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-03281

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 3 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2785 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 October 2003, why it does not intend to undertake an assessment of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's five economic tests.

The Chancellor’sfive economic tests relate to the UK economyand the decision on whether to recommend UK entry intothe European Monetary Union (EMU). This decision is a reserved matter, andtherefore a matter for the UK Government. The UK Government will only recommendUK membership of EMU if it considers it tobe in the national economic interest. The Secretary of State for Transport and Scotland represents Scottish interests in the UK Government.

Question reference: S2W-03276

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 3 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2779 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 September 2003, how it will know whether it has achieved its goal of raising the quality of life in Scotland.

The answer given to questionS2W-2779 noted that The Way Forward: A Framework for Economic Development inScotland describes the overarching strategy within which more detailedpolicy programmes take place rather than describing detailed measurabletargets. There is no single indicator that can be used to measure thequality of life. The partnership agreement sets out a comprehensive set ofpriorities and commitments, progress against all of which will improve the qualityof life in Scotland.

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/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-03275

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 3 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it and its agencies spent in total on the regulation and inspection of care services in each year since 1999.

No information is held centrally on the cost of the local authority and health board regulation andinspection regime in 1999-2000 and 2000-01. However, the total costs of theCare Commission’s operations in 2002-03 were £19,544,900, excluding severancepayments, referred to in the answer given to question S2W-2946.

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/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-03277

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 3 November 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2782 by Mr Andy Kerr on 30 September 2003, whether it will publish its input to the Allsopp Review, including any recommendations made to it or Her Majesty's Government in respect of regional inflation indicators.

The Scottish Executive has no plans to publish its contribution to the Allsopp Review, howeverit will be made available on the Treasury website, in due course, as part of the Allsopp Review reporting arrangements.

One of the key messages fromthe Scottish Executive was that there is a clear need to recognise the newenvironment in which we are producing economic statistics, both at the UK and at thesub-UK levels, and to identify what is required in order to monitor and deliverGovernment commitments within the various levels of central and devolvedgovernment. We also identified several areas where there are gaps in regional economicstatistics.

Question reference: S2W-02789

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 27 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence there is to support the statement in chapter 4 of its Scottish Economic Report September 2003, that, in general terms, the implications for Scotland of UK membership of the euro are similar to those for the UK as a whole.

Question reference: S2W-02808

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 27 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence there is to support the statement made in chapter 4 of the Scottish Economic Report September 2003, that "the specific effects (of UK Membership of EMU) might be different due to the structure of the Scottish economy, but such differences are likely to be of degree rather than substance" and what these differences would be.

Question reference: S2W-03374

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 21 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2790 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 October 2003, whether it has made any response to HM Treasury's Barker review on housing supply identifying differences between the position in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK and what impact any such differences will have.

The answer I gave toquestion S2W-2687 on 30 September 2003 indicated that discussions had been held recentlybetween the Executive and the Barker review team on housing supply at HMTreasury. The review team have now been supplied with a range of informationand statistical data on housing in Scotland which has been sent also to the Parliament’sReference Centre.

It will be for the review teamto make an assessment of the differences between the position in Scotland ascompared to the rest of the UK and any impact those differences may have.

Question reference: S2W-03280

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 October 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2766 by Mr Andy Kerr on 30 September 2003, whether it has made any recommendations to Her Majesty's Government in respect of regional pay bargaining and, if so, what the recommendations were.

Question reference: S2W-02350

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements it has made for the organisation of an annual business forum, as referred to in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-02947

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 October 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the Care Commission's staff have accepted severance since it was set up; how many of these had served with the Commission for (a) six months or less (b) six to 12 months and (c) longer than 12 months, and what the total cost of such severance payments was to the Executive.