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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: S3W-04087

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 1 October 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much interest on borrowings Scottish Water has paid in each year since its creation.

A breakdown of theinterest paid by Scottish Water on its borrowings for each year may be found inits Annual Accounts. These are available in the Scottish Parliament InformationCentre under the following reference numbers:

Year	Bib. Number
2002-03	28754
2003-04	33541
2004-05	36848
2005-06	39906
2006-07	43566

Question reference: S3W-04438

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 27 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what its block grant has been in each year since devolution and what proportion of total known public expenditure in Scotland this represents.

HM Treasurypublish an annual statistics publication called Public Expenditure StatisticalAnalyses (PESA) which sets out a range of statistical information, includingthe total identifiable public expenditure for each region/country within the United Kingdom (table 9.3). The latest version of this document waspublished in April 2007 and provides data up to and including 2006-07 http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk./media/E/B/pesa07_complete.pdf.

The following tableshows the total identifiable expenditure in Scotland (taken from PESA 2007), the total Scottish block and the percentage of the total that the Scottish Block represents, for each year between 1999-2000and 2005-06.

£ Million	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Total Scottish Identifiable Public Expenditure	27,274	28,777	31,770	33,500	36,817	38,486	41,761	44,050
Total Scottish Budget	17,433	18,554	19,893	21,479	23,644	25,520	27,390	29,748
Total Scottish Budget as % of Total Identifiable Expenditure	63.9%	64.5%	62.6%	64.1%	64.2%	66.3%	65.6%	67.5%

Question reference: S3W-03603

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 21 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it has invested in affordable housing in each year since 1999.

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

The information requestedis given in the following table in respect of the housing investment programme managedby Communities Scotland and its predecessor.

Year	Affordable Housing Investment Programme (£ Million)
1999-2000	209.522
2000-01	215.824
2001-02	225.481
2002-03	219.616
2003-04	257.001
2004-05	295.638
2005-06	438.637
2006-07	544.006

Question reference: S3W-03605

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints regarding water quality have been received in each year since 1990, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-04084

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Scottish Water has paid in bonuses to its directors since its creation.

Question reference: S3W-04088

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many medical students have graduated from Scotland’s universities in each year since 1997.

The following tableshows how many students have graduated in clinical medicine from Scotland’s universities each year since 1997. The numbers includethose students undertaking first degrees and post graduate qualifications.

Year	Number of Students
1997-98	890
1998-99	945
1999-2000	910
2000-01	865
2001-02	995
2002-03	1,010
2003-04	1,005
2004-05	1,105
2005-06	960

Note: Students fromSt. Andrews University are not included as they typically complete their training at Manchester University. The figures include graduates who studiedclinical medicine in conjunction with other subjects.

Question reference: S3W-04086

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Water Supply (Water Quality) (Scotland) Regulations 2001, how many authorised departures have been (a) applied for by Scottish Water and (b) permitted by the Scottish Ministers in each year, broken down by local authority area.

Since the Regulationscame into force Scottish Water has applied for 42 authorised departures. Scottishministers have granted 37 of these and the breakdown by local authority is detailedin the following table.

Year	Local Authority	Applications	Granted
2004	Argyll and Bute Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Highland Orkney Shetland	1 7 2 17 1 1	1 7 2 13 1 0
2005	Highland	2	2
2006	Comhairle nan Eilean Siar Dumfries and Galloway Highland	1 2 8	1 2 8

Question reference: S3W-04085

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish Water’s net debt has been in each year since its creation.

Figures for ScottishWater’s net debt for each year may be found in its Annual Accounts. These are availablein the Scottish Parliament Information Centre under the following reference numbers:

Year	Bib. number
2002-03	28754
2003-04	33541
2004-05	36848
2005-06	39906
2006-07	43566

Question reference: S3W-04089

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many junior doctors have been employed by the NHS in Scotland in each year since 1999.

Question reference: S3W-02987

Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many floods there have been that required a response from at least one of the emergency services each year since 1980.