- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it anticipates any delay in proceeding with new school buildings to be financed under PPP schemes.
Answer
The Government hasquickly confirmed that we will honour existing offers of financial support for schoolPPP projects. As a result, we do not anticipate any delays.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to proceed with previously agreed PPP schemes for new schools in West Dunbartonshire referred to in the 2007-08 spending proposals of the previous administration and, if not, how it will provide the new school facilities promised to the people of West Dunbartonshire and other local authorities with similar proposals already in place.
Answer
We said before theelections that PPP could continue as one of several delivery options open to publicsector bodies. These are complex procurements involving high procurement costs forboth public and private sector participants. Some procurements have been in processfor many months, and we do not wish to incur even higher costs and possibly delaykey investments in infrastructure. West Dunbartonshire Council’s schools projectis making good progress and we will continue to discuss progress on the projectwith West Dunbartonshire Council.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 14 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether replacing council tax with a local income tax will provide flexibility to local authorities in exercising their responsibities.
Answer
In exercising theirresponsibilities, local authorities allocate their resources on the basis of localneeds and local and national priorities. Replacing council tax with a local incometax will not change this.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 13 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it intends to take to reduce smoking-attributable mortality in all ages and genders in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, in light of it having the highest such mortality rate of any NHS board area.
Answer
The Scottish Government is makingsubstantial levels of specific funding available to Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHSBoard for the provision of smoking cessation services and related tobacco controlactivity to reduce the incidence of smoking related morbidity and mortality in thearea. In 2007-08, the Board’s allocation is £2,569,000 including £800,000 for thetobacco control element of the Keep Well initiatives in East and North Glasgow.
Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHSBoard is strongly committed to reducing smoking prevalence within the area and havehad a comprehensive tobacco control strategy in place for a number of years. Thesubstantial increases in the funding made available by the Scottish government overthe last three years, has enabled the board to considerably expand these tobaccocontrol activities. As a result, a comprehensive, integrated, smoking cessationservice has been established across the board area and a range of other tobaccocontrol measures, such as prevention and education, are being pursued. Theboard is also currently reviewing the overarching tobacco control strategy in lightof recent developments, including structural changes, to ensure that the contributionof all relevant health improvement partners within local Community Health Partnershipsis harnessed effectively to reduce smoking-related harm within the area.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will protect the right-to-buy for tenants who already have this right.
Answer
We recognise theimportance of protecting the existing rights of tenants to buy their homes butalso wish to ensure that the Right to Buy is responsive to local needs. Weintend to examine how to achieve a comfortable balance between theopportunities for homeownership and the pressure that exists in some localitieson affordable housing.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to withdraw the graduate endowment paid by students from Northern Ireland studying at Scottish universities.
Answer
Only Scottishdomiciled and non-UK EU students studying in Scotland are liable for the graduate endowment fee. It has never applied tostudents from England, Wales or Northern Ireland studying in Scotland.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 9 August 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how it will improve the profile of spending on social housing.
Answer
The Scottish Government'sspending plans for the period 2008-11, which will enable us to fulfil ourpurpose and achieve our strategic objectives, will be announced in late autumn,when the strategic spending review is concluded.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 July 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 31 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Government will consider introducing a legal limit on caffeine in alcohol products.
Answer
I discussed responsibilityand cost sharing with the former Secretary of State for Environment and RuralAffairs, David Miliband, when we met on 18 June 2007.I also wrote to the new Secretary of State, Hilary Benn on this issue on 4 July 2007. In allthe discussions with Defra on this issue the Scottish Government have stressedthe importance of affordability and supporting a sustainable livestockindustry.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 20 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Ofgem to go further than the forthcoming licence condition on backcharging token prepayment meter customers and require all suppliers who adopt the policy to end it immediately.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to questionS3W-1618 on 20 July 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 June 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 20 July 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Iberdrola to end the policy of backcharging token prepayment meter customers.
Answer
Regulation of energy supply companiesis a matter for Ofgem. The new supply licence conditions will oblige suppliers totake all reasonable steps to ensure meters are recalibrated in a timely manner afterany price change and Ofgem will be monitoring closely compliance with this condition.I intend to keep this matter under review and I will make appropriate representations to Ofgem if this becomes necessary.
