Parliamentary questions

Alex Neil

3,059 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

24 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5794 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 February 2004, whether any information has been made available to the US authorities in connection with visa applications on an indirect basis.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Neither the Scottish Executive nor the Scottish Criminal Record Office makes available either directlyor indirectly information to the US authorities in connection with visa applications. Asindicated, however, in the answer I gave to question S2W‑5794, …

24 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the most up-to-date figures are for the number of people on each New Deal.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing organisations.Number of People Participating in New De…

24 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will now publish a revised version of its estimates of government expenditure and revenues in Scotland for the period covered by its revisions of gross domestic product and gross value added figures.

Answer · Jim Wallace: There is no need to considera revised version of Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (GERS) becausethe GDP figures produced by the Scottish Executive are not used to produce the estimatesin GERS. I refer the member to the answergiven to ques…

24 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes are required to the statistical information contained in Government Expenditure and Revenues in Scotland 2001-02 as a result of the revision in February 2004 of previous estimates for Scottish gross domestic product and gross value added and, in particular, what changes requ…

Answer · Jim Wallace: The quarterly GDP index thatwas revised in February 2004 was not used in any of the calculations in GovernmentExpenditure and Revenues in Scotland (GERS) 2001-02. The estimates of GVA (GDP atbasic prices) used in GERS are the annual estimates of the cash valu…

11 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5794 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 February 2004, under what circumstances the Scottish Criminal Record Office would make information available to the United States Government in respect of visa applications and whether any requests for such information hav…

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Criminal RecordOffice (SCRO) could be required to make information available to implementinternational obligations entered into by the UK Government. There is, however,no such agreement between the UK and US Governments which deals with the excha…

11 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it is making in implementing each of the recommendations that it wholly or partially agreed with in the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee's 9th Report 2002, Final Report on Lifelong Learning.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The majority of the committee’srecommendations which were wholly or partially accepted have been incorporatedwithin the 48 commitments of our Lifelong Learning Strategy for Scotland(Bib. number 26050). Progress on the strategy document was reported to …

11 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to report on the evaluation of the pilot projects for business learning accounts; how many such projects have been undertaken, and where they have been based.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The business learning account (BLA) pilots will run for two years until 2005, with evaluation on-going throughout. An interim evaluation is due in Autumn this year, with the final evaluation report due to be received in September 2005.Three hundred BLA…

11 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it now expects to reintroduce individual learning accounts and what eligibility criteria will be applied.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I set out my plans for thenew Individual Learning Account scheme, to be known as ILA Scotland, to the Enterpriseand Culture Committee on 27 January.It is intended that the new scheme will be available from summer 2004subject to all required improvement…

10 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce the Disabled Student Allowance for all disabled postgraduate students other than students funded by research councils.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Disabled Students'Allowance is currently available to all full-time postgraduate students inreceipt of an award from the Students’ Award Agency for Scotlandunder the Postgraduate Student Allowance Scheme.We have considered theadditional needs of st…

10 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5655 by Mr Jim Wallace on 5 February 2004, whether it will publish the key findings from the study of inward investors that fall outwith the category of commercially sensitive information.

Answer · Jim Wallace: A summary of the keyfindings from the report Inward investment benefits for the Scottish economyis being prepared. I have asked my officials to write to you when it has beenplaced in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

10 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in establishing a fully researched mediation service for the NHS; when the working group planning the implementation of this service will report, and when it expects the service to be fully operational.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The report published in 2003by the expert group on financial and other support, chaired by Lord Ross, endorsed the recommendation made by the RoyalSociety of Edinburgh in their report Encouraging Resolution - Mediatingpatient/health service disputes in Sco…

3 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of Bowhouse Prison in Kilmarnock.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: HMP Kilmarnock will continueto be an important part of the prison estate during the remainder of the 25year contract period.

3 Feb 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the fatal accident inquiry will commence into the circumstances surrounding the death of Stewart Williams while serving as a prisoner at Bowhouse Prison in Kilmarnock.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: The death of StewartWilliams on 30 January 2004 is being investigated by the Procurator Fiscal at Kilmarnock.In terms of section 1(1)(a)(ii) of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden DeathsInquiry Act 1976 a fatal accident inquiry is mandatory. Investigation of theca…

3 Feb 2004 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer what procedures were followed with regard to the appointment of a legal firm of advisers to the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner; how many companies were invited to tender for the appointment and of those how many were based (a) in and (b) outside of Edinburgh; what criteria w…

Answer · Robert Brown: The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002 provides that the Commissioner may appoint advisers to assistin the carrying out of his functions, subject to the approval of the SPCB. TheSPCB approved the appointment of Anderson Strathern WS, as le…

29 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5621 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 January 2004, how many 16 and 17-year-olds have registered with Careers Scotland and, of these, how many have not had guarantee of a suitable offer of training met, expressed also as a percentage of 16 and 17-year-olds w…

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: This is a matter forScottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The information requested isnot held centrally.

28 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a full evaluation of the Higher Still reforms.

Answer · Peter Peacock: An Evaluation of theHigher Still Reforms – a study ofstakeholder perceptions of the impact of the Higher Still reform programme –was published in the Scottish Executive’s Insight series of research documents on 10 December 2003.The full s…

27 Jan 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what information is being made available to the United States Government and its agencies on individual criminal records in respect of applications for visa from people in Scotland wishing to travel to the United States of America.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Criminal RecordOffice holds the records of persons convicted by Scottish courts. It has notmade any information directly available to US authorities in connection with visaapplications.Individuals are, however,able to obtain criminal recor…