Parliamentary questions
Trish Godman
601 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
12 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which organisation has the statutory responsibility for dredging the River Clyde and the maintenance of navigable channels on the river.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Statutory responsibility for the dredging and maintenance of navigational channels on the River Clyde is a matter for Clydeport as harbour authority, under the Clyde Port Authority Confirmation Act 1965.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are in hand to improve or create flood management control schemes.
Answer · Allan Wilson: Local authorities already have wide powers under the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961 to mitigate flooding of non-agricultural land in their areas. Measures, other than maintenance or repair, have to be in accordance with flood prevention schemes, made by…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities (a) continue to control and manage council houses and (b) have carried out complete housing stock transfers.
Answer · Margaret Curran: All local authorities in Scotland currently own and manage council houses. Tenants in Glasgow, Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway have voted in favour of whole transfers, and work to complete the transfers is continuing.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive on what grounds a judge may be removed from any list of judges authorised to conduct trials involving charges of rape and other sexual offences.
Answer · Jim Wallace: There is no list of judges authorised to conduct trials involving charges of rape and other sexual offences and hence no procedures for the removal of a judge from such a list.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any procedures in place that ensure that only judges with the appropriate training, experience and sensitivity conduct trials involving charges of rape and other sexual offences and whether it will publish a list of such judges.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Any Judge of the High Court of Justiciary may conduct trials involving charges of rape and other sexual offences. There are no procedures to restrict such trials to certain judges.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what research has been commissioned into the conduct of the judiciary in rape trials and whether the findings of any such research will lead to discussions about such trials.
Answer · Jim Wallace: No research into the conduct of the judiciary in rape trials has been commissioned. <P>Research carried out by Brown, Burman & Jamieson into the use of sexual history and sexual character evidence in Scottish sexual offence trials, published by the Scotti…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what training courses are provided for judges in relation to court cases involving charges of rape and other sexual offences.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28964 today. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what training courses are provided for judges and sheriffs in relation to court cases involving charges of child abuse and sexual abuse.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28964 today. All answers to written PQs are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <A HREF="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http://www.sco…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what training courses are provided for judges and sheriffs in relation to court cases involving allegations of domestic violence.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Judicial training is a matter for the judiciary. It is overseen by the Judicial Studies Committee. The subjects of rape, other sexual offences, child abuse, sexual abuse and domestic violence are currently dealt with in the annual refresher courses, primarily…
4 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations have been received in respect of decisions made by procurators fiscal not to proceed with cases involving allegations of rape and other forms of sexual abuse.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: One representation was received recently about the prosecution rate in such cases in one area; we will reply shortly. Victims in such cases sometimes make representations where they are dissatisfied with the decision in the case which involves them. However, …
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether comparative evidence has been sought and analysed concerning modern court proceedings in other European jurisdictions where rape and other forms of sexual abuse are the subject of criminal investigation.
Answer · Jim Wallace: No such information has been sought at present.
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have taken place between Law Officers and the Scottish Law Commission concerning trial proceedings dealing with prosecutions for rape and other forms of sexual abuse.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: No recent discussions have taken place.
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent representations have been received concerning the ratio of the number of cases of alleged rape and other forms of sexual abuse that are the subject of court proceedings to those that are discontinued or refused by procurators fiscal.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: The Lord Advocate has very recently received one representation in relation to such ratios in Grampian and will reply shortly. A number of representations on this general subject were made during the passage of the Sexual Offences (Procedures and Evidence) Sc…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent representations have been received concerning the working relationship between procurators fiscal and district courts.
Answer · Colin Boyd: Such representations may be made in a wide variety of ways. On a Scotland-wide basis, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is represented on the District Courts Working Group and that provides a focus for discussion of a variety of issues. <P>The mo…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of people employed in procurator fiscal offices.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is increasing its staffing levels. At 1 August 2001 it employed 1,181.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) staff. At 1 August 2002 this number had risen to 1,306.6 staff (FTE). Since May 2002 the department has recruited…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has recently sought advice from outwith Scotland concerning the legal enforcement of clean public water standards and whether any plans are being prepared to bring Scotland into line with the best practices of other European nations.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption provides a sound basis for both the consumers throughout the EU and the supplier of drinking water by setting minimum standards for drinking water. The implementation of thi…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to seek the elimination of cryptosporidium and any other organisms and contaminants from domestic water supplies.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The policy of the Scottish Executive was set out in <I>Water Quality and Standards, Investment priorities for Scotland's Water Authorities 2002-2006</I> published in August 2001, which set out clearly the intention to improve all water treatment facilities as…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what advice or instructions it has issued to water authorities concerning the need to eliminate the gra'ing of sheep close to water supplies, for example reservoirs, in each of the last three years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The provisions of The Cryptosporidium Directions 2002 requires Scottish Water to take account of the number of grazing animals on a catchment. Scottish Water does not control the livestock management practices on the vast majority of its catchments and so has…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) prosecutions and (b) convictions in respect of the contamination of water supplies there were in each of the last three years; whether any of these cases involved proceedings against officials of the former three water authorities, and what range of penalties were imposed in …
Answer · Elish Angiolini: Contamination of water supplies may constitute one of a number of offences, some of which cover a wider range of conduct than merely contamination of the supply. We cannot, therefore, identify such cases without a manual search of all possible papers. Similar…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has held any recent discussions with Her Majesty's Government concerning changes in legislation relating to the cleanliness of public water supplies.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Discussions between officials in the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Scottish Executive regarding legislation pertaining to drinking water quality take place on a routine basis. The most recent such meeting relating to public water s…
14 Aug 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce legislation concerning the management of public water supplies.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Executive will carefully consider the forthcoming reports into issues arising from the recent water supply incidents in Glasgow and Edinburgh. If any legislative response is required, we will act accordingly.
11 Jun 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions have been held with Her Majesty's Government, representatives of fishermen's organisations and other interested parties concerning the adoption of net-based devices aimed at reducing the inadvertent killing of dolphins during commercial fishing activities.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The UK Small Cetacean Bycatch Response Strategy Working Group was set up last July to estimate levels of bycatch and identify practical, cost-effective ways of reducing them. The Scottish Executive, other government departments, conservation agencies and the …
19 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance is given to those organisations and companies which offer modern apprenticeship schemes to enable them to meet adequate skill and training standards.
Answer · Iain Gray: The enterprise network provide support to training providers and companies to help them achieve the standards defined in the Scottish Quality Management System (SQMS). This includes expert advice and guidance and financial contributions towards training.
19 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments are made of those companies and organisations which provide modern apprenticeship schemes for young men and women and how often such assessments take place.
Answer · Iain Gray: The enterprise network use the Scottish Quality Management System (SQMS) to assess training providers involved in modern apprenticeships. The SQMS ensures that training programmes and providers meet and maintain minimum quality criteria. Training providers ar…
19 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people completing modern apprenticeships in the last two years have obtained national qualifications.
Answer · Iain Gray: All of the 8,245 modern apprenticeships who completed training in the last two years obtained a Scottish Vocational Qualification at level 3 or above.
18 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which coastal fire brigades have crews and resources trained to deal with vessels on fire at sea and other emergencies offshore.
Answer · Richard Simpson: The Maritime Coastguard Agency confirm that only one Scottish Fire Brigade - Highland and Islands - has a declared resource to firefight offshore. The agency would, however, ask each brigade if they could assist should an incident occur in their brigade area.…
18 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many fires have occurred on vessels within 12 miles of the Scottish coastline in the last three years and whether any such incidents involved requests for assistance from coastal fire brigades.
Answer · Richard Simpson: Fires at sea are a maritime safety issue, which is reserved. Commercially operating vessels are required to report accidents to the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) if they are UK registered or carrying passengers to or from a UK port. The statisti…
17 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated revenues are from (a) council tax and (b) business rates in respect of (i) 2000-01, (ii) 2001-02 and (iii) 2002-03.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The estimated income from council tax is £1,553 million for 2000-01; £1,649 million for 2001-02, and £1,744 million for 2002-03.<P>For business rates, estimated income is £1,576 million for 2000-01 and £1,665 million for 2001-02. We have not yet had councils'…
17 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many trained nurses were recruited to hospitals from (a) EU member states and (b) third countries in each of the last three years, broken down by country of origin.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally.
17 Apr 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) individuals and (b) companies were convicted of offences relating to the pollution of rivers and other waterways in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001 and what the range of penalties imposed upon such offenders was.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The available information is given in the following table. Data for the year 2001 are not yet available.<P>Persons with a Charge Proved where the Main Offence Related to Pollution of Rivers and Other Waterways<SUP>1</SUP><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDIN…