- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 28 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) sports centres, (b) libraries, (c) community centres and (d) playing fields there have been in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area and showing year-on-year percentage changes.
Answer
This is a matter for local authorities. The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many licences to sell alcohol have been withdrawn as a result of a breach of the licence in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area and showing year-on-year percentage changes.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not collect these statistics centrally. The Criminal Justice Statistics Unit within the Scottish Executive does, however, maintain and publish an annual series of Statistical Bulletins on Liquor Licences in Scotland. In 2003, statistics on the total number of licences that were suspended were collected for the first time.
Nineteen licences were suspended. This figure is broken down into local authority areas as follows:
| Local Authority | Number of Licences Suspended |
| Aberdeen City | 2 |
| Aberdeenshire | 2 |
| Angus | 1 |
| Dundee City | 4 |
| East Renfrewshire | 1 |
| City of Edinburgh | 3 |
| North Ayrshire | 2 |
| North Lanarkshire | 2 |
| Scottish Borders | 1 |
| South Lanarkshire | 1 |
| Total | 19 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps were taken to secure for Scotland the headquarters of the recently-established United Kingdom Energy Research Centre.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has had no involvement in deciding the location of the headquarters of the United Kingdom Energy Research Centre. This decision was taken by a consortium of the relevant research institutions.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 31 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any plans to ensure that fishing quotas are only allocated to active fishermen.
Answer
The distribution of fishing quotas is one of a number of issues which will be addressed in a forthcoming review of the UK’s quota management arrangements.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has produced for licensees on the responsible promotion of alcohol.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has not yet produced any guidance for licensees on the responsible promotion of alcohol. The Licensing (Scotland) Bill was introduced to Parliament on 28 February. The bill contains a number of measures that support ministers’ objectives of tackling binge and under-age drinking. Specifically, it outlaws nationally those irresponsible drinks promotions that can lead to binge drinking.
Ministers intend to issue guidance to licensees as part of their implementation of the new regime.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 22 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are grounds for exemption from its policy of inclusion of pupils with special needs in schools.
Answer
Section 15 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc Act 2000 requires that an education authority shall provide education in a school other than a special school unless a mainstream setting would not be suited to the ability or aptitude of the child; or would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for the children with whom the child would be educated; or would result in unreasonable public expenditure being incurred which would not ordinarily be incurred.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 18 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will reverse its decision to allow the Chief Dental Officer (CDO) to undertake his post on a part-time basis at a time of pressures on dental services and what steps have been taken to ensure that the duties previously covered by this full-time post continue to be carried out.
Answer
No, the Executive does not intend to reverse its decision about the working arrangements of the CDO. The CDO will continue to play a lead role within the Executive in reforming NHS dentistry in Scotland. The work which he will undertake one day a week with NHS Education for Scotland is a vital part of securing the additional workforce needed to deliver the improvements to dental services. All of the duties of the CDO post will continue to be covered by the CDO himself, his deputy and the teams within the Executive which work with him.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions there have been for the supply of alcohol to underage customers in each of the last five years, broken down by police board area and showing year-on-year percentage changes.
Answer
The available information is given in the table.
Persons Proceeded Against in Scottish Courts for Sale of Drink to Persons Aged Under 181 by Police Force Area, 1998-02
| Police Force Area | Number | Year-on-Year Percentage Change |
| 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 20022 | 1998-1999 | 1999-2000 | 2000-2001 | 2001-20022 |
| Central | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 5 | -50 | 100 | -50 | 67 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 7 | 3 | - | - | - | -57 | -100 | - | - |
| Fife | 5 | 1 | 8 | 2 | - | -80 | 700 | -75 | -100 |
| Grampian | 12 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 | -42 | 0 | -57 | 67 |
| Lothian and Borders | 19 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 11 | -79 | 75 | 43 | 10 |
| Northern | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | -75 | 300 | -50 | 50 |
| Strathclyde | 60 | 22 | 27 | 25 | 16 | -63 | 23 | -7 | -36 |
| Tayside | 11 | 17 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 55 | -82 | 0 | 33 |
| Scotland | 124 | 58 | 62 | 48 | 44 | -53 | 7 | -23 | -8 |
Notes:
1. Where main offence.
2. Figures may be underestimates due to time taken to record details of some court proceedings.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications for rural home ownership grants have been made in each local authority area in each of the last seven years, showing year-on-year percentage changes.
Answer
I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:
The number of applications for rural home ownership grants (RHOGs) which have been made and progressed in each local authority area in each of the last seven years, showing year-on-year percentage changes is as follows.
Number of RHOG Applications made and Progressed by Unitary Authority (1997-98 to 2003-04) (Number and Percentage change)
| | 1997-98 | 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % | No | % |
| Aberdeen-shire | 0 | - | 1 | 100 | 1 | 0 | 0 | -100 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100 | 1 | 0 |
| Angus | 0 | - | 1 | 100 | 0 | -100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Argyll and Bute | 1 | - | 1 | 0 | 4 | 300 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 100 | 1 | -88 | 10 | 900 |
| Highland | 19 | - | 19 | 0 | 16 | -16 | 22 | 38 | 15 | -32 | 27 | 80 | 36 | 33 |
| Moray | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | 100 | 0 | -100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Orkney Islands | 12 | - | 7 | -42 | 14 | 100 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 47 | 26 | 4 | 28 | 8 |
| Perth and Kinross | 3 | - | 5 | 67 | 1 | -80 | 2 | 100 | 1 | -50 | 3 | 200 | 1 | -67 |
| Shetland Islands | 1 | - | 5 | 400 | 6 | 20 | 2 | -67 | 5 | 150 | 3 | -40 | 1 | -67 |
| Stirling | 1 | - | 0 | -100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scottish Borders | 5 | - | 3 | -40 | 4 | 33 | 2 | -50 | 1 | -50 | 2 | 100 | 3 | 50 |
| Western Isles | 3 | - | 2 | -33 | 3 | 50 | 2 | -33 | 0 | -100 | 1 | 100 | 3 | 200 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 28 January 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of applications per place has been at each dental school in each of the last three years.
Answer
Information on the number of applications is not held by the Scottish Executive. These statistics are a matter for the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
The target intake for undergraduate dentistry in universities in Scotland for 2004-05 is given in the following table, as published by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council at the website address:
http://www.shefc.ac.uk/library/06854fc203db2fbd000000fa803fa922/annex2.html.
Undergraduate dentistry: University 2004-05 intake targets
| University | Home/EU | Overseas | Total |
| Dundee | 64 | 3 | 67 |
| Glasgow | 87 | 3 | 90 |
| Total | 151 | 6 | 157 |
Source: Scottish Higher Education Funding Council - Circular letter HE/03/04.
