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: S2O-04059

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Euan Robson on 18 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any new guidance is planned for schools in respect of school trips.

Question reference: S2W-11045

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures were (a) planned and (b) adopted as a result of Protecting and Promoting Scotland’s Freshwater Fish and Fisheries and what future legislation will be introduced in relation to this sector.

Protecting and Promoting Scotland’s Freshwater Fish and Fisheries was published in April 2000, and set out where Scotland’s wild fish and fisheries were at the time of publication. Scotland’s freshwater fish and fisheries: securing their future was published in August 2001, and consulted on a numberof proposals to be adopted in both the short and the long-term.

The Scottish Freshwater Fisheries Forum has now been established to take forward a number of outstanding issues.

Question reference: S2W-11886

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 November 2004
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the process of funding for research institutes and, if so, whether any measures are being considered that will help ensure the future of those institutes funded directly by it that are unable to compete with the higher education sector for funding from research councils.

The draft strategy for agricultural and biological research outlined proposals for changes to the funding mechanisms for the commissioning of research by the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department from the main research providers. The final research strategy will be published shortly. Implementation of strategy aims will involve dialogue with research councils which will address the issue of access for research institutes to research council funds.

Question reference: S2W-10731

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 16 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Rhona Brankin on 16 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients were waiting for digital hearing aids to be fitted in each NHS board area in each of the last three years, expressed also as a percentage of the number of overall requests in each area, and what the average waiting time was in each year in each board area.

Question reference: S2W-11446

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the restructuring of police funding announced by the Minister for Justice on 12 October 2004, what funding will be allocated (a) in total and (b) per capita on a national basis and broken down by police board area for the next three years, and how this compares with the previous three years.

The available information is shown in the following tables:

Police Grant Aided Expenditure (£ Million)

Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central	36.9	40.3	42.4	46.0	48.2	51.9
Dumfries and Galloway	23.2	24.7	26.2	28.0	29.1	30.5
Fife	44.4	49.5	52.9	58.2	59.7	65.8
Grampian	72.4	78.5	84.3	89.4	93.8	101.9
Lothian and Borders	149.1	159.8	168.8	178.8	185.4	195.2
Northern	43.5	46.7	48.9	50.4	53.6	57.4
Strathclyde	389.1	421.0	444.1	476.4	496.3	513.5
Tayside	63.5	68.3	71.4	76.4	79.2	82.7
Scotland	822.1	888.8	939.0	1,003.6	1,045.2	1,098.9

GAE Per Capita (£)

Force	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
Central	132	144	151	164	172	185
Dumfries and Galloway	157	168	178	190	198	207
Fife	127	141	150	165	170	187
Grampian	138	150	161	171	179	195
Lothian and Borders	168	180	190	201	209	220
Northern	158	169	177	182	194	208
Strathclyde	177	191	202	216	225	233
Tayside	164	177	185	198	205	214
Scotland	163	176	186	198	207	217

Note: GAE figures per capitafor 2005-06 to 2007-08 are calculated using the latest population estimates at 30 June 2003.

Question reference: S2W-11500

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 11 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to open or reopen rural railway stations in the north east.

Question reference: S2W-11475

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10810 by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 September 2004, how it will obtain such information from NHS boards that have not submitted data.

Question reference: S2W-11474

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 10 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10810 by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 September 2004, for which NHS boards is such information available and how many children in each such board were classified as clinically obese in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the child population in each board and showing the percentage change on a year-on-year basis.

Although the information is not available in the exact format requested I have provided the information that is readily available through the Information Services Division. This information has been provided in two tables that provide data on High Body Mass Index and the number of children that have been examined in each participating NHS board. The information is available from the Parliamentary Information Centre (Bib. number 34303). Further data have also been are published in the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland Report, Clinical Outcome Indicators, Clinical Outcomes Group, November 2003. This report shows that of 12-year-olds in Scotland, 33% were overweight, 18% obese and 10-11% severely obese.

Question reference: S2W-11447

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 14 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 10 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that Grampian Police receives a share of funding which adequately reflects the extra duties it must carry out to police the offshore industry and the royal estate at Balmoral.

Question reference: S2W-11607

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 22 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were defined as living in fuel poverty in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the total population.