- 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 Wendy Alexander on 16 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the First Minister has met with the Chairperson of Scottish Homes since May 1999.
Answer
As Scottish Minister with responsibility for housing, I have regular business meetings with the Chairman of Scottish Homes. The First Minister is not involved in these meetings but has met the Chairman on a less formal basis.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 16 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the First Minister has met with the Chairperson of Scottish Homes since May 1999.
Answer
As Scottish Minister with responsibility for housing, I have regular business meetings with the Chairman of Scottish Homes. The First Minister is not involved in these meetings but has met the Chairman on a less formal basis.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 December 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 15 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total value of council tax arrears is by local authority for each of the last three years.
Answer
The information is set out in a table, which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe). I have today received the Executive Summary of the report of the Council Tax Working Group which we set up jointly with CoSLA to look at ways of improving collection levels across Scotland.The full report will be published next week and I will make it available to every MSP. We and CoSLA will consider its recommendations carefully. It is also an important contribution to the debate on abolition of poindings and warrant sales and I will refer it to the committees looking at these matters.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 15 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-870 by Donald Dewar on 24 August 1999, whether it will provide a detailed breakdown by department of its performance to date in relation to the specified targets.
Answer
The information requested in relation to the target of 17 working days to issue replies to Ministerial correspondence for the period 1 July to 31 October 1999 is detailed in the table below.
Department | Number of replies issued | % of replies to MPs and MSPs issued within 17 working day target |
| | | |
TOTAL | 2,476 | 43 |
| | | |
Crown Office | 88 | 82 |
Development | 835 | 46 |
Education | 203 | 41 |
Enterprise & Lifelong Learning | 243 | 46 |
Health | 232 | 25 |
Justice | 364 | 46 |
Rural Affairs | 414 | 43 |
Others | 97 | 55 |
While I am anxious to improve on these figures, current performance has to be seen in the light of the substantial increase in the overall volume of correspondence received during this period when compared with the corresponding period in 1998; and the fact that this period included the Parliamentary Recess when Ministers were sometimes unavailable to sign replies.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 10 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the number of companies employing 50 or more people in each of the following areas: Darvel, Newmilns, Hurlford, Galston, Stewarton, Dunlop and Kilmarnock.
Answer
The Scottish Executive's Scottish Corporate sector figures are produced by the Government Statistical Service using data collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).Data relating to the specific areas requested cannot be produced without encountering disproportionate cost. All of these areas lie within the East Ayrshire Unitary Authority where there are 95 companies employing 50 or more people. This figure relates to May 1999, the latest figure available.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 10 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1004 by Mr Sam Galbraith, what are the reasons why it does not consider that there should be a change to the upper age limit of 60 for membership of children's panels.
Answer
The upper age limit for entry to membership of children's panels is age 60, while the age of retirement from membership is usually age 65. This reflects our policy that panel members should be peers in age and experience of the families likely to come before them.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 10 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of "full employment" it will use in developing and assessing policies designed to ensure that the conditions of employability, productivity and responsibility recently outlined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as necessary to achieve the objective of full employment are met in Scotland.
Answer
Creating the conditions for high and stable levels of employment, and employment opportunities for all so that people are able to fulfil their potential, are major challenges for modern economies, including the Scottish economy.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 7 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the capital programme allocation and expenditure for local authorities for each of the last three financial years, the current financial year and the next three financial years.
Answer
For details of capital allocations and expenditure for local authorities for the current year and each of the last three financial years, I refer the member to my letter of 9 September, sent in response to questions S1W-743 and S1W-744. A copy is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
For the next three financial years, only provisional non-housing capital allocations for 2000-01 are available. These are shown in the attached table.
Provisional Non-Housing Allocations 2000-01
| Gross allocation | Public Transport Fund | Outstanding Challenge fund | Other commitments | Authority total |
| £000s | £000s | £000s | £000s | £000s |
| Aberdeen City | 15168 | 2800 | | | 17,968 |
| Aberdeenshire | 10852 | 960 | | | 11,812 |
| Angus | 6088 | | | | 6,088 |
| Argyll & Bute | 10828 | | | | 10,828 |
| Clackmannanshire | 3419 | | | | 3,419 |
| Dumfries & Galloway | 9449 | 320 | | | 9,769 |
| Dundee City | 9111 | 250 | | | 9,361 |
| East Ayrshire | 6397 | 590 | | | 6,987 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 7173 | | | | 7,173 |
| East Lothian | 5837 | 370 | | | 6,207 |
| East Renfrewshire | 5260 | 467 | | | 5,727 |
| Edinburgh (City of) | 28056 | 5050 | | | 33,106 |
| Eilean Siar | 10053 | 2000 | 650 | | 12,703 |
| Falkirk | 8422 | 365 | | | 8,787 |
| Fife | 17164 | 1373 | | | 18,537 |
| Glasgow City | 41736 | 3200 | 157 | | 45,093 |
| Highland | 21549 | | | | 21,549 |
| Inverclyde | 7745 | | | | 7,745 |
| Midlothian | 4573 | 1302 | | | 5,875 |
| Moray | 5676 | | | | 5,676 |
| North Ayrshire | 9877 | | | | 9,877 |
| North Lanarkshire | 20927 | 1260 | | | 22,187 |
| Orkney Islands | 4050 | 323 | | | 4,373 |
| Perth & Kinross | 9585 | 423 | 3600 | | 13,608 |
| Renfrewshire | 10059 | 650 | | | 10,709 |
| Scottish Borders | 11212 | | | | 11,212 |
| Shetland | 216 | | | | 216 |
| South Ayrshire | 7057 | 750 | | | 7,807 |
| South Lanarkshire | 18718 | 850 | | | 19,568 |
| Stirling | 6018 | 150 | | | 6,168 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 5052 | 300 | | | 5,352 |
| West Lothian | 19021 | | | | 19,021 |
| SPTA | | 2900 | | 7650 | 10,550 |
| Tay Road Bridge Board | | | | 800 | 800 |
| Totals | 356348 | 26653 | 4407 | 8450 | 395858 |
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 November 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 3 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what the additional cost to local authorities in Scotland will be if the Department of Trade and Industry's proposals to charge Value Added Tax on services provided by home care workers are implemented.
Answer
As local authorities are able to recover any value added tax that they are charged we would not expect them to incur significant additional costs.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 October 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Donald Dewar on 3 December 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive when and where the first meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee and the Overseas Promotion Committee being set up under the concordat arrangements will take place, who will be in attendance, and what subject matters are on their respective agendas.
Answer
The Joint Ministerial Committee will contribute to good communication between the Scottish Executive, the cabinet of the National Assembly for Wales and the UK Government. It will meet in a number of guises, but most of its business will be conducted by correspondence.The Committee on Overseas Promotion's principal aim is to prevent wasteful duplication of inward investment activity by its members and to ensure that the activities of individual bodies are complementary and contribute to the overall UK effort. All of the Inward Investment Agencies in the UK, including Locate in Scotland, are members.Three or four meetings are held each year. No date has yet been set for the next meeting.
