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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-01942

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what data it, or any other organisation, collects on the extent of fly-tipping, including the annual frequency of fly-tipping incidents and the cost of clearing up.

No data are held centrally.Local authorities and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency areresponsible for action against fly-tipping.

The Scottish Fly-tippingForum, funded by the Scottish Executive, is gathering information about fly-tipping. The forumis convened by Keep Scotland Beautiful, whose contact details are:

Islay House

Livilands Lane

Stirling

FK8 2BG

Tel No: 01786 471333

Fax No: 01786 464611

www.encams.orgSome data concerning those fly-tipping incidents which lead to enforcementaction and given in the Review of the Litter and Fly-tipping Provisions of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/environment/rlfpm-00.asp

Question reference: S2W-01943

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 2 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what data it, or any other organisation, collects on the extent of fly-tipping on agricultural land and its cost to farmers and public funds.

No data are held centrally.Local authorities and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) areresponsible for action against fly-tipping. I understand that Scotland hasalso undertaken surveys on this topic and may be able to provide further data.

The Scottish Fly-tippingForum, funded by the Scottish Executive, is gathering information about fly-tipping. The forumis convened by Keep Scotland Beautiful, whose contact details are:

Islay House

Livilands Lane

Stirling

FK8 2BG

Tel No: 01786 471333

Fax No: 01786 464611

www.encams.org.

Question reference: S2W-01917

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 2 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its decision on the outline business case put forward by Forth Valley NHS Board for the selection of the Royal Scottish National Hospital, Larbert, as the site of the proposed new acute hospital for Forth Valley.

Question reference: S2W-02035

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many female prisoners have been sexually assaulted in each of the last five years, broken down by prison.

Question reference: S2W-02040

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have worked in the public sector in each of the last six years, broken down by NHS, local authority, non-departmental public body, central government and any other sector.

The following table showsthe number of the number of people who worked in the public sector broken downby type of organisation in Scotland:

	Nationalised Industry etc.	Central Govt, Civil Service, Armed Forces	Local Gov. or Council (inc. Police etc.)	University, etc.	Health Authority or NHS Trust	Other Kind of Organisation	All
(000)
1997	13	89	322	46	145	26	641
1998	13	91	318	45	143	20	631
1999	17	82	322	45	145	18	629
2000	16	82	345	43	155	21	663
2001	19	86	323	48	149	20	646
2002	13	90	332	50	154	17	658

2002 is the most recent yearfor which data is available.

Question reference: S2W-01961

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 1 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the three renewing local democracy working groups, referred to in its new release SEFD247/2003 on 10 July 2003, have been established; who the members are of each group; what the timescale is for the operation of each group, and what the budget is for their running costs.

Arrangements are being madefor the groups to have their first meetings. It is envisaged that they willoperate initially for 12 months, reporting to ministers thereafter. Each groupwill have an initial budget of around £3,000 to cover travel and subsistencecosts.

The core membership of each groupis as follows:

Single Transferable VoteWorking Group

David Green, Chairman of the Crofters Commission and formerConvener of Highland Council

Jeff Hawkins, Society of Local Authority Lawyers andAdministrators

Councillor Jim McCabe, Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities

Dr Vicki Nash, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives

Billy Pollock, Association of Electoral Administrators

Dr Ken Ritchie, Electoral Reform Society

Bob Smith, Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland

Councillors’ Remuneration Progress Group

Lord Sewel, Senior Vice-Principal, University of Aberdeen(Chairman)

Tom Aitchison, Society of Local Authority Chief Executives

Councillor Sam Campbell, National Association of Councillors

Ralph Garden, Scottish Public Pensions Agency

Professor Michael Horsman, former Director, Office ofManpower Economics

Graeme Millar, Scottish Consumer Council

Councillor Pat Watters, Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities

Widening Access to Council Membership Progress Group

Rowena Arshad, Director of the Centre for Education forRacial Equality in Scotland, University of Edinburgh (Chairman)

Claire Judson, National Union of Students

Susan Love, Federation of Small Businesses

Councillor Corrie McChord, Convention of Scottish LocalAuthorities

Fiona Smith, Scottish Youth Parliament

John Wilkes, Equalities Co-ordinating Group

A former councillor (name to be advised).

Question reference: S2W-01895

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 1 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how many male prisoners have been sexually assaulted in each prison in each of the last five years.

Question reference: S2W-01859

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by George Reid on 28 August 2003

To ask the Presiding Officer what powers the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has to amend, withhold or remove a staff member's entitlement to pension benefits from Civil Service pension funds; to which pension funds these powers apply, and in what circumstances such powers would be exercised.

The SPCB does not have any powers to amend, withhold or remove a staff member’s entitlement to pension benefits from Civil Service pension funds as these powers are held by the Minister for Civil Service.

All staff of the SPCB are eligible for membership of the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme. Under the rules of the scheme the Minister for the Civil Service has the power to withhold pension benefits in prescribed circumstances. These circumstances include:

conviction of treason; or
conviction of an offence under the Official Secrets Act resulting in aterm of imprisonment of at least 10 years; or
conviction of an employement-related offence which is certified by aMinister of the Crown either to have been gravely injurious to the state or tobe liable to lead to serious loss of confidence in the public service.

The rules also provide the member of staff with the right of appeal to the Civil Service Appeal Board. Forfeiture of pension benefits is not undertaken lightly and there have been just seven cases since the pension scheme was introduced in 1972. In the majority of these cases only a proportion of pension benefits were withheld.

Question reference: S2W-01802

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 27 August 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was spent on the care of elderly people in 2002-03; of this, how much was spent on the care of elderly people specifically as a result of the introduction of free personal care and how much it estimates will be spent on such care in 2003-04 and any subsequent years for which it has made estimates.

The most up to date information available regarding expenditure on the care of older people, contained in the Local Authority Provisional Outturn figures for 2002-03, indicates that £762,952,000 was spent on older people in the 2002-03 financial year. Information regarding the amount spent specifically on the care of older people as a result of the introduction of free personal care is not held centrally.Based on the Care Development Group estimations, £107 million was allocated to local authorities for the period 1 July 2002 to 31 March 2003. Local authorities are in receipt of £143 million in 2003-04. Estimates for 2004-05 and 2005-06 are £147 million and £153 million respectively.

Question reference: S2W-01809

Asked by: Mr Brian Monteith, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 27 August 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what reallocation of funds has been made, or spent, from funds earmarked for hosting the European Football Championships in 2008.