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: S2W-22301

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers that the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill for England and Wales will have on Scottish publishers, writers and broadcasters.

Question reference: S2W-22249

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 24 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for a review of the Futurebuilders Scotland strategy and whether any such review would be overseen by the proposed Social Economy Advisory Board.

Question reference: S2W-22248

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 12 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 24 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Social Economy Advisory Board, proposed in 2004 as part of Futurebuilders Scotland and announced by the Deputy Minister for Communities on 19 May 2005 (Official Report c. 17079), will be operational and what the role and membership of the board will be.

Question reference: S2W-22092

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive who the (a) current and (b) past board members are of the Local Government Improvement Service.

The Improvement Service was officially launched in April 2005. The current Board members are:

Patrick Watters (COSLA)

Roderick Ian Douglas Mair (COSLA)

Tom McCabe (Minister for Finance and Public Services Reform)

Keith Dunckley Yates (SOLACE)

Colin Peter Caldwell Mair (Chief Executive, the Improvement Service for Scottish Local Government)

Douglas Sinclair (SOLACE) re-signed from the Improvement Service at the last board meeting on 21 November 2005 due to the completion of his term as chair of SOLACE. Gavin Whitefield (SOLACE) is the nominated replacement for Douglas Sinclair, however the legal appointment process for Mr Whitefield has still to be finalised.

Prior to the official launch of the Improvement Service, a Shadow Board was put in place in 2003 to pave the way for the establishment of the company. The Shadow Board Members were: -

Patrick Watters (COSLA)

Corrie McChord (COSLA)

Andy Kerr (then Minister for Finance and Public Services Reform)

Leslie Evans (Scottish Executive)

Douglas Sinclair (SOLACE)

Keith Dunckley Yates (SOLACE).

Question reference: S2W-19676

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage output from the manufacturing sector was in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom in (i) each of the last four quarters to 2005 Q2 and (ii) the year to each of the last four quarters to 2005 Q2.

The quarterly and annualgrowth rates for the Scottish and UK manufacturing sectors for the four quarters leadingup to quarter 2, 2005 are as follows.

Table 1: Constant PriceGross Value Added for Manufacturing Sector: Quarterly Growth Rates, 2004 Q3 to2005 Q2

Quarter	Scotland	United Kingdom
2004 Q3	-1.2%	-0.7%
2004 Q4	+0.6%	+0.6%
2005 Q1	-0.4%	-0.9%
2005 Q2	-0.1%	-0.2%

Table 2: Constant PriceGross Value Added for Manufacturing Sector: Four Quarter on Four Quarter GrowthRates, 2004 Q3 to 2005 Q2

Quarter	Scotland	United Kingdom
2004 Q3	-0.3%	+2.1%
2004 Q4	+0.2%	+1.9%
2005 Q1	-0.1%	+1.4%
2005 Q2	-0.5%	+0.4%

Sources:

Scotland Data: Scottish Executive: Quarterly GDP Index.

United Kingdom Data: Office of National Statistics.

Question reference: S2W-22023

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 18 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to ensure that local authorities comply with the conditions applicable to grants allocated for specific projects and who is responsible for carrying out the financial and implementation audits on such grants.

Scottish Executive Departments administer a wide range of grant schemes linked to specific objectives. In 2005-06, the value of these grants totalled over £1.8 billion. Grant schemes include, for example, the Cities Growth Fund, the Bellwin Scheme and measures to tackle anti social behaviour. A list of the grants is published at Annex I of Finance Circular No 8/2005 issued on 23 November 2005.

Each grant scheme has its own terms and conditions and responsibility for ensuring that councils adhere to these rests with the relevant Executive Department. In general, councils are required formally to assure the department that the funding has been spent in accordance with the grant offer. In a number of cases, there is a further requirement for councils to have the return audited as part of their annual accounts. Routine evaluation and monitoring is also carried out.

Question reference: S2W-21696

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many personal injury accidents and deaths there have been in each of the last 10 years on the A811 (a) between Stirling and the roundabout at Kippen Station and (b) between Kippen Station and the junction with the A81 at Ballat.

Data about personal injury road accidents are collected by the police and reported to the Scottish Executive using the STATS 19 statistical report form. The following table gives the numbers of road accidents which were identified in these returns as occurring on the specified sections of the A811 from 1995 to 2004, and the associated numbers of fatalities.

It should be noted that the statistics given below are based upon the data which are held in the Scottish Executive’s road accident statistics database and which were collected by the police at the time of the accident and subsequently reported to the Executive. They may differ from any figures which the local authorities would provide now, because they do not take account of any subsequent changes or corrections that local authorities may have made to the statistical information, for use at local level, about the location of each accident, based upon their knowledge of the roads and areas concerned.

Injury Road Accidents Occurring on Sections of the A811, and the Associated Numbers of Fatalities, as Reported in the “STATS 19” Statistical Returns

	Injury road accidents		Fatalities
Year	Stirling to Kippen*	Kippen* to Ballat**	Stirling to Kippen*	Kippen* to Ballat**
1995	6	11	1	1
1996	5	7	0	0
1997	7	10	0	0
1998	8	12	0	2
1999	7	8	0	0
2000	8	5	1	1
2001	9	5	0	1
2002	9	12	0	0
2003	8	9	0	3
2004	8	7	1	0

Notes:

*The junction of the A811 and the B822, near Kippen.

**The junction of the A811 and the A81, near Ballat.

Question reference: S2W-21533

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 22 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the local authorities must comply with the obligation placed on them by Communities Scotland to lead the development of community learning and development strategies in partnership with other statutory agencies, the voluntary sector and communities.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to respond. Her response is as follows:

The Scottish Executive guidance for community learning and development (CLD) Working and Learning Together to Build Stronger Communities, was published in January 2004, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre(Bib. number 38409). This guidance indicated that the overall responsibility for planning for CLD strategies rests with community planning partnerships, with local authorities expected to take responsibility for ensuring that arrangements are in place to set up and maintain partnership working at both strategic and operational levels.

On behalf of the Scottish Executive, Communities Scotland, through its Learning Connections team, has responsibility for supporting the establishment of strategies. The guidance was issued to local authority Chief Executives with the expectation that community planning partnerships would develop strategies in the most suitable manner taking into consideration local community planning processes. Whilst timescales of development and delivery have differed there has been no indication of non-compliance with the guidance request. Thirty partnerships have delivered final strategies to Communities Scotland with a further two strategies awaiting final endorsement by their council and/or Community Planning Partnership.

Question reference: S2O-08566

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 22 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the accident safety record on the A9 between Perth and Inverness.

Question reference: S2W-21534

Asked by: Murdo Fraser, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 December 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for ensuring that local authorities comply with the obligations placed on them by Communities Scotland.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is as follows:

Operating on behalf of Scottish ministers, Communities Scotland engages with local authorities on a range of housing and community regeneration issues. The nature of this engagement includes: statutory regulation of local authority housing, homelessness and factoring functions; assisting local authorities with the production of relevant plans and strategies; assisting local authorities locally with the delivery of housing and community regeneration goals, and, the provision of funding streams to support investment in housing and community regeneration.

Ensuring compliance with obligations that arise from this engagement falls to Communities Scotland.