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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-32044

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the participation rate of young people in the Stirling local authority area has been in taking up new apprenticeships in each of the last three years and what action will be taken to deliver more places and encourage more young people to enter apprenticeships.

The number of modernapprentices (MAs) broken down geographical area and by year is an operational matterfor Scottish Enterprise. This information is not held centrally.However, Scottish Enterprisehave published these figures for 2005 and are in the public domain. These can befound on their website http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/training-providers-top/training-providers/performance-and-reports.htm?siblingtoggle=1.

The MA programme continues tobe demand led and are available to those aged 16 and above who are in employment.There have been no new targets set for additional places, however, we will continueto work with the Enterprise Networks to ensure that there continues to be at least30,000 MAs in training as set out within the Partnership Agreement.

Question reference: S2W-32026

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cultural and related services grant aided expenditure and net revenue expenditure was for Stirling Council in each year since 1999.

The information requested isshown in the following table.

	Grant Aided Expenditure Allocations (£ Million)	Revenue Expenditure (£ Million)
1999-2000	5.449	7.398
2000-01	5.430	7.971
2001-02	5.567	7.141
2002-03	5.930	7.890
2003-04	6.260	7.751
2004-05	6.559	8.872
2005-06	6.818	9.046
2006-07	6.688	-

Notes:

1. GrantAided Expenditure (GAE) figures are from the GAE Green Books for 1999-2000 to2006-07. The GAE allocations provided are derived from aggregating a number of sub-categorieswhich together make up the cultural and related services GAE line.

2. Revenueexpenditure is sourced from Local Financial Returns (LFR) 2 and 8, completed bylocal authorities, which cover culture and related services. Expenditure figuresfor 2006-07 are not yet available.

3. Revenuespending may differ from the GAE allocation amounts for a number of reasons. First,the GAE allocations given above are neither budgets nor spending targets for cultureand related services. They are simply components used in distributing the totalblock grant that the Executive provides to local authorities. Second, it is foreach local authority to decide how best to allocate the resulting overall blockgrant across all their services, based on local needs and priorities.

4. Althoughthe total GAE provision for culture and related services in Scotland increased in 2006-07, Stirling’s share using the relative needs-basedformula decreased.

Question reference: S2W-32017

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent in the Stirling local authority area in each year since 1999 on (a) Bus Service Operators Grant, (b) Bus Route Development Grant, (c) the Rural Community Transport Initiative, (d) the Rural Public Passenger Transport Grants Scheme, (e) demand-responsive transport and (f) public transport and integrated transport funds.

Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG)is paid to operators of local registered bus services. Figures cannot be given belowthe level of a Scotland-wide figure as the information is commercially sensitive.

Stirling Council has not submittedan application for Bus Route Development Grant funding.

The following table shows theamounts spent in the Stirling local authority area each year since 1999 under the RuralCommunity Transport Initiative, Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant Scheme andthe Demand Responsive Transport Grant Scheme.

	Rural Community Transport Initiative (£)	Rural Public Passenger Transport Grant (£)	Demand Responsive Transport Grant (£)
1998-99	2,000	80,000	0
1999-2000	38,850	80,000	0
2000-01	16,491	85,000	0
2001-02	12,351	100,000	0
2002-03	12,950	108,000	0
2003-04	27,172	118,000	0
2004-05	27,455	133,000	0
2005-06	27,776	139,000	0
2006-07	28,989	143,000	0

Since 1999 Stirling Council has received three awards under the PublicTransport Fund since 1999, as set out as follows. The years shown are the financialyears in which the money was allocated. These will differ from actual expenditureas given in the annual section 70 reports.

Stirling Bus Priority - £150,000 (2000-01); £297,000 (2001-02).

Access to Stirling, Dunblaneand Bridge of Allan rail stations - £238,000 (2002-03); £900,000 (2003-04);£303,000 (2004-05).

East-West Public Transport Corridor- £1,126,000 (2003-04); £493,000 (2004-05); £936,000 (2005-06) (Note: Due to delaysin progress, this award has still to be fully used. Agreement has been reached withTACTRAN that it will assume responsibility for completion of this project from April2007, using the remaining funding).

Stirling Council has also benefitedfrom Integrated Transport Fund spending on the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail line.

Question reference: S2W-32010

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive which communities in the Central Scotland region will not be broadband-enabled by the end of 2007.

Question reference: S2W-32018

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from low-income backgrounds in the Stirling parliamentary constituency have had their university fees paid from public funds in each year since 2002-03.

The following table highlightsthe number of fees paid by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to studentsat higher education institutions from low income backgrounds who were domiciledin the Stirling parliamentary constituency in each year since 2002-03:

Students from Low IncomeBackgrounds in the Stirling Parliamentary Constituency who have had theirUniversity Fees Paid, 2002-03 to 2005-06

Academic Year
2002-03	195
2003-04	210
2004-05	200
2005-06	215

For the purposes of this answerstudents are defined as being from ‘low-income’ backgrounds if they have declaredparental/spousal income details of not more than £17,500, which was the SAAS means-testedthreshold in 2005-06 for receipt of full financial support through the Young StudentsBursary (YSB). For comparable results over the period in question this thresholdhas been kept constant, even though the full YSB threshold has changed in this period.

Students who have not declaredparental/spousal income details and those that are classed as exempt from parentalcontribution have not been included in the above table.

Question reference: S2W-32009

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 26 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide an update on its Broadband for Scotland’s Rural and Remote Areas project.

Broadband has already been deliveredto every Scottish community and to over 99% of Scottish households. As announcedon 21 December 2006, the Executive is committed to further extending thecoverage of broadband in areas where it is currently unavailable.

We have been actively workingwith BT to invest an initial £1.5 million to increase broadband access. The firstareas to receive support will be outlined by the end of March.

We are also developing proposalsfor an additional £3.5 million of funding for broadband solutions and these willbe announced in due course.

Question reference: S2W-31994

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the contribution of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park to local tourism.

The National Park Authority haspublished the State of the Park Report 2005. This report provides informationon visitor numbers and their characteristics until 2003. This report is availablefrom the park authority’s website www.lochlomond-trossachs.org and a copy is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib number 36974).

Currently, the National ParkAuthority, along with key partners such as the Enterprise Network, is followinga Destination Management approach for the National Park. This approach is led bythe tourism industry with support from the agencies and is based on tourism businessesand the relevant agencies coming together to agree a joint vision for the “destination”and to develop an action plan with responsibility for the actions assigned to therelevant partners.

Question reference: S2W-31992

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the financial contribution made by the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park to the national economy.

Question reference: S2W-31993

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of users of the railway stations at Tyndrum, Crianlarich and Balloch is estimated to be visitors to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

This information is not heldcentrally.

However, The State of thePark Report 2005 published by Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority(available on the National Park Authority’s website www.lochlomond-trossachs.organd a copy is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre, Bib number 36974) provides information on The Loch Lomondand The Trossachs Visitor Survey 2003, in which 5% of people interviewed saidthey used public bus or train services to visit the National Park.

All three railway stations arelocated within the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park.

Question reference: S2W-31990

Asked by: Dr Sylvia Jackson, MSP for Stirling, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2007
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 March 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been made available to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority in each year since its establishment.

The Grant-in-Aid allocatedto Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park Authority, since is establishment,is as follows:

Year	Cash Grant-in-Aid Budget to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority (to the nearest £100,000)
2002-03	£4.8 million
2003-04	£5.5 million
2004-05	£6.1 million
2005-06	£6.6m (including £0.4 million capital)
2006-07	£9.9m (including £3.4 million capital)