- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 02 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 14 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of lone parents in Scotland go without food in order to feed their children, as defined in Patterns of Health and Illness amongst Lone Parents, Popay and Jones (1990).
Answer
The article in question concerns the health implications of lone parenthood and poverty (but does not present statistics on whether lone parents go without food). The combined data on which the article is based relates to Great Britain from 1980-1982.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the expenditure on external contracts for public relations and lobbying activities for Scottish National Heritage for each of the past two years and its budgets for these activities for the current financial year.
Answer
Scottish Natural Heritage has incurred no expenditure on external contracts for public relations and lobbying activities in each of the past two years and has not made any budgetary provision for such expenditure in the current financial year. SNH employs its own public relations staff.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 11 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many representatives from Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, each Local Enterprise Company, and each Education Business Partnership attended the annual conference of Education Business Partnerships in North America in each of the last three years, and what was the total cost of their attendance.
Answer
The Enterprise Network has not been represented at the North America conference in the past 3 years. However, a senior member of staff from the Scottish Education Business Partnership Network has attended in his capacity as a member of the International Partnership Network. Costs for his attendance were met from the International Partnership Network's own resources and not from Education Business Partnerships.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 8 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many citi'ens in Glasgow are liable to pay council tax liability and what is the number who qualify for full rebate.
Answer
This information is not held by the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 6 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what sea areas other than those covered by the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Orders are presently, either by habit and repute or statutory authority, subject to Scottish legal jurisdiction
Answer
The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers have competence in relation to all devolved matters in or as regards Scotland.
In respect of sea fisheries, the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Ministers will legislate and act up to the boundaries defined in the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order 1999. In addition, they can legislate and act in respect of Scottish fishing boats wherever in the world they may be.Oil and gas are reserved matters. The Civil Jurisdiction (Offshore Activities) Order 1987 made under the Oil and Gas (Enterprise) Act, 1982 defines an area of sea where the civil law in force in Scotland and the jurisdiction of the Scottish civil courts applies in relation to alleged offences taking place in connection with any activity related to the exploration of, or the exploitation of, the oil and gas resources in that area of sea. Part of this area of sea is outwith the sea area covered by the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by John Home Robertson on 6 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions for fisheries offences committed in the sea area covered by the Scottish Adjacent Water Boundaries Order have taken place in Scottish courts in the past 10 years.
Answer
The numbers of cases relating to fisheries offences where a decision was taken in a Scottish court up to 31 March in each of the last 10 years are as follows:
1989-90 65
1990-91 51
1991-92 73
1992-93 92
1993-94 122
1994-95 80
1995-96 69
1996-97 79
1997-98 110
1998-99 88.No offences were detected in the area of the North Sea between the Scottish zone as defined on the Scottish Adjacent Waters Boundaries Order and the administrative boundary at 55°48.06 north latitude in the five years to 31 March 1999. Figures are not available for the preceding 5 years.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 5 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown by department of the amount of unallocated expenditure for the current financial year and each of the next two financial years.
Answer
I will be making a statement later this week about the Executive's proposals for allocating resources in the current financial year and in the next two financial years.
- 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 Jack McConnell on 4 October 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the management arrangements for collecting the Council Tax and administering rebates within East Ayrshire Council.
Answer
No. Local authorities are independent corporate bodies, but we, of course, continue to encourage best practice in all management arrangements.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimate is of the number of houses in Scotland which suffer from dampness and whether it will publish a table showing the numbers in each local authority area.
Answer
The 1996 Scottish House Condition Survey estimated that 534,000 houses were affected to some extent by dampness or condensation, of which 91,000 houses were estimated as having both dampness and condensation and 84,000 were estimated as having dampness only. These estimates are not available by local authority area. Most local authorities include estimates in their annual returns of the incidence of dampness in their own stock, but information about dampness in other sectors of the housing stock is not collected routinely.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the number of children who are living in families at poverty level and whether it will publish a table showing the numbers in each local authority area.
Answer
The problem of poverty is not restricted to limited income, although this is a commonly used measure. According to data from the Family Resources Survey for 1996-97 and the subsequent Households Below Average Income analysis, approximately 300,000 children in Scotland were living in households with less than 50% of average Great Britain household income. There are currently no corresponding figures available at Local Authority area level.
