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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-31988

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the top 50 tourist attractions are by number of annual visitors.

The latest available figuresare for 2005. In 2005, the top 50 tourist attractions by number of annual visitorswere as follows:

Visitor Attraction	Visitor Numbers
Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh	1,187,342
Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh	828,367
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh	810,054
World Famous Old Blacksmith’s Shop Centre, Gretna Green	679,132
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Edinburgh	619,946
Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh	614,321
National War Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh	567,744
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow	530,751
Edinburgh Bus Tours, Edinburgh	458,963
Glasgow Science Centre, Glasgow	422,848
Museum of Transport, Glasgow	376,115
Stirling Castle, Stirling	373,766
New Lanark Village and Visitor Centre, Lanark	362,850
Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Glasgow	350,000
People’s Palace, Glasgow	342,904
David Welch Winter Gardens, Aberdeen	319,905
Falkirk Wheel, Falkirk	298,562
Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee	279,717
Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh	273,279
Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh	265,659
Burns National Heritage Park, Ayr	264,247
Deep Sea World, North Queensferry	260,000
Dean Castle and Country Park, Kilmarnock	257,857
Eilean Donan Castle and Visitor Centre, by Kyle of Lochalsh	257,240
Urquhart Castle, Drumnadrochit	237,910
Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre, Edinburgh	235,714
Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow	235,237
The Burrell Collection, Glasgow	228,007
Scottish Wool Centre, Aberfoyle	225,009
Museum of Childhood, Edinburgh	222,584
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh	201,098
Boardwalk, Aberdeen	200,000
Culzean Castle and Country Park, Maybole	195,433
Baxters Highland Village, Fochabers	195,190
The Lighthouse, Glasgow	184,565
Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen	183,776
Teviot Watergardens, Kelso	179,053
Johnston’s Cashmere Visitor Centre, Elgin	164,570
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh	162,781
CairnGorm Mountain Railway, near Aviemore	162,702
Dean Gallery, Edinburgh	159,348
David Marshall Lodge, near Aberfoyle	156,198
Nevis Range, Fort William	155,301
Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh	153,977
Museum of Flight, nr Haddington	150,908
Queens’ View Visitor Centre, Dunkeld	147,948
Scottish Seabird Centre, North Berwick	142,823
James Pringle Weavers of Inverness, Inverness	141,250
Isle of Bute Discovery Centre, Rothesay	136,325
Blair Castle, nr Pitlochry	135,330

Source: Scottish Visitor AttractionMonitor 2005.

Two visitor attraction operatorsprovided figures for inclusion in the general analysis but indicated they did notwant their figures published.

Question reference: S2W-31987

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many workers are employed in tourism and tourism-related industries in each local authority area.

The latest data held currentlyestimates that there are just under 210,000 people employed in tourism related businessesacross Scotland, which represents 9% of the total workforce. The numberof people that are employed in tourism, and tourism-related industries in each localauthority area across Scotland is shown in the following table:

Local Authority	Tourism-Related Employment	Tourism-Related Employment Compared to all Employment (%)
Aberdeen City	11,692	7
Aberdeenshire	6,964	9
Angus	3,582	10
Argyll and Bute	5,050	14
Clackmannanshire	969	7
Comhairle nan Eilean Sar	942	9
Dumfries and Galloway	5,808	11
Dundee City	5,982	8
East Ayrshire	3,087	8
East Dunbartonshire	2,379	10
East Lothian	2,783	12
East Renfrewshire	1,983	11
Edinburgh City	30,826	10
Falkirk	4,500	8
Fife	11,186	8
Glasgow City	30,336	7
Highland	13,107	14
Inverclyde	2,220	7
Midlothian	1,904	7
Moray	3,068	9
North Ayrshire	4,410	11
North Lanarkshire	7,526	6
Orkney Islands	1,091	12
Perth and Kinross	8,231	14
Renfrewshire	5,971	8
Scottish Borders	4,709	11
Shetland Islands	1,351	10
South Ayrshire	5,579	12
South Lanarkshire	9,897	8
Stirling	4,902	11
West Dunbartonshire	3,290	11
West Lothian	4,334	6

Source: Annual business inquiryemployee analysis.

Question reference: S2W-31949

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 5 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive in what percentage of cases over the last four years, where a children’s hearing determined a compulsory supervision requirement for a child who resided with a single birth parent, a child’s place of residence was decided by a residence order made under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

The information requested isnot available.

A children’s hearing cannotmake residence orders as this is a matter for the court.

The Scottish Children’sReporter Administration Annual Report 2005-06 has information about thenumbers of children referred, the grounds for referral, the living groups ofchildren referred and Hearings decisions. For example, in 2005-06, 46% ofchildren referred lived in a single parent household. A copy of the report isavailable at http://www.scra.gov.uk/ch_review.html.

Question reference: S2W-31950

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 5 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive in what percentage of cases over the last four years, where a children’s hearing determined a compulsory supervision requirement for a child who resided with a single birth parent as a result of a residence order made under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, does the compulsory supervision requirement required reversal of the residence order and require the child to reside with the non-resident birth parent.

Question reference: S2W-32020

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much specific funding has been allocated for drug and alcohol treatment services in the Stirling local authority area in each year since 2003-04.

Funding is allocated to healthboards for drug treatment and care services and to tackle alcohol problems. Stirlingfalls within the boundaries of Forth Valley Health Board. The following table setsout the funding that has been made available to Forth Valley Health Board for drugtreatment and care services since 2003-04.

NHS Board	Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Allocation 2004-05 (£000)	Allocation 2005-06 (£000)	Allocation 2006-07 (£000)
Forth Valley	557	585	585	828

NHS Board

Allocation

2003-04

(£000)

Allocation

2004-05

(£000)

Allocation

2005-06

(£000)

Allocation

2006-07

(£000)

Forth Valley

557

585

828

Stirling Council received £113,000per annum over the period 2003-04 to 2004-05 to tackle drug misuse.

The following table sets outthe funding that has been made available to Forth Valley Health Board to tacklealcohol problems since 2004-05.

NHS Board	Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Allocation 2004-05 (£000)	Allocation 2005-06 (£000)	Allocation 2006-07 (£000)
Forth Valley	0	148	488	488

NHS Board

Allocation

2003-04

(£000)

Allocation

2004-05

(£000)

Allocation

2005-06

(£000)

Allocation

2006-07

(£000)

Forth Valley

148

488

Question reference: S2W-31878

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 19 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 2 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration is being given to extending the Water Charges Exemption Scheme beyond 2010.

The Scottish Executive’s generalpolicy is that all customers, including charitable organisations and other organisationswhich serve a public function, should contribute to the cost of the water servicesthat they use. Certain organisations, including some charitable organisations andother organisations which serve a public function, are currently exempted from chargesunder the Water and Sewerage Charges (Exemption) (Scotland) Regulations2002.

The Executive previously extendedthe exemption scheme from 2006-10 to allow more time for organisations to prepareto pay for their water services. It has no plans to extend the scheme further orto establish a replacement for it when it expires in March 2010.

Question reference: S2W-30768

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 16 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it has provided to Forth Valley College and how many students have attended the college in each year since 1996-97.

Question reference: S2W-30755

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 12 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much will be allocated from the Executive’s fund to refurbish trains and improve stations, announced on 19 December 2006, which will benefit Stirling, Dunblane and Crianlarich stations.

The investment of over £20 millionannounced on 19 December 2006 will deliver additional passenger benefits throughoutScotland. Passengers at Stirling and Dunblane will benefit from additional TicketVending Machines, CCTV Help Point Induction Loops and some refurbished 158 units.A convex mirror will be installed at Crianlarich to improve safety and passengerswill benefit from the refurbished 156 units on services calling at the station.

The cost of the station improvementswill be around £110,000 at Stirling, £55,000 at Dunblane and £1,000 at Crianlarich. Thisdoes not include the rolling stock refurbishment costs.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

Question reference: S2W-30767

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 February 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what support it has provided to the University of Stirling and how many students have attended the university in each year since 1996-97.

The information requested isgiven in the following table.

Main Formula Grants to the University of Stirling and Number of Students: 1996-97 to 2006-07

	Grants For Teaching (£ Million)	Grants For Research (£ Million)	Other Grants (£ Million)	Total Grants (£ Million)	Number of Students
1996-97	13.6	4.0	7.3	24.9	8,072
1997-98	14.3	4.1	7.3	25.7	8,135
1998-99	15.9	4.5	5.8	26.1	7,938
1999-2000	16.6	4.5	6.0	27.1	8,100
2000-01	17.4	4.7	6.4	28.5	8,395
2001-02	18.4	4.8	0.3	23.5	8,660
2002-03	18.9	6.9	0.3	26.1	8,975
2003-04	19.9	7.2	0.3	27.3	8,720
2004-05	20.4	8.0	0.3	28.7	8,470
2005-06	20.9	8.3	6.9	36.1	n/a
2006-07	24.3	8.9	7.9	41.0	n/a

Source: Scottish Funding Council/HigherEducation Statistics Agency.

Note: There have been changesto funding methodologies, grant schemes and fees.

Arrangements over the periodcovered.

Question reference: S2W-30771

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2006
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 30 January 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many elderly residents have received free personal care in the Stirling parliamentary constituency.

Information on free personalcare is collected at local authority level and is not available forparliamentary constituencies.

The latest statistics showthat at the end of September 2006 there were 226 older people in care homesreceiving free personal care payments of £145 per week from Stirling Council. Ofthese, 142 people also received £65 per week for free nursing care.

Stirling council also provided personal care services forfree to 445 people living in their own homes.