Alex Neil

21 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30418 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 December 2006, how Glasgow Housing Association has spent the £160,150,000 that it claimed from the Secured Repayable Grant.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has spent the SecuredRepayable Grant funding it has claimed so far on delivery of itsbusiness objectives as set out in its Business Plan. GHA is currentlyconsulting on its draft 30-year Business Plan for 2007-08 (available on…

20 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the treatment of motor neurone disease by the NHS in each of the last three years and how much is being spent in the current year, broken down by NHS board; how many patients have been treated in each area in each year, and what plans the Executive has to improv…

Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on the cost of treatingspecific conditions such as motor neurone disease is not held centrally.</p><p>The number of patients treatedin Scottish hospitals with a main diagnosis of motor neurone disease during thelast three years is shown in the fol…

20 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what rules, regulations or guidelines govern the selection and appointment of duty solicitors for prisoners on remand.

Answer · Johann Lamont: Duty solicitors provide representationfor the first appearance at court for accused persons appearing either from custodyor in response to a police undertaking. Prisoners on remand awaiting trial are ableto obtain criminal legal aid for their solicitor of cho…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-27816 by Mr Tom McCabe on 11 September 2006, whether it will provide, for each approved Scottish PFI/PPP project listed on its Financial Partnership Unit’s website, information on (a) the initial cost, (b) the annual payments related, (c) the total p…

Answer · Tom McCabe: For (a) and (d) I refer the memberto the Scottish Executive Financial Partnerships Unit’s website where the informationcan be found at <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp">www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp</a>.The initial cost of a PPP project has been interpreted …

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-30425 by Mr Tom McCabe on 15 December 2006, what the nature has been of the work that the Executive has undertaken closely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics on the Statistics and Registration Service Bill.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive has been liaisingclosely with HM Treasury and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) with regardsto statistics reform over the last year.</p><p>There were early discussionsof the options for statistics reform at the UK level. And the Executive…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all performance indicators that it requires each of its departments to meet.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The performance indicators thatyou refer to are the drivers and measures contained within the Partnership Agreementand ministerial commitments. These have been distilled down through the ExecutiveDepartments and are underpinned by Building a Better Scotland a…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all performance indicators that it requires its agencies to meet.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Individual targets and performanceindicators for Scottish Executive agencies are set out in the corporate plans and/orbusiness plans published by each agency following agreement with Scottishministers. Links to agency websites are provided on the Public Bodie…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all inspections and audits of its agencies and public bodies that have to be undertaken or commissioned by it or any of its agencies and how often each requires to be carried out.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Monitoring and financial auditrequirements are set out in the framework document for each Executive agency andsponsored public body. Copies of these documents are available from individual organisationsor via their websites. Performance Monitoring requirement…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all performance indicators that it requires local authorities to meet.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Accounts Commission has astatutory responsibility to specify information that councils must publish abouttheir performance, in the form of statutory performance indicators. Informationon these performance indicators can be found on Audit Scotland’s websit…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all inspections and audits of universities and colleges that have to be undertaken or commissioned by it or any of its agencies and how often each requires to be carried out.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Principal responsibility forthe funding of higher education institutions and colleges of further education lieswith the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council, which is a non-departmentalpublic body sponsored by the Scottish Executive. The coun…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all inspections and audits of local authorities that have to be undertaken or commissioned by it or any of its agencies and how often each requires to be carried out.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Responsibility forthe timing and frequency of inspections and audits rests with the independent andexternal scrutiny bodies, which report either to the Scottish Parliament or Scottishministers.</p><p>A mapping exercise into the externalscrutiny arrangements f…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the highest social housing rents in each local authority area.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The information requested isnot held centrally. Available information on local authority and housing associationrents by local authority is as follows.</p><p>The Scottish Executive collectsand publishes data on average local authority rents. We do not collect…

19 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of Scotland’s annual income per household.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The following table presentsthe median annual household income estimates for Scotland based on the FamilyResources Survey.</p><p>Table: Median annual household income for Scotland,2004-05</p><p>£ per year</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=2…

18 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce its plans for the demerger of Careers Scotland from Scottish Enterprise and whether it will provide the staff of Careers Scotland with a clear decision in respect of their jobs.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Deputy Minister for Enterprise andLifelong Learning announced decisions on Careers Scotland on 21 December 2006 inanswer to oral question S2O-11503. That answer indicated that there will be a fulloptions appraisal on the future structure of Careers Scotla…

18 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will consider transferring Scottish Enterprise’s responsibilities and budgets for the development of the creative industries to Creative Scotland.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Scotland’s creative industries are a real success, and atribute to the nation’s long-established talent for innovation andentrepreneurial skill. They also contribute strongly to the economy.</p><p>The Executive wants tomaximise the sector’s long term potentia…

14 Dec 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how much has been withheld from contractors and sub-contractors in the form of retentions relating to the construction of the Holyrood building; how many companies are still awaiting payment of retained monies and, of these, how many are Scottish-based; how much is owed…

Answer · George Reid: As at the end of January2007, the total amount held back from trade contractors involved in theconstruction of the Parliament is circa £4 million, which amounts to just under1% of the projected final cost of the building. The SPCB has no directcontractual arr…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29972 by Mr Tom McCabe on 4 December 2006, whether HM Treasury has had any input into the plans of Scottish ministers which contain the Executive’s strategies for stronger engagement with the USA and China.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30415 on 20 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29971 by Mr Tom McCabe on 4 December 2006, whether it will detail the plans of Scottish ministers for stronger engagement with the United States of America and China.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The plans are public documents.The strategy for stronger engagement with China was published on 28 August 2006and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 40266). Thestrategy for stronger engagement with the United States of America …

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28690 by Mr Tom McCabe on 18 October 2006, whether there are any plans to further expand the Relocation Advisory Service and increase the number of staff it employs.

Answer · Tom McCabe: We currently have no plans toexpand the Relocation Advisory Service or increase the number of staff.</p>

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28813 by Nicol Stephen on 14 November 2006, whether this policy still applies in cases where a higher education institution refuses entry to second or subsequent years to an individual with a Higher National Diploma.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: It is the current policy of the Scottish Executive that students who have gained a Higher National Diploma(HND) and subsequently choose to enter higher education at first year level areassessed as repeating a first year of study.</p><p>This policy also applie…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Communities Scotland has spent since its establishment in each (a) local authority area and (b) Scottish parliamentary constituency.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I have asked Angiolina Foster,Chief Executive of Communities Scotland to respond. Her response is as follows:</p><p>Information on spend is not held centrally by Scottish Parliamentary constituency and held by postcode area onlyfor the Central Heating and War…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many outstanding applications for a council house there were in each local authority area in each of the last 60 months.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The numbers of households onwaiting lists for each local authority are published on an annual basis for 2000-01onwards in the quarterly Scottish Executive Statistical Bulletin (Housing Series)<i>Housing trends in </i><i>Scotland</i><i>: quarters ending 31 Mar…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been employed in each police force area in each year since 1980.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isshown in the following tables.</p><p>Police Officer Numbers</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=180 valign=top> <p align=center>At 31 December</p> </td> <td width=61 valign=top> <p ali…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29649 by Elish Angiolini QC on 21 November 2006, whether there are any inquiries currently under way into either alleged or actual misidentification of fingerprint evidence by the Scottish Criminal Record Office in relation to any crime in the Kilmar…

Answer · Elish Angiolini: In 2003, inquiries were carriedout into the fingerprint evidence provided by the Scottish Criminal Record Office(SCRO) in the case against Mark Sinclair, which arose in the Kilmarnock area.The Crown did not use the fingerprint evidence provided by SCRO on tha…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made on negotiating the capital costs and payment terms for the capital investment in the extension and upgrade of accident and emergency facilities at Hairmyres and Wishaw hospitals and whether these details will be made public when an agreement has been reached wi…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: NHS Lanarkshire are in the earlystages of the business case process which I asked them to pursue when I approvedtheir proposals for the future direction of health services in Lanarkshire.</p><p>Business cases, once approvedby the department’s Capital Investme…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it made any formal submissions to the UK Government in respect of its pending White Paper on energy and, if so, when such submissions were made and what points were raised.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The Executive is engaged withthe Department of Trade and Industry on various workstreams which will feed intothe UK Government’s energy white paper. We have responded formally to the UK Government’sconsultation on its proposed policy framework for new nuclear…

8 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who represents it on the UK Government’s Coal Forum; what the Executive’s objectives are in relation to the forum; how many meetings of the forum there have been and at how many of these meetings the Executive was represented; what the forum’s remit is; how its work impacts on Scotland, a…

Answer · Allan Wilson: A pre-meeting of the forum tookplace on 9 October 2006 and the first meeting of the Forum took place on 14 November 2006. the Executive was represented at both meetings by an official from our Energy PolicyTeam.</p><p>The Executive’s objectives for energy pol…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29649 by Elish Angiolini QC on 21 November 2006, whether any inquiries have been carried out into either alleged or actual misidentification of fingerprint evidence by the Scottish Criminal Record Office in relation to any crime in the Kilmarnock are…

Answer · Elish Angiolini: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30463 on 21 December 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/w…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-29649 by Elish Angiolini QC on 21 November 2006, whether the bar on further proceedings relates only to the Shirley McKie case; whether the names of those experts who cannot now be prosecuted can be provided, and on what date and in what manner these…

Answer · Elish Angiolini: A public announcement was madeon 7 September 2001, confirming that no proceedings were to be taken againstofficers of the Scottish Criminal RecordOffice (SCRO) following allegations of criminalconduct which had been made against them. The officers in question…

7 Dec 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to improve Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland in line with the UK Government’s plans to create an independent board to enhance confidence in government statistics, as announced in the Queen’s Speech.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the questionS2W-30426 answered on 21 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at: <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…