Parliamentary questions
Linda Fabiani
2,507 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to answer to question S2W-21023 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 December 2005, how it ensures that this guidance is complied with by police forces.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29353 on 8 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21023 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 December 2005, whether the failure of a chief constable to follow this guidance would be a breach of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: It is the responsibilityof a Tribunal to determine whether the Disability Discrimination Act has been breachedand not for Scottish ministers.</p>
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21022 by Cathy Jamieson on 5 December 2005, what degree of discretion chief constables have in determining what parts of the guidance issued by ministers should be followed.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: As was made clear in myprevious answer, issues relating to recruitment to the police service is amatter for individual chief constables. The guidance contained in policecirculars is provided to chief constables to assist in their operationaldecision-making. I…
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal force the police recruitment mandatory eyesight standards requirements, contained in an attachment to police circular 8/2003, have.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Regulations andDeterminations set out in police circular 8-2003 are made by Scottish Ministersunder powers granted in the Police (Scotland) Act 1967.</p>
27 Oct 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what redress is available to people who are wrongfully refused entry to the police force on medical grounds.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: If an applicant believes theywere wrongfully refused entry to the police service on medical grounds then theycan write to the Force Medical Advisor seeking a review.</p>
29 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the sections of each Act of the Scottish Parliament which await commencement orders.
Answer · Margaret Curran: Often acts will require to becommenced in stages (for particular provisions or particular purposes) for policyor practical reasons. Decisions about such matters are the responsibility of theminister in charge of the act and so the information requested is not…
26 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28405 by Mr Tom McCabe on 26 September 2006, how much has been received to balance any change in the cost of council tax benefit subsidy in each year since 1999.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive received£35 million in respect of 2002-03 and £57 million in respect of 2003-04 to balanceany change in the cost of council tax benefit subsidy.</p>
25 Sep 2006 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when the report on the “Our Voice in Europe” Youth Forum held in the Parliament in May 2006 was completed.
Answer · John Scott: The External Liaison Unitreport on the “Our Voice in Europe” Youth Forum was completed on 19 September 2006.</p>
25 Sep 2006 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when the Parliament’s contribution to the European Commission’s consultation, Plan-D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate, was submitted to the Commission.
Answer · John Scott: The External Liaison Unitreport on the “Our Voice in Europe” Youth Forum was sent to officials at the EuropeanCommission Representation offices in London and Edinburgh on 22 September 2006. It was also sent to the Scottish Executive who will reference the rep…
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what further dialogue it has had with the participants in the “Our Voice in Europe” Youth Forum, held in the Parliament in May 2006.
Answer · George Lyon: None. The forum report waspublished by the Scottish Parliament in October and the views of the youngpeople will be reflected in the <i>Building a Bridge</i> report that the Scottish Executive will publish later this year.</p>
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from Scotland have studied at foreign universities under the Erasmus programme in each year since 1998 for which figures are available, also expressed as a percentage of participating students from the United Kingdom.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: Number of Scottish studentsstudying in foreign universities under the Erasmus programme and the percentageof participating UK students that were Scottish: 2002-03 to 2004-05</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=606> <tr> <td width=64 nowrap v…
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it has committed to the SCHOLAR programme since its inception; what resources it will commit, and whether it intends that the range of modern language teaching through this programme will be expanded.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive has provided£1,275,000 to the SCHOLAR programme since 2001 in order to help the programme getestablished. There are no plans to provide further support. The expansion of theprogramme is a matter for Heriot-Watt University and its partne…
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what work it has carried out, or intends to carry out, to define the organisational and resource implications before deciding whether and, if so, when to implement the linguistic competence indicator called for at the Barcelona European Council in 2002.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive,along with other UK administrations, has seen and commented on theEuropean Commission’s proposals for aEuropean Indicator of Language Competence.</p><p>However, we believe that furtherdevelopment work is needed at an EU level to define …
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5784 by Ms Margaret Curran on 27 February 2004, what the position now is in respect of its research into right to buy sales and re-sales.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Executive’s report The <i>Rightto Buy in Scotland – Pulling Together the Evidence</i> contains our most recentanalysis of Right to Buy sales and resales. Copies of the report were sent to allMSPs on 28 September 2006. The report is available in the Scotti…
25 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13887 by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 February 2005, what the (a) lowest, (b) highest and (c) average discount is that has been granted to tenants who purchased their home through right to buy in each local authority area, expressed at 2005 prices.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table containsthe minimum, maximum and mean discounts granted between 1979 quarter 2 and 2006quarter 1 to tenants who purchased their home through right to buy, broken downby local authority. The data have been adjusted to 2005 prices.</p><p>Dis…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any ministers or deputy ministers have written to the Home Office regarding the impact of immigration and asylum legislation and Home Office practice on their responsibilities under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.
Answer · Robert Brown: Scottish ministers have not writtento the Home Office specifically on this issue. However, it has been discussed aspart of on-going discussion with the Home Office around asylum practice.</p>
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any ministers or deputy ministers have written to the Home Office regarding the impact of immigration and asylum legislation and Home Office practice on their responsibilities under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Scottish Executive ministershave not written to the Home Office regarding the impact of immigration and asylumlegislation and Home Office practice on their responsibilities under the MentalHealth (Care and Treatment) (Scotland)Act 2003.</p>
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it complies with its obligations under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 in areas where no geographical information system data exists.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: I am not aware of any impedimentto the Scottish Executive meeting its obligations under the Nature Conservation(Scotland) Act 2004 as a result of a lack of geographical information system data.</p>
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it takes to ensure that persons who fall within the terms of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 are treated appropriately under that legislation where they are individuals for whom the Home Office has responsibility.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28565 on 4 October 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what cognisance it takes of Scotland’s carbon footprint when assessing proposals for new industrial development.
Answer · Johann Lamont: The Scottish Executive does notroutinely assess proposals for new industrial development. That is primarily a matterfor local authorities to consider through their development plans and in their decisionson planning applications, although ministers can call i…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps have been taken to ensure that it complies with EU Directive 92/44/EEC on the application of open network provision to leased lines.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: Telecommunications regulationis reserved and this matter is under the remit of Ofcom, the independent UK-wide telecoms regulator. I canadvise however, that Directive 92/44/EEC was repealed by Article 26 of the FrameworkDirective (Directive 2002/21/EC) and now…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times it has been found to be in breach of EU Directive 92/44/EEC on the application of open network provision to leased lines; on what grounds it was found to have been in breach of the directive, and what penalties were applied.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28577 on 4 October 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many complaints, investigations and prosecutions there have been under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: There is no central system forrecording complaints, investigations and prosecutions under wildlife legislation.The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service maintains an operational databasefor internal management purposes and Association of Chief Police Off…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that local authorities comply with their duties under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act2004 places a range of duties and obligations on local authorities in order to conservebiodiversity and protect SSSIs. It is the responsibility of local authorities toensure that they comply with the duties and obligation…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether cognisance is taken of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 when agreeing new industrial planning applications where an environmental impact assessment has specified that European protected species are present.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act2004 places a range of duties and obligations on public bodies, including planningauthorities. It is the responsibility of all such public bodies to take cognisanceof the act in exercising their functions.</p>
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have been awarded grants under the Biodiversity Action Grants Scheme since its inception.
Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Biodiversity Action GrantsScheme has been run three times (2004, 2005, and 2006). Ten different local authoritiesin Scotland have received a total of 14 grants under the scheme forprojects led directly by the local authority. In addition, two of these aut…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21228 by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 December 2005, what the outcome was of the discussions with the Home Office in relation to the process of removal of asylum seeker families.
Answer · Robert Brown: I refer the member to thequestion S2F-2215 answered on 30 March 2006. The answer to S2F-2215 can befound on the Parliament’s website at: </p><p><ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-06/sor0330-02.htm#Col24586…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any of the terms of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 are disapplied by UK legislation.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: No. Section 115 of the Immigrationand Asylum Act 1999 provides that certain persons who are subject to immigrationcontrol are not entitled to specified benefits. Provision is made in regulation14 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 (…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied with the treatment of asylum seekers in areas within its responsibility under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28568 on 4 October 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…
21 Sep 2006 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that its obligations to asylum seekers covered by the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 are met.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Scottish ministers have no specificobligations to asylum seekers under the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act2003. The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has a duty to visit people with mental disorder includingthose who may be subject to t…