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: S2W-22499

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has identified a route, or routes, for a possible replacement Forth Road Bridge and, if so, whether any such routes have been safeguarded for future development.

Question reference: S2W-22604

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 7 February 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many nursery schools and early years centres do not have a qualified nursery teacher.

At January 2005 there were 2,836 pre-school education centres, of which 1,222 did not have any General Teaching Council registered teachers.

The Executive has issued guidance on the involvement of teachers in pre-school education which recognises the distinctive contribution that teachers can make, but which provides for considerable flexibility at local level in the way they are deployed. Providers are not required to have a teacher to deliver pre-school education.

Question reference: S2W-22406

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 30 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to ensure that there are employment opportunities for physiotherapy graduates within NHS Scotland.

The planning of the NHS Scotland workforce to deliver a first class health service, that includes junior physiotherapy posts, is primarily a matter for each of the individual health boards in Scotland to determine, depending on the health needs of their local population.

The number of physiotherapists employed by health boards has been in increasing steadily by 22% since 1997 reflecting service need and additional investment in the health service in Scotland.

We are currently addressing employment opportunities for all Allied Health Professions (AHPs) in NHS Scotland, which includes junior physiotherapy posts, through a support and development scheme launched last year to assist health boards locally with the recruitment and retention of this part of the health service workforce.

Question reference: S2W-21333

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by John Scott on 13 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the most up-to-date figures are for the annual maintenance costs of the Holyrood building and what the predicted costs are for each of the next five years.

Maintenance budgets for the current financial year 2005-06 are £634,000, increasing to £1,223,000, for 2006-07. These costs cover all planned and reactive maintenance for building services, building fabric and landscaping. The increase in budget for 2006-07 is due to an allowance for additional maintenance works including re-lamping of the building and additional fabric maintenance.

We are working towards establishing a long-term maintenance plan and budget forecast. A 25 year maintenance plan for the building is in preparation, comprising work plans for each maintenance task associated with each maintainable asset. This will enable us to forecast maintenance budgets over a 25 year period. Peaks and troughs in the maintenance plan will then be smoothed to enable efficient use of financial resources.

Question reference: S2W-20004

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 8 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the information provided in its statistical publication, Teachers in Scotland, 2004, how many local authority-employed (a) teachers and (b) additional support assistants have (i) a Bachelor of Education, (ii) a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education and (iii) other qualifications in (1) inclusive and special education, (2) specific learning difficulties, (3) hearing impairment, (4) visual impairment, (5) autistic spectrum disorder and (6) behavioural support, broken down into primary, secondary and special school and by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-20019

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds its Health Department has allocated to NHS boards to cover the costs incurred by primary care services in adjusting their premises and practices in order to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, in particular (a) how much and (b) what percentage of this funding has been allocated to providers of primary care and over what period of time.

There have been no general allocationsin respect of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the DDA) and compliance inPrimary Care.

There have been three specificDDA related allocations. The first was £1.5 million from the Primary and CommunityCare Premises Modernisation Programme for 2004-06 £1.5 million to promote good practiceby Primary Care Contractors in the promotion and fulfilment of the requirementsof the DDA. The second was a series of programmes over the period2001-06 to a total value of £2 million to support premises improvements in communitypharmacy including improving DDA access. The third was for Dental Practice ImprovementFunding which enables independent general dental practitioner’s to upgrade theirpractices, particularly including addressing the DDA. Over the past four financialyears we have made available over £13 million for dental practice improvement. Inthe current financial year (2005-06) a further £5 million has been made availableto NHS board to support local initiatives and dental practice improvements withingeneral dental services, including decontamination.

In addition, there has been asignificant on-going programme of investment in a range of new and improved premisesincluding better access for patients through the Primary and Community Care PremisesModernisation Programme (PCCPMP) and locally by NHS boards through investment inGP premises and through local capital programmes.

£52 million was invested underthe PCCPMP between 1999 and 2004 and a further £24 million is being invested overthe period 2004-06. Full details of locally funded investment programmes are notheld centrally.

Question reference: S2W-20047

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 7 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to adopt any of the recently announced education reforms proposed by the UK Government, such as enabling more schools to become self-governing independent state schools and making it easier for good schools to expand and for new schools to open based on parental demand.

The Executive’s reform programmefor Scotland’s schools – the most comprehensive school modernisationprogramme for a generation - was set out a year ago in Ambitious, Excellent Schools(Bib. number 34227).

The English White Paper clearlyshares many of our own aims – not accepting second best from any school, the highestexpectations for all our children, and greater parental involvement in education– but we have a distinctive, devolved education system in Scotland to which ourpolicies and actions are tailored.

Question reference: S2W-18765

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 21 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18442 by Robert Brown on 25 August 2005, from which budget the funding for the Bookstart Scotland scheme has been drawn.

Question reference: S2W-18764

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 29 August 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 21 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-18442 by Robert Brown on 25 August 2005, how much has been allocated to Bookstart Scotland for (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07 and (c) 2007-08.

Question reference: S2W-19156

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 20 September 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16434 by Peter Peacock on 18 May 2005, when it will publish its analysis of the responses to the consultation on the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill.