Parliamentary questions
Michael Russell
1,207 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what estimated square footage of the new Parliament building at Holyrood was provided to the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) by the design team at each SPCB meeting when the project was discussed from 1 June 1999 onwards.
Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.
8 Mar 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what estimated cost for the new Parliament building at Holyrood was provided to the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB) by the design team at each SPCB meeting when the project was discussed from 1 June 1999 onwards.
Answer · David Steel: I advise members to await the publication of Mr Spencely's report which will enable such details to be set in context.
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the cost of the current refurbishment of St Andrews House will be met from the block grant allocated to Scotland by Her Majesty's Treasury.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The project costs are being met from within the Scottish Executive's total budget. The refurbishment project commenced in 1998-99 and is scheduled for completion in 2001-02. The total budget, agreed at the start of the project, is £20 million. No cost overrun…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost is, including labour, materials, fittings and VAT, of creating the media centre in the east wing basement of St Andrew's House during the current refurbishment, and why this project was undertaken, given the availability of such a facility in Conference Room 1, Victoria Quay.
Answer · Jack McConnell: The additional cost of creating a media centre in the basement of St Andrew's House is £102,000 out of a refurbishment budget of £20 million. The conference suite at Victoria Quay is not a media centre. Its use by Ministers for this purpose follows the remova…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the projected cost is, including materials, labour, furnishings and VAT, of the current refurbishment of St Andrew's House and how this compares with the originally estimated cost of (a) a full refurbishment and (b) the minimum refurbishment required to upgrade St Andrew's House to a…
Answer · Jack McConnell: The projected cost for the refurbishment of St Andrew's House is £20 million, in line with the original estimate for this work.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Most of the major systems in the building date from the 1930s. They no longer meet modern standards and major rem…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many convictions resting solely or mainly on fingerprint evidence have been secured in Scotland in the past five years and in how many of these cases the fingerprint evidence was verified by the four individuals from the Scottish Criminal Records Office who verified the fingerprint ev…
Answer · Jim Wallace: Information on the nature of evidence leading to convictions is not kept centrally.
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has held with Strathclyde Police, or any other organisation or individual, regarding compensation for loss of employment and personal damages and suitable pension arrangements for Shirley McKie following her unsuccessful prosecution.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Decisions relating to Ms McKie's employment by Strathclyde Police are matters for the Chief Constable and Strathclyde Joint Police Board. Ms McKie has appealed against the decision of the police authority not to grant her an injury award. Arrangements are bei…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to address the concerns about the Scottish Criminal Records Office expressed recently by the fingerprints experts of Lothian and Borders Police.
Answer · Jim Wallace: HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC) will shortly commence an inspection of the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO). It will cover the acquisition, examination and presentation of fingerprint evidence and include a review of the training, skills and …
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any inquiry by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary into the complaints of Ms Shirley McKie will rely solely on evidence from the Scottish Criminal Records Office during examination of any fingerprint evidence or whether other independent fingerprint experts will be called, includin…
Answer · Jim Wallace: HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary plans to use expert assistance in the review of the Scottish Criminal Record Office Fingerprint Section, which will include the fingerprint evidence presented at the trial of Shirley McKie.
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any inquiry into the actions of the Scottish Criminal Records Office with regard to the Shirley McKie case by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary will take evidence from Ms McKie and her family; whether Ms McKie will have full access to its findings, and whether the report will be …
Answer · Jim Wallace: HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary has contacted the McKie family and he has been assured that they will give every assistance. A report of the inspection will be published in accordance with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary's independent role and in the inter…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the aims, remit and timetable will be of any inquiry to be conducted by HM Inspector of Constabulary into the actions of the Scottish Criminal Records Office in the case of Shirley McKie.
Answer · Jim Wallace: HM Inspectorate of Constabulary will shortly commence an inspection of the acquisition, examination and presentation of fingerprint evidence, and will include a review of the training, skills and quality assurance aspects of the SCRO operation. The inspection…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Justice will give a substantive reply to my letters about the actions of the Scottish Criminal Records Office and Strathclyde Police in the case of Shirley McKie.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Replies to your letters to me of 20 January and 8 February and your letter of 20 January to Lord Hardie, about the case of Shirley McKie, have been held back pending decisions on the terms of reference for a review by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabular…
8 Mar 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Justice will give a substantive reply to letters sent to him by Mr Ian McKie regarding his daughter Shirley McKie's complaint against the Scottish Criminal Records Office and others.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Replies to Mr McKie's letters to me of 17 January and 18 February and the letters of 14 January and 18 February to Lord Hardie, about the case of his daughter Shirley McKie, have been held back pending decisions on the terms of reference for a review by Her M…
8 Mar 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that it will provide no special deficit funding for Scottish Opera for the financial year 2000-01.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: The additional funding I announced on 8 November 1999 in response to the question from Malcolm Chisholm MSP was a one-off payment. I have no plans to make further special payments to Scottish Opera in the financial year 2000-01.
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will now take to save jobs at the Volvo Factory in Irvine, following the announcement by management that the Scottish Executive has not found a successor user for the plant.
Answer · Henry McLeish: Local agencies remain committed to providing support and advice to the workforce and supporting retraining and upskilling to meet local labour market requirements. To date some 300 employees have taken advantage of the retraining and upskilling opportunities …
24 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken since July to find a successor user for the Volvo plant in Irvine, including details of any financial incentives for successor users proposed during that period.
Answer · Henry McLeish: My officials and officials of Enterprise Ayrshire and Locate in Scotland have been working closely with Volvo since the closure announcement in an attempt to secure a continuing engineering operation on the Irvine site.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Locate in Scotland, E…
22 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with Enterprise Ayrshire regarding the future of the Volvo factory in Irvine.
Answer · Henry McLeish: My officials have been in regular contact with Enterprise Ayrshire and Locate in Scotland in an attempt to secure a continuing engineering operation on the Irvine site and will continue to meet with local interests regarding the future of the site. The most r…
22 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what contact it has had with the owners and management of the Volvo factory in Irvine regarding the future of the factory.
Answer · Henry McLeish: My officials and I liaise regularly with local management in Irvine and I met them again, along with local and national union representatives, on 13 March. Volvo have confirmed that they will involve partners in discussions with regard to the future use of th…
15 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will contact North Ayrshire Council to discuss the implications of the council again having an annual budget deficit which may be over #6 million.
Answer · Jack McConnell: I have regular contact with councils on a range of financial matters and I place a great deal of importance in ensuring there is probity in local authority spending. It is a matter for local authorities themselves to determine their own budgets and to ensure …
8 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what measures are in place to prevent discrimination against people with epilepsy who apply for jobs within the Parliament.
Answer · David Steel: We have a number of measures in place to prevent discrimination of any kind against people who apply for jobs in the Parliament.<P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">First and foremost, the Scottish Parliament is an equal opportunities employer. We are firmly committed to provi…
8 Feb 2000 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what questions are asked on application forms for jobs within the Parliament about an applicant's health and why any such questions are asked.
Answer · David Steel: We ask applicants two question relating to health on our application forms. Firstly, whether they have a disability within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Secondly, if they have a disability/health problem which affects the work they ca…
2 Feb 2000 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will take steps to ensure that the newly merged Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet will have staff directors appointed to the new board.
Answer · Sam Galbraith: No. Membership is strictly a matter for the new board.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3813 by Mr Jack McConnell on 24 January 2000, whether it will rule out any form of privatisation of statistical information prior to the completion of the customer review.
Answer · Jack McConnell: We have no plans to change the current system for the preparation of statistical information.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3813 by Mr Jack McConnell on 24 January 2000, whether it will give a commitment to continue to update any economic or statistical information published on its web site in the interests of academic research and public scrutiny during the period of the…
Answer · Jack McConnell: We are committed to making information available to all those with an interest in economics and statistics in ways they find helpful and appropriate, by releasing formal publications in paper and electronic forms and responding to ad-hoc enquiries. All these …
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-3813 by Mr Jack McConnell on 24 January 2000, when it will make available on its website or by publication full production timetable details for 1997 and 1998 pending the customer review.
Answer · Jack McConnell: Forthcoming statistical releases are currently pre-announced at least one month in advance on the Scottish Executive Website and through the UK-wide arrangements co-ordinated by the Office for National Statistics. These arrangements will continue.<FONT FACE="…
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role Special Advisors played in the production and publication of Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government.
Answer · Donald Dewar: I refer to the answer given to question S1W-4091.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the tendering processes that were used to ensure the best value in the production of Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government.
Answer · Donald Dewar: I refer to the answer given to question S1W-4091.
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of all individuals and companies who were involved in the production of Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government and how much each was paid.
Answer · Donald Dewar: Ministers, Officials and Special Advisers worked together on all aspects of the preparation of the text of <I>Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government</I> and on plans for its presentation.<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" SIZE=2><P>Tactica Solutions w…
1 Feb 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1394 by Mr Jack McConnell on 21 September 1999, whether it will provide a full and detailed breakdown of the costs associated with the publication and launch of Making it Work Together: A Programme for Government.
Answer · Donald Dewar: The total final cost of publication and launch of <I>Making It Work Together: A Programme for Government </I>(design, photography, printing, Internet web conversion of the text, distribution and costs of the launch at Scottish Power, Cumbernauld on Monday 6 S…
28 Jan 2000 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been top-sliced from local authority budgets this year; whether the sums top-sliced are to be distributed to local authorities in line with the advice of the comprehensive spending review and when such distribution will take place, and whether it considers these instances of …
Answer · Jack McConnell: The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2000-01 allows for total local authority current spending to rise by 3.7% in line with the plans contained in the Comprehensive Spending Review. The distribution is discussed with CoSLA. Within the settlement for 20…