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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2448 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S1W-07447

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students enrolled with the Scottish Agricultural College in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S1W-07444

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive why it was decided to create a new promotional body for the meat industry.

Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), which is not solely a meat promotional body, was formed by key meat and livestock industry interests in response to devolution. This was done in recognition that a single body would be more responsive to Scotland's needs and to the particular challenges facing various sectors of our industry. I support the formation of QMS because I believe it will represent better value for levy money raised in Scotland.

Question reference: S1W-07449

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of Rural Scotland: A New Approach were printed and how much it cost to publish and distribute this document.

Question reference: S1W-07445

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what value of research funding awarded by the Rural Affairs Department was awarded to bodies outwith Scotland in each of the last five years and what percentage of the department's total research funding this represents.

The value of research contracts awarded by the Rural Affairs Department to bodies outwith Scotland in each of the last five years and the percentage of the department's total research budget this represents is provided in the table below:

	1995-96	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000
Value (£000)	474	1,042	968	847	1,338
Percentage of total budget	0.9%	2.0%	1.9%	1.6%	2.5%

UK Government Departments and Research Councils fund a variety of research organisations both in England and in Scotland and the Scotland Act enables this to continue.

Question reference: S1W-07450

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate has been made of the cost to (a) business and (b) the Scottish Executive of implementing the EU Water Framework Directive and whether it will make a statement on the timescale for the implementation of this directive and the general impact it will have on Scotland.

The negotiations on the proposed EC Water Framework Directive are not yet concluded.

The Government commissioned consultants to undertake a cost/benefit study of implementing the proposed directive in the UK. A copy of their report, Potential Costs and Benefits of Implementing the Proposed Water Resources Framework Directive, has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 6683). The possible impacts of the proposed directive on business might include tighter controls on some waste water discharges, a system of controls on the abstraction and impoundment of water and the need to tackle environmental problems caused by diffuse pollution. Administrative, planning and monitoring costs would fall to central government and government agencies.

The precise details of the timetable for implementation are still under negotiation. However, we currently expect that the requirement will be to phase implementation over the 10 to 16 years following adoption of the directive by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers, expected later this year. The Scottish Executive will consult extensively on its proposals for implementation. This will include consultation on regulatory impact appraisal, including costs.

Question reference: S1W-07446

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 14 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its total research funding has been awarded to bodies outwith Scotland, broken down by department and expressed in both monetary and percentage terms.

A complete answer to this question cannot be compiled without incurring disproportionate cost. However, relevant information relating to the three largest blocks of the Executive's research expenditure is as follows:

None of the £132.9 million of research funding disbursed by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council has been allocated to higher education institutions outwith Scotland;

2.5% (by value £1.34 million) of the Rural Affairs Department's research contacts were awarded to bodies outwith Scotland;

0.06% (by value £0.15 million) of the research budgets administered by the Department of Health's Chief Scientist Office was allocated to bodies outwith Scotland.

This information relates to 1999-2000.

Question reference: S1W-07267

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sam Galbraith on 13 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers were employed in the north east, broken down by local authority and by category of school, in each of the last five years.

The attached tables show the latest information available on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers who were employed in publicly funded schools in September of each of the years 1994 to 1998 inclusive.

This information has been provided for all local authorities in Scotland, and by educational sector.

Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) publicly funded teachers in the pre-school sector by local authority, September (1994-1998)
	September
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland	973	1,021	1,031	1,175	1,365
Aberdeen City	73	70	72	75	93
Aberdeenshire	39	42	43	55	69
Angus	19	18	22	26	31
Argyll & Bute	4	4	4	4	11
Clackmannanshire	13	13	13	13	16
Dumfries & Galloway	26	24	25	32	33
Dundee City	48	55	59	56	53
East Ayrshire	17	17	17	22	26
East Dunbartonshire	3	3	3	24	21
East Lothian	24	26	25	37	41
East Renfrewshire	10	10	12	17	20
Edinburgh, City of	121	152	123	129	164
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	1	3
Falkirk	33	34	35	36	36
Fife	93	93	101	97	101
Glasgow City	148	148	143	142	146
Highland	20	19	25	44	50
Inverclyde	13	12	12	15	15
Midlothian	26	24	25	26	27
Moray	18	18	17	19	26
North Ayrshire	6	6	17	21	23
North Lanarkshire	38	36	36	48	67
Orkney Islands	4	4	5	5	7
Perth & Kinross	25	27	34	35	47
Renfrewshire	25	37	25	27	25
Scottish Borders	12	14	14	25	31
Shetland Islands	10	10	10	10	13
South Ayrshire	5	5	12	16	21
South Lanarkshire	19	21	20	32	61
Stirling	20	18	19	20	24
West Dunbartonshire	23	21	21	21	18
West Lothian	41	42	42	46	48

Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) publicly funded teachers in the primary sector by local authority, September (1994-1998)
	September
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland	22,658	22,550	22,483	22,189	22,508
Aberdeen City	795	807	809	795	829
Aberdeenshire	1,182	1,145	1,158	1,127	1,155
Angus	508	511	495	490	502
Argyll & Bute	445	449	452	447	443
Clackmannanshire	212	210	212	216	217
Dumfries & Galloway	694	690	681	678	703
Dundee City	670	675	697	650	643
East Ayrshire	556	550	546	538	538
East Dunbartonshire	466	468	473	479	480
East Lothian	366	375	377	398	405
East Renfrewshire	365	378	383	384	395
Edinburgh, City of	1,499	1,488	1,480	1,491	1,509
Eilean Siar	197	197	199	197	195
Falkirk	565	561	578	587	587
Fife	1,611	1,640	1,623	1,625	1,646
Glasgow City	2,735	2,675	2,619	2,458	2,432
Highland	1,127	1,107	1,110	1,081	1,098
Inverclyde	385	385	371	365	363
Midlothian	371	367	372	377	391
Moray	441	427	425	418	428
North Ayrshire	612	601	597	596	605
North Lanarkshire	1,484	1,482	1,485	1,472	1,482
Orkney Islands	125	124	122	124	124
Perth & Kinross	581	580	572	572	583
Renfrewshire	713	726	712	715	740
Scottish Borders	474	477	485	486	500
Shetland Islands	178	178	182	184	182
South Ayrshire	469	470	453	449	448
South Lanarkshire	1,319	1,305	1,300	1,285	1,318
Stirling	340	336	346	351	370
West Dunbartonshire	456	442	445	425	445
West Lothian	719	726	724	732	751

Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) publicly funded teachers in the secondary sector by local authority, September (1994-1998)
	September
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland	24,534	24,593	24,265	23,871	24,090
Aberdeen City	879	855	861	861	868
Aberdeenshire	1,126	1,100	1,102	1,110	1,136
Angus	565	565	562	568	573
Argyll & Bute	455	456	456	446	444
Clackmannanshire	220	221	219	220	228
Dumfries & Galloway	775	799	755	792	817
Dundee City	744	750	733	687	714
East Ayrshire	593	613	591	586	582
East Dunbartonshire	630	628	628	615	619
East Lothian	349	356	354	359	367
East Renfrewshire	476	481	481	483	490
Edinburgh, City of	1,408	1,430	1,399	1,388	1,428
Eilean Siar	228	226	223	218	216
Falkirk	636	641	637	663	660
Fife	1,689	1,734	1,728	1,703	1,733
Glasgow City	2,477	2,431	2,401	2,227	2,214
Highland	1,250	1,279	1,278	1,259	1,256
Inverclyde	467	458	437	437	435
Midlothian	401	404	398	405	395
Moray	464	478	463	454	466
North Ayrshire	705	691	686	673	661
North Lanarkshire	1,808	1,781	1,745	1,706	1,710
Orkney Islands	135	134	132	136	137
Perth & Kinross	612	613	609	594	613
Renfrewshire	889	886	866	837	837
Scottish Borders	510	528	535	530	540
Shetland Islands	204	198	201	210	211
South Ayrshire	587	594	588	581	573
South Lanarkshire	1,557	1,558	1,546	1,484	1,491
Stirling	437	434	424	427	439
West Dunbartonshire	521	510	488	477	492
West Lothian	739	761	740	736	745

Number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) publicly funded teachers in the special sector by local authority, September (1995-1998)
	September
	1995	1996	1997	1998
Scotland	1,666	1,677	1,699	1,875
Aberdeen City	108	95	94	102
Aberdeenshire	61	56	59	65
Angus	0	0	0	0
Argyll & Bute	20	15	15	15
Clackmannanshire	11	11	11	11
Dumfries & Galloway	12	9	7	7
Dundee City	41	45	45	45
East Ayrshire	36	35	36	33
East Dunbartonshire	27	29	30	39
East Lothian	0	0	0	0
East Renfrewshire	8	9	10	10
Edinburgh, City of	216	224	223	232
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0
Falkirk	52	52	57	78
Fife	88	77	75	84
Glasgow City	437	458	454	509
Highland	28	28	28	30
Inverclyde	28	30	35	37
Midlothian	33	34	35	37
Moray	15	8	6	6
North Ayrshire	29	35	40	42
North Lanarkshire	124	129	132	154
Orkney Islands	7	7	5	5
Perth & Kinross	12	11	11	12
Renfrewshire	66	70	73	74
Scottish Borders	1	0	0	5
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	25	25	19	21
South Lanarkshire	105	113	120	124
Stirling	11	10	10	20
West Dunbartonshire	40	40	41	41
West Lothian	26	26	33	37

Notes:

The September 1994 figures for the special sector have not been included in the above table. This is due to a change in the way information on teachers in this sector was collected between the 1994 and 1995 School Census. Therefore, results prior to September 1995 are not comparable with more recent figures.

Question reference: S1W-07266

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 13 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were employed by local authorities in the north east in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority.

The information requested is only available from local government reorganisation in 1996 and is shown in the table below.Number of full-time equivalent staff¹ for those local authorities contained wholly or partly in the North East Parliamentary Region from December 1996 to September 1999.

Council	December 1996²	December 1997	December 1998	September 1999³
Aberdeenshire	8,547	7,647	7,743	7,812
Aberdeen City	8,472	8,462	8,589	8,798
Angus	3,934	3,979	4,059	4,165
Dundee City	7,683	7,619	7,627	7,280
Moray	3,300	2,990	3,203	3,170
Perth & Kinross	4,552	4,448	4,475	4,447

Source: Drawn from local authority staffing surveys compiled jointly by the Scottish Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

Notes:

1. Figures for full time equivalent staff exclude staff in fire services, police services, Bridge Joint Boards and Valuation Joint Boards.

2. Following local government reorganisation some councils encountered problems in producing reliable data.

3. The latest quarter for which information is available.

Question reference: S1W-05434

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 8 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much notice was given to health boards regarding spending the additional money provided to the health programme by Her Majesty's Government under the Barnett formula.

Question reference: S1O-01912

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 31 May 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 8 June 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to withdraw the statement on investment in the water industry contained on page 40 of Rural Scotland: A New Approach.

Year	FTE Student
1995-96	1,180
1996-97	1,176
1997-98	1,240
1998-99	1,201
1999-2000	1,130 (at May 2000)*