Parliamentary questions

Johann Lamont

1,407 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

6 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has held with the Chartered Institute of Housing to discuss her proposals for housing.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The new Scottish Governmentis keen to meet a range of housing organisations to discuss future action on housingprovision. No meetings have yet been held with the Chartered Institute of Housing(CIH), but I and the Minister for Communities and Sport hope to mee…

6 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has held with Shelter to discuss her proposals for housing.

Answer · Stewart Maxwell: The government willannounce today a number of proposals for tackling Scotland’s housing problems. Ihave spoken to Shelter today and will meet them tomorrow to discuss how to takeforward these proposals.

6 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing has held with Communities Scotland to discuss her proposals for housing.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Along with the Minister for Communitiesand Sport I have had a number of meetings with officials in Communities Scotlandto discuss aspects of housing policy and its delivery. Those discussions areon-going.

6 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to implement the recommendation of the Howat report that the supporting people and homelessness budgets be transferred from the Executive to Communities Scotland.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The budget review reportwill contribute to our strategic thinking around the spending review. It wouldbe inappropriate to comment on the detail or pre-empt any commitment ahead of spendingreview 2007.

6 Jun 2007 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to implement the recommendation of the Howat report that a more businesslike relationship be established between the Executive and sportscotland.

28 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the findings were of the review conducted by the Scottish Childrens Reporters Administration (SCRA) into Munchausens syndrome by proxy and what action it intends to take as a result.

Answer · Euan Robson: The report is being published by the SCRA today. I am placing a copy in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33946).Following the judgement of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales in the case of Cannings, ministers asked the SCRA t…

22 Sep 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Inquiry Reporters Unit is required to take into account the previous environmental record of an applicant when deciding on a planning application.

Answer · Margaret Curran: A reporter will consider any information placed before her or him and will decide its relevance, in land use planning terms, as a material consideration in the particular case. As a general rule though, land use planning relates to the “use” of land, rather t…

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will fill the funding gap when the New Futures Fund ends in March 2005.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Since inception, the New Futures Fund (NFF) has aimed to develop new ways of working with those furthest from the labour market with a view to building successful aspects into mainstream services. Scottish Enterprise (SEn), which manages NFF, is now pursuing …

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with local authorities in respect of arrangements for the Supporting People initiative beyond 2004-05.

Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive meets Local Authority Supporting People lead officers on a monthly basis to discuss current and future issues. Local authorities are also represented on the review group that the Scottish Executive set up to review the programme and its…

16 Sep 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements have been made to ensure continued funding for the Supporting People initiative beyond 2004-05.

Answer · Margaret Curran: Decisions on future funding for Supporting People will be made shortly in the context of the wider Spending Review announcements.

31 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been sectioned under mental health legislation since the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 came into effect, broken down by (a) age, (b) gender and (c) local authority area.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland has supplied the following figures. Mental health statistics are not available according to local authority as they are collected by Health Board area. Further detail may be obtained from the Commission’s Annual R…

31 Aug 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many guardianship orders have been (a) sought and (b) granted since the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 came into effect, broken down by (i) age, (ii) gender and (iii) local authority area.

Answer · Hugh Henry: Figures provided by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) indicate that:(a) the number of financial, welfare and combined financial and welfare guardianship orders sought since part 6 of the Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 came into effect…

16 Jun 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what lessons can be learned from the recently-published recorded crime statistics for 2003.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: With recorded crime at its lowest level for 25 years, these figures show that our record investment in frontline policing and our on-going reforms of the criminal justice system are helping to create a safer Scotland. But there is no room for complacency. The…

3 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding is made available to ensure the provision of family liaison officers.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Decisions on the use of the available resources within police forces, including the level of funding for family liaison officers, is an operational matter for each Chief Constable. Funding for the Scottish Police Service is currently at record levels. The Ass…

3 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor the deployment of family liaison officers.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-8753. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">h…

3 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to ensure the availability of family liaison officers to the families of murder victims.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The procedures in place for family liaison officers are an operational matter for chief constables. Last year, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary carried out a thematic inspection of family liaison arrangements. Their report, Relatively Speaking – …

27 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to publish new legislation to reform charity law.

Answer · Margaret Curran: In September 2003 Iannounced that, after listening to the sector and other stakeholders, I wouldpublish a draft Bill to provide the regulatory framework that Scottishcharities need and deserve. I am pleased to publish today a draft Charities andTrustee Invest…

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the current review of the funding of local authorities will include an examination of the methods of working of valuation appeal panels.

Answer · Tavish Scott: No. A valuation appeal panelis a body consisting of at least 12 individuals, appointed by the appropriate sheriffprincipal, from which are drawn members of valuation appeal committees (VACs). TheCouncil on Tribunals, which operates independently of both centr…

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will review the compensation clauses within the Land Compensation (Scotland) Act 1973

Answer · Mary Mulligan: We have no immediate plans todo so.

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is intended to publish the results of the investigation by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration into the cases of children who have been removed from a parent alleged to be suffering from Munchausen's syndrome by proxy.

Answer · Euan Robson: As I said during the debate onChildren’s Hearings on 18 May, ministers have received a report from the ScottishChildren’s Reporters Administration summarising the conclusions of their work onMunchausen’s syndrome by proxy. We are now considering what steps to…

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what programmes and partnerships Scottish Enterprise has for addressing its social inclusion remit and what percentage of annual expenditure it devotes to these programmes and partnerships.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Scottish Enterprise addressesinclusion and social justice in growing the Scottish economy through its skillsand learning activities and also by mainstreaming social justice into all otherfunctional activities. Information on programmes andpartnerships …

20 May 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish Enterprise's specific social inclusion remit is.

Answer · Jim Wallace: A Smart, Successful Scotland (SSS), together with the progress measures in MeasuringProgress Towards a Smart Successful Scotland, set the strategic direction forthe enterprise networks. SSS requires Scottish Enterprise to take a number of cross-…

25 Mar 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when non-departmental public bodies will commence annual publication of the number of their employees with learning disabilities and their plans to develop employment opportunities for such employees.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, which will be extended from October 2004 to cover employers of all sizes, apply to non-departmental public bodies. These provisions do not include a requirement to publish annually the numbe…