- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angus MacKay on 3 September 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current estimate is of the cost of preparing its departments for the possible introduction of the euro.
Answer
The cost of a changeover would depend on the timing, the overall approach and individual management decisions.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to ensure that National Lottery monies allocated by the Community Fund are targeted at projects based in areas of social exclusion and why this has not happened to date.
Answer
Policy responsibility for the National Lottery is reserved. Responsibility for distributing proceeds from the lottery rests with the Distributing Bodies.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much money it has received from each local authority as a result of housing capital set-aside rules in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not receive any money from local authorities as a result of the housing capital receipts set-aside rules.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have died in each of the last three years in fires known to be caused by cigarettes.
Answer
The information is not available from the statistics prepared by the General Register Office for Scotland. However, the table gives the number of fatalities caused by fires where the source of ignition was known to be smokers' materials, excluding matches and cigarette lighters.
| Year | Number of fatalities in Scotland |
| 1997 | 32 |
| 1998 | 36 |
| 19991 | 33 |
Notes:1. 1999 figure is provisional.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 July 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Susan Deacon on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that there will always be an adequate number of GPs.
Answer
As I announced on 20 June, Professor John Temple is to chair the fundamental review of medical workforce planning which was a commitment in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change. The review will consider the many complex areas surrounding the supply of trained doctors to NHSScotland, including the provision for general practice.The Executive are also currently working with ISD Scotland, the Scottish General Practitioners Committee (SGPC) and the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education (SCPMDE), to develop a statistical model to project the overall supply and demand of the general practitioner (GP) workforce in Scotland. Information obtained from this study will be used to inform decisions on training posts for general practitioners.Earlier this year I also announced new arrangements to give GPs the option of becoming permanent salaried employees of NHSScotland and additional investment to fund up to an extra 50 GP posts in deprived and rural areas.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 27 July 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive why the targets for recycling set out by The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive (94/62/EC) have not yet been met and when implementation of this directive will be achieved through the national waste strategy.
Answer
The relevant data on the recovery and recycling of packaging waste are incomplete as some businesses have yet to submit data or are in the process of reviewing their previous estimates. It is therefore too early to say whether the United Kingdom has achieved its' packaging targets under the EC Packaging Directive. The position should be clearer towards the end of the year when a review of the data which is currently being undertaken is complete.Implementation of the directive is an ongoing process. The National Waste Strategy: Scotland identifies packaging waste as a priority waste stream. The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 transpose the directive into UK law and these are enforced in Scotland by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to increase export activity following the Lloyds TSB Scotland Business Monitor Report of spring 2001, which indicated a 23% decrease in export activity in the first quarter of 2001.
Answer
The Scottish Executive, through Scottish Trade International (STI), is committed to helping Scottish exporters. STI's activities have, over the past five years, been directed by the Export Development Strategy for Scotland.The continuing need to ensure that companies in Scotland are able to realise the full benefits of trading in international markets will be a key theme of the Global Connections Strategy, which we will be publishing shortly. This will provide a focus for future international economic development activity.Official Scottish Manufactured Exports statistics are compiled by the Scottish Executive from data collected by the Office for National Statistics. They measure actual performance, and provide an estimate of the volume and value of export sales. Figures for the first quarter of 2001 showed an increase of 1.9% in real terms, in the level of manufacturing export sales compared with the previous quarter.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 July 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 30 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding convergence of the Scottish economy with the euro-'one area.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has regular contact with HM Treasury on a range of economic issues.UK membership of the single European currency is a reserved issue. Convergence between the UK economy and the economies of the single currency area is one of the five economic tests set out by the Chancellor, which will be assessed as part of any decision to join. Any assessment will be based on the UK economy as a whole.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 28 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16621 by Jackie Baillie on 31 July 2001, how much will be invested in the central heating programme from each source in each year of the programme.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is investing £26 million in 2001-02, £30 million in 2002-03 and £40 million in 2003-04. Allocations for the years beyond 2003-04 will be announced at the appropriate time. The Executive's investment will be supplemented by private sector resources invested as part of the stock transfer process, but it is not possible to quantify the extent of this investment at this time. The investment by the energy companies under their Energy Efficiency Commitment will follow from regulations to be made under the Utilities Act.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 02 August 2001
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jackie Baillie on 28 August 2001
To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the #5 million announced on 30 July 2001 for the installation of central heating in council homes in local authority areas where housing stock transfer is being considered each of the relevant authorities will receive and over what timescale this money will be invested.
Answer
Glasgow Council and Shetland Islands Council have been offered £4.795 million and £205,000 respectively this year.
