Alex Neil

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its plans for the future of the PFI/PPP project at West Lothian College, including details of any additional public expenditure committed.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Options for the future of thePFI arrangements at West Lothian College remain under consideration by the Scottish ministers.</p>

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why, when and by whom the decision to appoint a civil servant as the Chief Scientific Adviser was taken.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The decision to create this postwas taken by the Executive’s Management Group and followed consultation with theChair of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee and the President of the RoyalSociety of Edinburgh. The Permanent Secretary notified ministers of …

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it announced the appointment of a new Chief Scientific Adviser.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive announcedthe appointment of Professor Anne Glover as its new Chief Scientific Adviser on25 May 2006.</p>

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Professor Wilson Sibbett willstep down as chair of the committee at the end of December. The Executive then plansto run the committee with the existing membership until at least 30 June 2007, underthe chairmanship of Professor Anne Glover, the Executive’s new…

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what restrictions were placed on the chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee in respect of meeting the UK Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser and why any such restrictions were imposed.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The chair of this committee isnot a Scottish Executive official and so cannot represent the Executive in Governmentcommittee meetings convened by the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser. The Executivehas not attempted to restrict his meetings with the UK Go…

20 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings the Minister for Education and Young People has had with the chair of the Scottish Science Advisory Committee since May 2003.

Answer · Peter Peacock: I have not met Professor Sibbett,the chair of this committee, but my officials met him on 22 October 2004 to discusshis committee’s report on science education and to explain in more detail our futureplans for review of the curriculum.</p>

18 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many prosecutions have been pursued by the Crown Office in each of the last 10 years on the basis of a single fingerprint being the only evidence on which it has sought a conviction.

Answer · Colin Boyd: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-26208 on 8 June 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/wa.s…

12 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many responses it has received to its consultation on the future position of Careers Scotland.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive has received144 responses to its consultation on the future position of Careers Scotland.</p>

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for inspecting the standard of cleanliness of each NHS hospital.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Domestic services managers foreach NHS hospital are required to monitor performance to ensure compliance withthe NHSScotland National Cleaning Services Specification. The monitoring processis supported by audits carried out by peer review teams representing i…

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many redundancies there have been in the NHS in each year since 1990, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Information on redundancy isnot collected centrally. However with the advent of the Scottish Workforce InformationStatistical System (SWISS) this kind of information will be available for the future.</p><p>The NHS Scotland organisationalchange policy recognis…

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has established the one-stop advisory service for the Fresh Talent initiative announced in its news release of 24 September 2003.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Yes. The Relocation AdvisoryService has been operational since October 2004. To date over 11,500 people fromover 150 countries have received advice from the service.</p><p>The service is free and can beaccessed in a number of ways:</p><p>Use the online form a…

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures the success of the www.scotlandistheplace.com website.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The scotlandistheplace.com websitewas set up as part of the Relocation Advisory Service to offer a comprehensiveand interactive advice service to those interested in living and working in Scotland.The success of <a href="http://www.scotlandistheplace.com/">ww…

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it attempts to encourage expatriate Scots to return.

Answer · Tom McCabe: We welcome all talented andhard working people who want to live and work in Scotland and contribute togrowing Scotland’s economy. The New Scots report, published inFebruary 2004, recognised that we would need to target our efforts and theScots diaspora was id…

6 Sep 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how successful educational maintenance allowances have been for 16 to 18-year-olds in schools.

Answer · Robert Brown: Twenty-three thousand, sixhundred and fifty students received Education Maintenance Allowance payments inScotland in 2004-05. Statistics for 2005-06 will be published in November. Qualitativeresearch on the pilot programmes showed increased participation in l…

6 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement it or any of its agencies have had with the returntoscotland.com project.

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its comments on the costs to Glasgow Housing Association of its second stage stock transfer as contained in the Auditor General for Scotland’s report, Council housing transfers, published in March 2006.

Answer · Johann Lamont: The Scottish Executive has noplans to publish any of the material provided to Audit Scotland as partof its investigation into council housing transfers. This is because the ScottishExecutive made available a broad range of information to Audit Scotland, inclu…

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its target deadline is for the implementation of Glasgow Housing Association’s second stage stock transfer.

Answer · Johann Lamont: The Scottish Executive does nothave a specific target deadline for second stage transfers (SST) to take place,but would like to see early progress over the coming months. The joint team on financial issues is currently consideringthe implications of different…

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from Glasgow Housing Association in respect of the capital and revenue costs and funding requirements of the second stage transfer of its housing stock and, if so, whether it will publish details of these representations.

Answer · Johann Lamont: Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has made representations tothe Scottish Executive about the financial implications of second stage transfers(SST). Following these representations, ministers set up the Ministerial ProgressGroup on SST to bring together key p…

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the purposes for which its funding to Glasgow Housing Association has been used since the association’s inception.

Answer · Johann Lamont: Scottish Executive funding toGlasgow Housing Association (GHA) has been used to support the delivery of GHA’sbusiness plan. A copy of the business plan is available at:</p><p><ahref="http://www.gha.org.uk/">http://www.gha.org.uk</a>. </p><p>In particular, som…

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive where the capital and revenue costs of Glasgow Housing Association’s second stage stock transfer are accounted for in the association’s business plan.

Answer · Johann Lamont: All elements of GlasgowHousing Association’s (GHA) business plan are relevant to determining the costsof second stage transfer (SST) since the prices set for individual transferswill be driven primarily by disaggregation of that business plan. In addition, GH…

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the members of, and advisers to, the group examining Glasgow Housing Association’s second stage stock transfer.

Answer · Johann Lamont: The members of the Joint Teamon financial issues are officials from: Communities Scotland, Glasgow Housing Association,Glasgow City Council and potential purchasers.</p>

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the group examining Glasgow Housing Association’s second stage stock transfer will report its findings.

Answer · Johann Lamont: It is hoped that the reportof the joint team on financial issues will be finalised in the next few weeks. Itwill be made publicly available in due course.</p>

5 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the capital and revenue costs of implementing the second stage transfer of Glasgow Housing Association’s housing stock.

Answer · Johann Lamont: The costs of second stagetransfer (SST) will vary significantly according to a large number of factors,including in particular the number and shape of transfers and the timing ofthese transfers. A joint team of officials from Glasgow Housing Association(GHA),…

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received representations from any source for the introduction of regular rail services between Lanark and Edinburgh.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive has receivedthree representations in support of the introduction of regular rail services betweenLanark and Edinburgh.</p>

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive at which institutions are x-ray facilities available in the NHS and whether there are any plans to change this provision.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not heldcentrally. X-ray facilities are available in a wide range of institutions, and itis for NHS boards to determine where they are sited, based on clinical need.</p>

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the maximum (a) in-patient and (b) out-patient waiting time was in each (i) NHS board area and (ii) hospital in each year since 1997.

Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the questionS2W-22085 answered on 20 January 2006 which provided information on out-patient andin-patient and day case waiting times for each quarter since 31 December 1997 to30 September 2005 by NHS Board.</p><p>Information on waiting t…

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average S1 and S2 class sizes in maths and English have been in each year since 1997.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Class size data forsecondary is not routinely collected as part of the annual school censusexercise, but in order to estimate thenumber of additional Maths and English teachers required to meet our S1/S2 classsize commitments a special collection was made in …

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers have been on operational duty in each (a) police force area, (b) police force division area, (c) police station, (d) local authority area and (e) Scottish Parliamentary constituency in each year since 1997.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isnot held centrally. Responsibility for the operational deployment of police officersrests with individual Chief Constables. The dynamic nature of policing is such thatthe demands placed on resources, including individual officers, …

28 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes and services its Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department delivers directly and what the current annual budget is for each.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The following table details theprogrammes and services of the Enterprise Transport and Lifelong Learning Departmentwhich it will deliver directly in 2006-07.</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td width=159 valign=top> <p align…

23 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many empty buildings have been wholly or partially exempted from business rates in each of the last two years and how much additional business rate revenue would have been raised if these buildings had been fully occupied.

Answer · Tom McCabe: We do not collect or holdcentrally data relating to the number of empty buildings in Scotland.However, an estimate of the total amount of non-domestic rates not collecteddue to properties being unoccupied or partly occupied is available fromScottish Executive…