- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 10 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of the House of Commons Select Committee on Health's concern that the current Scottish guidance on the use of children in test purchase cases has not been modified, what action it intends to take in response to the committee's recommendation about the achievement of a uniformity of approach towards tackling sales of tobacco products to children.
Answer
There is no action planned at present.
The particular aspect of the guidance which applies, i.e. in relation to the use of children for test purchasing, is based on policy set by the Crown Office. The Lord Advocate has clearly stated that children should not be used to test purchase tobacco products as part of the local enforcement activity. This is also the view of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). Scottish Executive officials are working with local government representatives on measures to improve enforcement of laws relating to underage sales.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 10 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support, expertise and encouragement it is providing to the Glasgow CrossRail project.
Answer
The Glasgow CrossRail scheme is a Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive initiative. The Scottish Executive has not been approached by SPTE for public funding or any other support.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 6 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources have been made available to local authorities to ensure that the necessary funds are available to strengthen bridges in order to comply with EU regulations for higher gross weight lorries.
Answer
Scottish Executive support for local authorities' capital expenditure on roads and transport is included within the single allocation under section 94 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 which covers all non-housing capital programmes. It is for local authorities to prioritise upgrading of bridges to meet the 40-tonne EC standard and allocate the necessary funding from the resources available to them.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sam Galbraith on 5 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be possible for local authorities to implement the McCrone recommendations if it does not meet the costs centrally and, if so, why its assessment differs from that of CoSLA.
Answer
Full consideration is being given to the recommendations. When I established the committee I indicated that I would undertake consultation with the relevant parties before decisions were made on implementation. Funding decisions will be based on the outcome of implementation discussions.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 5 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money Greater Glasgow Health Board transferred from capital to revenue budgets in each year from 1994-95 to 1999-2000 inclusive and what the mechanism was for carrying out such transfers.
Answer
The resources transferred from capital to revenue budgets in the Greater Glasgow Health Board area between 1994-95 and 1999-2000 are shown in the following table:
1994-95 £000 | 1995-96 £000 | 1996-97 £000 | 1997-98 £000 | 1998-99 £000 | 1999-2000 £000 |
Nil | 1,684 | 6,478 | 3,287 | 3,659 | 6,423 |
Individual NHS Trusts are required to seek permission from The Scottish Executive to transfer resources from capital to revenue.
From 2000-01 onwards, all capital funds must be spent on capital items.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 5 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of children lived in households with an income below the poverty line as defined by the Child Poverty Action Group for each of the last five years for which figures are available, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested cannot be provided at local authority level.
Information currently available on household income is drawn from the Households Below Average Income dataset and the Family Resources Survey which do not have sufficient sample size for Scotland to produce the required level of detail.
The Scottish Household Survey will provide information on household income by local authority area after the first full sweep of the survey (i.e. after two years) - the results of which are not likely to be made available until summer 2001.
Work is also underway to investigate new methodologies and to consider boosting existing samples to give better coverage for Scotland.
At the Scotland level, the proportion of children in households with below 60% GB median income in 1997-98 was 30% (340,000 children). This represents a drop from a figure of 34% in 1996-97.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 5 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether engineers can fulfil public expectations in relation to the upkeep of the road network given current road maintenance levels and funding methods and, if so, why its assessment of the situation differs from that of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Answer
The assessment published for the Institution of Civil Engineers relates to local roads in England, Scotland and Wales. Local roads are maintained by councils as local roads authorities. It is entirely a matter for each Scottish Council to decide the priority to be given to this work and allocate resources accordingly.
I have made it clear that the maintenance of the Scottish trunk road network and the reversal of past underfunding was a clear priority of the Scottish Executive. The condition of the trunk road network is being preserved as a result of the significant extra funds that have been allocated.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6113 by Susan Deacon on 8 May 2000, whether it can explain why NHSiS expenditure on the provision or replacement of equipment by Greater Glasgow Health Board fell, in real terms, from #13.556 million in 1994-95 to #3.547 million in 1998-99.
Answer
It is for individual health boards and NHS Trusts to determine annually the level of funding required for new and replacement medical equipment taking into account other local priorities. Health boards and NHS Trusts can use both capital and revenue resources to meet equipment costs.
Further information on local spending decisions can be obtained from Greater Glasgow Health Board.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-6113 by Susan Deacon on 8 May 2000, what impact it considers the reduction of capital expenditure on the provision or replacement of equipment in the NHSiS, in real terms, from #55.129 million in 1994-95 to #25.022 million in 1998-99 has had on modernising equipment, improving patient outcomes and reducing waiting lists.
Answer
It is for individual health boards and NHS Trusts to determine annually the level of funding required for new and replacement medical equipment taking into account other local priorities. Health boards and NHS Trusts can use both capital and revenue resources to meet equipment costs.
Capital investment in the NHS in Scotland continues to increase from £136 million in 1998-99 to £179 million in 2000-01, rising further to £194 million in 2001-02.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 July 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority is expected to raise in non-domestic rates in 2000-01.
Answer
Figures showing the amounts of non-domestic rate income collected by local authorities for 2000-01 are not yet available. The figures for 1998-99, the most recent available, are shown in the following table.
Council | NDR Collected | Council | NDR Collected |
Aberdeen City | 101,318,328 | Highland | 53,075,991 |
Aberdeenshire | 49,466,288 | Inverclyde* | 16,455,511 |
Angus | 19,568,920 | Midlothian | 12,994,938 |
Argyll & Bute | 28,299,338 | Moray | 19,672,200 |
Clackmannanshire | 10,495,047 | North Ayrshire | 36,854,012 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 31,789,211 | North Lanarkshire | 68,164,545 |
Dundee City | 42,071,071 | Orkney | 6,209,691 |
East Ayrshire | 21,876,160 | Perth & Kinross | 32,924,976 |
East Dunbartonshire | 14,797,539 | Renfrewshire* | 46,023,557 |
East Lothian | 24,911,565 | Scottish Borders | 18,548,281 |
East Renfrewshire | 10,126,348 | Shetland | 12,351,868 |
Edinburgh, City of | 186,151,389 | South Ayrshire | 28,296,107 |
Eilean Siar | 4,632,944 | South Lanarkshire | 69,496,242 |
Falkirk | 44,466,106 | Stirling | 26,955,963 |
Fife | 101,297,014 | West Dunbartonshire* | 22,396,416 |
Glasgow City | 231,326,059 | West Lothian | 44,096,478 |
* Audited figures not yet available - figures based on most recent estimate of NDR collected by councils.
