- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 28 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many individuals are eligible for the national concessionary travel scheme, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
The information requested isprovided in the following table.
The estimate of the number ofpeople eligible for the Scotland–wide Free Bus Scheme has been calculated by usingthe numbers of older people for each local authority obtained from the 2001 censusand increasing the total by 10% as an estimate of the number of eligible disabledpeople.
Estimated Number ofPeople Eligible for the Scotland-Wide Free Bus Scheme for Older and Disabled Peoplefor Each Local Authority
| Local Authority | Number Eligible |
| Aberdeen City | 46,327 |
| Aberdeenshire | 48,064 |
| Angus | 28,231 |
| Argyll and Bute | 24,808 |
| City of Edinburgh | 97,859 |
| Clackmannanshire | 10,357 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | 7,594 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 41,350 |
| Dundee City | 36,795 |
| East Ayrshire | 28,490 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 25,180 |
| East Lothian | 22,401 |
| East Renfrewshire | 20,513 |
| Falkirk | 33,292 |
| Fife | 82,405 |
| Glasgow | 129,563 |
| Highland | 51,275 |
| Inverclyde | 20,373 |
| Midlothian | 17,982 |
| Moray | 20,621 |
| North Ayrshire | 32,520 |
| North Lanarkshire | 67,131 |
| Orkney Islands | 4,825 |
| Perth and Kinross | 35,900 |
| Renfrewshire | 39,392 |
| Scottish Borders | 29,059 |
| Shetland Islands | 4,559 |
| South Ayrshire | 30,820 |
| South Lanarkshire | 68,274 |
| Stirling | 19,863 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 21,288 |
| West Lothian | 28,479 |
| Grand Total: | 1,175,590 |
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to undertake a detailed independent study to determine the underlying factors which result in child poverty and what additional measures will be required to ensure that existing targets to eradicate child poverty are met.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has noplans to commission an independent study into the determinants of child poverty.Extensive independent research already exists, such as the annual Joseph RowntreeFoundation/New Policy Institute report on
Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusionin Scotland.
Poverty is a complex social issuethat has no simple remedy and the Executive considers research from many differentsources in determining how its policies can best tackle poverty in Scottish society.Our Closing the Opportunity Gap (CtOG) approach focuses the efforts of all Departmentson tackling poverty and is consistent with, and complementary to, the UK Government’starget for eradicating child poverty within a generation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether livestock grazing takes place on farms affected by emergency prohibition orders related to the Chernobyl incident under and, if so, why that livestock is considered safe for human consumption.
Answer
I am advisedby the Food Standards Agency that restrictions resulting from the Chernobyl incidentstill apply to sheep on a small number of restricted farms.
These farms are subject to statutorycontrols under the terms of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985. In orderto ensure food safety, all sheep leaving restricted farms are live-monitored usingportable radiation monitors and any sheep exceeding the 1,000 Becquerel per kilogram(Bq/kg) control level is prohibited from entering the food chain.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what restrictions emergency prohibition orders related to the Chernobyl incident place on the affected farms.
Answer
I am advised by the Food StandardsAgency that affected farms are subject to statutory controls under the terms of the Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 and the current restrictions are specifiedin the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions) (Radioactivity in Sheep) Order 1991(SI 1991/20), as amended.
In order to ensure food safety,a monitoring system known as “Mark and Release” is operated to ensure that sheepexceeding the 1,000 Becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg) control level do not enter thefood chain. Sheep from restricted areas are live-monitored for radioactivity usingportable radiation monitors prior to being moved. Sheep exceeding the control levelmay either be kept on-farm and subsequently re-monitored; or marked with an indeliblepaint and moved under licence. Marked sheep are prohibited from slaughter forthree months and a set rotation of colours under “Mark and Release” allows sheepto be automatically released from slaughter controls three months after the useof a particular colour ceases.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how households should treat housing costs when calculating their household budgets, given the approach adopted by Scottish ministers to determine poverty levels.
Answer
Households should treat housing costs as they would any other relatively, fixed item of expenditure for budgeting purposes. The Scottish Executive publishes low income thresholds on both a “before housing costs” basis and an “after housing costs” basis. This is because some people choose to spend more of their income on housing costs. An after housing costs measure therefore, would understate the relative standard of living of those individuals who were actually benefiting from a better quality of life by paying more for better accommodation. Conversely, any income measure which does not deduct housing costs will overstate the living standards of individuals whose housing costs are high relative to the quality of their accommodation.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the UK Government about the impact on targets for eradicating child poverty of amending the Scotland Act 1998, particularly in respect of Scottish Ministers having direct powers over the tax and benefits system and the setting of a national minimum wage in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish Executive remainsin regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including theeradication of child poverty. As and when contact on any issue results in agreedproposals for amending the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament orthe executive competence of the Scottish ministers, these are put to the Scottishand UK Parliaments in the normal way (i.e. either through Orders in Council underthe Scotland Act 1998, or through Legislative Consent Motions in the Scottish Parliament associated with bills before the UK Parliament).
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which farms are affected by emergency prohibition orders related to the Chernobyl incident.
Answer
I am advised by the Food StandardsAgency that 10 farms in Scotland, comprising nine in East Ayrshire Council Area and onein Stirling Council Area, are still subject to restrictions as a result of the Chernobyl incident.The restricted areas are defined in the Food Protection (Emergency Prohibitions)(Radioactivity in Sheep) Order 1991 No. 20 (as amended) and sheep from these farmsare required to be monitored for radioactivity prior to being moved off farm.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of People and Place: Regeneration Policy Statement remain uncollected.
Answer
No copies of the RegenerationPolicy Statement: People and Place and the Summary document are uncollected.Copies not posted out are being used by the Scottish Executive as part of itsprogramme of communication and discussion on regeneration in Scotland, asforeshadowed in the Statement itself.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many copies of People and Place: Regeneration Policy Statement were produced.
Answer
Three thousand, five hundredand five copies of the Regeneration Policy Statement: People and Placewere produced. Six thousand, one hundred and two copies of the Summary documentwere produced.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 27 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive who received posted copies of People and Place: Regeneration Policy Statement.
Answer
Two thousand, one hundredand fifty-five copies of the Regeneration Policy Statement: People and Placeand the Summary document were posted to a wide range of organisations inthe public, private and voluntary sectors involved in regeneration in additionto distribution by hand to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre on theday of publication. These include local authorities, the enterprise networks,academics and researchers, financial institutions, construction and other tradeorganisations, professional bodies and housing associations.
