Parliamentary questions
Kenny MacAskill
2,611 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to restrict chain migration, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Executive's aim of attracting more immigrants to Scotland.
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to restrict the categories of immigrants with a "route to settlement" to only skilled or highly-skilled immigrants, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Execut…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on<br>10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what extra resources it will make available to assist in UK knowledge classes for immigrants following the UK Government's announcement of mandatory UK knowledge tests for all immigrants, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain.
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what extra resources it will make available to assist in English language training for immigrants following the UK Government's announcement of mandatory English language tests for all immigrants, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to lengthen the period before immigrants are offered permanent settlement in the United Kingdom to five years in employment, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on t…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to introduce mandatory UK knowledge tests to achieve permanent residence in the United Kingdom, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Executive's aim of attract…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to introduce mandatory English language tests for immigrants, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Executive's aim of attracting more economic immigrants to Sc…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to restrict immigrants to bringing only immediate family to the United Kingdom, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Executive's aim of attracting more immigra…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14428 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it expects that the UK Government's plans to phase out schemes for low-skill immigration, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will impact on the Scottish labour market.
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-14430 on 10 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is, with regard to the situation in Scotland, on the Home Office view that following EU enlargement it is unlikely that there will continue to be a case for low-skill immigration schemes and that the schemes currently in existence should be phased out, as announced in th…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I welcome the recognition in the Home Office’s <i>Controlling our borders: Making migration work for </i><i>Britain</i> that Scotland faces particular demographicchallenges. We are pursuing these challenges through our Fresh Talent policy withinthe framework …
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish representation there will be on the skills advisory body, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, to ensure that skills shortages and labour gaps in Scotland are taken into account when drawing up a points system …
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive will be represented on the new body which will be drawn from existing sectorskills councils and the Skills for Business Network. The new body will cover interestsacross the UK.</p>
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it expects that the new four-tier points system for economic immigration, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, will have on the Executive's aim of increasing immigration to Scotland.
Answer · Tom McCabe: I welcome the recognition in the Home Office’s <i>Controlling our borders: Making migration work for </i><i>Britain</i> that Scotland faces particular demographicchallenges. We are pursuing these challenges through our Fresh Talent policy withinthe framework …
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether there will be any flexibility within the new points system for economic immigrants entering Britain, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, to allow any extra points to be awarded to potentia…
Answer · Tom McCabe: I refer the member to the answersto question S2W-14627 on 8 March 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.sea…
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many speeding offences detected by the police through methods other than fixed-site cameras involved (a) UK nationals, (b) EU nationals, excluding UK nationals, and (c) non-EU nationals in each year since 1999.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
11 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many speeding offences detected by fixed-site cameras involved (a) UK nationals, (b) EU nationals, excluding UK nationals, and (c) non-EU nationals in each year since 1999.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
10 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average monthly cost is of keeping a person in prison.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The average cost per prisoner place in 2003-04 is given in the SPS Annual Report and Accounts, a copy of which is available on the Sc…
10 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-12927 by Cathy Jamieson on 23 December 2004, what the average length of time spent in prison is, including any time spent on remand, for prisoners sentenced to (a) less than three months, (b) three to six months and (c) six months to one year.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>The estimated availableinformation is for 2003 and was (a) 23; (b) 56 and (c) 113 days.</p>
9 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on skill shortages in the city of Edinburgh; which trades and professions are affected by skill shortages, and what steps have been taken to address the issue.
Answer · Allan Wilson: The Futureskills Scotland publications <i>Skills in Scotland 2004</i> and <i>Edinburgh and Lothian: Labour Market Profile Summer 2004</i> are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre, Bib. numbers 35294 and 35594 respectively.</p>
8 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on the criteria and eligibility rules in respect of foreign footballers playing in the Scottish Premier League and Scottish Football League; what powers it has to restrict, limit or control players from (a) other EU and (b) non-EU states; what information it has in…
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Freedom of movement within the EU means that footballers who are citizens of other member states are entitled to play for any football club in Scotland. Citizens of non-EU countries are subject to immigration legislation, which is a reserved matter. The Execu…
8 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7396 by Mr Frank McAveety on 4 May 2004, what further funds have been provided for the development of grassroots rugby, detailing the source of the funds.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: In addition to the fundsidentified previously, Scottish rugby has benefited from additional funding of£450,000 in development grant aid, £6,239 from Awards for All supporting sevenprojects and a lottery award of £105,000 to the sport’s governing body forcoach…
8 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13433 by Nicol Stephen on 27 January 2005 in respect of a ferry service from Scotland to Norway, whether a waterborne freight grant would still apply to such a service and what impact the traffic of English road freight north to such a ferry service …
Answer · Nicol Stephen: A ferry service between Scotland and Norway will be eligible to apply for a Waterborne Freight Grant (WFG) if it removes lorry journeys from Scotland’s roads. It is not possible to assess the specific impact of road freight traffic from England on any possibl…
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of investment in the action plan for youth football was redirected from existing investment in youth football development and what the sources of that investment were.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: As was made clear when the Action Plan for Scottish Youth Football was launched on 30 March 2004, planned investment of £2.2 million in youth football by the Executive and <b>sport</b>scotland is being redirected to supporting the implementation of the action…
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11409 by Patricia Ferguson on 10 November 2004, what level of funding it has allocated to women's and girls' football in each year since 1999, broken down by year and detailing the funding sources.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Since 1999, women’s and girls’ football has benefited directly by the amounts set out in the following tables. As with other sports supported by the Executive through <b>sport</b>scotland, no allocations are made. Funding is awarded against set programmes and…
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6333 by Mr Frank McAveety on 15 March 2004, when it expects the legal complications surrounding the transfer of funds from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to the Scottish Football Partnership to be resolved.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: It is extremely disappointing that the legal complications affecting the transfer of the funds from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to the Scottish Football Partnership have not yet been resolved. I am given to understand though that it is expected that …
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13631 by Patricia Ferguson on 31 January 2005, whether any part of the £31.1 million 10-year action plan for youth football will be funded from the Scottish Consolidated Fund.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Executive has committed £1.2 million from the Scottish Consolidated Fund to support the implementation of the Action Plan for Youth Football over a 10 year period.</p>
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it plans to allocate from the Scottish Consolidated Fund for investment in youth football for each of the next nine years.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Executive has committed £1.2 million from the Scottish Consolidated Fund to support the implementation of the Action Plan for Youth Football over a 10 year period. It will be for the Implementation Steering Group to determine how and when the funding is t…
4 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it has allocated from the Scottish Consolidated Fund for investment in youth football in each year since 1999.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: All Executive funding for youth football in Scotland funded from the ScottishConsolidated fund is administered by <b>sport</b>scotland and awarded to organisations against specific programmes and initiatives or through the application-based programme Sportsma…
3 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) motoring and (b) speeding offences have been committed by foreign nationals in each year since 1999 and, of these, how many were prosecuted successfully.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The information requested is not available from the statistics collected centrally on crimes and offences recorded by the police and on convictions as these do not include information on the nationality of offenders.</p>
3 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds have been made available for the provision of new rugby facilities in each year since 1999.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Funding to support the developmentof rugby facilities is available from <b>sport</b>scotland principally throughlottery programmes. These programmes are application based. To date, there has beenno funding made available specifically for rugby facilities.</p>…
3 Feb 2005 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds are available to develop grassroots rugby.
Answer · Patricia Ferguson: In the current financial yearto 31 March 2005, Scottish Rugby will receive £450,000 in developmentgrant aid to support the development of grass roots rugby. In addition to this,grass roots rugby will also benefit from the significant investment in Active Scho…