Parliamentary questions
Michael Matheson
1,154 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland, whether it considers the recurring escape of prisoners to be a default that would allow it to (a) give written noti…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-8431 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the…
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland, why clause 9.2 of Schedule 3 has been removed.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-8434 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the…
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland, what it considers to be the difference between a service failure, which is not defined in the contract, and a defau…
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 SPS consider service failureto be a failure as described at clause 6.2 of Schedule 3.</p>
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, with reference to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland, it considers the escape of a prisoner to be a default, as defined in clause 1.12 of Schedule 3.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-8431 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the…
24 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland, why the meaning of “Relevant Industrial Action” has been removed from clause 19.3.3 of Schedule 3.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-8434 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the…
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it would be due to pay Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd under clause 19.3.2 of Schedule 3 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland if it terminated the contract …
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to S2W-8435 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the…
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the total charge for core and non-core services in clause 5.3.1 of Schedule 2 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland is at risk.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answergiven to S2W-8435 answered 8 June 2004 . All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the …
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd has fallen below the (a) monthly target standard and (b) minimum threshold standard of Appendix A of Schedule 2 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custo…
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 SPS and Reliance have agreed that a Performance Summary will be agreedfor each calendar month of the contract. The Performance Su…
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-1869 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 September 2003, what the distinction is between the contract monthly target standard that has been removed from appendix A of Schedule 2 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd fo…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The two contracts are with different service providers for different services and were concluded at different times.</p>
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why the contract monthly target standard has been removed from Appendix A of Schedule 2 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>The SPS published a redacted version consistent with the <i>Codeof Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information</i>.</p>
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents of each type set out in section 4 of Schedule 2 to Contract between The Scottish Ministers and Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the Provision of Prisoner Escort & Court Custody Services in Scotland have occurred for each month of the operation of the contract.
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 SPS and Reliance have agreed that a Performance Summary will be agreedfor each calendar month of the contract. The Performance Su…
21 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many reports the Escort Monitor has made to ministers on (a) allegations made against prisoner custody officers acting in pursuance of contract arrangements and (b) alleged breaches of discipline on the part of prisoners for whose custody such officers so acting are responsible under …
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:</p><p>I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-8431 answered on 8 June 2004. All answers to writtenparliamentaryquestions are avail…
22 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has had to sanction overtime payments for staff at any prison due to delay in prisoners being transferred by Reliance Custodial Services and, if so, what the additional cost to the SPS budget has been.
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>No – theSPS does not pay overtime to prison officers.</p>
22 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many operational hours Strathclyde Police has spent in trying to apprehend James McCormick, the prisoner mistakenly released by Reliance Custodial Services.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The deployment of police officersis an operational matter for the Chief Constable.</p>
22 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered care homes have had an advisory visit from the fire service following the Rosepark Care Home fire, broken down by local authority area, and, of these, how many the fire service reported as unsatisfactory to the Care Commission and, of these, how many are local authorit…
Answer · Hugh Henry: As at 18 April 2004 the eightScottish Fire Brigades had carried out 1,204 advisory visits to residential carepremises in their brigade areas as set out in the following table.</p><table class=MsoTableGrid border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0> <thead> <tr> …
22 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many registered care homes there are.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Care Commission has confirmedthere were 1,780 registered care home services on 27 April 2004.</p>
23 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether Fosamax (70mg) and Calcichew D3 will no longer be prescribed to patients under 65 with osteoporosis, and, if so, what the reasons are for the withdrawal of these drugs.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The regulation and safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines and Health care products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).</p><p>The MHRA has advised thatthere are no plans on safety grounds to restrict the use of Fosamax (70mg) andCalci…
22 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of each executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), advisory NDPB, tribunal, public corporation, nationalised industry and NHS body for which ministers are accountable, how much each organisation has spent on external legal advice in each year since 1980, (a) in total and (…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p>
22 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, in respect of each executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), advisory NDPB, tribunal, public corporation, nationalised industry and NHS body for which ministers are accountable, what external legal advice each organisation receives and from whom, what the jurisdiction is of each suc…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally.</p><p>Arrangements for theprovision of legal advice to non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) are mattersfor individual organisations to consider. Details of the legislative basis ofpublic bodies where appropria…
8 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Her Majesty's Government in respect of the introduction of 80% mandatory rates relief for community amateur sports clubs and what the cost would be of the introduction of such a scheme in Scotland.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Scottish Executive officials are in regular contact with officials fromthe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The additional cost of introducing 80%mandatory rate relief for community amateur sports clubs is estimated to be inthe region of £1 million.</p>
8 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities provide rates relief to sports clubs and what funding has been allocated to local authorities to provide such rates relief in each of the last five years.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Sports clubs may qualify fora number of rate reliefs such as mandatory charitable rate relief, and/or discretionaryrate relief or small business rate relief. Only information relating to theamount of discretionary rate relief granted to sports clubs by each l…
8 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to introduce a mandatory rates relief scheme for community amateur sports clubs, similar to that introduced in England and Wales.
Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2O-1066 which is available on the Parliament’swebsite, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa">http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/searc…
5 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-34924 by Colin Boyd QC on 18 March 2000, what progress is being made with the cataloguing of relevant material by the National Archives of Scotland (NAS) regarding the shooting at Dunblane School and whether a decision has been made by the Lord Advoc…
Answer · Colin Boyd: Officials from the NationalArchives of Scotland began the cataloguing process in March 2003 and are hopingto have it completed by February 2004 in accordance with NAS businessobjectives. This target is now formally included in the NAS corporate plan for2003-0…
18 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what performance points were accrued by the operating company of HM Prison Kilmarnock, broken down for each heading and subsection in Schedule F to the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited for the Design, Construction, Man…
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:</p><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td> <p> 2.1(g)</p> </td> <td> <p>Discovery within Prison of Smuggled-in-Items</p> </td…
17 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4604 by Mrs Mary Mulligan on 12 December 2003, whether it will publish the guidance used by its Health Department's Directorate of Service Policy and Planning to assess the funding application made by the Seagull Trust in 2002.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The section 10(1) grantscheme aims to assist voluntary organisations in developing social workservices and promoting social welfare. Both revenue and capital grants may beprovided. Revenue grants are available as both core funding and project grants.</p><p>Pr…
17 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-4605 by Mr Tom McCabe on 15 December 2003, whether it will list the specific organisations that have received grants for 2002-03 under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 for the provision of services to disabled persons, stating the level of gr…
Answer · Tom McCabe: A number of organisationsprovide services across the entire community care client group. Someorganisations which receive section 10 grants do not provide services fordisabled persons alone. This makes it impossible to provide a full breakdown ofsection 10 fun…
11 Dec 2003 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce the number of fine defaulters.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The lawalready allows for offenders to be given time to pay, for payment byinstalments, for deductions from benefits and for civil diligence, as ways ofencouraging payment and enforcing payment of fines.</p><p>Inaddition, the Executive has made supervised att…
10 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4264 by Mr Tom McCabe on 5 December 2003, what level of funding under the Carers Strategy has been utilised for respite care provision by each local authority since April 2000.
Answer · Tom McCabe: The Executive’s monitoringof local authority expenditure under the Carers Strategy sought to establishthrough Community Care Plans, and annual updates, how much was being spent onrespite and on other services to support carers. Despite Executive guidance onth…
9 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive which illnesses will be included in its definition of chronic health conditions for its proposed review of prescription charges.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The question of which illnesses can be defined as chronic health conditions is among the issues that the reviewwill address. The detailed remit of the review is still under consideration andthe consultation process has yet to be determined. However, it is our…
3 Dec 2003 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance is provided to voluntary organisations applying for grants under section 10 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-4604 on 12 December 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/…