Parliamentary questions

James Kelly

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

7 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review the operation of section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: On 18 November the Scottish Government published A breakdown of religious aggravations charges (section 74 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2010) in Scotland in 2010-11. We are also committed to annual analysis of the data collected in relation to relig…

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met Nil By Mouth to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: On 7 June and 26 October, I invited Nil by Mouth to meet with me, and met with them on 24 November, to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there have been discussions since January 2011 between the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning regarding what action can be taken in schools, colleges and universities to t…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met with the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning on 22 September to discuss how we can work with schools, colleges and universities to tackle sectarianism, and I also met with Education Scotland on 5 October to discuss this matter further.…

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have had with third sector organisations to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced and which organisation…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I have held meetings with 28 third sector organisations to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill. In addition I addressed a stakeholder engagement event on the Bill…

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met Action for Churches Together in Scotland to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was in…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met with Action for Churches Together in Scotland on 14 June to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met Sense Over Sectarianism to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met with the Sense Over Sectarianism on 22 June to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met Supporters Direct Scotland to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met Supporters Direct Scotland (SDS) with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Commonwealth Games and Sport on 12 September to discuss unacceptable supporter conduct including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communicati…

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met the Scottish Inter Faith Council to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced…

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met with the Scottish Inter-Faith Council on 15 September to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

6 Oct 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions and on what dates the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and the Minister for Community Safety and Legal Affairs have met Show Racism the Red Card to discuss the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill since it was introduced.

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: I met with the Show Racism the Red Card and Show Bigotry the Red Card on 22 June to discuss issues relating to sectarianism including the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

5 Oct 2011 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what priorities it has set for capital investment in the 2011-12 draft budget.

3 Oct 2011 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what changes the Scottish Government plans to make to the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Bill.

23 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many hospital admissions were directly connected to a diagnosis of assault by sharp object in 2010-11, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table shows information on the number of inpatient and day case episodes in general acute hospitals in Scotland in 2010-11 which were associated with assault by sharp object. The data does not include patients treated solely within Accident and…

23 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many acute occupied bed days were directly connected to a diagnosis of assault by a sharp object in 2010-11, broken down by NHS board.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The following table shows information on the number of occupied bed days in general acute hospitals in Scotland which were associated with assault by sharp object in 2010-11. The information relates to inpatient hospital episodes only. Number of occupied bed…

17 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to abolish pre-qualification questionnaires for public sector contracts worth less than £100,000.

Answer · Alex Neil: In Scotland we are focusing our efforts on improving and standardising pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ). We will link this to the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal, allowing companies to enter the majority of required information once and onc…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02631 on 26 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/MAQA…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review pre-qualification questionnaires for public procurement contracts.

Answer · Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02628 on 26 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentar…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the pre-qualifying questionnaire for public procurement contracts.

Answer · Alex Neil: In October 2009, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth announced plans to introduce a standard pre-qualification database for public procurement contracts with a view to: simplifying and standardising the pre-qualification proc…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of its procurement contracts was awarded directly to small and medium-sized enterprises, disregarding any sub-contracting, in (a) 2007, (b) 2008, (c) 2009 and (d) 2010.

Answer · Alex Neil: I can confirm to the member that the government does not hold this information, however, recent enhancements to the reporting functionality available from the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal indicates that, since October 2010, 75% of all supplier…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises of having different pre-qualification questionnaires for public procurement contracts, rather than a universal pre-qualification questionnaire that allows for obvious technical considerations to be taken acc…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are employed by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: The headcount of staff in post in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as at 31 July 2011 was 1,760 employees.

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service staff were absent from work as a result of (a) illness and (b) stress-related illness in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2008-09, (iii) 2009-10 and (iv) 2010-11.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has several different groups of staff spanning 12 grades involved in a wide variety of legal and administrative work across 51 locations. Periods of absence due to illness range from one or two days to absences for l…

9 Sep 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases on average a procurator fiscal deals with per week.

Answer · Lesley Thomson: Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) does not record figures for the average number of cases a Procurator Fiscal deals with per week. Such a figure would not provide any meaningful information due to the varied nature of the work undertaken by p…

7 Sep 2011 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth has had with the Cabinet Secretary for Justice regarding the next spending review.

19 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what input (a) it and (b) the Scottish Public Pension Agency has provided to discussions at a UK level on changes to pension arrangements affecting the fire and rescue service.

Answer · John Swinney: Both the Scottish Government’s Fire and Rescue Services Division and SPPA are members of the Firefighters’ Pension Committee (FPC) where changes to the Firefighters’ pension schemes are discussed. The FPC is chaired and managed by the Department of Communitie…

19 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what pension reserves the Scottish Public Pension Agency holds in relation to the fire and rescue service.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is not responsible for providing pension funding to the Scottish fire and rescue service.

19 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many staff and (b) what financial resources are being allocated to carry out the reform of the fire and rescue service.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: I announced to the Scottish Parliament on 8 September 2011 this government’s proposals to reform fire and rescue services in Scotland. Reform will protect and enhance these services; make them more sustainable for the long-term, and strengthen governance and …

17 Aug 2011 · Written Question

Answer · Roseanna Cunningham: Statistics on drug-related deaths in Scotland are published annually by National Records of Scotland (NRS). The published statistics are reported by calendar year and the breakdowns of the data include by local authority and NHS health board. Information on…

10 Aug 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will fund any increased costs incurred by the alteration to the police station duty scheme.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: The increased costs that will be incurred by the alteration to the police station duty scheme will be met from within the financial provision made by the Scottish Government for the legal aid fund. This was made clear to the Law Society of Scotland at a meeti…

29 Jun 2011 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the next meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee will take place.

27 Jun 2011 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding it will provide for the roll out of its No Knives, Better Lives campaign.

Answer · Kenny MacAskill: On 25 February 2011, the Scottish Government announced a further £500,000 for No Knives Better Lives, doubling the funding for this important education initiative. This is to give further support to existing areas as well as roll it out to other communities i…