- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses there are in Scotland and what percentage employ 10 people or less.
Answer
The Scottish Executive's Scottish corporate sector figures are produced by the Government Statistical Service using data from the Office for National Statistics' Inter Departmental Business Register, the Labour Force Survey and the Inland Revenue's Survey for Personal Income.
Scottish Executive estimates of size of businesses in 1997 and 1998 were published in Scottish Economic Statistics (table 2.1) in January 2000. This publication is available from the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), or from the Scottish Executive website (www.scotland.gov.uk).
For very small companies, the sizebands are given for 0, 1-4 and 5-9 employees. It should be noted that the zero sizeband figures include estimates from the Labour Force Survey and the Inland Revenue's Survey for Personal Income.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider revising flood defence legislation to take account of river catchment areas rather than local authority boundaries.
Answer
The Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961 provides for local authorities to take measures for the prevention or mitigation of flooding of non-agricultural land in their area. The Act already allows for the exercise of these powers by a local authority to take place on land outwith their area. There are therefore no restrictions now to prevent local authorities working together on a catchment basis.
In addition, guidance contained within National Planning Policy Guideline 7 advocates wide consultation and encourages the creation of Flood Appraisal Groups. A number of such groups have been formed, some based on catchment considerations rather than local authority boundaries.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether whole life asset management rather than just road maintenance is required to link communities effectively and promote social and economic development.
Answer
Road maintenance on the trunk road network, which is the responsibility of Scottish Ministers, is considered in the context of whole life asset management to ensure the integrity of the network in meeting the requirements of local and national planning.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 April 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 22 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive why it will not introduce water and sewerage rebates for people on low incomes.
Answer
The current arrangements linking water and sewerage charges to council tax bands already provide substantial assistance to many low income households.
Water and sewerage charges are part of normal household costs, the Executive however is looking at ways of improving on the protection provided by the current charging arrangements.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 21 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase support to community pharmacists providing services to drug misusers, including security measures such as installation of panic buttons, CCTV and prominent alarm boxes.
Answer
NHS community pharmacy services to drug misusers - the dispensing of methadone and needle exchange - are subject to local contracting between community pharmacy contractors and their Primary Care Trust/Island Health Board. Issues of safety and security are primarily matters for the contractors concerned.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 May 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 21 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3566 by Susan Deacon on 17 February 2000, whether its plans to examine measures for better enforcement of the law to tackle those who make illegal sales to young people include liaison with the Ministerial Group set up within the Department of Trade and Industry to examine issues including how to make enforcement of consumer protection more effective, especially in relation to the group's work on simplifying legislation on age limits.
Answer
My participation in the Ministerial Group on Consumer Affairs will ensure that the Executive's views on a number of consumer matters, including the issue of age-related sales, will be clear to the Department of Trade and Industry and other government departments.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Henry McLeish on 20 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce coterminous boundaries for local enterprise companies, tourist boards and local authorities.
Answer
Many areas in Scotland have co-terminous boundaries already. The Scottish Executive has no plans at the present time to change the boundaries of local enterprise companies, tourist boards or local authorities. The current Review of the Enterprise Networks is considering how the roles and responsibilities of the various organisations involved in support for tourism can best implement "A New Strategy for Scottish Tourism".
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 20 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the trunk road network requires to be repaired during this financial year.
Answer
The percentage of the trunk road network requiring to be repaired during this financial year, based on treatment type, is as follows:
1. Reconstruction 1.12%
2. Strengthening (overlay and inlay) 5.17%
3. Surface Dressing 14.02%
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 20 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the road network showed improvement or deterioration in terms of maintenance need for the last year for which figures are available.
Answer
The last year where information is available is 1998-99 and the trend data over a fixed sample of trunk roads, which are surveyed every four years, showed a slight improvement from the previous year.
Condition trend data for the trunk road network is shown in table 5.5 of Scottish Transport Statistics No.18 1999 Edition. A copy of this document is held in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Similar data for the non-trunk road network is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 06 June 2000
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Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 20 June 2000
To ask the Scottish Executive how many kilometres of non-trunk road network there are and what percentage requires to be repaired during this financial year.
Answer
Table 5.2 in the 1999 edition of Scottish Transport Statistics indicates that as at 1 April 1998 there were 49,857 kilometres of non-trunk road network. The Scottish Executive has no information on the percentage to be repaired by local authorities during this financial year.
