Parliamentary questions

Dennis Canavan

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

16 Mar 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that the Scottish Outdoor Access Code meets the objective of providing guidance in determining whether or not land is subject to access rights under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: The code provides guidance on the extent and nature of accessrights in accordance with the requirements of the act. Only the courts can finallydetermine whether access rights apply in relation to any particular area of land.

28 Feb 2007 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking as a result of the report, Contemporary slavery in the UK: overview and key issues, produced for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Slavery is a terrible and unacceptableevil. In today’s world, there is no place for the trafficking in human beings forsexual exploitation or forced labour.Later this month, the ScottishExecutive and the Home Office will publish our Joint Action Pla…

18 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20437 by Mr Tom McCabe on 5 December 2005, whether it is now in a position to give a more accurate prediction of when it will pay out the remainder of the £126 million which it agreed to pay out in ex gratia payments from the Scottish Transport Group…

Answer · George Lyon: It is not possible tospeculate when the remainder of the £126 million will be paid out. This willdepend on the number and frequency of valid claims received from former membersof the Scottish Transport Group pension scheme. Information relating to potentialap…

11 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times in the last year it met the Scottish Kennel Club to discuss the issue of electric shock collars and similar animal training devices.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Officials have met the ScottishKennel Club twice during 2006 when electric shock collars were discussed.

11 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward regulations under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006 to ban the sale and use of electric shock collars and similar animal training devices.

Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is mindedto ban the use of devices that cause pain and distress unless there is a good casefor them to be permitted. However, before any decision is made on whether to banthe sale and use of electric shock collars, it will be necessary …

8 Jan 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been allocated to local authorities for delivering the access provisions set out in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003; how much of that money has been spent on delivering access, and how much has been diverted to other functions, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Sarah Boyack: Following the introduction ofPart 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, additional funds of £29.2 million were includedin the local government settlement for the period 2001-02 to 2005-06 for accessrelated activity. A further £8.1 million was included for…

15 Nov 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to record and publish secondary school class sizes before May 2007.

Answer · Robert Brown: No. Secondary school classsize data is not routinely collected. A special collection of S1 to S2 mathsand English classes will be made as part of the 2007 school census to establishwhether our target of reducing those classes to a maximum of 20 by August 2007…

14 Nov 2006 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body which parliamentary employees are eligible for the healthy living and well-being allowance; how many receive it, and what the total annual cost is of the scheme.

Answer · John Scott: The Healthy Living and Well‑beingScheme is open to all SPCB staff, including seconded staff who were with the Parliament before 1 April 2000 and will continue to be paid by us direct. Thescheme is also open to secondees who are employed under SPCB…

7 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office will publish the Lord Advocate’s guidelines on sporting events which are read out to participants before events start; who reads out the guidelines, and where and at what events they are read.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: In July of 1996 the Lord Advocateissued guidelines to Chief Constables concerning the investigation andreporting of incidents of violence or disorderly conduct during sportingevents. These guidelines are published on the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Serv…

30 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16435 by Nicol Stephen on 24 May 2005, whether the final report of the feasibility study into the provision of a new station and park and ride facility at Allandale/Castlecary and lower level studies of other local stations including High Bonnybridge…

Answer · Tavish Scott: The final report of the feasibilitystudy into the provision of a new park and ride station at Allandale was submittedto the Scottish Executive by consultants acting on behalf of Falkirk Council earlierthis year.The report, which took the formof a STAG …

29 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate will publish guidelines for procurators fiscal outlining the circumstances in which making the sign of the cross may constitute a criminal offence.

Answer · Elish Angiolini: Making the sign of the crossdoes not constitute a criminal offence. The Crown Office and Procurator FiscalService fully respects religious belief and lawful religious practices andwould not countenance action against an individual for lawful acts of religious…

19 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many doctors from outside Scotland are employed to provide weekend cover for out-of-hours GP services and what the cost is of such cover, including travel and accommodation, broken down by NHS board area and showing the countries where the doctors are normally domiciled.

Answer · Andy Kerr: This information is not held centrally by the department.Under the National Health Service(General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004, NHS boards have the responsibilityto provide out-of-hours care to their local population. This i…

16 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to introduce legislation on freshwater fishing.

16 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25007 by Patricia Ferguson on 8 May 2006, what the subject matters were of the 60 files on which 100-year closures were imposed.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive iscommitted to allowing all mothers who require hospital care for post-nataldepression to be admitted alongside their babies. Dedicated provision ofperinatal health care is in place to serve the West of Scotland, Grampian and Forth Vall…

16 May 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-25007 by Patricia Ferguson on 8 May 2006, what the subject matters were of the 60 files on which 100-year closures were imposed.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The subject matters of the fileson which a 100-year closure was imposed are listed in the following table. Whenthe National Archives of Scotland were gathering this information, theydiscovered a group of State Hospital patients’ files which had been omitted f…

2 May 2006 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will provide an up-to-date report on the repair to the roof of the Chamber.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The member’s question istimely, given that today we met back in the Chamber. The first phase of therestoration is complete. Work continues to develop the next step in the process– the final detailed design of Phase II of the solution, planned for the summerre…

19 Apr 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what response it has had to its public consultation about legislation on freshwater fishing.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: The Executive is currently analysing436 written responses to the public consultation on the Aquaculture and FisheriesBill, which closed on 3 March 2006.Over half of those who respondedto the consultation gave views on questions relating to freshwater …

4 Apr 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions the Executive or the Crown Office employed the 100-year closure rule since 1999 and what the legislative basis for such practice is.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: There is no legislation relatingto the closure of Scottish Executive files, so closures were imposed on an administrativebasis. Between 1999 and 1 January 2005, when the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Actcame into force and replaced this administrative arr…

15 Mar 2006 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to prevent skin cancer.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The ScottishExecutive jointly funds the SunSmart campaign which is co-ordinated by Cancer ResearchUK and has been running since 2003.NHS Board HealthPromotion Departments are also active in the promotion of healthy lifestyles includingthe provision of …

13 Mar 2006 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether it will investigate the possibility of using Holyrood Palace for meetings of the Parliament until the roof of the debating chamber is repaired.

Answer · George Reid: I shall reply to the Memberas soon as possible.

7 Mar 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it is giving to keepers of homing pigeons regarding the threat of avian flu.

Answer · Ross Finnie: Although pigeons are not currentlyconsidered to be highly susceptible to avian influenza, officials have been in regularcontact with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Scottish Homing Union,on matters such as good biosecurity and the licensing of pig…

1 Feb 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much each local authority paid to private sector companies as a result of PFI/PPP school building contracts in each year since 1999-2000.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The estimated annual unitary payment paid by local authorities to the PPP consortium in respect of schools PPP projects from 1999-2000 to 2005-06 is given in the following table: Estimated annual unitary charge (£ million)<table border=1 cellspaci…

24 Jan 2006 · SPCB Oral Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many complaints have been received regarding repairs required to the Parliament building since it was officially opened.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: Between November 2004 and December 2005, 112 requests for maintenance repairs were recorded by the helpdesk. Since migration, 2,165 building project snags and complaints have been reported by building users and forwarded to the Holyrood Project Team to invest…

5 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19344 by Peter Peacock on 20 September 2005 and the supplementary to S2O-8316 by Peter Peacock on 1 December 2005, what the most recent figures available are in respect of the percentage of S1 and S2 classes in (a) English and (b) mathematics which h…

Answer · Peter Peacock: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-19344 on 28 September 2005. Secondary class size data is not routinely collectedduring the annual school census exercise, but this information was collected separatelyto establish the number of additional teache…

1 Dec 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-15207 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 March 2005, which advertising agencies are on the Scottish Executive contract.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive Marketing Unit renewed its advertising contract on 1 August 2004. The eight agencies on the roster are Barkers, Leith, Newhaven, Family, 1576, Union, Citigate Smarts and The Bridge. A press release was issued on 12 August 2004 g…

30 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its Partnership Agreement commitment, when it expects to introduce a national concessionary travel scheme for young people.

Answer · Tavish Scott: The Partnership Agreement commits the Executive to introduce a scheme of national bus, rail and ferry concessionary travel for young people. We will announce the details shortly.

23 Nov 2005 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment is being made of value for money in respect of its expenditure on advertising.

Answer · George Lyon: Executive advertising is evaluated by the Office of the Chief Researcher using various research techniques and routinely published on the Executive’s website. It is also measured against targets such as the number of people receiving flu injections or respons…

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19646 by Mr Tom McCabe on 2 November 2005, when it will pay out the remainder of the £126 million which it agreed to pay out in ex-gratia payments from the Scottish Transport Group pension funds surplus.

Answer · Tom McCabe: It is anticipated that if valid claims continue to be received in the same numbers then it will be late 2007 before the balance of the funds are dispersed.

26 Oct 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the second supplementary question to question S2O-2883 by Allan Wilson on 1 July 2004, when it expects to fulfil the commitment given by the then Deputy Minister for Environment and Rural Affairs to repeal the Freshwater and Salmon Fisheries (Scotland) Act 1976 a…

Answer · Rhona Brankin: Although repeal is an option, my understanding is that the Scottish Freshwater Fisheries Forum is very strongly of the view that the current arrangements should be improved not revoked. Proposals relating to access to salmon and freshwater fisheries wi…

21 Oct 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what protocol has been agreed with the Home Office in respect of the treatment of the children of refugees and asylum seekers resident in Scotland.

Answer · Robert Brown: Discussions with the Home Office on a protocol are on-going. Once the protocol is agreed ministers will report back to Parliament.