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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-07227

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 20 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2344 by Ms Margaret Curran on 17 September 2003, when it will be finalising the specific programme details from 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Question reference: S2W-07226

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 25 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Margaret Curran on 20 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-5903 and S2W-6823 by Ms Margaret Curran on 17 September 2003 and 24 March 2004 respectively, how many unit approvals are estimated to be provided in each local authority area for (a) 2004-05 and (b) 2005-06, broken down into (i) general needs housing, (ii) special needs housing, (iii) low cost housing and (iv) any other identifiable category.

I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:

Ministers have given a commitment to provide 18,000 new and improved homes for social rent and low cost home ownership in the three years up to 2006. Specific programme details for 2005-06 will be developed during the course of 2004-05.The following table shows the planned number of housing approvals in 2004-05 ineach local authority area split by general needs, special needs and low costhome ownership.

Table 1 – Housing Approvals by Category (2004-05)

Unitary Authority	Rent – General Needs No.	Rent – Special Needs No.	Low Cost Home Ownership No.
Aberdeenshire Council	75	35	48
Angus Council	20	49	0
Argyll and Bute Council	209	37	11
City of Aberdeen Council	20	20	38
City of Dundee Council	66	113	16
City of Edinburgh Council	310	94	0
Clackmannan Council	30	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway Council	62	23	32
East Ayrshire Council	14	2	16
East Dunbartonshire Council	100	18	0
East Lothian Council	73	0	7
East Renfrewshire Council	68	21	80
Falkirk Council	40	29	0
Fife Council	113	53	0
Glasgow Council	1,075	172	172
Highland Council	148	16	108
Inverclyde Council	98	24	100
Midlothian Council	38	0	0
Moray Council	58	45	10
North Ayrshire Council	50	13	21
North Lanarkshire Council	151	73	40
Orkney Islands Council	4	0	29
Perthshire and Kinross Council	60	40	41
Renfrewshire Council	76	162	0
Shetland Islands Council	4	0	4
South Ayrshire Council	31	8	24
South Lanarkshire Council	212	0	35
Stirling Council	34	0	0
The Scottish Borders Council	35	15	4
West Dunbartonshire Council	44	20	36
West Lothian Council	24	10	0
Western Isles Council	35	6	3

Question reference: S2W-07310

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 13 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, whether in light of the announcement of additional funding for VisitScotland's marketing budget by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport on 11 March 2004, funds previously earmarked for marketing by VisitScotland will be reallocated to administration or other budgets.

Question reference: S2W-07075

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 2 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding will be provided to each of the new VisitScotland hubs in each of the next three years, broken down by source of funding; how such hubs will be constituted, and to whom they will be accountable.

Question reference: S2W-07090

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 19 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Mary Mulligan on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32874 by Des McNulty on 29 January 2003, how many telephone mast applications by mobile phone operators were (a) made, (b) granted, (c) refused, (d) granted on appeal and (e) refused on the grounds of health and safety and what the average time was for an application to be processed in (i) 2002 and (ii) 2003, broken down by local authority area.

Tables 1 and 2 show information on planning applications for radio telecommunications infrastructure, including ground based masts, additional antennas, roof based masts and equipment housing. The figures show for each planning authority the number of planning applications received during the period, the numbers granted permission, the numbers refused permission, the numbers refused permission on grounds relating to health and safety and the average time taken to determine planning applications. The figures for upheld appeals are taken from the Scottish Executive’s records.

Completion of the returns by planning authorities is voluntary, and there are therefore gaps in the returns. It should also be noted that where the number of grants/refusals of permission are higher than the number of applications received during the year this is due to the carrying over of applications from previous periods. Similarly, appeal decisions may relate to applications from an earlier period.

Telecommunications Data 2002

	Applications Made	Granted	Refused	Granted on Appeal	Refused on Health & Safety Grounds	Average time taken to determine (days)
Aberdeen City*	40	31	8	2	0	82
Aberdeenshire	22	26	1	1	1	74
Angus	16	14	1	-	0	69
Argyll and Bute	41	28	1	1	0	57
Clackmannanshire*	4	1	1	-	1	63
Dumfries & Galloway	23	27	1	-	0	78
Dundee City	19	12	5	1	0	76
East Ayrshire	18	13	5	1	2	115
East Dunbartonshire	28	21	6	2	3	79
East Lothian	24	17	3	-	0	72
East Renfrewshire	13	14	2	1	0	85
Edinburgh	160	131	20	2	0	79
Eilean Siar*	6	6	0	0	0	48
Falkirk*	32	14	8	2	2	79
Fife	46	35	9	3	2	65
Glasgow City*	128	*	*	1	*	*
Highland	13	8	4	2	1	102
Inverclyde	12	8	2	-	0	67
Midlothian*	8	5	1	2	0	52
Moray	11	12	0	-	0	57
North Ayrshire	19	18	3	-	0	56
North Lanarkshire	40	42	6	1	2	88
Orkney*	0	*	*	-	*	*
Perth and Kinross	28	25	3	3	0	104
Renfrewshire	38	27	7	2	0	76
Scottish Borders	39	14	1	-	0	92
Shetland*	3	*	*	-	0	*
South Ayrshire	21	21	3	-	0	87
South Lanarkshire*	77	58	3	3	0	83
Stirling	16	13	3	-	0	78
West Dunbartonshire	19	11	9	0	0	68
West Lothian	41	32	4	1	0	62

Note: *Missing/incomplete return

Telecommunications Data 2003

	Applications Made	Granted	Refused	Granted on Appeal	Refused on Health & Safety Grounds	Average time taken to determine (days)
Aberdeen City*	32	23	4	3	0	67
Aberdeenshire*	29	18	1	-	0	52
Angus	20	20	3	-	0	60
Argyll and Bute	43	31	2	-	0	62
Clackmannanshire*	7	4	1	2	0	55
Dumfries & Galloway	46	44	1	-	0	65
Dundee City*	10	8	5	1	0	66
East Ayrshire*	19	13	1	1	0	135
East Dunbartonshire	13	10	4	1	1	55
East Lothian	11	12	0	2	0	38
East Renfrewshire	13	9	2	-	0	53
Edinburgh*	84	59	7	2	0	91
Eilean Siar*	20	15	1	-	0	46
Falkirk*	6	2	1	3	0	52
Fife*	35	30	2	2	2	132
Glasgow City*	135	*	*	2	0	*
Highland*	43	35	1	2	0	55
Inverclyde*	6	4	1	-	0	74
Midlothian	19	15	2	-	1	77
Moray	21	10	0	-	0	35
North Ayrshire*	*	*	*	-	0	*
North Lanarkshire	32	30	3	2	0	63
Orkney*	*	0	0	-	0	*
Perth and Kinross	40	40	2	1	0	91
Renfrewshire*	22	31	2	2	0	67
Scottish Borders*	21	45	0	-	0	47
Shetland*	0	2	0	-	0	110
South Ayrshire*	18	17	2	-	0	78
South Lanarkshire	37	36	2	1	0	72
Stirling	10	10	1	1	0	48
West Dunbartonshire	7	1	4	1	0	60
West Lothian*	18	13	5	3	3	64

Note: *Missing/incomplete return.

Question reference: S2W-07039

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been received from road traffic (NHS charges) regulations in each year since their inception, broken down in respect of those treated (a) without admission to hospital and (b) in hospital, and how much it estimates will be received in each of the next three years in each category.

The following table shows the level of costs recovered in respect of the NHS treatment of road traffic accident victims since the introduction of the Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999:

Year	Payments made to Scottish NHS Trusts £ million
1999-2000	1.837
2000-2001	4.595
2001-2002	5.971
2002-2003	5.818
2003-2004 (to 29 February)	5.162

Information giving a breakdown of the amounts recovered in respect of those treated without admission to hospital and those treated in hospital is not held centrally by either the Scottish Executive or the Department for Work and Pension’s Compensation Recovery Unit which administers the scheme on behalf of theExecutive. Neither is it possible to estimate the level of costs which will berecovered in respect of each category of treatment in the next three years.

Question reference: S2O-01870

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact television has upon culture and what strategy it has in place to use television to promote Scotland.

The screenindustries, including television, can provide a showcase for the best ofScottish creative talent. We have engaged with the broadcasters in Scotland andthe independent producers of content for television by establishing the ScreenIndustries Summit Group. This industry-wide grouping is due to report to ministersin June 2004. I look forward to the input which the group will have to help formulateour future strategy.

Question reference: S2O-01865

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 1 April 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what relative financial contributions it and the Strategic Rail Authority will make to the upgrade at Waverley Station.

Question reference: S2W-07010

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 31 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations exist in respect of the provision of late night chemists; what strategy exists to ensure that such facilities are accessible and central, and how many such chemists there are in the city of Edinburgh.

NHS boards are required,under the terms of the NHS (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland)Regulations, to arrange that one or more community pharmacies in their area beopen “at all reasonable times”. The days and times of “out of hours” openingmust be specified in respect of each participating pharmacy. Arrangements must alsobe made for urgently required prescriptions to be dispensed outwith thespecified hours.

Since 1999 the provision ofout-of-hours community pharmacy services has been a matter for localnegotiation between each NHS board and its area pharmaceutical committee.Information about the arrangements currently in place in the Edinburgharea will be available from NHS Lothian.

Question reference: S2W-07028

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 March 2004
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any proposals to provide a minor injuries clinic in central Edinburgh following the relocation of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and whether there has been an increase in ambulance call-outs from the city centre following the relocation of the infirmary.

The planning and provisionof minor injuries services are operational matters for NHS boards, in this caseNHS Lothian. I understand that NHS Lothian is currently reviewing serviceoptions, including the provision of minor injuries clinics in locations acrossthe health board’s area, including Edinburgh city.

I further understand fromthe Scottish Ambulance Service that, since March 2003, when the bulk ofservices provided at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh were relocated to LittleFrance, there has been a 1% increase in the number of 999 emergency ambulancecalls across the relevant catchment area. Other parts of Scotlandhave experienced larger increases in call numbers.