Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

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 ��˿�� 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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 2448 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S1W-28538

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase in outlets owned by overseas companies operating in the fast food retail sector was in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S1W-28537

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the percentage increase in supermarkets was in each of the last 10 years per capita in each local authority area (a) in total and (b) broken down by company.

Question reference: S1W-28500

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of prison inmates tested positive for drugs at reception into prison in each quarter in each of the last three years, broken down by prison.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Readily available information on reception drug test results are published annually in the Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland annual bulletin. The figures for 1998-99 to 2000-01 are at tables 106 and 107 in the 2001 report (Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland 2001, Information and Statistics Division, 2002). The figures for 2001-02 will be published in the next annual bulletin.

Question reference: S1W-28887

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of its Environment and Rural Affairs Department's budget had no linkage to European funding in (a) the current year and (b) each of the last five years and how much is projected to have no such linkage in the next year, expressed in both percentage and monetary terms and as a percentage of the overall spending block.

The following table sets out estimates of the requested proportions based on the relevant published spending plans for the years 1997-98 to 2003-04.

Year	(a) Total Scotland(£ million)	(b)Total Environment and Rural Affairs(£ million)	(c) Estimated Amount of (b) with no Linkage to European Funding(£ million) (%)	(d) Amounts in (c) as a % of Amounts in (a)
1997-98	14,614	908	459 (51%)	3.1%
1998-99	14,523	804	392 (49%)	2.7%
1999-2000	15,895	783	392 (50%)	2.5%
2000-01	16,691	834	391 (47%)	2.3%
2001-02	19,744	1,188	714 (60%)	3.6%
2002-03	20,913	1,207	737 (61%)	3.5%
2003-04	22,075	1,252	784 (63%)	3.6%

Spending plans from 2001-02 are in resource terms, while those for previous years are in cash terms.

Question reference: S1W-28886

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases have been dismissed by the courts as a result of incomplete paperwork or any other error by the (a) Procurator Fiscal Service and (b) Crown Office in each of the last three years.

Question reference: S1W-28885

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 September 2002
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 16 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases were marked "no proceedings" in each district and regional procurator fiscal office in each of the last three years.

The information requested is as follows:

Cases Marked: "No Proceedings"	April 1999 to March 2000	April 2000 to March 2001	April 2001 to March 2002
Aberdeen	2,198	1,188	1,269
Airdrie	1,319	1,523	1,225
Alloa	362	397	473
Arbroath	389	324	184
Ayr	1,009	923	858
Banff	456	102	199
Campbeltown	76	69	36
Cupar	388	391	353
Dingwall	143	169	148
Dornoch	39	43	47
Dumbarton	1,275	1,538	1,563
Dumfries	806	787	862
Dundee	1,251	1,115	911
Dunfermline	1,153	883	1,081
Dunoon	148	176	212
Duns	56	74	88
Edinburgh	3,386	2,804	3,879
Elgin	486	277	309
Falkirk	864	1,099	1,329
Forfar	276	259	224
Fort William	109	135	109
Glasgow	13,726	16,081	13,967
Greenock	817	792	724
Haddington	347	380	359
Hamilton	2,440	2,355	2,198
Inverness	720	776	705
Jedburgh	175	150	172
Kilmarnock	1,451	1,216	1,614
Kirkcaldy	1,308	1,710	1,349
Kirkcudbright	171	170	119
Kirkwall	72	71	57
Lanark	346	344	201
Lerwick	94	60	76
Linlithgow	841	769	841
Lochmaddy	24	21	18
Oban	184	142	132
Paisley	2,036	1,586	1,660
Peebles	81	65	60
Perth	893	695	766
Peterhead	204	174	135
Portree	32	51	60
Rothesay	30	22	45
Selkirk	273	303	231
Stirling	660	943	922
Stonehaven	118	129	86
Stornoway	34	46	52
Stranraer	446	320	276
Tain	134	181	209
Wick	112	152	123
PF Service Total	43,958	43,980	42,516

Question reference: S1W-28478

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 19 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 12 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the advantages and disadvantages of globalisation for the (a) economy, (b) promotion of Scottish culture and (c) turnout at local government and Scottish Parliament elections.

For Scotland to thrive rather than simply survive in the rapidly evolving, knowledge driven, global economy we need to be more fully integrated within it: to be well connected physically, digitally and intellectually with the rest of the world. The Scottish Executive's policy approach was articulated in Scotland: A Global Connections Strategy, which was published last October. This makes it clear that the Executive wants to see Scotland recognised as the most globally connected small nation in Europe, capitalising fully on its existing diverse range of international linkages and seizing new opportunities. While the Executive has not undertaken a detailed assessment of the impact of globalisation on the promotion of Scottish culture, work undertaken by the UK Government and by Scottish Enterprise suggests that globalisation means that there are significant opportunities for the promotion of Scotland's creative and cultural industries.Scottish Parliamentary elections are a reserved matter. The Executive has made no assessment of the effects of globalisation on turnout at local government elections but the Electoral Commission is undertaking on-going research on voter engagement and education as part of its remit on electoral issues.

Question reference: S1W-28475

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 16 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Iain Gray on 12 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many outlets owned by overseas companies operating in the fast food retail sector there were in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S1W-28441

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it made any representations to (a) the European Commission and (b) Her Majesty's Government in respect of the merging of the European councils on fisheries and agriculture and, if so, what the nature of any such representations was and what the response was.

Question reference: S1W-28436

Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 August 2002
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 11 September 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the operational budget was for each water authority in each year since 1996, expressed as (a) a monetary value and (b) a percentage of the overall budget.

The figures requested are given in each of the water authorities' published accounts. Copies of their accounts as laid before the Scottish Parliament and, pre-devolution, the Westminster Parliament, back to 1996-97 are held in the Parliament's Reference Centre. Bib. numbers are as follows:

Water Authorities' Published Accounts	Scottish Parliament Information Centre - Bib. numbers
Water Authorities' Published Accounts	NoSWA	ESWA	WoSWA
1996-97	97515	12833	12836
1997-98	12832	12834	12837
1998-99	4005	12835	4004
1999-2000	8790	7898	7925
2000-01	16464	17792	16463

Accounts for 2001-02 are nearing completion and will be laid in due course.

Year	Number
1997	2,610
1998	2,654
1999	2,677
2000	2,761
2001	2,755