- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 25 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider bringing forward the Fenwick to Floak section of the proposed A77 upgrade.
Answer
As I made clear in my announcement on the outcome of the Strategic Roads Review, the upgrading of the A77 between Malletsheugh and Fenwick will be undertaken as a single project and to the fastest timetable possible.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to re-establish the Scottish Diet Working Group.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no plans to re-convene the Scottish Diet Action Group
. Steady progress is being made with implementation of the Diet Action Plan for Scotland, Eating for Health, prepared by the Group in 1996.To add further impetus to implementation, the appointment will be made shortly of a national dietary co-ordinator. The co-ordinator's priority tasks will be to promote action to encourage breastfeeding and to support primary producers, retailers and caterers and others to realise, to the full, their potential contribution to improving Scotland's diet.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-891 by Sarah Boyack on 24 August 1999, whether it will publish the outcomes and outputs achieved as a result of the grants awarded in each year from 1996-97 to 1999-2000 to the Scottish Raptor Study Groups.
Answer
No. Publication of information gathered by Raptor Study Groups on Scottish Natural Heritage's behalf is a matter for Scottish Natural Heritage. I have, however, arranged for SNH to write to Mr Neil with a view to setting up a meeting to provide a briefing on the work of Raptor Study Groups and SNH's involvement with them.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1734 by Iain Gray on 3 December 1999, whether it will specify the number of beds currently blocked in each of the health board areas for which figures are available.
Answer
The information requested is set out in the table below. The figures, updated to include figures for the Board areas not available at the time of the question referred to, are the product of an informal survey of health boards conducted in October 1999. From 1 April this year the information will be collected quarterly against agreed national definitions and will be published thereafter.
Health boards, NHS Trusts and local authorities continue to work together to remove the causes and reduce the periods of delays to discharge.
| Health Board | No. of Delayed Discharges - as at October 1999 |
|
| | |
Argyll & Clyde | 425 |
| Ayrshire & Arran | 226 |
| Borders | 6 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 28 |
| Fife | 149 |
| Forth Valley | 225 |
| Grampian | 208 |
| Greater Glasgow | 150* |
| Highland | 79 |
| Lanarkshire | 219 |
| Lothian | 447 |
| Orkney | 10 |
| Shetland | 2 |
| Tayside | 154 |
| Western Isles | 63 |
| TOTAL | 2391 |
| Available staffed beds | 35,524 |
*Based on locally agreed protocol for delayed discharge.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many lone parents have gone back on to income support having finished employment placements found through the New Deal in Scotland.
Answer
The New Deal for Lone Parents programme does not offer temporary employment placements that would remove people from Income Support. The programme has, however, by the end of November 1999, helped 3,480 lone parents into jobs.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to local authorities' pension schemes in Scotland has been as a result of the abolition of advance corporation tax (ACT) in July 1997.
Answer
In order to meet the costs arising from the abolition of Advanced Corporation Tax credits, provision of £27 million, £38.5 million and £38.5 million has been included in the local government settlements for 1999-2000, 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively. These figures were based on local authorities' own actuarial estimates.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 18 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how much Glasgow City Council and other employers contracted by the council to provide services in Glasgow contributed to pension schemes by way of employers' contributions in each of the last four years.
Answer
Information on employer contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme fund in the form requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to implement and evaluate the Scottish Diet Action Plan.
Answer
Implementation of the recommendations of the Scottish Diet Action Plan is being taken forward steadily at both national and local levels through the continuing development, and delivery, of a wide range of initiatives, many in partnership with key interests. To ensure momentum in implementation, a national dietary co-ordinator is shortly to be appointed.Evaluation of initiatives is regarded as an essential tool in the effective management of the Plan's implementation. The major evaluations underway of the Scottish Community Diet Project and the Scottish Healthy Choices Award Scheme, are current examples.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Alasdair Morrison on 17 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new businesses started up as a result of assistance from Scottish Enterprise and Highland and Islands Enterprise in each of the last three years and how many employment opportunities these businesses created in these years.
Answer
The number of new businesses started as a result of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise assistance in each of the three years and employment opportunities these businesses created in these years are as follows:
Scottish Enterprise
Year | New businesses | Employment Opportunities |
1996-97 | 4,887 | (no comparable figures available) |
1997-98 | 5,287 | 13,500 |
1998-99 | 5,433 | 10,500 |
Projected employment opportunities shown are those which will result up to three years after the initial assistance.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise
In the HIE areas new business can be assisted through the Business Start-Up programme and the Finance for Business programme.
| | New Businesses |
Year | Business Start-Up programme | Finance for Business programme |
| 1996-97 | 294 | 323 |
| 1997-98 | 236 | 306 |
| 1998-99 | 227 | 221 |
Between the two programmes, these new businesses were expected to support over 3,200 full-time equivalent jobs during the three year period.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 16 February 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to make nutrition a compulsory element of catering courses run by institutions funded by the Scottish Executive.
Answer
There are no plans to do so. Decisions regarding the content of individual courses are a matter for individual further education colleges, subject to the requirements of courses leading to particular qualifications.Full-time GSVQ and Higher National courses in Food Production and Professional Cookery include nutrition and menu planning. This is not a compulsory element of shorter, work-based courses in catering. As part of the new Scottish Group Awards in Hospitality, nutrition and healthy eating are mandatory components at intermediate level 1 and 2 and Higher.
