Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-30892

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 17 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the additional annual cost would be of providing free school meals to every (a) nursery, (b) primary and (c) secondary school pupil.

Question reference: S2W-30641

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the highest social housing rents in each local authority area.

The information requested isnot held centrally. Available information on local authority and housing associationrents by local authority is as follows.

The Scottish Executive collectsand publishes data on average local authority rents. We do not collect informationon rents by size of property. Larger properties will have higher rents than theaverage. The most recent information can be found online at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/07092332/0.

Communities Scotland collectsinformation on average housing association rents by property size within each localauthority area. This can be found on the Communities Scotland website at:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_016307.hcsp#TopOfPage.Table R2 is the most relevant in this case.

The Chartered Institute of PublicFinance and Accountancy collects and publishes more detailed information on localauthority rents by size of property in an annual report Housing rents and servicecharges statistics. Details of this report can be found online at:

http://www.cipfastats.net/housing/housingrentsservicecharges/default.asp.

Question reference: S2W-30839

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any dates and times when any one of the three accident and emergency (A&E) units in Lanarkshire have been unable to accept any more patients or when they have referred patients to other A&E units in each of the last 12 months, also indicating for how long on each occasion this situation existed.

Question reference: S2W-30854

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 16 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Sewel or legislative consent motions it has lodged in each year since May 1999.

Question reference: S2W-30467

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 15 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Communities Scotland has spent since its establishment in each (a) local authority area and (b) Scottish parliamentary constituency.

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Information on spend is not held centrally by Scottish Parliamentary constituency and held by postcode area onlyfor the Central Heating and Warm Deal programmes.

The available information onspend by local authority area is shown in the following tables.

Affordable Housing InvestmentProgramme

	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
Aberdeen	5.430	4.600	5.134	7.078	20.357
Aberdeenshire	5.957	7.515	12.734	12.037	11.139
Angus	4.473	3.131	4.355	4.376	5.518
Argyll and Bute	4.065	3.710	7.330	10.334	15.885
Clackmannanshire	2.787	1.454	1.835	1.908	2.338
Dumfries and Galloway	4.349	4.276	5.718	8.379	10.447
Dundee	6.363	5.956	8.172	9.774	10.559
East Ayrshire	1.405	1.155	0.691	1.524	9.001
East Dunbartonshire	0.680	0.126	0.440	0.625	0.190
East Lothian	0.714	1.014	1.684	1.883	3.198
East Renfrewshire	1.675	1.362	2.683	2.954	1.181
Edinburgh, City of	14.026	14.152	17.373	17.860	34.801
Eilean Siar	1.378	1.752	2.787	2.780	3.105
Falkirk	2.355	1.999	0.919	0.879	1.894
Fife	9.008	7.973	8.933	12.407	18.755
Glasgow City	65.134	65.919	73.919	72.046 ¹	128.860 ²
Highland	9.137	9.605	13.664	20.444	33.609
Inverclyde	5.701	6.910	5.061	5.926	10.022
Midlothian	0.942	1.405	0.841	0.896	4.925
Moray	1.344	0.537	1.827	5.282	9.360
North Ayrshire	2.759	3.848	3.981	8.844	7.585
North Lanarkshire	8.892	11.753	10.383	13.135	13.971
Orkney	2.315	2.063	2.819	2.010	5.846
Perth and Kinross	5.486	5.450	7.019	9.488	7.516
Renfrewshire	10.698	9.542	13.686	14.807	18.657
Scottish Borders	4.129	2.780	4.070	5.287	4.219
Shetland	0.659	1.314	1.089	2.038	1.498
South Ayrshire	4.105	3.461	3.942	5.581	4.410
South Lanarkshire	12.837	9.650	13.642	13.335	14.827
Stirling	4.055	3.474	4.389	4.647	4.174
West Dunbartonshire	10.569	8.194	8.133	9.192	14.642
West Lothian	2.377	2.611	6.085	7.882	6.148

Notes:

1. Includes some GHA spend in2004-05.

2. Includes GHA spend on Demolitions,Reprovisioning, Efficiencies and Repayable Grant in 2005-06.

Other Housing Programmes

	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
Aberdeen City	0.606	0.53	0.162	2.756	3.598
Aberdeenshire	0.177	0.446	0.578	0.905	1.759
Angus	0.108	0.445	0.641	1.258	1.370
Argyll and Bute	0.217	0.276	0.39	2.541	4.160
Clackmannanshire	0.103	0	0.853	1.036	0.727
Dumfries and Galloway	0.16	0.446	0.651	2.141	4.617
Dundee City	0.324	0.36	0.496	2.098	2.807
East Ayrshire	0.073	0.36	0.595	1.306	1.792
East Dunbartonshire	0.195	0.276	0.498	0.804	1.190
East Lothian	0.465	0.444	0.541	2.273	1.592
East Renfrewshire	0.076	0.276	0.385	1.107	0.539
Edinburgh, City of	3.036	2.04	1.841	7.664	10.544
Eilean Siar	0.05	0.21	0.297	3.847	4.280
Falkirk	0.316	0.445	0.62	1.936	1.373
Fife	0.866	0.869	0.989	1.628	2.324
Glasgow City ¹	8.563	5.441	3.298	16.461	31.416
Highland	0.455	0.36	0.892	3.74	5.522
Inverclyde	0.133	0.276	0.511	0.961	1.090
Midlothian	0.056	0.058	0.589	0.726	0.750
Moray	0.37	0.408	0.569	1.104	1.568
North Ayrshire	0.38	0.445	0.569	1.157	2.299
North Lanarkshire	1.327	0.53	0.933	3.306	4.700
Orkney Islands	0.05	0.21	0.307	0.966	1.686
Perth and Kinross	0.452	0.68	0.604	1.861	2.527
Renfrewshire	0.268	0.36	0.47	1.957	2.047
Scottish Borders	0.056	0.36	0.47	0.437	1.837
Shetland Islands	0.057	0.21	0.197	0.441	1.051
South Ayrshire	0.073	0.445	0.701	1.102	1.306
South Lanarkshire	0.999	0.558	0.791	6.289	7.729
Stirling	0.193	0.36	0.487	1.417	1.083
West Dunbartonshire	0.159	0.446	0.849	1.128	1.927
West Lothian	0.22	0.53	0.721	2.411	1.393

Note: 1. Includes spend on GHAOwners Occupiers grant from 2003-04.

Other Glasgow HousingAssociation Spend¹

	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
GHA	12.9	48.8	49.1	48.1	4.8

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

2005-06

(£ Million)

GHA

12.9

48.8

49.1

48.1

4.8

Note: 1. Includes all other Glasgow/GHAspend not included within AHIP and Other Housing Programmes above.

Warm Deal and Central HeatingProgrammes

2001-02

(£ Million)

2002-03

(£ Million)

2003-04

(£ Million)

2004-05

(£ Million)

2005-06

(£ Million)

Warm Deal

9.73

9.338

10.67

11.123

5.992

Central Heating¹

20.112

29.016

43.397

46.036

52.198

Note: 1. GHA spend on centralheating included in Other GHA spend.

Social Inclusion PartnershipFund/Community Regeneration Fund

	2001-02 (£ Million)	2002-03 (£ Million)	2003-04 (£ Million)	2004-05 (£ Million)	2005-06 (£ Million)
Aberdeen	0.880	0.904	0.942	1.006	1.218
Aberdeenshire	0	0	0	0	0.135
Angus	0	0	0	0	0.203
Argyll and Bute	0.380	0.399	0.414	0.414	0.986
Clackmannanshire	1.068	1.071	1.088	1.088	1.104
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	0	0	0.675
Dundee	3.066	3.218	3.179	3.276	5.775
East Ayrshire	1.436	1.881	2.283	2.283	4.033
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0		0.271
East Lothian	0.156	0.164	0.168	0.168	0.126
East Renfrewshire	0.422	0.377	0.276	0.276	0.406
Edinburgh	6.478	7.025	7.489	7.618	7.176
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0.356
Falkirk	0.586	0.473	0.343	0.343	0.791
Fife	0.772	0.701	0.585	0.585	1.806
Glasgow	21.400	23.692	25.658	25.897	39.886
Highland	0.836	0.857	0.804	0.804	0.609
Inverclyde	2.443	2.651	2.752	2.881	5.381
Midlothian	0	0	0	0	0.100
Moray	0.447	0.470	0.481	0.481	0.361
North Ayrshire	0.743	0.619	0.466	0.466	3.403
North Lanarkshire	3.267	3.251	3.150	3.246	9.847
Orkney	0	0	0	0	0.100
Perth and Kinross	0.201	0.211	0.216	0.216	0.203
Renfrewshire	3.652	3.048	3.145	3.274	4.527
Scottish Borders	0.252	0.265	0.271	0.271	0.203
Shetland	0	0	0	0	0.100
South Ayrshire	1.982	2.115	2.202	2.267	1.767
South Lanarkshire	2.798	3.767	4.146	4.146	6.861
Stirling	0.531	0.432	0.317	0.316	0.406
West Dunbartonshire	2.196	2.242	2.327	2.456	4.956
West Lothian	0.209	0.22	0.225	0.225	0.677

Note: 1. SIP Fund subsumed withinthe Community Regeneration Fund from 1 April 2005.

Question reference: S2W-30398

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 15 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what its capital investment in housing (a) has been in each of the last 10 years and (b) is estimated to be in each of the next five years

I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive, Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

The information in the followingtable includes actual housing capital investment by Scottish Homes (1996-97 to 2002-03)and by Communities Scotland (2001‑02 to 2005‑06). The figures shownfor 2006-07 and 2007-08 are budget figures.

Decisions about funding beyondMarch 2008 will be taken in light of the next Spending Review.

Year	(£ Million)
1996-97	307.0
1997-98	201.4
1998-99	192.1
1999-2000	202.4
2000-01	220.2
2001-02	236.0
2002-03	284.2
2003-04	384.3
2004-05	420.5
2005-06	489.7
2006-07	530.6
2007-08	612.5

Question reference: S2W-30406

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the inflation rise in fuel duty from midnight on 6 December 2006 will have on Scotland.

This increase will affect fuelprices throughout the UK and could put around 50 pence on an average tank of petrol.We recognise the concerns of residents of rural Scotland who experience higher thanaverage fuel prices and can be dependent on private transport. We are spending substantialsums through our Rural Transport Fund to improve transport services in rural areas.

The taxation of fuel is a matterreserved to the UK Government. However, Scottish ministers will continue to ensurethat Scotland’s interests on fuel costs are firmly on the agenda inWhitehall through direct contact with Treasury Ministers.

Question reference: S2W-30405

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the increase in air passenger duty from £5 to £10 in February 2007 will have on Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-30853

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-28367 by Mr Jim Wallace on 9 September 2002, how many Scottish judges are currently members of the Privy Council and whether it will list them.

The total number of Scottishjudges, including retired judges, is 23. The names in alphabetical order are listedas follows.

The Rt Hon Lord Abernethy

The Rt Hon Lord Cameron of Lochbroom*

The Rt Hon Lord Coulsfield*

The Rt Hon Lord Cullen of Whitekirk*

The Rt Hon Lord Eassie

The Rt Hon Lord Gill

The Rt Hon Lord Hamilton

The Rt Hon Lord Hardie

The Rt Hon Lord Hope of Craighead

The Rt Hon Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle*

The Rt Hon Lord Johnston

The Rt Hon Lord Kingarth

The Rt Hon Lord Macfadyen

The Rt Hon Lord Mackay of Clashfern*

The Rt Hon Lord Mackay of Drumadoon

The Rt Hon Lord Marnoch*

The Rt Hon Lord Nimmo Smith

The Rt Hon Lord Osborne

The Rt Hon Lord Penrose*

The Rt Hon Lord Philip

The Rt Hon Lord Prosser*

The Rt Hon Lord Rodger of Earlsferry*

The Rt Hon Lord Sutherland*

*Retired.

Question reference: S2W-30690

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 11 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30425 by Mr Tom McCabe on 15 December 2006, what the nature has been of the work that the Executive has undertaken closely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics on the Statistics and Registration Service Bill.

The Executive has been liaisingclosely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with regardsto statistics reform over the last year.

There were early discussionsof the options for statistics reform at the UK level. And the Executive wasconsulted around the wording, in respect of devolved administrations, for the HMTreasury UK wide consultation Independence for Statistics.

Initial discussions on the Statisticsand Registration Service Bill explored the practical arrangements and the wordingof the bill to reflect Scotland’s inclusion in the bill or Scotland’s possibleexclusion from the bill.

Once the Cabinet decision tojoin the UK arrangements had been taken the Executive focussed onworking with HM Treasury to ensure that the provisions of the bill were appropriatefor Scotland’s inclusion.

Specific provisions secured fromthis work include one non-executive memberof the Statistics Board, created by the bill, to be appointed after consultationwith Scottish ministers and the board must lay an annual report before the Scottish Parliament.

The Executive continues to liaisewith HM Treasury and ONS as the Bill progresses, sharing information on developmentssuch as the Executive consultation Improving Statistical Services in Scotland andthe future practical arrangements for the implementation of the bill.

Chamber and committees