Mr Duncan Hamilton

14 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it (a) made available in the last financial year and (b) will make available in the current financial year to help businesses achieve the ISO 14001 and eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) environment standards and which organisations were involved in distributing any …

Answer · Rhona Brankin: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-18209.

14 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many businesses in Scotland have (a) applied for and (b) achieved the (i) ISO 14001 and (ii) eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) environment standard.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: ISO 14001 and EMAS are voluntary schemes. ISO not a Government-run accreditation scheme and the Executive holds no data on applications and accredited sites. As an EC scheme EMAS is a reserved matter. Details of EMAS registered sites are held on the EMAS webs…

12 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to make additional funding available to local authorities for the provision of intense and constant care in a residential setting and, if so, what criteria will be used to determine the amount of funding to be allocated to each local authority.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The allocation to local authorities for community care this year, at £918 million, is £89 million above that for 2000-01. In addition, we are providing an additional £7.5 million to assist with residential and nursing home fees. The criteria for allocation to…

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it allocated to each local authority in the current financial year for the care of people requiring intense and constant care in a residential setting.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to the question S1W-18052.

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the cost of meeting the identified care needs of all people assessed as having the level of needs which requires the provision of intense and constant care in a residential setting in each local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This year we have allocated over £900 million to local authorities for community care. The actual expenditure on community care and each aspect of community care is for each local authority to determine in light of local circumstances. The allocations to each…

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people in each local authority area have been assessed as having the level of needs which requires the provision of intense and constant care in a residential setting.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally. It is a matter for each local authority to determine in light of local circumstances.

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is in each health board area for an elderly person to receive a residential care place once they have been assessed as requiring such a place.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not held centrally.

11 Sep 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people who have been assessed as needing residential care are currently on the waiting list for such care in each health board area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not available centrally. <P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">However, some information is available for people waiting to be released from hospital into residential care. This was published in <I>Patients ready for discharge in NHSScotland by</I> ISD Scotl…

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) research, (b) administrative, (c) media-related and (d) other support will be available to the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434.

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what role the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001 will have in the organisation and planning of Tartan Day 2002 and what liaison she will have with the Tartan Day committee.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434.

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what mechanisms are in place to monitor the success of the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001 and what plans there are to provide additional resources and staffing devoted to enhancing Scotland's profile in the USA.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434.

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available a monthly news digest summarising the US press coverage resulting directly from the work undertaken by the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001 will be responsible for facilitating (a) the involvement of MSPs in Tartan Day 2002 and (b) business or cultural contacts between MSPs and US organisations.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive to whom the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001 will be directly responsible, both in Scotland and Washington DC.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what job remit has been given to the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001.

Answer · Jack McConnell: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17434

7 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what job title and salary has been given to the new Scottish Executive appointee to the British Embassy in Washington DC announced on 26 July 2001.

Answer · Jack McConnell: The job title of the Scottish Executive appointee (announced on 26 July 2001) to the British Embassy in Washington DC will be First Secretary (Scottish Affairs). Her salary is within the Scottish Executive Band C2 range £38,000-£53,064.<P>The duties of the jo…

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-12765 by Angus MacKay on 7 March 2001, what progress it is making in revising the collection of statistics on electronic service delivery; whether an updated estimate of the percentage of devolved government services currently delivered electronicall…

Answer · Angus MacKay: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17320 on 29 August 2001.

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what aspects of the strategy outlined in e-government: a strategic framework for public services in the Information Age it has not adopted due to them being inappropriate for Scotland.

Answer · Angus MacKay: <I><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2>e-government: a strategic framework for public services in the</I> <I>Information Age</I> provides a framework for planning and actions across the public sector and was developed with the co-operation of the devolved administratio…

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring of the e-government strategies of the USA, Canada, Bra'il, Hong Kong and Ireland it undertakes; who carries out any such monitoring, and what specific e-government projects, ideas or developments in these countries have been or are being considered for implementation in Sc…

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive keeps in touch with e-government progress in a number of countries across the globe, including the USA, Canada, EC countries, the Far East and Australasia, either directly through the staff of its 21st Century Government Unit and its Di…

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what specific steps it is taking, as part of its Digital Scotland initiative or otherwise, to ensure that the elderly are able to access and benefit from e-government developments.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Executive's 21st Century Government agenda is a citizen focussed approach aimed at providing better public services for everyone, in ways that meet the needs of users not the providers. Our efforts are geared towards benefiting all sectors of the populati…

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each website maintained by its departments and agencies and by other Scottish public bodies, specifying in each case the devolved government services which can be accessed from the site and the transactions which can be completed over the internet.

Answer · Angus MacKay: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17320 on 29 August 2001.

2 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the devolved government services which can be accessed online and delivered electronically.

Answer · Angus MacKay: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17320 on 29 August 2001.

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the population in (a) Scotland, (b) each parliamentary region and (c) each local authority area (i) live in areas where access to asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technology is possible and (ii) have ADSL installed and how the figures for the whole of Scotland…

Answer · Wendy Alexander: BT is carrying out the upgrading of exchanges to allow access to ADSL on a commercial basis, based on the company's analysis of demand at a local level. Currently between 34% and 38% of households in Scotland are in areas served by ADSL-enabled exchanges, com…

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contracts for the implementation of future e-government initiatives are under consideration and when an announcement will be made on the tendering process to be used in each case.

Answer · Angus MacKay: There are no contracts under consideration for possible future e- government initiatives. contracts and extensions to contracts for Modernising Government Fund initiatives are under active consideration.<P>All Scottish Executive contract awards are conducted …

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which private companies have advised it on its e-government strategy in the last two years and what contracts have been awarded for the implementation of e-government initiatives during this period.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive put its e-government strategy, <I>Information Age Government in Scotland: A draft framework</I>, out to public consultation in order to elicit comments from the widest possible range of organisations and individuals; indeed the draft fr…

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce public kiosks giving access to online government services and what the timescale is in respect of any such plans.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive is fully committed to enhancing the broadest possible access to government services through a wide variety of media channels including iDTV, internet and WAP. Public kiosks form part of this process and to this end the Executive, throug…

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the local authority action plans referred to in paragraph 12.7 of Information Age Government in Scotland - A draft common framework.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The responsibility for publishing the local authority action plans rests with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA). CoSLA does plan to publish the Action Plans on its website. Summary information will be provided on the Executive's 21st Centur…

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received from each local authority an action plan as referred to in paragraph 12.7 of Information Age Government in Scotland - A draft common framework; if not, which authorities have not yet submitted plans, and when it expects to receive a plan from each such authority.

Answer · Angus MacKay: The responsibility for co-ordination and receipt of the local authority action plans rests with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA). Councils began to publish their plans (or drafts of their plans) in March 2001. To date 17 of the 29 CoSLA co…

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether 75% of all devolved government services will be available online by 2002.

Answer · Angus MacKay: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-17320.

1 Aug 2001 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the study commissioned to map present and planned facilities providing public access to the internet referred to in paragraph 4.8 of Information Age Government in Scotland - A draft common framework has been completed and, if so, whether it will publish the study's findings.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: Since the study was received work has been undertaken to enhance the information to prepare it for use by the public. As a part of a digital inclusion strategy the Executive will publish within the next two months the locations of all facilities providing pub…