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: S3O-05692

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 29 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in employing a chief executive for the Scottish Futures Trust.

Question reference: S3O-05481

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the planned new build of the Southern General Hospital.

Question reference: S3W-18177

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W–11422 by Stewart Maxwell on 24 April 2008, what the average daily waiting times was under the central heating programme in each of the last three months in (a) the Glasgow Rutherglen parliamentary constituency and (b) Scotland.

Information is not held by parliamentary constituency area, but for Scotland as a whole.

The average waiting time during 2008-09 remains around six months. So far, the average daily waiting time for all those that have received a central heating system, this year, is 179 days. At no point since the inception of the programme in 2001 has the average waiting time been less than five months.

Those waiting longest continue to be a priority. This has reduced their number, but has the effect of distorting the average waiting time figure.

The average daily waiting time for those who received a central heating system in each of the last three months, as notified by the managing agent (Scottish Gas), is shown in the following table:

Period	Average Waiting Time in Days
August 2008	241
September 2008	177
October 2008	191

Notes:

1. The Average Waiting Time is the average time a householder has waited between application and the month in which their system was installed.

2. Figures for November 2008 are not yet available.

3. The number of householders waiting more than six months (1,185) is less now than it was at the same time last year (2,788).

Question reference: S3W-18191

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that Fairtrade products are used by agencies across the public sector.

Guidance issued in 2005 recommends that public bodies should support fair trade and explains how this can be done within procurement legislation by inviting suppliers to include fair trade options in their tenders and by working on a voluntary basis with suppliers once contracts have been awarded.

The Scottish Government leads by example to the public sector and has successfully put this guidance into practice. By working with the catering contractor, the Scottish Government currently offers a wide range of Fairtrade or ethically traded products (including tea, coffee, sugar, juice and snacks) in its staff restaurants. In addition, Fairtrade tea, coffee and sugar are used as standard hospitality for meetings.

I have also written to the Secretary of State for International Development, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Minister for Europe at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the European Commission Office in Edinburgh seeking their views on this matter.

Question reference: S3W-18193

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many public agencies are working towards Fairtrade status.

Question reference: S3W-18190

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Linda Fabiani on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to promote fair trade.

The Scottish Government remains committed to promoting fair trade and supporting the Fair Trade Nation campaign.

It is for this reason I am pleased to award the Scottish Fair Trade Forum an additional £20,000 for 2008-09 to assist with high visibility advertising and marketing to reach a broad number of people and further increase the public awareness of Fair Trade and Scotland''s Fair Trade Nation campaign.

Question reference: S3W-18186

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many conferences have been addressed by ministers since May 2007; where and when the conference was held, and which minister participated.

Question reference: S3W-18174

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Maureen Watt on 9 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with representatives of South Lanarkshire Council regarding the implementation in every school in South Lanarkshire of the SNP manifesto commitment to reduce class sizes in primaries 1 to 3.

Question reference: S3W-18185

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 8 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times the Cabinet Sub-committee on Legislation has met since May 2007 and when these meetings took place.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee on Legislation has met six times since May 2007 at these times:

2007 (all in St Andrew''s House):

Wednesday 27 June

Wednesday 8 August

Wednesday 3 October.

2008 (all in St Andrew''s House):

Wednesday 20 February

Wednesday 30 April

Monday 25 August.

The member may wish to note that this information is published on the Scottish Government''s website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/14944/SubComonLegislation.

Question reference: S3W-18189

Asked by: James Kelly, MSP for Glasgow Rutherglen, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2008
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 5 December 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people are registered for free off-peak concessionary bus travel, broken down by local authority area.

The issuing of national entitlement cards is the responsibility of each local authority.

Based on the information available to Transport Scotland I can advise you that the total number of valid national entitlement cards that were in circulation, giving access to Scotland-wide free bus travel for older and disabled People as of 23 October 2008 was 1,121,689. This is broken down by local authority and eligibility type as follows. Please also note that under the scheme there are no peak time restrictions for bus travel.

Eligibility Type

Local Authority	60 Years and Over	Disabled	Disabled Plus Companion	Visually Impaired	Visually Impaired Plus Companion	Totals
Aberdeen City	51,808	6,929	4,042	33	1,409	64,221
Aberdeenshire	39,670	2,083	1,466	79	400	43,698
Angus	23,409	781	604	240	117	25,151
Argyll and Bute	20,340	828	1,244	114	195	22,721
City of Edinburgh	79,775	3,969	8,998	597	1,180	94,519
Clackmannanshire	8,913	596	520	45	64	10,138
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar	6,327	199	141	22	19	6,708
Dumfries and Galloway	30,415	1,649	1,123	102	423	33,712
Dundee City	29,630	1,265	2,302	287	407	33,891
East Ayrshire	22,697	1,573	2,416	107	219	27,012
East Dunbartonshire	21,510	611	1,078	71	133	23,403
East Lothian	18,931	853	1,654	69	232	21,739
East Renfrewshire	16,624	560	913	71	101	18,269
Falkirk	27,452	2,008	1,290	125	284	31,159
Fife	67,184	2,911	12,987	60	944	84,086
Glasgow	89,317	8,616	17,415	681	1,411	117,440
Highland	41,539	2,588	1,803	260	540	46,730
Inverclyde	15,944	1,168	2,203	117	200	19,632
Midlothian	15,404	826	1,607	24	232	18,093
Moray	15,348	986	690	62	201	17,287
North Ayrshire	28,254	1,716	2,877	192	344	33,383
North Lanarkshire	51,152	4,250	6,552	277	506	62,737
Orkney Islands	4,368	188	191	12	20	4,779
Perth and Kinross	29,039	914	898	201	240	31,292
Renfrewshire	32,237	2,051	3,519	215	355	38,377
Scottish Borders	23,443	1,260	819	209	219	25,950
Shetland Islands	4,271	147	217	20	17	4,672
South Ayrshire	25,256	1,421	1,989	150	253	29,069
South Lanarkshire	54,329	3,334	5,675	260	577	64,175
Stirling	15,509	984	563	116	132	17,304
West Dunbartonshire	16,083	1,073	2,252	94	234	19,736
West Lothian	25,999	1,269	2,948	55	335	30,606
Totals	952,177	59,606	92,996	4,967	11,943	1,121,689