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-05781

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 13 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to redefine council tax bandings to take account of house price inflation since the council tax was introduced.

Question reference: S1W-05692

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 12 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much capital debt was owed by each of Scotland's local authorities at the end of each of the last three financial years for which figures were available.

The total capital debt outstanding reported by each council and joint board for the past three financial years is shown in the following table.

Local Authority Capital Debt Outstanding 1996-97/1998-99

Local Authority	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99¹
	£ million	£ million	£ million
Aberdeen City	376	369	370
Aberdeenshire	356	356	361
Angus	97	99	100
Argyll & Bute	212	220	223
Clackmannanshire	68	70	72
Dumfries & Galloway	271	274	275
Dundee City	267	273	275
East Ayrshire	178	183	188
East Dunbartonshire	121	123	122
East Lothian	143	142	143
East Renfrewshire	80	83	87
Edinburgh, City of	848	839	835
Eilean Siar	163	166	167
Falkirk	198	197	198
Fife	472	477	480
Glasgow City	2,069	2,075	2,098
Highland	531	537	540
Inverclyde	209	213	218
Midlothian	99	96	95
Moray	138	142	146
North Ayrshire	196	203	204
North Lanarkshire	502	495	477
Orkney Islands	17	17	19
Perth & Kinross	141	141	145
Renfrewshire	286	289	291
Scottish Borders	194	201	208
Shetland Islands	61	61	60
South Ayrshire	147	154	157
South Lanarkshire	506	497	483
Stirling	145	143	146
West Dunbartonshire	188	187	188
West Lothian	216	210	207
Joint Board
Central Fire	6	7	8
Dumfries & Galloway Fire	4	5	5
Fife Fire	6	7	7
Grampian Fire	9	11	11
Highland & Islands Fire	11	12	13
Lothian & Borders Fire	15	17	18
Strathclyde Fire	37	41	43
Tayside Fire	7	8	8
Central Police	5	6	6
Dumfries & Galloway Police	8	8	9
Fife Police	14	16	16
Grampian Police	14	13	12
Lothian & Borders Police	20	20	20
Northern Police	13	15	20
Strathclyde Police	45	48	49
Tayside Police	9	10	11
Forth Bridge	0	0	0
Tay Bridge	10	11	13
Strathclyde Passenger Transport Auth.	42	47	51

Source: The information is taken from the Capital Debt Outstanding return which is completed annually by councils and joint boards. This includes debt for General Fund Services and Trading Services and Housing Revenue Account debt.

Notes:

1. These figures may be revised as a result of audit requirements.

Question reference: S1W-05690

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many council tenants who bought their council house and subsequently sold the property were allocated another tenancy in the same local authority in each of the last three years for which figures are available, listed by local authority.

Question reference: S1W-05689

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 11 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of engineering companies have experienced an (a) increase or (b) decrease in order intake, output volume, staffing, optimism and investment over the last year and what steps will it take to assist the engineering sector.

Question reference: S1W-05694

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 11 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what blockages it has identified in local government which prevent modernisation and how it proposes to remove them.

In line with the recommendations of the McIntosh Commission on Local Government and the Scottish Parliament, the modernisation of council decision-making structures and policy development processes is being taken forward by an independent panel - the Leadership Advisory Panel chaired by Alastair McNish. The panel has been tasked with advising councils on the development of their plans for modernisation over the course of this year, and then reporting to us on councils' change plans by the year's end.

During this period it will be for the panel to identify any blockages preventing modernisation and to do what they can to help councils overcome these hindrances. If they cannot be resolved satisfactorily the panel will ultimately report on them to us when they make their assessment at the end of this year. It will then be for us to consider how any such blockages, such as exist, should be addressed.

Management and operational practices may also be a barrier to modernisation in terms of service delivery. A new commitment to continuous improvement in local government has been taken forward on a voluntary basis so far in Scotland under the guidance of the Best Value Task Force. This involved a partnership between the Executive, CoSLA and its members, and the Accounts Commission. The Task Force's final report was published in December 1999 and recommended that some legislative amendments were needed to remove barriers to the full development of Best Value. Scottish ministers are currently considering the final report and how best to fulfil their commitment to deliver Best Value in local government.

Question reference: S1W-05628

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 10 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will be represented at the conferences on "Joining Up Local Government" and "Housing Benefit Fraud" in London, to be held on 11 and 14 April respectively, and whether it will provide reports on these conferences.

Question reference: S1W-05630

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 10 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that all members of its workforce have access to an occupational health service staffed by nurses who are appropriately trained and qualified.

The Scottish Executive has a contract with Lothian Health Occupational Health Services to provide all occupational health support for its employees. In addition, the Executive runs an annual programme of occupational health promotion activity (e.g. Well Woman clinics) and is presently in the process of applying for accreditation under the Scotland's Health at Work Scheme which recognises employers who attain the highest standards of occupational health promotion.

Question reference: S1W-04804

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 6 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a specific definition of "modernisation of government" and what performance measures it will use to determine whether its objective of modernising government is being achieved.

In our Programme for Government, we said that we would work across the Executive to promote modern government. The main themes will be customer-focused policy development and service delivery, making best use of information technology, and revaluing public service. We will encourage working in partnership with other bodies, the best modern management development, and use feedback from the public to improve all we do.A programme of this breadth and variety does not easily lend itself to assessment using individual performance indicators. But the First Minister announced on 30 March his decision that the Executive's target for delivery of 100% of its services electronically by 2008 was being brought forward to 2005. We will be setting further targets and deadlines for achievements; and in general we will look for growing public satisfaction with public services as a measure of effectiveness and quality, and lower transaction costs as a measure of efficiency.

Question reference: S1W-05389

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 4 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how private sector housing capital allocations will be affected when VAT refunds are no longer available.

Support for the main local authority non-housing capital programmes, including private sector housing, is included within the single capital allocation. VAT is an issue for local authorities in administering improvement and repair grants for private sector housing. It is not an issue in the formula used to determine the single allocation.

It is for individual authorities to determine how much of their single allocation they spend on grants for private sector housing.

Question reference: S1W-05439

Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 20 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jack McConnell on 3 April 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5027 by Mr Jack McConnell on 17 March 2000, what the standard figure for band D council tax will be for 2000-01, and how that figure was arrived at.