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-26963

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 21 July 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of using debt collection agencies for the purpose of collecting student loan debt on behalf of the Student Loans Company in each of the last five years.

The following table showsthe approximate cost to the Student Loans Company, Honours Trustees Limited andFinance for Higher Education for the collection of Scottish debt

Financial Year	Approximate Collection Cost
2001-02	£216,137
2002-03	£183,982
2003-04	£190,286
2004-05	£150,558
2005-06	£189,634

Question reference: S2W-26265

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what energy efficiency measures each of departments has undertaken in each year since 1999.

Given the distribution of staffacross the Executive’s estate, it is not possible to breakdown the measures takenby department. The Executive publishes an annual report on the environmental performanceof its estate which details, among other things, actions taken to reduce the emissionsof greenhouse gases linked to its energy use. The most recent report, publishedin December 2005, is available through the Executive’s internet site: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/12/16153024/30243.

TheExecutive has also built energy efficiency into its contract for the managementand maintenance of its building operations.

All new IT equipment suppliedon the Executive estate since 2001 is Energy Star compliant.

Staff awareness campaigns havealso been undertaken to illustrate the impacts of energy consumption and the needfor a reduction in the related greenhouse gas emissions.

Question reference: S2W-26938

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 28 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated for the purpose of eradicating deprivation in each local authority area in each year since 1999, also showing year-on-year percentage changes.

The information requested hasbeen placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 39934) andcovers allocations for the main funding programmes targeted specifically at eradicatingdeprivation since 1999, namely the Social Inclusion Partnership and Better NeighbourhoodServices Fund programmes and their successor Community Regeneration Fund; the Workingfor Families Fund, and funding recently allocated to tackle the problems of financialinclusion worklessness and young people not in education, employment or training(NEET).

It should be noted that thesespecific allocations represent a small proportion of the total funding which hasan impact on deprivation, particularly the core budgets of local government andthe health service. Currently, adjustments for deprivation in terms of Grant AidedExpenditure (GAE) to local government are made to 25 GAE sub-services linked toa total of £2 billion out of a total GAE of £9 billion. Similarly, the vast majority(75%) of health resources are allocated using the Arbuthnott formula, which includesan adjustment for deprivation levels.

The Executive’s May 2005 submissionto the Finance Committee’s Cross-cutting Inquiry into Deprivation Expenditure (provideddetails of other funding streams which take account of deprivation but also haveother purposes. This is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/finance/papers-05/fip05-16.pdf#page=12.

Question reference: S2W-26439

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 27 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25904 by Ross Finnie on 23 May 2006, how many people wishing to enter agriculture have contacted, and been helped by, each local enterprise company since 1999 and what steps are taken to publicise the services of the enterprise network to those who may be interested in entering agriculture.

Question reference: S2W-26758

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the Mental Health Specific Grant.

Question reference: S2W-26759

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to increase the Mental Health Specific Grant annually in line with inflation.

Question reference: S2W-26757

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated from the Mental Health Specific Grant to each local authority in each year since 1999.

The allocations made by the ScottishExecutive, to which local authorities also add their own resources, are shownin the following table:

Council	In each year from 1999-2000 to 2000-01 (£)	In each year from 2001-02 to 2002-03 (£)	In each year from 2003-04 to 2005-06 (£)
Aberdeen City	637,700	672,980	708,400
Aberdeenshire	520,800	549,290	578,200
Angus	289,100	304,570	320,600
Argyll and Bute	281,400	296,590	312,200
Clackmannan	99,400	105,070	110,600
Dumfries and Galloway	336,000	355,110	373,800
Dundee City	307,300	324,520	341,600
East Ayrshire	289,100	304,570	320,600
East Dunbartonshire	147,700	155,610	163,800
East Lothian	200,900	211,470	222,600
East Renfrewshire	51,100	54,530	57,400
Edinburgh City	1,210,300	1,278,130	1,345,400
Eilean Siar	147,000	155,610	163,800
Falkirk	330,400	348,460	366,800
Fife	804,300	848,540	893,200
Glasgow City	2,497,600	2,636,060	2,774,800
Highland	538,300	567,910	597,800
Inverclyde	173,600	183,540	193,200
Midlothian	238,700	252,700	266,000
Moray	143,500	151,620	159,600
North Ayrshire	176,400	187,530	197,400
North Lanarkshire	506,800	534,660	562,800
Orkney	119,700	126,350	133,000
Perth and Kinross	245,000	258,020	271,600
Renfrewshire	337,400	356,440	375,200
Scottish Borders	280,000	295,260	310,800
Shetland	148,400	156,940	165,200
South Ayrshire	270,900	285,950	301,000
South Lanarkshire	675,500	712,880	750,400
Stirling	186,900	196,840	207,200
West Dunbartonshire	225,400	238,070	250,600
West Lothian	183,400	194,180	204,400
Total	12,600,000	13,300,000	14,000,000

Question reference: S2W-26174

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding per head of population has been provided for the dental health service in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board area.

Each NHS board receives allthe funds it needs to meet the cost of providing NHS dental treatment to itsresidents. This funding is mainly reimbursement for expenditure by generaldental practitioners who treat patients under the NHS.

Thevast majority of expenditure on General Dental Services is therefore demand-led,reflecting the cost of activity by general dental practitioners in each NHS boardarea as well as minor discretionary expenditure by health boards. The totalamount per head of population is shown in the following table.

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004–05
	£ Per Head	£ Per Head	£ Per Head	£ Per Head	£ Per Head	£ Per Head
Argyll and Clyde	33.38	37.17	36.91	40.10	42.33	45.41
Ayrshire and Arran	31.91	33.08	35.38	37.05	39.22	42.98
Borders	31.90	29.91	32.70	35.72	33.26	35.05
Dumfries and Galloway	26.59	25.03	25.94	26.99	27.62	28.08
Fife	29.69	30.80	31.95	34.31	35.39	37.96
Forth Valley	31.77	33.60	35.00	39.85	39.06	42.07
Grampian	29.32	29.27	31.05	31.74	29.90	29.80
Greater Glasgow	39.44	38.59	42.25	46.03	47.19	53.35
Highland	27.61	30.11	31.06	31.55	29.40	32.35
Lanarkshire	31.84	33.16	34.53	36.77	38.80	42.94
Lothian	34.18	35.48	37.19	40.24	42.51	45.48
Orkney	23.34	25.51	28.04	31.60	48.52	63.23
Shetland	24.39	23.89	25.77	35.23	38.64	48.18
Tayside	35.20	36.95	38.62	40.64	42.49	44.46
Western Isles	29.78	32.08	34.18	31.45	40.61	46.42

Question reference: S2W-26460

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many incidences of violence against passengers in Scotland have been recorded by British Transport Police in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S2W-26146

Asked by: Maureen Watt, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 9 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have entered teacher training courses in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many successfully completed courses, broken down by subject area.

The following tables show anindicative number of entrants to the four year Batchelor of Education (BEd) coursein each year since 1999 and graduates in the related period to those entering thecourse 1999-2000 to 2001-02, by main subject:

Entrants to BEd SecondaryCourses

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Total	160	175	199	215	211	200	191
PE	92	100	105	104	100	100	117
Tech Ed.	28	33	40	56	53	42	42
Music.	40	42	54	29	26	30	32

Sources: 2005-06 Scottish ExecutiveEducation Department (SEED) figures collected from higher educationinstitutions (HEIs). 1999-2000 to 2004-05 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Notes:

1. HESA figures include foreignnationals whereas SEED entrant figures from HEIs do not therefore are not directlycomparable.

2. Those entering the course2002-03 to 2005-06 have yet to graduate.

3. From 2002-03 Music entrantnumbers are for the BEd at Glasgow University only. The course at Aberdeen University becamea combined BMus (Education) where entrants do not make a choice about teaching untilthe second year of the course.

Graduates from BEd SecondaryCourses

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Total	136	121	152
PE	85	69	87
Tech Ed.	17	23	33
Music.	34	29	32

Source: HESA.

The following tables show anindicative number of entrants to and graduates from the one year Postgraduate Certificatein Education (PGCE) course in each year since 1999, by main subject:

Entrants toPGCE Secondary Courses

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
Total	1,004	1,008	1,121	947	1,040	1,405	1798
English.	142	145	175	149	192	308	368
History.	70	96	69	53	45	58	65
Geography.	44	53	49	44	41	56	94
Modern Studies.	43	65	55	45	26	30	45
Economics	2	0	0	0	0	0	0
French.	65	62	77	61	83	81	103
German.	21	16	16	17	20	14	12
Spanish.	10	5	12	8	1	3	4
Italian.	1	2	1	1	0	0	0
Gaelic.	2	2	3	4	3	4	7
Other modern languages	4	6	11	5	4	0	0
Latin.	0	0	0	2	4	0	2
Maths.	104	67	97	116	155	258	257
Computing.	46	35	70	66	71	81	71
Biology.	76	94	85	63	33	57	81
Chemistry.	58	52	54	33	51	54	111
Physics.	36	30	43	47	57	69	91
Art.	57	68	57	33	43	48	100
Business studies	65	56	68	39	32	42	48
Home Economics.	23	28	27	17	28	36	55
PE	0	0	14	9	10	27	80
Tech Ed.	28	29	31	49	42	63	66
Music.	21	24	27	24	22	24	28
Drama.	26	30	34	14	31	49	47
RE	59	44	45	50	44	44	63

Sources: 2005-06Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) figures collected from higher educationinstitutions. 2000-01 to 2004-05 Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) withsubject split included for Glasgow University in 2000-01 to 2004-05 from entrant figurescollected by SEED from HEIs.

Notes:

1. HESA figuresinclude foreign nationals whereas SEED entrant figures from HEIs do not thereforeare not directly comparable.

2. Those enteringthe course 2005-06 have yet to graduate.

3. HESA figurescollected 2000-01 to 2004-05 do not include a subject split for Glasgow University therefore are pro-rata on the basis of HEI figures collectedby SEED from the University.

Graduates fromPGCE Secondary Courses

	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Total	914	898	981	839	923	1,221
English.	134	128	152	128	156	266
History.	66	85	54	48	38	53
Geography.	42	49	43	41	37	49
Modern Studies.	40	63	52	42	22	26
Economics	2	0	0	0	0	0
French.	58	53	68	50	74	76
German.	19	14	12	17	18	12
Spanish.	10	5	12	6	3	4
Italian.	1	2	1	0	0	0
Gaelic.	2	2	3	3	5	3
Other modern languages	4	6	10	5	4	0
Latin.	0	0	0	1	4	0
Maths.	98	59	84	98	139	210
Computing.	39	29	55	61	63	69
Biology.	74	87	79	61	31	56
Chemistry.	53	42	45	30	48	48
Physics.	27	28	38	44	53	58
Art.	53	62	54	32	41	44
Business studies	56	49	60	35	31	38
Home Economics.	21	27	23	15	26	33
PE	0	0	14	8	10	25
Tech Ed.	21	28	29	44	38	53
Music.	20	21	27	22	19	21
Drama.	24	27	30	9	29	43
RE	50	32	36	39	35	33

Sources: HESAwith subject split included forGlasgow University in 2000-01 to 2004-05 estimated from entrant figures collectedby SEED from HEIs.

Note:

1. HESA figurescollected 2000-01 to 2004-05 do not include a subject split for Glasgow University therefore are pro-rata on the basis of HEI figures collectedby SEED from the University.