Parliamentary questions
Kenny MacAskill
2,611 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
6 Nov 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what equipment will be installed and located in Scotland by Band X with regard to the broadband trading platform being created by Scottish Enterprise; whether that equipment is more than an interface and switch to a London connection and, if so, whether it will give technical details, and…
Answer · Iain Gray: This is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise
31 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken, or plans to take, to promote the European white paper, European transport policy for 2010: time to decide, with regard to short sea shipping; what assessment it has made of the limitations of the white paper on this matter and whether funding and support of shor…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The promotion of specific aspects of the EU white paper <I>European transport policy for 2010: time to decide</I> is not a matter for the Scottish Executive. The Executive remains in contact with the UK Government on a range of matters including the implicati…
29 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd under the PFI contract for the construction of the terminal at Inverness Airport in each year from the inception of the contract to date; what the estimated costs are from now until the conclusion of the contract; what the esti…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Under the terms of the PFI contract, no money has been paid to Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) for the construction of the terminal at Inverness Airport. The total amount to be paid by HIAL to the terminal's owners and operators, Inverness Air Termi…
29 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the conclusions of the review of the Area Tourist Board network.
Answer · Mike Watson: It is anticipated that the results of the Area Tourist Board review will be available early in 2003.
18 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with (a) procurators fiscal and (b) sheriffs or their representatives about using civilian staff for court security and prisoner handling at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Answer · Jim Wallace: There have been a number of contacts involving the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Court Service and individual sheriffs, amongst others, regarding the issue of court security and prisoner handling.
18 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on ad hoc or temporary procurator fiscal deputes in each sheriff court in the Lothian and Borders sheriffdom in each year since 1997.
Answer · Colin Boyd: Expenditure on temporary procurator fiscal deputes in each of the Lothian and Borders Procurator Fiscal offices for the most recent years available was as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=378><TR><TD WIDTH="23%" VALIGN="TOP"> </TD>…
18 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether existing law is effective with regard to determining soliciting, kerb crawling and prostitution and whether it has any plans to (a) review the law and (b) support the police in its enforcement.
Answer · Jim Wallace: We consider that the existing law is effective in dealing with prostitution and related offences and have no current plans to review the legislation in this area. The level of funding made to the Scottish Police Service has increased substantially over recent…
18 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the law relating to prostitution has been proven to be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in respect of preventing the violation of human rights of (a) residents living in areas where the law does not deter prostitution and (b) women and children workin…
Answer · Jim Wallace: Measures in Scots law designed to deter prostitution and to prevent the exploitation of women and children through prostitution are not restricted by area. There has not been an ECHR challenge to Scots law in this area, and we are not aware of any relevant EC…
18 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the existing law is on prostitution and what powers police forces have to enforce the law on soliciting, kerb crawling and prostitution.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 and the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 set out various offences relating to prostitution. Kerb crawling or offering money for sexual acts, which is likely to cause fear or alarm, can also be prosecute…
11 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it took to consult older peoples' groups prior to announcing the decision to introduce a single national minimum standard for free off-peak bus travel for pensioners.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Ministers announced the decision to introduce free local off-peak bus travel for elderly and disabled people in September 2000 following consideration of responses to the Executive's consultation paper <I>Integrated Transport for Scotland</I>. This consultati…
11 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from the bus industry regarding the introduction of a single national minimum standard of free off-peak concessionary fares scheme.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Representations from the busindustry regarding the introduction of a national minimum standard of freelocal off-peak concessionary bus travel, delivered through enhancements to theexisting 16 concessionary fares schemes, have been received via theConfederatio…
11 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from COSLA regarding the introduction of a single national minimum standard of free off-peak concessionary fares scheme.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Representations from COSLA regarding the introduction of a national minimum standard of free off-peak concessionary bus travel, delivered through enhancements to the 16 existing concessionary fares schemes, have been received via the Concessionary Fares Worki…
11 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of concessionary fares schemes operated by local authorities.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Evaluation of the effectiveness of individual concessionary fares schemes is a matter for the local authorities themselves, but the Executive has commissioned a nationwide research project to monitor the impact of the introduction of free local off-peak bus t…
11 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it monitors the number of subsidised bus services provided in each local authority area, and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: No. Local transport authorities have powers to subsidise socially necessary services based on local needs and circumstances. The use of these powers is a matter for individual local authorities.
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many local authorities have owned or operated outdoor centres for the benefit of schoolchildren in their areas in each year since 1997.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally.
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what funds or assistance it provides to enable children to visit outdoor centres in rural areas of Scotland.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish Executive provides general funding to local authorities and grants to voluntary organisations that assist them to facilitate such visits. In addition, the New Opportunities Fund supports an activities programme as part of the PE and Sport initiat…
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many schoolchildren have attended a course at an outdoor centre (a) in and (b) outwith Scotland in each year since 1997.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested is not held centrally.
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what strategy it has to enable children to visit rural areas of Scotland and participate in outdoor pursuits.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: Children already have a range of opportunities, including through schools and voluntary organisations, to visit rural areas of Scotland and participate in outdoor pursuits.
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have visited Scotland on holiday to participate in outdoor pursuits in each year since 1997.
Answer · Mike Watson: Figures prior to 2000 are not available. The information requested for the years since 2000 is as follows.<P>Participation in Outdoor Activity<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=519><TR><TD WIDTH="9%" VALIGN="TOP" ROWSPAN=2> </TD><TD WIDTH="4…
9 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29140 by Mr Jim Wallace on 4 October 2002, how many of the unruly certificate remands listed were (a) issued by a police inspector or higher graded officer and (b) resulted in (i) detention by (1) the police and (2) social work services and (ii) no f…
Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:<P>All of the four unruly certificates relating to prisoners held by SPS referred to in the answer given to question S1W-29140 were issued b…
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assurances have been given in respect of congestion charging for a journey from Juniper Green or Baberton Mains onto the bypass to leave Edinburgh or travel around Edinburgh; if so, what these assurances were, who made them and to whom they were made, and whether it will deta…
Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Detailed proposals for congestion charging in Edinburgh are a matter for the City of Edinburgh Council. The council's Executive Member for Transport, Councillor Andrew Burns, has emphasised that the exact location of any potential camera equipment is still at…
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any local authorities have informed it that they plan to overrule the British Board of Film Classification and the 18 classification awarded to the film "Sweet Sixteen".
Answer · Elaine Murray: No local authorities have approached the Scottish Executive in this matter.
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish Screen, the Scottish Arts Council or any other cultural organisation provided any funding or assistance towards the cost of the film "Sweet Sixteen"; if so, what funding or assistance each organisation provided; whether any of these organisations made any representations …
Answer · Elaine Murray: Lottery funding of £500,000 was provided by Scottish Screen towards the production of the film Sweet Sixteen. No representations have been made to the Scottish Executive by Scottish Screen regarding the film's distribution or potential audience.
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what budget was (a) allocated and (b) spent by (i) Scottish Enterprise and (ii) Highlands and Islands Enterprise in each year since 1997 and how many staff were employed in the tourism section of each in each quarter of each year since 1997.
Answer · Iain Gray: The budget allocation to and spend by, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise in each year since 1997 are shown in the following tables. The excess of spend over allocation reflects their gross expenditure including business income receipts.…
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of the government car service in each month since May 1999; detailing the fuel, vehicle purchase or leasing and staff costs and the cost of conversion of any cars to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or purchase of cars with LPG facilities.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The monthly expenditure on fuel, vehicle purchase, and staff costs for the Government Car Service (Scotland) (GCS) since May 1999 is shown in the following table: <TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=482><TR><TD WIDTH="25%" VALIGN="TOP"><P>Month</T…
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicles in the government car service have been converted to liquid petroleum gas (LPG) or bought with LPG facilities; how many days the vehicles were inoperable during such conversion, and which facilities it uses for re-fuelling.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Twenty-one<B> </B>of the vehicles operated by the Government Car ervice (Scotland) (GCS) are dual-fuelled. All were converted prior to purchase.<P>GCS drivers are issued with a fuel agency card for use nation-wide, and this facility is supplemented where nece…
7 Oct 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any regional selective assistance or any other public support given to IBM was made conditional upon use being made of the new Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer · Iain Gray: No. Regional selective assistance offers are not made conditional upon firms' use of particular transport providers, since this could contravene European Community state aid rules.
27 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 23 of the Regulation of Railways Act 1924 as amended.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: I am not aware of the Regulation of Railways Act 1924. However, there have been no reports to procurators fiscal under section 23 of the Regulation of Railways Act 1868.
27 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 16 of the Railway Regulation Act 1840 as amended.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: This information is not held centrally at present, but action is currently being taken to improve how this type of information is recorded. It is hoped that it should be possible to complete the improvements to our record keeping systems within the next few m…
27 Sep 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) (i) reports to and (ii) proceedings taken by procurators fiscal and (b) convictions there have been in each of the last three years under section 55(1) of the British Transport Commission Act 1949 as amended.
Answer · Elish Angiolini: Figures for the number of reports submitted to procurators fiscal under the stated section are not separately identifiable. <P>Figures for persons proceeded against and convictions obtained are in the following tables. It should be noted that where a person i…