Parliamentary questions
Andrew Wilson
771 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
21 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to ensure that welfare services were available to students at each (a) university and (b) further education college in each of the past five years and how much this funding was as a percentage of the overall funding of each institution in each year.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The funding for individual institutions is a matter for the Scottish Funding Councils for Further and Higher Education. Funds are not specifically distributed for welfare services, the funding of which is a matter for individual institutions.<P>The Executive …
21 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assistance it can provide to students or internal welfare organisations who contact it directly requesting its intervention in concerns, complaints, alleged malpractices or grievances associated with courses or administration at any university or further education college.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: All higher education institutions and further education colleges have complaints procedures in place, details of which are available to students and staff. Institutions and colleges are autonomous bodies and ministers have no locus to intervene in such matter…
21 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many student complaints, grievances and academic appeals were lodged at each (a) university and (b) further education college in each of the past five years, broken down by course classification type.
Answer · Wendy Alexander: The information requested is not held centrally.
21 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the appointment and assessment processes for external academic assessors in all universities and further education colleges are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and whether it will detail any action it has undertaken to ensure that this is the case and the re…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Higher education institutions and further education colleges are autonomous bodies under the terms of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 and are therefore responsible themselves for ensuring that their procedures comply with all relevant leg…
21 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the procedures for dealing with student complaints, grievances, academic assessments and appeals in respect of each of these categories in all universities and further education colleges are compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights and whether it will detail any acti…
Answer · Wendy Alexander: Higher education institutions and further education colleges are autonomous bodies under the terms of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 and are therefore responsible themselves for ensuring that their procedures comply with all relevant leg…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20513 by Lewis Macdonald on 12 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 12 December 2001 to question S1W-20513 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20514 by Lewis Macdonald on 12 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 12 December 2001 to question S1W-20514 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20515 by Lewis Macdonald on 12 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 12 December 2001 to question S1W-20515 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20615 by Lewis Macdonald on 17 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 17 December 2001 to question S1W-20615 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20610 by Lewis Macdonald on 17 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 17 December 2001 to question S1W-20610 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20614 by Lewis Macdonald on 17 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 17 December 2001 to question S1W-20614 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
20 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20611 by Lewis Macdonald on 17 December 2001, (a) what the cost was of providing the answer, (b) why the specific details requested were not provided, (c) when it will give those details, (d) what the reasons were for giving this answer and (e) why t…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The answer I gave on 17 December 2001 to question S1W-20611 was adequate. It referred to the prior answer given to Des McNulty on 29 November 2001 (S1W-20533) in which I promised to publish next summer a report from the Performance Audit Group. That report wi…
13 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-19992 by Lewis MacDonald on 11 December 2001, whether it will alter the trunk road maintenance contracts to allow Amey Highways Ltd and BEAR Scotland Ltd to answer enquiries from MSPs and MPs directly and what the reasons are for its position on this…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: There are currently no proposals to alter the trunk road maintenance contacts in this regard. The reason for the Scottish Executive's position on this matter was given in my answer to question S1W-20400 on 10 December 2001.
13 Dec 2001 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to the answer to question S1W-19992 by Lewis MacDonald on 11 December 2001, whether any aspects of the trunk road maintenance contracts have been varied or altered since 1 April 2001; if so, what variations have been made; whether the Executive has permitted Amey Highways Ltd and …
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: There have been a limited number of relatively minor changes to the trunk road maintenance contracts since 1 April 2001. The one alteration to the specification resulted from a requirement of the Scottish Executive to enhance the quality of driver information…
12 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20441 by Lewis MacDonald on 11 December 2001 and given that it is "not usual to provide details of discussions between Ministers and third parties", how many written parliamentary questions seeking answers relating to such discussions (a) have fallen…
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Information in the form requested could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, the member will be aware that all written answers are published in the <I>Written Answers Report</I> available on the Parliament's website.
12 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-20441 and S1W-20439 by Lewis MacDonald on 11 December 2001 and given that it is "not usual to provide details of discussions between Ministers and third parties", how it decides what information will be disclosed when this circumstance arises.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Decisions on whether or not to disclose information, including details of discussions between ministers and third parties, are considered in the context of the Executive's policy of extending access to official information. This policy is supported by the <I>…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20401 by Lewis MacDonald on 10 December 2001, why it did not give its reasons for preventing Amey Highways Ltd and BEAR (Scotland) Ltd from responding directly to enquiries from the media as requested and when it will do so.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The reason for precluding the Operating Companies from responding directly to enquiries from the media was confirmed in my answer to question S1W-20401. This condition was included in the contract to clearly define areas of responsibility between the Scottish…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20400 by Lewis MacDonald on 10 December 2001, why it did not give its reasons for preventing Amey Highways Ltd and BEAR (Scotland) Ltd from responding directly to enquiries from MSPs and MPs as requested and when it will do so.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The reason for not permitting the Operating Companies from responding directly to enquiries from MSPs and MPs was made clear in my answer to question S1W-20400. This condition was included in the contract to clearly define areas of responsibility between the …
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-14451 by Mr Tom McCabe on 6 April 2001, on how many occasions before 10 July 2000 and since 22 March 2001 it has asked back-bench MSPs to lodge parliamentary questions in order to enable it to make an announcement or for any other purpose; whether it…
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Due to limited storage space available, central records for individual written parliamentary questions which include details of occasions when the Scottish Executive "has asked back-bench MSPs to lodge parliamentary questions", are held for a maximu…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many items of official correspondence it has received from MSPs in each six-month period since its inception and what information it holds on the length of time it has taken to respond to such correspondence.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The available information is shown in the following table. Between July 1999 and June 2000, information was gathered from each Scottish Executive Department's own database and the information for MPs and MSPs was not disaggregated. Since July 2000 all informa…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost is of issuing a holding answer to a parliamentary question and how many holding answers it has issued in each six-month period since its inception.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The estimated cost of issuing a holding answer is £2.20, based on the average gross salary of the officials involved, accommodation, establishment and overhead costs.<P>Official records on the total number of holding answers issued to written parliamentary qu…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many parliamentary questions it has responded to in each six-month period since its inception and what the average time taken to reply to parliamentary questions was in each six-month period.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Official records on the total number of written parliamentary questions answered daily have only been maintained since April 2001. The number of questions which have been answered substantively in each month from April to September 2001 is as follows:<TABLE B…
11 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why it has not yet given a substantive answer to question S1W-19800, lodged on 7 November 2001, and when it will do so.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-19800 on 3 January 2001.
10 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether developments reported in The Courier on 6 December 2001 in respect of Bear (Scotland) Ltd and Fife Council will have any impact on delivery of contracted provisions for winter under the trunk roads maintenance contract and what action it has taken to ensure that no disruption will…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: BEAR Scotland Ltd has mobilised sufficient resources to address the winter and other maintenance operations previously carried out by Fife Council on BEAR's behalf. BEAR has assured the Executive that no disruption to services will occur.
10 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any difficulties exist between BEAR (Scotland) Ltd and Fife Council, when it first became aware of any such difficulties and what action it has undertaken to resolve them.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive was not aware of any difficulties between BEAR Scotland Ltd and Fife Council until 29 November 2001 when it was advised that Fife Council was withdrawing its sub-contracting operations, including winter operations, for BEAR with effect …
7 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-20257 and S1W-20258 by Lewis MacDonald on 6 December 2001, whether the contractual protection of the pension rights of local authority staff in its tender process for the new trunk road maintenance contracts could have been improved.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: No. In line with an undertaking given by the former Minister of Transport and Planning, we are exploring whether payment can be made directly to employees who were transferred to the new Operating Companies under TUPE terms.
6 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has been consulted on, or is aware of, any plans by the Strategic Rail Authority to locate any personnel in Scotland.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The effective management of the resources of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), including the deployment of its staff, is a matter for the SRA's Executive Board. The SRA have not informed the Executive of any plans to relocate staff to Scotland.
6 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate or any department within the Crown Office have been consulted on the proposed Stirling to Alloa Rail link and, if so, on what dates and for what reasons.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: It would be inappropriate for the Executive to provide information which would harm the frankness and candour of discussion and advice, including between the Scottish Executive and legal advisers.
5 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning stated at the announcement on 4 December 2001 of the Edinburgh Crossrail Project that Beauly Station had already opened and, if so, why, and when trains will be in a position to stop at the platform.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Minister for Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning referred on 4 December to the originally scheduled date for the re-opening of the Beauly Station, 30 November 2001. Cancellation of this schedule was notified to the Executive only on the date in qu…
3 Dec 2001 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications will be for the police and the courts of prosecuting motorists who have displayed Scottish national symbols on vehicle registration plates and whether it is aware of any guidance issued to the police and the courts on this matter in advance of the outcome of the con…
Answer · Jim Wallace: We are not aware of any direct implications for the police or courts in connection with this matter. The Scottish Executive has not issued any guidance along the lines described.