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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-25709

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the top 5% of earners within each local authority area were women in each year since 2000.

The preferred source for earningsestimates is the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), which is carried outby the Office for National Statistics.

Table 1 shows the percentageof the top 5% of earners within each local authority area that were women in eachyear since 2000. These estimates are taken from ASHE and are based on the area thatemployees work in.

The estimates in the followingtable are based on a sample survey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.This error can be used to assess the reliability of an estimate. Only those estimatesthat are judged to be reliable are reported.

Table 1: Percentage of the Top 5% of Earners That Were Women, Scotland, 2000-05

Work Place Area	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Scotland	22.3%	26.2%	21.0%	22.3%	28.5%	31.5%
Aberdeen City	x	x	x	x	x	x
Aberdeenshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
Angus	x	x	x	x	x	x
Argyll and Bute	x	x	x	x	x	x
The Scottish Borders	x	x	x	x	x	x
Clackmannanshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
Dumfries and Galloway	x	x	x	x	x	x
Dundee City	x	x	x	x	x	x
East Ayrshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
East Dunbartonshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
East Lothian	x	x	x	x	x	x
East Renfrewshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
City of Edinburgh	21.4%	29.6%	25.7%	30.1%	29.7%	33.8%
Falkirk	x	x	x	x	x	x
Fife	x	x	x	x	x	x
Glasgow City	21.3%	18.5%	23.4%	22.2%	29.5%	27.2%
Highland	x	x	x	x	x	x
Inverclyde	x	x	x	x	x	x
Midlothian	x	x	x	x	x	x
Moray	x	x	x	x	x	x
North Ayrshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
North Lanarkshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
Orkney Islands	x	x	x	x	x	x
Perth and Kinross	x	x	x	x	x	x
Renfrewshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
Shetland Islands	x	x	x	x	x	x
South Ayrshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
South Lanarkshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
Stirling	x	x	x	x	x	x
West Dunbartonshire	x	x	x	x	x	x
West Lothian	x	x	x	x	x	x
Western Isles	x	x	x	x	x	x

Source: Annual Survey of Hoursand Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

x – Estimate is unreliable.

Notes:

1. The estimates are based onthe hourly pay excluding overtime for employees on adult rates whose pay for thesurvey pay-period was not affected by absence.

2. The estimates are based on a samplesurvey, and as such, are subject to sampling error.

3. To improve coverage and hencemake the survey more representative, supplementary information was collected fromthe 2004 ASHE survey onwards. The 2004 and 2005 ASHE results are therefore discontinuouswith the results for 2003 and previous years, for which no supplementary informationwas collected.

Question reference: S2W-26150

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 8 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many requests for information it received were not answered within 20 working days, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of requests received, in each month since January 2005.

Most requests forinformation are handled routinely and not all are recorded or countedcentrally. In line with centrally produced guidance some requests for informationare notified to the Scottish Executive’s FOI Unit and recorded centrally. the Scottish Executive have published a report on information requests handling inthe Scottish Executive for requests received during 1 January to 31 December 2005;this is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number39491) and on the Freedom of Information pages of the Scottish Executive Website. The reportprovides information on the number and percentage of requests dealt without-with the 20 working-day time period for the each of the quarters of 2005. Areport on the information requests handling in the Scottish Executive for thefirst six months of 2006 will be published later in the year.

Question reference: S2W-26153

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Johann Lamont on 6 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many new voluntary organisations were established in each year since 1999.

This information is notcollected centrally. Only those voluntary organisations seeking charitablestatus have been required to register their establishment.

Generally speaking,voluntary organisations include unincorporated community and voluntary groups,registered charities, friendly societies and a growing number of social economyorganisations. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations estimates thereto be around 50,000 voluntary organisations in Scotland.

Information on the number ofcharities registered between 1999 and 2005 can be obtained from Her Majesty’sRevenue and Customs. The number of new organisations granted charitable statusfrom April 2006 onwards will be available from the Office of the ScottishCharity Regulator (OSCR), recently established under the Charities and TrusteeInvestment (Scotland) Act 2005.

Question reference: S2W-26135

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost has been of its events at which entertainment was provided in each year from 1999, broken down into (a) food, (b) drink, (c) staffing and (d) other costs; what the purpose has been of each such event, and who attended.

Question reference: S2W-26583

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the latest performance figures on tackling persistent offending, broken down by local authority area, for each year since 2001.

The figures on persistent youthoffending in Scotland were first collated for 2003-04. The statement I madeto Parliament on 4 November 2004 made it clear that the 2003-04 youth justice report representedthe agreed baseline. Data gathered in previous years cannot be directly compared.

The 2003-04 report (Bib.number 34397) and 2004-05 report (Bib. number 37302) are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, and include data for every local authority area.

The 2005-06 performance figureswill be published in July 2006.

Question reference: S2W-26584

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland and COSLA are now sharing resources, information and best practice to tackle persistent young offending, as outlined by the Minister for Justice in July 2005.

Question reference: S2W-26582

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities achieved a decrease from 4% to 50% in the number of persistent young offenders between April 2005 and April 2006.

Question reference: S2W-26587

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive which agencies it considers have failed to deliver their commitments in reducing the number of persistent young offenders in the last year.

All agencies who work with childrenhave a responsibility to contribute to the prevention and reduction of youth offending.

Key national partner agencieshave made clear public commitments about their determination to make the necessaryimprovements.

All local authority areas havelocal youth justice strategic groups who are responsible for identifying the natureand extent of youth crime in their area through youth crime audits, and for matchingthe range of local service provision to the evidence about service requirements.

Within that local structure,partner agencies will have their own responsibilities for delivering improvements.

Question reference: S2W-26585

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether PA Consulting, previously employed by Scottish Ministers to validate persistent young offender data produced by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, is being used to validate existing data and, if so, whether ministers are confident that the data produced gives a robust and accurate account of the number of persistent young offenders.

Question reference: S2W-26447

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is for the Scottish Information Commissioner to consider and reach a decision on appeals made to him.