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: S4W-09777

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 3 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what level of reserves is held by each (a) local authority and (b) NHS board.

The following tables show the level of revenue and capital reserves held by each local authority as at 31 March 2011. NHS boards do not hold reserves.

Revenue Reserves	General Fund	Housing Revenue Account	Renewal and Repairs	Insurance Fund	Other Statutory Funds	Total Revenue Reserves
Local Authority £000	(a)	(b)	(c)	(d)	(e)	(f)
Aberdeen City	35,466	6,877	5	1,429	255	44,032
Aberdeenshire	29,163	5,033	980	1,119	0	36,295
Angus	18,229	1,957	3,620	459	0	24,265
Argyll and Bute	32,973	No HRA	497	0	0	33,470
Clackmannanshire	9,129	3,575	0	791	0	13,495
Dumfries and Galloway	51,721	No HRA	1,668	2,791	0	56,180
Dundee City	6,758	0	3,904	386	0	11,048
East Ayrshire	28,498	1,397	9,800	0	0	39,695
East Dunbartonshire	9,909	1,081	282	0	0	11,272
East Lothian	17,849	4,743	0	1,006	0	23,598
East Renfrewshire	12,588	724	6,824	1,122	0	21,258
Edinburgh, City of	89,634	0	15,404	0	0	105,038
Eilean Siar	14,644	No HRA	0	0	0	14,644
Falkirk	30,324	6,392	1,905	3,683	0	42,304
Fife	45,537	2,633	0	1,542	0	49,712
Glasgow City	53,911	No HRA	48,106	19,511	0	121,528
Highland	30,834	7,524	1,486	1,678	0	41,522
Inverclyde	29,198	No HRA	671	4,848	0	34,717
Midlothian	12,288	11,680	1,644	0	0	25,612
Moray	17,529	1,255	2,507	1,352	0	22,643
North Ayrshire	24,595	7,811	8,348	3,339	0	44,093
North Lanarkshire	20,377	3,541	383	9,930	0	34,231
Orkney Islands	22,569	560	8,691	0	189,013	220,833
Perth and Kinross	31,293	803	543	933	0	33,572
Renfrewshire	36,626	10,700	2,845	0	0	50,171
Scottish Borders	11,475	No HRA	175	1,507	0	13,157
Shetland Islands	3,000	0	95,651	222	61,621	160,494
South Ayrshire	15,302	13,960	4,280	425	0	33,967
South Lanarkshire	8,476	4,955	20,698	8,541	0	42,670
Stirling	13,541	28	601	930	0	15,100
West Dunbartonshire	14,967	2,668	202	0	0	17,837
West Lothian	16,109	926	65	8,648	0	25,748
Total	794,512	100,823	241,785	76,192	250,889	1,464,201

Capital reserves	Capital Fund	Capital Receipts	Capital Grants Unapplied	Total Capital Reserves
Local Authority £000	(f)	(g)	(h)	(f)
Aberdeen City	11,927	0	252	12,179
Aberdeenshire	5,956	696	1,235	7,887
Angus	1,753	594	596	2,943
Argyll and Bute	2,972	0	0	2,972
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	3,836	700	0	4,536
Dundee City	4,901	0	0	4,901
East Ayrshire	16,299	0	294	16,593
East Dunbartonshire	8,240	71	0	8,311
East Lothian	5,399	0	0	5,399
East Renfrewshire	17,347	0	0	17,347
Edinburgh, City of	16,390	0	1,541	17,931
Eilean Siar	1,306	691	371	2,368
Falkirk	0	5,342	5,067	10,409
Fife	0	386	93	479
Glasgow City	19,568	0	1,271	20,839
Highland	30,026	1,229	0	31,255
Inverclyde	1,722	0	0	1,722
Midlothian	9,955	0	0	9,955
Moray	604	1,060	81	1,745
North Ayrshire	8,619	0	0	8,619
North Lanarkshire	865	0	1,453	2,318
Orkney Islands	3,508	1,530	0	5,038
Perth and Kinross	8,257	2,680	171	11,108
Renfrewshire	40,023	7,819	0	47,842
Scottish Borders	6,070	0	0	6,070
Shetland Islands	108,404	13	171	108,588
South Ayrshire	33	133	195	361
South Lanarkshire	19,872	32,470	0	52,342
Stirling	0	1,053	296	1,349
West Dunbartonshire	4,156	1,661	0	5,817
West Lothian	60,557	0	0	60,557
Total	418,565	58,128	13,087	489,780

Note: these figures were extracted from individual local authority annual accounts for 2010-11 which is the most recent year available.

Question reference: S4W-09767

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many businesses in Aberdeen City have benefited from a reduction in rates under the small business bonus scheme.

Question reference: S4W-09768

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 September 2012
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 2 October 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what the total saving to businesses in Aberdeen City has been under the small business bonus scheme.

Question reference: S4O-01282

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 20 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the possible impact on its anti-poverty strategy, what discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding its contract with Atos for carrying out work capability assessments.

Question reference: S4T-00001

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2012
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 4 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government whether Aberdeen City Council has submitted any new tax incremental financing applications since rejecting the business plan incorporating the City Garden Project.

Question reference: S4W-09078

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Keith Brown on 3 September 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what communication it has received from Aberdeen City Council regarding the council's (a) review of the proposed third Don crossing and (b) plans for improvements at the Haudagain roundabout.

The Scottish Government has received no correspondence from Aberdeen City Council in relation to a review of a Third Don Crossing.

A number of meetings were held between Transport Scotland and Aberdeen City Council before the publication of the A90/A96 Haudagain Improvement - STAG Report published in July 2008.

A meeting also took place on 12 April 2012 during which officials confirmed the allocation of £3 million to take forward the design work to improve the Haudagain Roundabout.

Question reference: S4W-08782

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 August 2012
Current Status: Answered by Mr Alex Neil MSP on 15 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how many vehicles each local authority has procured using funding from the Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Support Scheme, broken down by engine type.

The following tables show the number and types of vehicles purchased by each local authority, and their community planning partners, in the 2 years the scheme has operated, 2010-11 and 2011-12. In 2010-11 the scheme was also opened up to wider public bodies.

2011-12 Community Planning Partnership	Electric Car	Extended Range Electric Car	Electric Van	Hybrid Van	Electric Minibus	Electric Sweeper
Aberdeen City			1			1
Aberdeenshire			1			1
Angus	2					1
Argyll & Bute			2
Clackmannanshire			4			1
Dumfries and Galloway	2	1	2
Dundee	5		7
East Ayrshire	1					1
East Dunbartonshire	3
East Lothian	3
East Renfrewshire				2
Edinburgh	4	1	8
Falkirk	6
Fife	4		9
Glasgow	3					2
Highland		4	1

Inverclyde

No grant claimed

Midlothian	2		2
Moray		2

North Ayrshire

No grant claimed

North Lanarkshire					2
Orkney				1
Outer Hebrides/Eilean Siar (CNE)	1
Perth & Kinross	5
Renfrewshire	3		2
Scottish Borders		3	3
Shetland	2			1
South Ayrshire	4
South Lanarkshire			3		2
Stirling	5

West Dunbartonshire

No grant claimed

West Lothian	2	1				1
TOTAL 130	57	12	45	2	2	12

Question reference: S4W-08584

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities provide a food waste recycling service.

The following table identifies those local authorities currently providing a household food waste recycling service:

	Council	Full/Part Rollout	How is food collected?	How often?
1	Aberdeen City	Part	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
2	Aberdeenshire	Part	Separately	Weekly
3	Argyll and Bute	Part	Separately	Weekly
4	Dundee City	Part	Separately	Weekly/Fortnightly
5	East Renfrewshire	Full	Food and Garden	Weekly
6	East Ayrshire	Part	Separately	Weekly
7	Edinburgh, City of	Part	Separately	Weekly
8	Eilean Siar	Full	Food, garden, paper and card	Fortnightly
9	Fife	Part	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
10	Moray	Full	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
11	North Lanarkshire	Part	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
12	Perth and Kinross	Full	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
13	Stirling	Full	Separately	Weekly
14	West Dunbartonshire	Part	Food and Garden	Fortnightly
15	Falkirk	Part	Separately	Weekly
16	Inverclyde	Full	Separately	Weekly
17	Fife	Rollout - ongoing	Food and Garden	Fortnightly

Zero Waste Scotland has advised that rollouts of household food collection services are also planned in Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and North Ayrshire between now and February 2013.

Question reference: S4W-08585

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government how much each local authority has paid in landfill tax in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S4W-08583

Asked by: Kevin Stewart, MSP for Aberdeen Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 July 2012
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 1 August 2012

To ask the Scottish Government what business waste recycling rates have been achieved in each local authority in each year since 1999.