- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider obliging local authorities to grant automatic council tax relief to Army personnel who serve abroad.
Answer
The Scottish Government continuesto support work at a UK-level following the then Prime Minister’s announcement inOctober 2006 that the UK Government would look into providing support for the CouncilTax costs of service personnel on operations overseas. Discussions between officialsfrom the Department of Communities and Local Government and the Ministry of Defence, which also involve officials from the Scottish Executive, are on-going.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which junctions on the A9 will be upgraded, also showing the timetable and projected costs for each upgrade.
Answer
Details and timescalesfor our major and important planned road projects can be found on the TransportScotland website at:
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads/documents/Scottish-Motorways-Trunk-Road-Programme-June2007-final.pdf.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 17 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what its priority road improvements and upgrades are, shown in order of preference.
Answer
Details and timescalesfor our major and important planned road projects can be found on the TransportScotland website at:
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/uploads/documents/Scottish-Motorways-Trunk-Road-Programme-June2007-final.pdf.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it provides any funding for the installation of CCTV in town centres and, if not, whether it will do so.
Answer
In 2007-08, £4 millionis available under the CommunitySafety Partnership Award Programme to local authority-ledCommunity Safety Partnerships to assist them in identifying and addressing localcommunity safety priorities, including CCTV. Other funding streams, such as qualityof life funding, can also be used to fund local CCTV systems.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 12 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it believes that the installation of CCTV in town centres can help reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.
Answer
We are currently conductinga survey of public space CCTV in Scotland to ascertain the role that CCTV playsin helping to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to help dairy farmers.
Answer
We share the concernsof those worried about the level of returns being made by some milk producers. Althoughwe cannot intervene in the market, we are pleased to note that many dairy farmersare now receiving increased prices as a result of changing market conditions.
Since 2000, the dairysector has received assistance totalling almost £7 million from the Processing andMarketing Grant Scheme administered by the Scottish Executive.
Dairy producers benefitfrom support from the Single Farm Payment which was introduced following CommonAgricultural Policy reform in 2003.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 12 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to help beef farmers.
Answer
We want to supportbeef producers by helping them compete successfully in the market. In the last fiveyears, the beef processing sector has received grants of almost £6.7 million underthe Processing and Marketing Scheme and around £2.5 million under the MarketingDevelopment Scheme.
Quality MeatScotland has a key role to play in developing and promoting the red meat industry.Beef producers may also receive Single Farm Payment, Less Favoured Area SupportScheme funding and payments under the Scottish Beef Calf Scheme (which has paidover £37 million to specialist beef producers in its first two years).
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 28 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 9 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will redraw the boundary of the Cairngorms National Park to include highland Perthshire.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-257 on 20 June 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 3 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the total number of higher education students and their share of the total population in each year since the Reformation, broken down by educational institution.
Answer
Formal statisticsof participation in higher education are not available for the whole of this period.Nevertheless, the history of Scotland is of a country that has been a world leaderin educational innovation and participation over many centuries and it is the ambitionof this Government to build upon that strong foundation.
- Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 14 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 27 June 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many doses of Ritalin (methylphenidate hydrochloride) have been prescribed to children since its introduction.
Answer
Information collatedcentrally by NHS National Services Scotland on prescribed doses of drugs is measuredusing the average maintenance dose of a drug as used in adults. This unit of measurementis based on advice from the World Health Organization. It is not possible to extractfrom that data the number of doses of Ritalin (methylphenidate hydrochloride) prescribedexclusively for children.NHS National Services Scotland website carries generalinformation about drugs used in the treatment of Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder (ADHD). This information can be found at
www.isdscotland.org.More generally, inrelation to the management of ADHD, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland is currentlyundertaking a national audit of the care and treatment provided throughout Scotland for children with ADHD, including the use of drug therapy.The report of this exercise is due to be published in March 2008.
