Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-11135

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) capital and (b) running costs were of mobile phones in each of its departments in each year since 1999.

	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05 (to end Sept.)
(£000)
SERAD	30	23	12
SE Admin	74	75	43
SEDD	13	12	11
SEED	14	11	10
SEELLD	12	11	8
SEFCSD	43	40	14
SEHD	26	31	14
SEJD	14	14	7
Total	226	217	119

There are no capital costs for mobile phones.

Figures shown here are for costs for 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 up to end September. The costs include rental charges, call charges, equipment charges - such as batteries, chargers, hands-free car kits and handsets where appropriate.

Information for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 is not available as the archived information does not differentiate between mobile phone costs and other telephony costs.

Question reference: S2W-11139

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many properties are rented by each of its departments and what the annual costs were of each property in each year since 1999.

At present there are 13 properties rented by core executive departments. Both the number and level of rental costs of these properties varies from year-to-year. The following table is a summary of the historical position from 1999 as requested.

Rented Properties of the Core Executive Departments

		Rental Cost per annum
Department	Rented Property Identification	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04
OPS:CCS:FES	Northern College of Education, Dundee	£32,000	£32,000	-	-	-
	Scottish Entp Tech Park, East Kilbride	£12,601	£12,601	-	-	-
	Pentland House	£1,163,250	£1,163,250	£1,314,573	£1,177,005	£1,351,250
	Unit 4A, Bonnington Ind Est, Edinburgh	£37,130	£38,451	£40,431	£38,187	£38,187
	Unit 4B, Bonnington Ind Est, Edinburgh	£19,270	£20,063	£18,621	£20,856	£20,856
	Unit 6B, Tower St., Edinburgh	£15,750	£15,750	£18,687	£18,700	£18,700
	139 Leith Walk, Edinburgh	£90,843	£85,250	£76,116	£87,279	£115,000
	17 Waterloo Pl., Edinburgh	£82,949	£82,949	£84,798	£9,379	-
	Old Fruit Market, Blochairn Rd., Glasgow	£8,500	£8,500	£7,583	£10,616	£9,100
	Meridian Court, Glasgow	£1,149,150	£985,706	£1,182,252	£1,056,220	£1,398,250
	Europa Building, Glasgow	-	-	£583,545	£575,052	£746,000
	Broxden, Perth	-	-	£139,869	£446,198	£446,000
	Mill St., Perth	-	-	£41,992	£17,353	-
	Ord Croft, Lairg	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000	£3,000
	20 Shore St., MacDuff	£1,950	£3,720	-	-	-
	Ferry Terminal Office, Cairnryan	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000	£1,000
	Greenside Lane, Edinburgh	£170,497	£200,334	£95,156	£308,437	-
	Southlands, 32 Reidhaven St., Elgin	£20,211	£14,467	£20,211	£16,169	£26,500
Justice Department	Northern College of Education, Dundee	-	-	£32,000	-	-
Justice Department	Scottish Entp Tech Park, East Kilbride	-	-	£12,601	-	-
ETLLD:Transport Group	Bandeath	£26,000	£26,000	£29,000	£29,000	£29,000

Question reference: S2W-11136

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 1 November 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what the salary costs to it were in each department of employees working in public relations and publicity in each year since 1999.

The specialist Executive staff working on public relations and publicity activities within the core departments of the Scottish Executive are based in the Finance and Central Services Department. The activities covered are advertising, marketing and PR, publications, and the corporate website. Salary costs, (which include employers’ costs), since 1 April 2002 are set out in the table. It would only be possible to provide information prior to 2002 at disproportionate cost.

Financial Year	Salary Costs
2002–03	£425,095
2003–04	£553,183
2004– Sept 2004	£287,676

In 2003 the news website team assumed responsibility for development and running of the corporate website www.scotland.gov.uk and also the international promotion of Scotland website www.scotlandistheplace.com.An additional member of staff was also transferred from the Communications and Information Services Division to the web team, responsible for web compliance and corporate training.

Following a review of publications commissioning in 2002-03, a team of two was set up to deliver cost saving through improved commissioning efficiencies. In 2002-03 and 2003-04 the number of publications remained at approximately the same level while production costs were reduced by £100,000 over the two year period. The same team was instrumental in preparing the new Design, Print, Publishing and Associated Services contract which has been negotiated to deliver additional cost savings and improved efficiency estimated in excess of £100,000 p.a. over the next three years.

Question reference: S2W-11341

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 07 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7277 by Peter Peacock on 5 May 2004, when the new guidance regarding school closures will be published.

Question reference: S2W-11134

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive how many antisocial behaviour orders (ABSOs) have been served in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Information on numbers of ASBOs granted in each local authority area in the period 1 December 1999 to 31 March 2004 is provided in the following table:

Local Authority	01-12-99 to 30-11-2000	01-12-2000 to 30-11-01	01-12-01 to 30-11-02	01-12-02 to 31-03-03¹	01-04-03 to 31-03-04²
Aberdeen City	9	9	6	3	12
Aberdeenshire	0	1	1	0	0
Angus	0	0	0	0	1
Argyll and Bute	0	0	0	0	0
City of Edinburgh	11	9	1	0	7
Clackmannanshire	0	0	0	0	0
Eilean Siar	0	0	0	0	0
Dumfries and Galloway	0	0	1	0	14
Dundee City	7	8	3	3	20
East Ayrshire	0	0	0	2	4
East Dunbartonshire	0	0	0	0	0
East Lothian	0	0	0	0	2
East Renfrewshire	0	0	0	0	1
Falkirk	0	0	0	0	2
Fife	7	14	20	2	14
Glasgow	3	5	3	0	2
Highland	1	0	4	0	3
Inverclyde	0	0	0	0	0
Midlothian	0	0	1	0	3
Moray	1	2	2	1	3
North Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	1
North Lanarkshire	1	5	15	12	31
Orkney Islands	0	0	1	0	1
Perth and Kinross	3	1	0	0	0
Renfrewshire	0	2	2	0	4
Scottish Borders	2	3	4	1	9
Shetland Islands	0	0	0	0	1
South Ayrshire	0	0	0	0	0
South Lanarkshire	3	2	5	0	7
Stirling	0	0	1	1	6
West Dunbartonshire	4	5	2	2	3
West Lothian	1	0	0	0	0
Total	53	66	72	27	151

Source: Data up to March 2003: Chartered Institute of Housing Survey

Data from April 2004: DTZ Pieda Survey.

Notes:

1. Note this is not a full year. The reporting period has been changed to 1 April to 31 March. The figures in this column cover the transitional period while this change was being made.

2. This is the number of full ASBOs in each local authority area, including applications by registered social landlords (RSL). Interim ASBOs and the power for RSLs to apply for orders came into effect on 27 June 2003.

Question reference: S2O-03680

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what rural development policies it has implemented in the last year to encourage young people and families to live in the Scottish Borders.

We are committed to maintaining strong, prosperous and growing communities in the Scottish Borders. We have implemented a wide range of policies over the past year to support rural economic development, improve access to services and work to ensure that the same opportunities are available to all.

Some examples of what we have been doing in the Borders include:

A £50 million Public Private Partnership project to build three new secondary schools. £262,000 (in 2004-05) from the Rural Transport Fund to tackle transport problems. Support for the Waverley Railway Partnership’s plans for re-opening the Borders Rail link. And broadband to households and businesses through the Scottish Borders Rural Broadband service.

Question reference: S2O-03682

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 October 2004
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 28 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive what policy measures it has implemented to prevent young people and families from migrating from Scotland.

Through the Partnership Agreement the Scottish Executive is delivering a Scotland where people and families will want to stay – an open, welcoming and inclusive Scotland where opportunity exists for all; a Scotland where last month’s spending review provided record investment in health, education and child care, and a Scotland with a strong economy supporting businesses, jobs and our public services.

Question reference: S2W-10989

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been notified of any funding surpluses in the operation of the concessionary fares scheme and, if so, what such surpluses are, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

	GAE Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Provisional Outturn 2003-04 (£000)	Difference 2003-04 (£000)
Aberdeenshire	3,916	2,394	-1,522
Angus	2,259	1,190	-1,069
Argyll and Bute	2,025	2,012	-13
Clackmannanshire	893	587	-306
Dumfries and Galloway	3,406	1,198	-2,208
East Lothian	1,821	1,248	-573
Eilean Siar	625	438	-187
Fife	6,789	6,461	-328
Highland	4,202	1,905	-2,297
Midlothian	1,453	1,359	-94
Moray	1,689	933	-756
Orkney	406	125	-281
Perth and Kinross	2,970	1,997	-973
Scottish Borders	2,439	1,115	-1,324
Shetland	370	-89	-459
Stirling	1,611	1,091	-520
Scotland	36,874	23,964	-12,910

Question reference: S2W-10988

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been notified of any funding deficits in the operation of the concessionary fares scheme and, if so, what such deficits are, broken down by local authority area.

The information requested is set out in the following table.

	GAE Allocation 2003-04 (£000)	Provisional Outturn 2003-04 (£000)	Difference 2003-04 (£000)
Aberdeen, City	3,830	4,160	330
Dundee	3,045	3,153	108
East Ayrshire	2,385	2,651	266
East Dunbartonshire	2,125	2,338	213
East Renfrewshire	1,675	1,870	195
Edinburgh, City	8,076	8,794	718
Falkirk	2,720	2,963	243
Glasgow	10,557	12,838	2,281
Inverclyde	1,637	1,905	268
North Ayrshire	2,700	3,122	422
North Lanarkshire	5,708	6,333	625
Renfrewshire	3,265	3,625	360
South Ayrshire	2,530	2,804	274
South Lanarkshire	5,496	6,070	574
West Dunbartonshire	1,713	1,910	197
West Lothian	2,293	2,331	38
Scotland	59,755	66,867	7,112

Question reference: S2W-10990

Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 26 October 2004

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4853 by Nicol Stephen on 19 February 2004, whether funds allocated under the concessionary fare scheme are ring-fenced.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean