial Returns.

Note: 1. Large increase from2002-03 due to change in accounting practice.

Fire Brigades

1999-2000

(£ Million)

2000-01

(£ Million)

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

Argyll and Bute

3.027

3.117

3.364

3.550

3.866

4.052

West Dunbartonshire

5.482

5.642

6.092

6.428

6.989

7.339

Source: Local Financial Returns.

Question reference: S2W-26719

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many modern apprenticeships have been taken up by residents of the (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) Argyll and Bute local authority area in each year since 1999.

The number of modern apprentices(MAs) broken down by local authority area and by year is an operational matter forScottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. This information is not heldcentrally.

However, Scottish Enterprisehave published MA figures which include the parliamentary constituency of Dumbartonas well as Dunbartonshire local enterprise company area. These are now in the publicdomain and can be found on their website:

www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/training-providers-top/training-providers/performance-and-reports.htm?siblingtoggle=1.

Question reference: S2W-26706

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to increase the employment rates of disadvantaged groups, such as lone parents or ethnic minorities, in the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency.

On 12 June 2006, I launched WorkforcePlus, An Employability Framework for Scotland. The framework aims to help more disadvantaged individuals,including lone parents and ethnic minorities towards and into sustained employmentby setting out the actions required at both nation and local level to achieve this.

The framework is targeted atseven Closing the Opportunity Gap areas, including West Dunbartonshire, with the highest levels of benefit claimants in Scotland. Theseareas have set a combined target to reduce benefit claimants by 30,000 by 2007 and66,000 by 2010. The West Dunbartonshire component of these targets is 840 and 2,190 respectively.We have allocated £840,000 to West Dunbartonshire Community Planning Partnershipover the next two years to assist local partners in bringing together services tohelp achieve this target.

Question reference: S2W-26685

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional funding, including through the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund and other such initiatives, it has awarded to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council in each year since 1997.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Better Neighbourhood ServicesFund operated between 2001-02 and 2004-05 when it was merged with the funding providedto Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs) to form the Community Regeneration Fund(CRF).

In addition to the CRF, CommunitiesScotland also provides grant funding to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) to supportthe provision of housing for rent or low cost home ownership. Communities Scotlandalso provides RSLs with funding from the Wider Role programme to support communityregeneration and social inclusion activities.

Details of the allocation ofeach of these funding streams are shown as follows:

West Dunbartonshire Council

	SIP (£ Million)	BNSF (£ Million)	CRF (£ Million)	Housing Grants to RSLs (£ Million)	RSL Wider Role (£ Million)	Total (£ Million)
1997-98	n/a	n/a	n/a	7.122	n/a	7.122
1998-99	n/a	n/a	n/a	7.929	n/a	7.929
1999-2000	2.193	n/a	n/a	6.707	n/a	8.900
2000-01	2.087	n/a	n/a	8.385	0.133	10.605
2001-02	2.076	2.000	n/a	10.108	0.330	14.514
2002-03	2.228	3.000	n/a	7.808	0.338	13.374
2003-04	2.236	4.000	n/a	7.650	0.646	14.532
2004-05	2.365	3.000	n/a	9.008	1.107	15.480
2005-06	n/a	n/a	4.956	12.658	0.760	18.374

Argyll and Bute Council

	SIP (£ Million)	BNSF (£ Million)	CRF (£ Million)	Housing grants to RSLs (£ Million)	RSL Wider Role (£ Million)	Total (£ Million)
1997-98	n/a	n/a	n/a	5.441	n/a	5.441
1998-99	n/a	n/a	n/a	4.427	n/a	4.427
1999-2000	0.206	n/a	n/a	5.653	n/a	5.859
2000-01	0.280	n/a	n/a	4.435	0	4.715
2001-02	0.369	0.60	n/a	4.057	0.013	5.039
2002-03	0.379	0.90	n/a	3.642	0.065	4.986
2003-04	0.370	1.20	n/a	7.288	0.274	9.132
2004-05	0.369	0.90	n/a	10.690	0.142	12.101
2005-06	n/a	n/a	0.985	14.979	0.218	16.182

Question reference: S2W-26688

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many inclusiveness projects there have been in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1999 and how much funding has been allocated to each such project in each year.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

Communities Scotland managesa number of programmes aimed at promoting social inclusion. Until 31 March 2005, theseincluded the Social Inclusion Partnership Fund (SIP) and the Better NeighbourhoodServices Fund (BNSF), and from 1 April 2005 the Community Regeneration Fund. Project informationfor the SIP and BNSF programmes is not held centrally.

Information on the CommunityRegeneration Fund is contained in the Regeneration Outcome Agreements for Argylland Bute and West Dunbartonshire. These can be viewed on:

www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk.

Question reference: S2W-26707

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency have gone into jobs from the New Deal.

The following table sets outthe number of people who have moved into jobs in Dumbarton through the various NewDeal programmes since their introduction.

Programme	Individuals into Jobs in Dumbarton
New Deal for Young People (NDYP)	1,580
New Deal 25 plus (ND25+)	600
New Deal for Lone Parents (NDLP)	820
New Deal 50 plus (ND50+)	120
New Deal for Partners (NDP)	10

Source: Department for Work andPensions, Information Directorate.

Notes:

1. Figures are rounded to thenearest ten.

2. Figures for NDYP ND25+ andNDLP are the cumulative totals to November 2005.

3. Figure for ND50+ is the cumulativetotal from April 2003 to February 2006.

4. The NDP figure is the cumulativetotal from April 2004 to February 2006.

5. Data are not available atconstituency level for New Deal for the Disabled.

Question reference: S2W-26691

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to reduce the gap between unemployment rates in the areas of lowest employment in (a) the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency and (b) Scotland as a whole and whether this gap has reduced since 1999.

West Dunbartonshire is one of the seven areas identified in the ScottishExecutive’s Closing the Opportunity Targets as having the highest levels of workingage benefit claimants in Scotland. Along with Dundee, Glasgow, South and North Lanarkshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire,West Dunbartonshire has worked with the Executive to set itself a targetto reduce benefit dependency. The combined target across these areas is to reducebenefit claimants by 30,000 by 2007 and 66,000 by 2010. West Dunbartonshire’s target is 840 and 2,190 respectively.

On Monday 12 June, I launchedWorkforce Plus An Employability Framework for Scotland which aims to help morepeople, particularly those disadvantaged in the labour market, into work. At thesame event on Monday, Malcolm Chisholm announced funding for the seven Closing theOpportunity Gap areas totalling £11 million over the next two years to assist localpartners in bringing together local partners to achieve the target. West Dunbartonshire has been allocated £840,000 of this total.

Since 1999, unemployment rateshave dropped in Scotland by 1.5 percentage points, and in Dumbarton constituencyby 1.7 percentage points. The following table sets out the changes since 1999 inthe worst five areas in the Dumbarton constituency.

Area	Claimant Count Unemployment Level			Claimant Count Unemployment Rate
Area	1999	2004	% Change	1999	2004	% Point Change
Dumbarton North	261	164	-37%	11.8%	10.4%	-1.4%
Dumbarton West	280	187	-33%	11.0%	9.2%	-1.8%
Bonhill East	234	167	-29%	8.1%	7.1%	-1.0%
Helensburgh East	155	107	-31%	7.3%	5.8%	-1.5%
Renton/Alexandria South	172	150	-13%	7.2%	6.3%	-0.9%

Source: Claimant countadministrative database.

Question reference: S2W-26621

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the annual (a) regeneration and (b) social inclusion partnership (SIP) budget was allocated to SIPs in the (i) West Dunbartonshire and (ii) Argyll and Bute local authority area in each year since 1999.