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: S1W-13616

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1786 by Sarah Boyack on 17 May 2000, why the Scottish Ministers did not lay before the Parliament in December 2000 their proposals for the setting of a national road traffic reduction target as required by the Road Traffic Reduction (National Targets) Act 1998.

My previous answer was based on an expectation that research commissioned to inform the road traffic reduction report would have been completed. However, the research proved more complex than anticipated at that time and the final report is not yet ready. Once received, its conclusions will need to be analysed and a decision taken on whether further work is required.The road traffic reduction report will now form an integral part of Scotland's Transport Delivery Plan which is expected to be published later in the year.

Question reference: S1W-13499

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 23 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12855 by Mr Jack McConnell on 9 February 2001, what the implications of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights are for education appeals submitted to the Scottish Qualifications Authority.

Question reference: S1W-14023

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the proportion of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude people living north of the Caledonian Canal.

The Scottish Executive's statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty do not exclude people living north of the Caledonian Canal.The statistics are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS). In common with some other household surveys, the Scottish Islands and the area to the north of the Caledonian Canal were excluded from the FRS sample due to the costs of carrying out fieldwork in these areas. Although they were not included in the sample, it was assumed that their income levels were similar to the rest of Scotland, and the overall estimates for Scotland represent the whole household population.To improve the quality of the Scottish data, the Scottish Executive has provided funding for DSS to extend the coverage of the survey to the Scottish Islands and the area north of the Caledonian Canal. This change will take effect from April 2001 and the first results on the new basis will cover the financial year 2001-02.

Question reference: S1W-14024

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the number of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude people living in institutions such as nursing homes and residential homes for the elderly and in houses in multiple occupancy.

The statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS).The FRS is a survey of private households in Great Britain, and as such does not cover those areas of the population living outside private households e.g. people living in nursing and residential homes. People living in multiple occupancy houses are included if the household is a private household.Most Government surveys are based on private households, as it is expensive and in some cases impractical to collect data on people living outwith private households. There are also additional difficulties in applying the definition of income poverty to those living in institutions; one of the main assumptions behind the poverty analysis is that household income is a proxy indicator of standard of living and this assumption does not transfer to people living in institutions.

Question reference: S1W-14022

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 22 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive why the statistics on the proportion of people living in poverty contained in its Social Justice Annual Report 2000 exclude homeless people living rough or in bed and breakfast accommodation.

The statistics on the proportion of people living in income poverty are based on data collected by the Department of Social Security's Family Resources Survey (FRS).The FRS is a survey of private households in Great Britain, and as such does not cover those areas of the population living outside private households e.g. students in halls of residence, people living in nursing and residential homes, people in hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation, and people sleeping rough. Most Government surveys are based on private households, as it is expensive and in some cases impractical to collect data on people living outwith private households. The Social Justice Annual Report covers issues surrounding people sleeping rough and temporary accommodation through specific milestones.

Question reference: S1W-13339

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 February 2001
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6842 by Sarah Boyack on 30 May 2000, in relation to how many of the road traffic accidents which took place on the A71 in each of the last five years were winter weather conditions reported as an attributable factor, broken down by local authority area and specifying in each case the number of fatalities and serious injuries.

Question reference: S1W-13944

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 20 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13110 by Jackie Baillie on 6 March 2001, whether it will, prior to the Stage 1 debate on the Housing (Scotland) Bill, expand upon its definition of "affordable housing options".

Question reference: S1W-13002

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 February 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 19 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive how it calculated the figure of 70,000 in its statement regarding the reduction in the number of children living in income poverty contained in news release SE2919/2000.

The figure referred to was calculated using the headline measure recommended by the Statistical Programme Committee of the European Union - the number of children in households where net income (after housing costs) is below 60% of the GB median.Estimates of the number of children living in low income households were calculated for the years 1996-97 (380,000) and 1998-99 (310,000) and the 70,000 quoted represents the difference between these two estimates. The source of the data is the Scottish sample of DSS Households Below Average Income survey.

Question reference: S1W-13839

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 16 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-13337 by Sarah Boyack on 28 February 2001, how it plans to compare accident rates on the trunk road network which are attributable to winter weather conditions between the years when local authorities carried out road maintenance, snow clearance and gritting and those when private contractors carried out such work.

Question reference: S1W-13837

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 March 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 14 March 2001

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the substantive answer to question S1W-13110 will be given prior to the Stage 1 debate on the Housing (Scotland) Bill on 14 March 2001.