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: S1W-08006

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of what the expenditure of #9.86 million on the University of the Highlands and Islands project has been spent on and on what the further provision of #1 million is to be spent.

Of the £9.86 million development funding provided to the University of the Highlands and Islands Project over the years 1996-97 to 1999-2000, £3.68 million has been spent on academic development, £4.12 million on information and communication technology investment and development and £2.06 million on the costs of the Project's Executive Office.

The project has yet to provide a breakdown into these categories of the £1 million in the current financial year.

Question reference: S1W-08007

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive why university status is not expected to be conferred upon the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) project for some years and what precisely the UHI project is required to do in order to attain such status.

UHI, the company promoting the University of the Highlands and Islands project, applied in December 1998 for designation of a new institution. Designation is a necessary first step for any institutions that wishes to apply for university status.

Designated institutions seeking university status must first meet stringent criteria agreed UK-wide by the four Ministers with responsibility for higher education and the Privy Council, which consents to applications for a university title. The criteria cover academic achievement, subject breadth and student numbers, and require the establishment of a track record. UHI, like other institutions seeking university status, would have to fulfil these criteria.

Question reference: S1W-08061

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive why it does not always publish detailed summaries to responses to consultation exercises; in particular, why it has not published such a summary in relation to its consultation paper A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism and, in the absence of such a summary, how it intends to demonstrate that all responses were given full consideration.

Responses to the consultation paper A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism were collated by the Scottish Tourist Board on behalf of the Executive. The STB took all responses into account, and played a significant role in the drafting of the Executive's new tourism strategy. The responses to the tourism consultation exercise are available for public inspection, and were placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Question reference: S1W-08017

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 29 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost is of the new tourist information centre (TIC) at Strontian and whether, following the sale of a number of other tourist information centres in the Highlands and Islands, there are any plans to dispose of the Strontian TIC.

Question reference: S1W-07882

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 27 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether as part of its work on the 2000 revaluation it is expected that the Scottish Property network will receive from each assessor an electronic copy of the valuation roll; when this information is expected to be received; whether it will publish or place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre a summary of this information, and what the combined rateable value of all properties in Scotland is.

Question reference: S1W-06338

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4370 by Mr Jack McConnell on 12 April 2000, whether it will list, in relation to the political activities of individuals appointed to public bodies between 1 April and 31 December 1999, the names of (a) the 18 individuals who fell within category A and (b) the 26 individuals who fell within category B, indicating in each case the nature of their public appointment.

The information requested is set out in the table below:

Name andPosition Held	Body	Category A	Category B
Mr John FindlayMember	Argyll and Clyde Health Board		4
Mr I G Mitchell QCMember	Central Advisory Committee on Justice of the Peace		4
Mr W A Ratter Member	Crofters Commission	4
Ms Jeanette BurnessMember	Forth Valley Health Board	4
Ms Teresa McNallyMember	Forth Valley Primary Care NHS Trust	4
Ms Jane DarnbroughMember	Justice of the Peace Advisory Committee	4
Lord Wilson of TillyornMember	National Museums of Scotland		4
Ms Christina MacaulayMember	National Museums of Scotland		4
Mr Robert MurrayMember	North of Scotland Water Authority	4	4
Mr Stephen HaganMember	North of Scotland Water Authority	4
Ms Yvonne AllanMember	North of Scotland Water Authority	4	4
Ms Elizabeth CameronMember	Scottish Arts Council	4	4
Mr Ron PresswoodMember	Scottish Arts Council	4	4
Mr J S MoncrieffMember	Scottish Arts Council		4
Mr Harry McGuiganMember	Scottish Children's Report Administration	4
Mr Brian SouterMember	Scottish Enterprise		4
Mr Ian RitchieMember	Scottish Enterprise		4
Ms Christine MayMember	Scottish Enterprise	4	4
Mr Ken CollinsChair	Scottish Environment Protection Agency	4
Ms Susan ClarkMember	Scottish Environment Protection Agency	4
Mr Bill HowatsonMember	Scottish Environment Protection Agency	4
Ms Rowena ArshadMember	Scottish Higher Education Funding Council	4	4
Prof. Colin BellMember	Scottish Higher Education Funding Council		4
Ms Christine MayMember	Scottish Homes	4	4
Canon L S SmithMember	Scottish Homes	4
Mr Ian Borthwick	Tayside Primary Care NHS Trust	4
Mr David HamiltonMember	East of Scotland Water Authority	4	4
Mr Donald CampbellMember	West of Scotland Water Authority	4
Ms Rita Miller Member (subsequently resigned)	West of Scotland Water Authority	4	4
Totals		21	17

The total number of appointees coming within the scope of Categories A and B differs from that given in my answer to question S1W-4370. The figures contained within my earlier answer were incorrect. These inaccuracies only came to light when collating the detailed information requested for this answer.I have investigated this matter and instructed that arrangements be put in place to ensure that accurate statistical records are maintained. This has been done.

Question reference: S1W-06545

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 26 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in Scotland have complained of suffering from organophosphate poisoning in the last five years.

Expert advice is that it is difficult to establish diagnostic criteria for organophosphate poisoning, other than acute poisoning cases which are rare. Therefore, there has been no central data collection.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an Executive Agency of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is currently commissioning work to address the most common patterns of exposure, clinical presentation and subsequent clinical course among people in the UK with chronic illnesses that they attribute to OPs.

An independent scrutiny of case reports involving sheep dip Human Suspected Adverse Reaction Surveillance Scheme database will also be conducted.

Question reference: S1W-07806

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 23 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what opportunity for input it gave to the Parliament with respect to the setting of standards agreed between the water authorities and the Water Industry Commissioner and what opportunity the Parliament was given to specify what these standards and levels of compensation might be.

Question reference: S1W-07807

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 23 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether provisions under the Education and Training (Scotland) Bill and any proposed subordinate legislation which may be made under the Bill will allow for a pilot scheme on the operation of individual learning accounts in rural locations and, if so, whether such a pilot will be conducted in each local enterprise area in both the Highlands and Islands and the Borders and whether provisions will allow for remuneration in respect of attendance at learning centres.

In two pilot areas - the Lochaber and Scottish Borders local enterprise company (LEC) areas - holders of individual learning accounts (ILAs) will be able to seek financial assistance through the ILA scheme towards travel, subsistence and childcare costs. This is being done under the existing powers of the enterprise network. It is intended that regulations to be made under the powers being sought in the Education and Training (Scotland) Bill would enable such pilots to continue.

Reimbursement is likely to relate to the costs of attending local learning centres or other approved learning providers.

Question reference: S1W-05712

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of any effect the aggregates tax will have on the capital and revenue budgets for the roads programme for each of the next three years and whether it will detail any amounts involved.