Parliamentary questions

Roseanna Cunningham

965 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

26 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all costs incurred in employing an independent engineer under paragraph 6.3.1. of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock, …

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:There have been no such costs.

26 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all payments made under paragraph 6.3 of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock, including the dates on which the payments…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:There have been no such payments.

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, PricewaterhouseCoopers was asked all of the questions given in section 5.2.1 of Treasury Taskforce's Technical Note No. 3: How to Appoint and Manage Advisors to PFI Projects in any interviews in respect of appointment to perform the financial review of the Scottish Prisons Servic…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-28228.

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the guidance in section 5.2 of the Treasury Taskforce's Technical Note No. 3: How to Appoint and Manage Advisors to PFI Projects were followed when appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers to perform the financial review of the Scottish Prisons Service (SPS) estates review and, if so, ho…

Answer · Jim Wallace: No. The guidance is in respect of How to Appoint and Manage Advisors to PFI Projects. Such guidance was not relevant to the appointment to perform the financial review of the SPS Estates Review.

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when its contract monitoring procedures were last independently checked or audited in line with paragraph 2.3.10 of the Treasury Taskforce's Technical Note No. 6: How to Manage the Delivery of Long Term PFI Contracts and what the results of the audit were.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Treasury Taskforce's Technical Note No. 6: How to Manage the Delivery of Long Term PFI Contracts refers to contract monitoring in the development (award of the contract to the commencement of delivery of the services) and delivery (the provision an…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to it has been of monitoring private finance initiative contracts in each of the last five years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested is contained in the following table for the three Scottish Executive private finance initiative contracts. It is the responsibility of other public authorities to monitor their own private finance initiative contracts. The figures…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-21183 and S1W-24978 by Mr Jim Wallace on 25 February 2002 and 24 July 2002, how it concluded that the difference between tendering costs for a privately-financed project and design costs for a publicly-financed project is not significant in a proje…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:The PricewaterhouseCoopers Financial Review calculated the total cost of a new 700-place private build private operate prison as being around …

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20325 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 December 2002, whether it will publish, subject to deletion of matters that are commercially confidential, the contract for provision of medical services by Medacs Healthcare Services to the Scottish Prison Service and w…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:Except where disclosure of parts of the contract would not be in the public interest as specified in Part II of the Code of Practice o…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26497 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 July 2002, whether the cost of non-domestic rates was included in the private sector model and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Answer · Jim Wallace: No. The private sector model was based on the contract cost of privately-managed prisons and non-domestic rates are not a contractual cost. The net present value of non-domestic rates is estimated to be approximately £3 million over 25 years. The public secto…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-26497 by Mr Jim Wallace on 18 July 2002, why the cost of non-domestic rates was included in the costing of the public sector comparator.

Answer · Jim Wallace: To facilitate comparison of the new prison and houseblock options in the Scottish Prison Service Estate Review.

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24351 by Mr Jim Wallace on 22 April 2002, whether it will list each item of cost incurred to date at HM Prison Kilmarnock in respect of obligations of the Executive under the contract for the prison.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:In addition to those listed in the answer given to question S1W-24351, SPS meets the costs of non-domestic business rates as it does for …

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made any specific representations to (a) the Council of the European Union, (b) any (i) member or (ii) body of (1) the European Parliament and (2) the EU Committee of the Regions and (c) the European Commission regarding the proposed EU directive to establish minimum common…

Answer · Jim Wallace: Negotiations within the European Union on the proposed directive on legal aid are being conducted by the United Kingdom Government, taking due account of the views of the devolved administrations. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United K…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what specific representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government about the proposed EU directive to establish minimum common rules relating to legal aid and other financial aspects of civil proceedings in order to improve access to justice in cross-border disputes.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide range of EU-related issues, including the proposed directive on legal aid.

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of any impact on the legal system of an EU directive establishing minimum common rules relating to legal aid and other financial aspects of civil proceedings in order to improve access to justice in cross-border disputes.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Council of Ministers has decided that the scope of the proposed directive should be limited to cases involving litigants from different member states. On that basis, and on the basis of the current state of discussions in Brussels, the Executive expects t…

5 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will attend the EU working party on Justice, Home Affairs and Civil Protection in Brussels on 5 and 6 September 2002 and, if so, (a) which ministers and (b) how many of its officials will attend and (i) of what grade and (ii) from which department any such officials will be.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Negotiations within the European Union are conducted by the United Kingdom Government, taking due account of the views of the devolved administrations. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the United Kingdom Government on a wide variety of EU-rel…

2 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S1W-25707 and S1W-25705 lodged on 9 May 2002.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Questions S1W-25705 and S1W-25707 were answered on 15 August 2002.

2 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the introduction of transitional care arrangements between prison and community at HM Prison Kilmarnock will require a renegotiation of its contract with the prison's operators.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No.

2 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it has given in each of the last three years and intends to give in the present year and the next two years to the operators of HM Prison Kilmarnock for the provision of transitional care arrangements between prison and community for problem drug misusers.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Transitional care arrangements for problem substance misusers have been made available to all short-term prisoners released from all prisons in…

1 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is any conflict of interest arising from PricewaterhouseCoopers carrying out the financial review of the Scottish Prison Service estates review, given that the firm is the auditor of Group 4 Falck.

Answer · Jim Wallace: No. PricewaterhouseCoopers are a multi-national company performing thousands of audits world-wide and have internal procedures for preventing conflicts of interest.

1 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, prior to carrying out the financial review of the Scottish Prison Service estates review, PricewaterhouseCoopers disclosed that it was the auditor of Group 4 Falck to the Executive.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:No. There was no need to do so.

1 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24103 by Mr Jim Wallace on 8 April 2002, what the outcome was of the Scottish Prison Service's discussions with Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd to assess any implications of the proposed purchase by Group 4 Falck of the Wackenhut Corporation, one of t…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:Further discussion has been postponed pending the decision of the Competition Commission.

1 Aug 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-25982 by Mr Jim Wallace on 29 May 2002, whether it is the policy of the Scottish Prison Service to move to another prison a prisoner that has been involved in (a) an assault or (b) a serious assault on an officer and whether any such policy would app…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:A prisoner is not automatically moved to another prison following an assault or a serious assault. Each case is considered individually dependi…