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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: S1W-06311

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the test of "substantial loss or disadvantage" in section 19(7) of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill requires clarification and, in particular, whether it should be made clear that the Lands Tribunal for Scotland should not accept that "substantial loss or disadvantage" will occur simply because of the ending of the practice which has developed since the commencement of the Conveyancing and Feudal Reform (Scotland) Act 1970 whereby a grassum is paid to a feudal superior by a vassal in exchange for a minute of waiver so that the vassal need not make an application under the 1970 Act for removal or variation of a burden.

In response to Mr Ewing's amendment on this point at Stage 3 of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill, I explained that the Lands Tribunal does not award compensation for the loss of a right to claim a waiver.

The loss or disadvantage that is envisaged by section 19 is loss to the superior or former superior as owner of the land, and not merely the loss of any personal income that has been derived from the charging for the grant of waivers.

Question reference: S1W-05711

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of any impact which the aggregates tax will have upon employment in Scotland over each of the next three years.

The aggregates tax is unlikely to have any impact over the next two years, as it will not be introduced until April 2002. Thereafter, there may be small reductions in employment in the extraction of primary aggregates, but there could also be increases in employment in the recycling of aggregates. However, the short- term elasticity of demand for these products is low, so it would be surprising if there were major impacts.

In addition, there are likely to be increases in employment stimulated by the sustainability fund, and the reductions in employers' National Insurance contributions.

Question reference: S1W-06317

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 12 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify all representations which it has made to Her Majesty's Government in relation to those parts of Scotland which should be included in the assisted area status map.

Question reference: S1W-06339

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5597 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 12 April 200, how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions there were for the summary offence of unlawful eviction in each of the last ten years.

The numbers of prosecutions and convictions which are identifiable under section 22 of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 are given in the table below. This covers unlawful eviction and harassment of occupiers. From 1989-95 there may have been a small number of additional cases not separately identified in the data held centrally.

	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Persons proceeded against	8	11	5	7	8	3	3	2	2	2
Persons with charge proved	7	9	3	4	4	1	2	1	1	2

Question reference: S1W-06239

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the value of services presently provided by Councils of Voluntary Service throughout Scotland and how much funding it provides to Councils of Voluntary Service.

Question reference: S1W-06309

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has consulted the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in relation to the potential impact upon its workload of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill and what measures it will consider to address any expected increase in the Tribunal's workload.

Question reference: S1W-06310

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under section 19 of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Bill it estimates will be made to the Lands Tribunal for Scotland in each of the five years immediately following commencement of this provision.

Question reference: S1W-05322

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 March 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 9 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the waiting times were for (a) a first appointment and (b) treatment within each specialty at Glasgow and Dundee Dental Hospitals in each of the last three years.

The median waiting time for a new outpatient consultation by specialty in the two dental hospitals is shown in the table below. Information on first appointment waiting times and individual specialty waiting times is not collected separately.

Appointments During Year Ended	Location	Speciality	Median wait (days)
31 December 1997	Dundee Dental Hospital	Oral surgery & oral medicine	41
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	26
		Restorative dentistry	49
	Glasgow Dental Hospital & School	Oral surgery & oral medicine	51
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	63
		Restorative dentistry	127
31 December 1998	Dundee Dental Hospital	Oral surgery & oral medicine	63
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	28
		Restorative dentistry	60
	Glasgow Dental Hospital & School	Oral surgery & oral medicine	52
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	83
		Restorative dentistry	125
31 December 1999	Dundee Dental Hospital	Oral surgery & oral medicine	63
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	25
		Restorative dentistry	70
	Glasgow Dental Hospital & School	Oral surgery & oral medicine	56
		Orthodontics & paediatric dentistry	64
		Restorative dentistry	119

Question reference: S1W-04286

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 9 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of the proposed water industry consultative committees for each of the three water authority areas in each of the next three financial years.

Question reference: S1W-06240

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 April 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jackie Baillie on 8 May 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the report commissioned from Eglinton Management Consultants in relation to its review of Councils of Voluntary Service cost; whether Eglinton Management Consultants sought any information from Councils of Voluntary Service whilst compiling this report and whether the report by Eglinton Management Consultants took into account rurality or sparsity of population in its recommendations as to funding models.

The cost of the report on the review of Councils of Voluntary Service produced by Eglinton Management Consultants is unable to be disclosed for reasons of commercial confidentiality.

Eglinton sought information for its report from a variety of sources. This included consulting 12 Councils of Voluntary Service and a range of other organisations directly connected with the voluntary sector including the Community and Voluntary Organisations Council, Voluntary Action Highlands & Islands, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Volunteer Development Scotland, and CVS Scotland.The report identified three models of funding:

- matching funding, involving equal contributions from the Scottish Executive and local authorities;

- funding entirely by the local authorities; and

- shared funding, aligned around community planning boundaries, that would involve the Scottish Executive, local authorities and other key agencies.As additional work, at no extra cost, Eglinton considered four possible funding models, two of which took into account rurality and sparsity of population.

These options and others are currently being considered by the Scottish Executive and an announcement as to the way forward will be made shortly.