Parliamentary questions
Linda Fabiani
2,507 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what targets it has set for increasing the representation of female officers above the rank of constable in police forces and how such targets are monitored.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The appointment of officers in Scottish Police Forces is the responsibility of chief constables or, at themost senior levels, the police authority. Further advancement is determined onmerit under internal procedures which take account of qualifications andexp…
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what specific action it has taken to address under-representation of female officers above the rank of constable in the police force and what the total cost was of such action in each of the last three years for which information is available.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The appointment of officersin Scottish police forces is the sole responsibility of chief constables or, atthe most senior levels, the police authority. Further advancement is determinedon merit under internal procedures which take account of qualifications an…
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what records are kept of visitors to prisons; how the keeping of such records varies between prisons, and whether any of these records are forwarded to any other organisation.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>Records of visitors held aresubject to the terms of the Data Protection Act (1998). For operational andsecurity reasons, the data maintained …
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of officers at each rank within (a) each police force and (b) the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) is from ethnic minority groups.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Information as at end March 2003 is shown in the following table:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Inspector</p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Sergeant</p> </td> <td> <p …
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many female officers have been recruited into each rank within (a) each police force and (b) the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) in the last year.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isshown in the following table. All new recruits are appointed to the rank ofpolice constable. The two officers newly seconded to the SDEA were also policeconstables.</p><p>Total Number of female officers recruited in 2002-03.</p><ta…
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of officers at each rank within (a) each police force and (b) the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency (SDEA) is female.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isshown in the following table:</p><p>Percentage of female officersas at 31 March 2003</p><table class=MsoTableGrid border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p> </p> </td> <td> <p align=center>Chief Officer<…
28 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-4961 and S2W-4962 by Malcolm Chisholm on 26 January 2004, what statutory impediment prevents it forming, or participating in forming, companies for the provision of health services.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish ministers haveno statutory power to form or participate in the forming of companies inconnection with the discharge of their functions under the National HealthService (Scotland) Act 1978. It follows from this that they cannot, inthe absence of s…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it participates in the Group of Regions with Legislative Powers and what the benefits to Scotland are from participation.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The First Ministeris currently President of the Group of Regions with Legislative Powers (REGLEG);he has attended annual conferences of the Group since its inception in 2001. Scottish Executive officials are active in – and, during the First Minister’sPreside…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which social inclusion partnerships (a) underspent and (b) overspent their budget in 2002-03 and by how much in each case.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is asfollows:</p><p>2002-03 figures are beingfinalised at present. The table gives the expenditure claimed to date. </p><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the administration costs have been in each social inclusion partnership in each year of the operation of the partnership.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>The amounts claimed in each year are show in the following tables.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td> <p>S…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent assessment it has made of the impact on its responsibilities of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The regulation of international trade is a reserved matter. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with DTI and other government departments on a range of trade issues, including discussions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).</p><p>Th…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the results of its research into right to buy sales and resales.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive hasnot yet commissioned further research into right to buy sales and re-sales. Thisis being considered in line with the requirement to assess the impact of theright to buy, as required by section 52 of the Housing (Scotland)Act 2001.</p>
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive who its representative, and substitute, is to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive representative on the UK delegation to the Congress of Local and RegionalAuthorities of Europe (CLRAE) is Peter Peacock MSP, Minister for Education andYoung People. The Parliamentary Bureau agreed at its meeting on 18 November 2003that …
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1571 by Mr Jim Wallace on 13 August 2003, when it will publish the results of the survey of the income and expenditure of Scottish students..
Answer · Jim Wallace: The results of the surveyare expected to be published during January 2005.</p>
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the benefits to Scotland are of its delegation to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Congress of Local andRegional Authorities of Europe (CLRAE) is a consultative body of the Council ofEurope which, among other things, provides a forum where local and regionalelected representatives can discuss common problems, pool their experience andex…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1584 by Mr Andy Kerr on 13 August 2003, what the outcome was of the General Assembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions in September 2003.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The 31st Annual GeneralAssembly of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions of Europe (CPMR),held in Saint-Malo, France on 11 and 12 September 2003, adopted a finaldeclaration calling for the organisation to help find positive solutions “ensuringthe succ…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4331 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 8 December 2003, whether any impact assessments other than retail impact assessments have been carried out in respect of the proposed development at the Ravenscraig site and, if not, whether traffic, residential, economic…
Answer · Mary Mulligan: In addition to retail impactassessments, a transport assessment, environmental impact assessment, floodrisk assessment, contaminated land statement and master plan report were allprepared on behalf of the applicant. It is for North Lanarkshire Council, asplan…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4805 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it will publish the data for each NHS board and whether it will publish the mean values for each board in each future release of waiting list statistics.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table showsfor each NHS board the equivalent figures given in answer to S2W-4805. ISDScotland have no plans to publish arithmetic mean values for each board for thereason given earlier in the answer to S2W-4812.</p><p>All answers to written parl…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4958 by Ms Margaret Curran on 13 January 2004, whether the procedure for the assessment of housing need will be kept under review and whether the views of housing associations will be taken into account when undertaking any review.
Answer · Margaret Curran: I have asked Angiolina Foster, Chief Executive of Communities Scotland, to reply. Her response is asfollows.</p><p>There are no proposals atpresent to review the procedure for the assessment of housing need. It is ourintention to review the local housing str…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis has been carried out of the impact on homelessness of legislation relating to housing passed during the Parliament's first session.
Answer · Margaret Curran: The homelessness monitoring grouphas a role in monitoring homelessness generally, including the housingdimension, and reports progress against the Homelessness Task Forcerecommendations to ministers on a regular basis.</p>
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4807 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether it will publish the mean along with the median figures in each future release of waiting list statistics.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answergiven to the question S2W-4812 on 19 January 2004 which is available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http://www.scottish.par…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the (a) range of values and (b) greatest value is for each NHS board area.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table showsfor each NHS board the equivalent information to that given in the answer toS2W-4809.</p><p>All answers to written questions are available on the Parliament’s website thesearch facility for which can be found at:</p><p><ahref="http://…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the values are of the outliers.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The 1% of values that arelonger than the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile shown in the answer to S2W-4809 on 19 January 2004cannot individually be relied upon as these will include a mixture of actualtimes and times that are a result of recording errors. Of those p…
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether the outliers in the dataset were disregarded for the purpose of statistical analysis of waiting times and lists.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The outliers in the datasetare not disregarded for the purposes of statistical analysis of waiting timesand lists, hence they will have an impact on both the mean and median values.</p>
27 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, what the value is of each percentile.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The following table showsthe value of each percentile of the waiting times distributions.</p><p>Only values up to the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile are given. The one percent of values that are longer than the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile cannot individually be re…
16 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when a decision will be made regarding South Lanarkshire Council's proposals for the reorganisation of its secondary school provision.
Answer · Peter Peacock: I hope to be in a positionto announce decisions shortly on those South Lanarkshire school reorganisationproposals for which the council have applied for the consent of the Scottish ministers.</p>
12 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it, and the former Scottish Office, have allocated to travelling theatre companies in each financial year since 1995-96, broken down by company.
Answer · Frank McAveety: I have asked Graham Berry,Director of the Scottish Arts Council to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The information requested isprovided in the document <i>Scottish Arts Council Grants Awarded to TravellingTheatre Companies 1995 – 2004</i>, a copy o…
11 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what disadvantages there would be to the adoption in Scotland of the local improvement finance trust model used by the NHS in England.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4961 on 26 January 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/we…
11 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of whether the local improvement finance trust model used by the NHS in England can be modified to perform as a not-for-profit trust.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Neither Scottish ministersnor bodies appointed by them currently have the statutory powers to form orparticipate in forming companies for the provision of health services.</p><p>Any proposals for theimplementation of the NHS LIFT model, or variants thereof, w…
11 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the local improvement finance trust funding system used by the NHS in England and whether it plans to adopt a similar system.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Officials have monitored thedevelopment and implementation of NHS LIFT over the past three years. NeitherScottish Ministers nor bodies appointed by them currently have the statutory powersto form or participate in forming companies for the provision of health…