Parliamentary questions

Linda Fabiani

2,507 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

21 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement it will have in planning the games of the XXX Olympiad.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The responsibility forplanning and organising the games of the XXX Olympiad will lie with the LondonOrganising Committee for the Olympic Games and the arrangements will be basedon the proposals in London 2012’s candidature file.

21 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it is promoting each Olympic sport.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Sportscotlandhas a target of 148 Scottish medallists by 2007. Many of these will be achievedby athletes competing in the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. Sportscotlandsupports and invests in approximately 60 sports in Scotland whichin turn…

21 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to promote the creation of a Scottish Olympic team.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive hasno plans to explore the possibility of Scotland fielding its own team in the Olympics.Scottish athletes with thetalent to reach GB squad membership gain from competing with and againstathletes of a similar calibre. We believe …

20 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10791 by Euan Robson on 30 September 2004, how it monitors the share and benefit received by voluntary organisations from the stated additional investment made to local authorities for social work training and what share and benefit have been receive…

Answer · Robert Brown: Local authorities provide anannual return to the Scottish Executive on training activity undertaken fromspecific grant funding along with their Training Plans. As part of this theyare asked to identify any activity undertaken jointly with the voluntary sector…

20 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many mortgage repossession orders have been made in each court district in each year since 1979.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The number of repossession orders granted by the courts up to 2002 is published in the annual Civil Judicial Statistics. However, as noted in the recent research paper Mortgage Arrears and Repossessions in Scotland (Bib. number 26213), the published fi…

20 Jul 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13887 by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 February 2005, what the total value was of discounts given on sales of properties through the right to buy in each year since 1979 in each local authority area, expressed in 2004 prices on the basis of changes in the re…

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The table produced for thisanalysis is too large to be included in this response and has been placed inthe Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 37171). For thisanalysis, the amount of discount was converted to 2004 prices on the basis ofchanges…

22 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is appropriate for funding bodies to seek intellectual property rights over research carried out on their behalf by voluntary organisations.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It is appropriate for the Scottish Executive to retain intellectual property rights on publicly funded research if, for example, retention of these rights by the grant recipient organisation might inhibit policy development or dissemination, or create a dispr…

22 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers a six-month renewable funding regime to be more appropriate for voluntary organisations than the three-year rolling budgets to which local authorities work.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Scottish Executive grant funding is normally available on a three year funding basis, with instalment arrangements agreed between recipient organisations, in accordance with the Scottish Compact with the voluntary sector. Organisations can seek to receive gra…

22 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the possible impact on voluntary organisations of receiving funding in arrears instead of in advance.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Payment in arrears is in accordance with the Scottish Public Finance Manual and is intended to avoid the spending of public funds in advance of need, which is why this arrangement is preferred. There is flexibility, however, as the manual allows alternative g…

22 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what variations in the standard conditions for funding voluntary organisations it has made in the last year.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: It was decided to review general grant conditions across the Scottish Executive because inconsistencies were emerging in the control of funding, for example, the way in which annual accounts had to be presented. The updated conditions ensure uniformity of the…

15 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether information is collected centrally in respect of the number of fatalities occurring from road traffic accidents where the fatality is not reported in the STATS 19 returns but subsequently noted by the General Register Office.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: There is no specificcollection of such information. However, each year, the General Register Officefor Scotland (GRO[S]) obtains, from the Scottish Executive,information about each road accident fatality recorded in the Stats 19 returns.GRO(S) matches this to…

15 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on what date the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme will become operational.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The necessary changes to theImmigration Rules to implement the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotlandscheme were laid at the UK Parliament on 15 June. The scheme will come intoeffect on 22 June 2005. Application forms will be available from the HomeOffice. Decisio…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the second supplementary question to question S2O-6969 by Lewis Macdonald on 2 June 2005, how it defines strategic network costs and local network costs in relation to the costs of upgrading and expansion.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: As I said in my answer of 2 June,this information was covered by my statement to Parliament on 9 January 2005, andit was detailed in the accompanying documents.The information defining strategicnetwork costs is given in footnote 11 of Investing In W…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what input local authorities will have to the Scotland/Malawi initiative and whether Blantyre in South Lanarkshire will have any particular role.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Officials from the Scottish Executive’s International Division and I are in close contact with COSLA and a numberof local authorities with regard to their international development efforts. Fundinghas already been provided to local authorities for their tsuna…

6 Jun 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what strategy is being undertaken to progress Scotland to the status of Fair Trade Nation.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: A group convened by the Scottish Executive and chaired by myself, met for the first time on Thursday 26 May. The group includes:Murdo Fraser MSP, Michael Matheson MSP, Mark Ballard MSP, Denis Canavan MSP, Des McNulty …

31 May 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect globalscot has had on the global connectivity of Scottish business.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Since its launch in March 2002, the globalscot initiative has grown to an active network of over 800 international business people who have links to Scotland and want to contribute to its economic development. Approaching half of the members are based in the …

31 May 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the Friends of Scotland initiative has encouraged friends of Scotland around the world to become actively involved with modern Scotland.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Global Friends of Scotland initiative has supported a number of network projects around the world and across a wide range of activities. These range from the publication of articles overseas to assisting a youth football exchange, providing support in set…

31 May 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the Friends of Scotland initiative has had on the understanding of Scotland around the world.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Members of the Global Friends of Scotland network help to promote Scotland as an attractive place in which to live, work, study, visit, invest and do business. The complementary website, which acts as a dynamic showcase for the best that Scotland has to offer…

31 May 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the Friends of Scotland initiative has had on immigration to Scotland.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The network of Global Friends and its complementary website help to promote Scotland as an attractive place in which to live, work, study, visit, invest and do business. It is not the specific aim of the Global Friends of Scotland initiative to encourage immi…