- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 December 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many houses each local authority has purchased privately, and at what cost, in order to meet obligations under homelessness legislation.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
We do collect information on the number of dwellings purchased by each local authority from the private sector, and this is shown in the table below for 2003 and for the first half of 2004.
| | 2003 | 2004 (Q1 and Q2) |
| Purchased for Demolition | Purchased for Other Purpose | Total Acquired | Purchased for Demolition | Purchased for other Purpose | Total Acquired |
| Scotland | 49 | 3 | 52 | 16 | 18 | 34 |
| Aberdeen City | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Aberdeenshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Angus | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Argyll and Bute | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clackmannanshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data | No data |
| Dundee City | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 (Q1 only) | 0 (Q1 only) | 0 (Q1 only) |
| East Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| East Dunbartonshire | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| East Lothian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| East Renfrewshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Edinburgh, City of | 0 | 0 | 0 | No data | No data | No data |
| Eilean Siar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (Q1 only) | 2 (Q1only) | 2 (Q1 only) |
| Falkirk | Not known | Not known | Not known | Not known | Not known | Not known |
| Fife | 10 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Glasgow City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Highland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Inverclyde | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midlothian | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 (Q1 only) | 0 (Q1only) | 0 (Q1 only) |
| Moray | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| North Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North Lanarkshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Orkney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Perth and Kinross | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Renfrewshire | 28 | 0 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Scottish Borders, The | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shetland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Ayrshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Lanarkshire | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Stirling | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| West Lothian | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, medical graduates left Scotland for their first post in each of the last three years, broken down by medical school and category of graduate.
Answer
The following table shows the destination of graduates from Scottish Medical Schools taking up their first NHS appointments as Pre-Registration House Officers (PRHOs) in each of the last three years. It is not possible from this data to differentiate between type or category of medical graduate.
The number of students who graduate in any given year will fluctuate due to factors such as variables within university selection procedures, drop-out rates and the proportion of graduating students who have taken an intercalated degree mid-way through their undergraduate medical education. There are currently 876 students in their final clinical year in Scottish medical schools.
| Taking up PRHO Posts in: | Graduates of Scottish Medical Schools Taking up PRHO Posts as at 30 September |
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 |
| No | % | No | % | No | % |
| Scotland | 748 | 93.5 | 721 | 91.5 | 644 | 88.5 |
| England and Wales | 32 | 4 | 48 | 6 | 57 | 8 |
| Northern Ireland | 4 | 0.5 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 1 |
| In HM Forces | 0 | - | 1 | - | 1 | - |
| Overseas | 5 | 0.5 | 3 | 0.5 | 9 | 1 |
| Not Known | 12 | 1.5 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0.5 |
| Post not taken up | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.5 | 3 | 0.5 |
| Total | 801 | | 788 | | 727 | |
Source: NHS Education for Scotland.
Notes: 1. Percentage totals have been rounded to nearest 0.5% and may therefore not add up to 100.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of European funding has been secured for renewable energy projects in (a) each of the last three years and (b) this year.
Answer
European Structural Funds awards with a total value of £1,406,358 have been made to renewable energy projects within the current programming period (2000–06).
Awards for each of the years are:
| 2000 | £259,920 |
| 2001 | £327,000 |
| 2002 | £0 |
| 2003 | £411,013 |
| 2004 | £408,425 |
In addition, European Funding of €6 million (approximately £4.2 million) was secured from the European Commission for the Talisman “Downvind” (Distant Offshore Windfarms with No Visual Impact in Deepwater) project under the Sixth Framework Research and Technology Development Programme in May 2004.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that all the conditions that will allow the reopening of export markets for the beef industry are met should the closure of the Over Thirty Month Scheme be announced, with particular reference to each of any relevant shortcomings highlighted in the European Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office’s executive summary of Final Report of a Mission Carried Out in the United Kingdom (Great Britain & Northern Ireland) from 26 April to 7 May 2004 concerning a General Review as regards Protective Measures Against Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy.
Answer
The Scottish Executive accept the report of the EU Food and Veterinary Office Mission on BSE controls, which visited Scotland in May this year. The Executive is, in conjunction with other UK Departments, making good progress towards addressing the findings of the mission’s report. The report also acknowledged that progress had been made since previous missions had reported and that a number of further improvements were already in hand.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to help small businesses to (a) access recycling facilities and (b) reduce waste and how it will ensure that sufficient processing capacity is available for the recycling of small businesses’ waste.
Answer
Under Section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, local authorities are under a duty to collect commercial waste, when requested to do so. We would encourage local authorities to consider recycling options for this waste. Small businesses can also arrange for their waste to be collected by private or voluntary sector bodies. Recycling is likely to become more attractive as an option, as costs of landfill rise and markets develop for recyclable materials.
The Scottish Executive has allocated £2 million over two years to a Capital Grants Programme. This programme, which is operated by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on our behalf, and has just been launched, will provide small grants to businesses to help provide recycling infrastructure. WRAP have also operated capital grants schemes for recycling infrastructure in the organics and aggregates sectors.
The Executive supports Envirowise and the Business Environment Partnership, including Business Environment Partnership North East, which provide advice to business on resource efficiency and waste minimisation. Advice is also available from private sector companies. The Executive have allocated £11.4 million over the next three years to enhance business resource efficiency services in Scotland and are seeking views from business representatives on how these resources can best be used.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 13 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will remove Crown immunity from planning controls and, if so, what steps it will take to achieve this and what the relevant timescales are.
Answer
The process of removing Crown immunity from planning control is under way. Primary legislation is included in the
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. Work is continuing on secondary legislation necessary to deal with the application of planning requirements to the Crown. Crown immunity will not be removed until all the necessary legislation is in place, which is likely to be the end of 2005.
The inclusion of provisions in the above mentioned act for the removal of Crown immunity from planning legislation in Scotland was the subject of a Sewel motion in the Scottish Parliament on 20 November 2003. The issue was also considered by the Communities Committee of the Scottish Parliament on 12 November 2003. A copy of the related Sewel memorandum is held in the Parliaments’ Reference Centre (Bib. number 29666).
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many children under (a) 5, (b) 12 and (c) 16 have been prescribed an antidepressant in each NHS board area in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the total population within each age group and showing the year-on-year percentage change.
Answer
Prescription data collected centrally do not relate to the number of patients receiving treatment but to the numbers and cost of prescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors.
These data cannot be used as a proxy for the number of patients receiving treatment with any particular drug.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 8 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive in which areas the Crown has immunity under Scots law.
Answer
In Scots law a statute does not bind the Crown unless it does so either expressly or by necessary implication.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 23 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 8 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in each NHS board area have been prescribed Prozac in each of the last five years, expressed also as a percentage of the population in each area and showing the year-on-year percentage change.
Answer
Prescription data collected centrally do not relate to the number of patients receiving treatment but to the numbers and cost of prescribed items dispensed in the community by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors.
These data cannot be used as a proxy for the number of patients receiving treatment with any particular drug.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 22 November 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 December 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what obligations there are on public libraries to ensure that they stock materials that are accessible to blind and partially-sighted users.
Answer
The provision of library services is a matter for local authorities. However, the Scottish Executive encourages local authorities to make appropriate arrangements under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Local Government Act 2003. In addition, the COSLA Public Library Standards, which have been in place since 1995, include recommendations on provision for the needs of disabled users.
