Parliamentary questions

Linda Fabiani

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

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-1869 and S2W-3121 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September and 14 October 2003 respectively, why the proportionate increase to the baseline figures to reflect the provision of additional prisoner places was incorrect.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:It was a clerical error.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) statutory instruments made by a Minister of the Crown or Her Majesty in Council and (b) Acts of the UK Parliament have amended (i) an Act of the Scottish Parliament, (ii) an Act of Parliament relating to a devolved area and (c) a Scottish Statutory Instrument in each year sin…

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The information requested isnot recorded in the form specified. However, (a) statutory instruments and (b) actsof the UK Parliament are published on Her Majesty’s Stationery Office website, whichcan be accessed at <a href="http://www.hmso.gov.uk/">www.hmso.go…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003, when it will bring into force (a) the remainder of section 8 and section 9, (b) section 11, (c) the remainder of section 35 and section 36 and (d) section 40 and what the reasons are for each of these sections not yet being bro…

Answer · Andy Kerr: Sections 35 and 36 of theLocal Government in Scotland 2003 were fully commenced on 1 April 2004. The commencementof the other sections referred to depend on regulations being laid and approvedby the Scottish Parliament.The Scottish Executive has undert…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what records it is keeping of the use by local authorities of their power to advance well-being under section 20 of the Local Government in Scotland Act 2003.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The power to advance well-beingis designed as an enabling measure, giving local authorities the freedom to workin a more innovative and creative way in responding to the needs of their communities. The overall intention of the act is to offer trust wit…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3121 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 October 2003, who was responsible for the proportionate increase to the baseline figures in the calculation of the payment for the services of HM Prison Kilmarnock to reflect the provision of additional prisoner places be…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Prison Service.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports procurators fiscal received from each police force in 2002-03 and, of these, how many (a) were marked "no proceedings" on account of delay on the part of the reporting agency, (b) proceeded to trial, (c) resulted in a conviction and (d) are currently pending.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The information requested, which does not include any figures for cases where no proceedings are taken on other grounds or which are dealt with by way of alternatives to proceedings such as conditional offers of fixed penalties and fiscal fines, is as follows…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, for each non-police reporting agency that provides reports to the procurator fiscal, which agencies provide electronic reports and, for each agency that does not, when it expects the agency to introduce electronic reporting.

Answer · Colin Boyd: Only two specialist reportingagencies provide electronic reports to Procurators Fiscal: the Vehicle and OperatorServices Agency and South Ayrshire Council. The Crown Office and Procurator FiscalService is establishing a secure web site that will allow all oth…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, for each non-police reporting agency that provides reports to the procurator fiscal electronically, how many reports procurators fiscal received from each such reporting agency in 2002-03 and, of these, how many (a) were marked no proceedings on account of delay on the part o…

Answer · Elish Angiolini: In 2002-03, 169 cases were received electronically from non-police reporting agencies. Three of these were from Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (which only started reporting electronically in March 2003) and 166 from Vehicle Inspectorate. Of the t…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-33923 and S2W-116 by Mrs Elish Angiolini on 10 March and 2 June 2003 respectively, how many cases were marked no proceedings in 2003-04 because of a non-court disposal, broken down into warnings, conditional offers, fiscal fines and div…

Answer · Colin Boyd: As indicated in the answer givento question S2W-116 on 2 June 2003, cases in which there has been a non-court disposalare not marked “no proceedings” and do not form part of any no proceedings dataprovided by Crown Office. The numbers of cases closed b…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-30312 and S2W-113 by Mrs Elish Angiolini on 17 October 2002 and 2 June 2003 respectively, how many reports to procurators fiscal were marked "no proceedings" for reason of (a) time-bar, (b) delay by police/reporting agency, (c) lack of court resour…

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The figures requested are asfollows:<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=2 width=585> <thead> <tr> <td> 2003-04 </td> <td> Time-Bar </td> <td> Delay Police/RA </td> <td> Delay PF </td> <td> …

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to remove road maintenance functions from local authorities.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Executive has no plans toremove local road maintenance functions from local government.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to determine which contractors under contracted-out road maintenance contracts will be designated as public authorities under section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Executive will carry outa public consultation by the end of Octoberthis year on the criteria that should beapplied to designate Scottish public authorities under section 5 of the act.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to determine which operators of PFI/PPP hospitals will be designated as public authorities under section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to determine which operators of PFI/PPP prisons will be designated as public authorities under section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it will use to determine which operators of PFI/PPP schools will be designated as public authorities under section 5 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Executive will carry outa public consultation by the end of October this year on the criteria that should be applied to designateScottish public authorities under section 5 of the act.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-33814 by Mr Jim Wallace on 19 February 2003, how the stabbings of three prisoners at HM Prison Kilmarnock in September 2002 have now been recorded for the purpose of the prison's performance points.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No points have yet been recordedyet.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners may occupy a prisoner place, as defined in the Scottish Prison Service's key performance targets.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Scottish Prison Service’sKey Performance Indicators do not specify a number of prisoners.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact PPP/PFI projects have had on the capital costs of each local authority.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-7724 on 5 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how the capital costs of the NHS have varied as a result of PPP/PFI projects.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: There is no evidence that PPP/PFIhas had an impact on the capital costs of the NHS. PPP/PFI contributes substantiallyto capital investment in NHSScotland and is an additional source of funding.There are currently 27 projects with a capital value of £86…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any representations to Her Majesty's Government with regard to the impact of stamp duty land tax on the Scottish system of conveyancing land.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Prior to the introduction ofStamp Duty Land Tax, there were discussions between the Inland Revenue, the JusticeDepartment and the Law Society of Scotland in relation to the implications for Scottishproperty transactions. Registers of Scotland were also consul…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding the impact on local authorities of the abolition of feudal tenure.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Although the Abolition of FeudalTenure etc. (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent in 2000 it will not take effectuntil 28 November 2004. Local authorities will have until November to preservecertain special types of right and even after that they will still be…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funds it has made available to local authorities to cover the implications for them of the abolition of feudal tenure.

Answer · Hugh Henry: No funds have been made available.It is difficult to predict the administrative costs to local authorities arisingfrom the abolition of the feudal system, but it is expected that these can be metfrom existing resources. As with any other individual or corpora…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it estimates the reform of stamp duty will have on (a) its budget and (b) the budgets of local authorities.

Answer · Andy Kerr: We do not expect the changesin Stamp Taxes announced in the UK March Budget to have a significant impact oneither the Executive or local authority budgets.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it anticipates the additional costs will be to the Justice Department of having a UK Supreme Court, rather than the Court of Session, and what the breakdown of any such costs will be.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The new Supreme Court will takeover the same jurisdiction, in relation to Scotland, as exists at present inthe Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the Judicial Committee of thePrivy Council. The Court of Session will continue in existence and will e…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what it anticipates the annual cost will be to the Scottish Legal Aid Board of cases being presented to any newly-formed UK Supreme Court.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: It is not possible to anticipatewith any accuracy the annual cost to the board of cases presented to the SupremeCourt. The number of cases in any year is likely to be small and the costs willvary depending on the needs of each case. However, Scottish minister…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs have been to the Scottish Legal Aid Board in respect of cases appealed to the House of Lords in each of the last five years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The figures are:<table border=1 cellspacing=1 cellpadding=2 width=617> <thead> <tr> <td> </td> <td> 1999-2000 </td> <td> 2000-01 </td> <td> 2001-02 </td…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7186 by Lewis Macdonald on 26 April 2004, what would constitute a new plan or programme for the purposes of the directive.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Article 2 (a) provides a definitionof “plans and programmes” for the purposes of the Directive. Work on the preciseimplementation of the Directive is currently being taken forward by Executive officials.

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7186 by Lewis Macdonald on 26 April 2004, what impact it considers that wind farms have on the environment.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive’s supportfor all forms of renewable energy recognises the contribution that they can maketowards reducing harmful emissions, thus helping to protect and preserve Scotland’s environment.The local environmental impacts of each proposed de…

27 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7186 by Lewis Macdonald on 26 April 2004, whether the directive will apply to developments planned before 21 July 2004 and adopted between July 2004 and July 2006.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Council Directive 2001/42/ECis concerned with plans and programmes, and will not apply to individual developments.

26 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what value of, fines have been written off due to (a) the offender receiving a prison sentence or (b) an alternative disposal for failure to pay in each of the last six years.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested forthe number of fine defaulters and the value of the fines written off due to theoffender receiving a prison sentence is given in tables 30, 30a, 30b, 33, 33a and33b of Prison Statistics Scotland, 2002, published by the Scott…