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-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.

Question reference: S2W-26793

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Victim Information and Advice (VIA) service routinely provides support for families of victims involved in fatal accident inquiries and, if so, how the service is publicised.

Victim Information andAdvice (VIA) can provide a service to families of victims involved in FatalAccident Inquiries. The specific availability of this service is referred to incorrespondence advising families of initial enquiries into the death by the ProcuratorFiscal and more generally publicised on the Crown Office and Procurator FiscalService (COPFS) website at www.copfs.gov.ukand in COPFS leaflets providing general information about VIA.

Question reference: S2W-26791

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what additional funding has been allocated for modern apprenticeships in (a) West Dunbartonshire and (b) Argyll and Bute in each year since 2003.

The amount of fundingallocated for modern apprentices (MA) in a particular local authority area,parliamentary constituency or by year is an operational matter for ScottishEnterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. This information is not heldcentrally.

At the 2002 spending review,the Executive allocated an additional £25 million pounds to the enterprisenetworks for the period 2003 to 2006 to increase the number of modernapprentices in training.

The enterprise networks publishtheir annual reports and accounts which contain the total expenditure on learningand skills, of which the MA programme is a part. These can be found at:

http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/about_se/research-and-publications.htm#annual_report_and_accountsand http://www.hie.co.uk/corporate-publications.htm.

Question reference: S2W-26626

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been invested in local authority housing stock in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1999.

Housing Revenue Account (HRA)capital expenditure, as recorded on the councils’ HRA returns, is shown in the followingtable.

Council	1999-2000 (£ Million)	2000-01 (£ Million)	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
Argyll and Bute	4.1	3.2	3.2	3.5	3.5	3.6	3.1
West Dunbartonshire	8.2	8.2	7.2	6.8	8.8	11.6	13.7

Council

1999-2000

(£ Million)

2000-01

(£ Million)

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

2005-06

(£ Million)

Argyll and Bute

4.1

3.2

3.5

3.6

3.1

West Dunbartonshire

8.2

7.2

6.8

8.8

11.6

13.7

Note: The figures for 2005-06are estimates.

Question reference: S2W-26716

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional funding has been allocated to school sport in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area in each year since 1999.

I refer the member to theanswers to questions S1W-33868 on 17 February 2003, S2W-13717 on 2 February 2005 and to S2W-20960 on 5 December 2005. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the searchfacility for which can be at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

In addition to the informationalready provided in previous answers, both local authorities have received fundingthrough the Active Schools programme. Argyll and Bute was awarded £280,080 in 2004-05,£267,888 in 2005-06 and £261,360 in 2006-07. West Dunbartonshire was awarded £233,340in 2006-07.

Question reference: S2W-26686

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was invested in tackling anti-social behaviour through neighbourhood wardens, support schemes and other local initiatives in the (a) Dumbarton parliamentary constituency, (b) Argyll and Bute Council area and (c) West Dunbartonshire Council area in each year since 1999 and in what projects such investment was made.

Scottish Executive funding totackle antisocial behaviour has been made available to local councils on behalfof their Community Planning Partnerships since 2004. We do not hold records centrallyon locally funded initiatives prior to that date. Funds were allocated to localauthority areas as a whole and it is therefore not possible to identify resourcesallocated specifically to the Dumbarton parliamentary constituency.

Argyll and Bute Council was allocated£184,000 in 2004-05 and £204,700 in 2005-06. This supported the following services:

community wardens;

an antisocial behaviour coordinator;

provision of witness supportservices;

extending mediation services;

surveillance equipment to recordincidences of antisocial behaviour;

community consultation on theantisocial behaviour strategy, and

collection of data and monitoringand evaluation.

Inaddition, Argyll and Bute Council were awarded £26,600 for 2004-06 to support provisionof services to respond to antisocial noise.

West Dunbartonshire Council wasallocated £1,364,000 in 2004-05 and £1,513,550 in 2005-06. This supported the followingservices:

community wardens;

an antisocial behaviour coordinator;

extending mediation services;

intensive supervision of perpetratorsof antisocial behaviour;

support for witnesses and victims;

dedicated solicitor;

extra staff to investigate andpursue antisocial behaviour;

mobile patrol service operatingat night;

environmental response team operatingin the evenings;

freephone helpline number,and

funding to Strathclyde policeto enable targeting of antisocial behaviour hotspots.

In addition, West DunbartonshireCouncil were awarded £130,700 for 2004-06 to support provision of services to respondto antisocial noise.

Question reference: S2W-26718

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of older people in the (a) Argyll and Bute and (b) West Dunbartonshire local authority area received intensive home care in each year since 1997.

The statistics requested areavailable from 1999 onwards and are contained in the following table:

Table 1: Percentage ofPeople Aged 65 and Over Receiving Intensive Home Care

Local Authority	Year
Local Authority	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Argyll and Bute	0.8%	1.1%	1.1%	1.3%	1.3%	1.4%	1.3%
West Dunbartonshire	1.5%	1.5%	1.6%	1.8%	2.4%	2.9%	2.8%

Source: Home Care StatisticalReturn H1.

Question reference: S2W-26683

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding for childcare has been allocated to (a) Argyll and Bute Council and (b) West Dunbartonshire Council since 1999.

The information requested isprovided in the following table.

Childcare Strategy	1999-2000 (£000)	2000-01 (£000)	2001-02 (£000)	2002-03 (£000)	2003-04 (£000)	2004-05 (£000)	2005-06 (£000)	2006-07 (£000)	2007-08 (£000)
Argyll and Bute	95	235	233	233	323	532	728	808	813
West Dunbartonshire	116	210	211	211	283	438	599	636	640

Childcare Strategy

1999-2000

(£000)

2000-01

(£000)

2001-02

(£000)

2002-03

(£000)

2003-04

(£000)

2004-05

(£000)

2005-06

(£000)

2006-07

(£000)

2007-08

(£000)

Argyll and Bute

235

233

323

532

728

808

813

West Dunbartonshire

116

210

211

283

438

599

636

640

The figures in the table aretaken from the Childcare Strategy GAE (Grant Aided Expenditure) line and is provisionto spend. It should be noted that these figures are not budgets or spending targetsbut part of the more complex local government funding formula used to allocate oneblock grant figure to each council. It is up to each council to decide how bestto allocate their resources based on their local needs and priorities.

In addition to Childcare Strategyfunding, West Dunbartonshire has been allocated Working for Families Funding (WfFF)of £600,000 each year since 2004-05. WfFF can be used for a number of projects,including creating and subsidising child care.

Question reference: S2W-26624

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued in the (a) Argyll and Bute Council area, (b) West Dunbartonshire Council area and (c) Dumbarton parliamentary constituency in each year since 1999.

The number of Antisocial BehaviourOrders (ASBOs) granted in Argyll and Bute council area since 2002-03 is as follows: 2002-03 (0);2003-04 (0); 2004-05 (0).

The number of Antisocial BehaviourOrders (ASBOs) granted in West Dunbartonshire council area since 2002-03 is as follows: 2002-03 (3);2003-04 (3); 2004-05 (4).

The Scottish Executive does nothold centrally reliable data on the use of ASBOs by local authority area prior to2002-03. Data on ASBO use is also not available by constituency area.