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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: S2W-02077

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be made on the budget available to mountain rescue teams for (a) 2003-04, (b) 2004-05, and (c) 2005-06; whether funding for mountain rescue teams will be ring-fenced, and whether it will increase funding for police authorities for the purpose of enhancing existing mountain rescue team revenue.

Question reference: S2W-02515

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost is to the NHS of administration of payments to GPs.

The annual cost to the NHS of the central administration of the current General Medical Services contract by theCommon Services Agency is £5.1 million. It is not possible to separate out the costof the payment element for the other central functions which include patient registrationand payment verification.

There will also be costs incurredat both health board level and GP practice level, but this information is not heldcentrally.

Question reference: S2W-02516

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated annual cost is of administering (a) the new contracts provided for by the Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill and (b) any new quality targets for GP practices arising from the bill and how many additional staff will be employed to carry this out.

The new UK General Medical Services contract was accepted in a ballot of allUK GPs, the results of which were announcedon 20 June 2003.

The new contract will take effectfrom 1 April 2004 subject, of course, to the Scottish Parliament approving the requiredchanges to primary legislation. Such changes are contained within the Primary MedicalServices (Scotland) Bill which was introduced on 23 June. In the meantime,work is currently under way on implementing the new contract and a national referencegroup and eight working groups have been set up to look at the key issues such asfinance and the quality and outcomes framework. Until this work has been completedit is too early to say what the annual administration costs will be. However, thenew contract does simplify some of the funding streams. The single Global Sum paymentreplaces 25 different fees and allowances, thereby greatly reducing the bureaucracyassociated with the administration of the system.

Question reference: S2W-02506

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 24 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-2056 by Ross Finnie on 9 September 2003, whether the minutes of all meetings of the Scottish Aquaculture Research Forum will be made available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and whether it will publish a list of the research requests submitted to the forum which were (a) accepted and (b) rejected.

Question reference: S2W-02127

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government regarding more tax powers being devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S2W-02379

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 04 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made, or is making, any representations to Her Majesty's Government regarding the impact of the aggregates tax in Scotland, on whether Scotland and Northern Ireland are treated in the same way in respect of the tax and exemptions to it, and in support of a level playing field between Scotland and Northern Ireland on this matter.

Question reference: S2O-00409

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether expenditure by non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) is properly controlled and achieves value for money.

Question reference: S2W-02340

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 September 2003
Current Status: Answered by Frank McAveety on 16 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide assistance to Highland Council and other funding partners to ensure the renewal of the service provided by the Family Association for Children with Special Needs at the Bada-guish Centre at Glenmore and what steps it will take to ensure that children with special needs will have the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities, such as canoeing, mountain biking, climbing and organised games, within the Badenoch and Strathspey area.

Question reference: S2W-02074

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated underspend is for the current financial year; when it first estimates any underspend during the financial year, and whether it will publish any future estimates of any underspend.

Question reference: S2W-02095

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 August 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 September 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive why there was a #500 million underspend in its expenditure for 2002-03; what the breakdown of this underspend was by each of its departments; which items of expenditure were not met that contributed to this underspend; what aggregate funding was carried forward to the current financial year, broken down by department, and what happened to any of this underspend that was not carried forward to the current financial year.