Richard Lochhead

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government in support of the creation of a permanent place for Scotland on the body which is replacing the Independent Television Commission.

Answer · Mike Watson: The Executive has made representations designed to ensure that the new OFCOM structure has the capacity to take full account of the interests of Scottish audiences and of the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in Scotland.

29 Jan 2002 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits the Parliament has received from UKRep since July 1999 and how many members of UKRep were present during each visit.

Answer · David Steel: The Parliament has received two visits from members of the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Union. On both occasions the visit was by the serving Permanent Representative. Sir Stephen Wall visited on 8 June 2000 and Sir Nigel Sheinwald …

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits it has received from UKRep since July 1999 and how many members of UKRep were present during each visit.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22471.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings of the EU Council of Ministers have been attended by its ministers since March 2000, expressed also as a percentage of the overall total of meetings held.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the following table. This represents 12.8% of all council meetings held during that period. Scotland is represented at all council meetings as part of the United Kingdom.<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=578…

29 Jan 2002 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits have been made to the Parliament by (a) overseas governments and (b) parliamentary delegations from overseas since July 1999 and whether any such visit included a meeting with a minister.

Answer · David Steel: Since July 1999, 20 visits have been made to the Parliament by overseas governments and 95 visits have been made by overseas parliamentarians or delegations of parliamentarians. These figures do not include visits involving only officials nor visits from repr…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits it has received from overseas governments since July 1999 and which ministers met each delegation.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive is involved in visits to Scotland by representatives of overseas governments on an extremely regular basis. A total number of visits since July 1999, including details of which ministers were involved, could only be obtained at disproportionate …

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many official visits have been undertaken outwith Scotland by (a) the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in relation to his responsibility for external relations and the development and implementation of links with Europe and (b) the former ministers with responsibility f…

Answer · Jim Wallace: I have not yet undertaken a visit overseas in relation to my responsibility for external relations. The following table lists visits undertaken by the Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs, Mr Jack McConnell, between November 2000 and November 2…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its policy on external relations.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I propose to present a statement of the Executive's priorities for external relations at the time of my forthcoming appearance before the European Committee, the date of which is to be confirmed.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any minister participating in a Joint Ministerial Committee has not agreed to the convening of such a meeting since July 1999.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), in the appropriate functional form, are held at the request of one or more of the participating administrations. We are not aware of any occasion since July 1999 where a minister who is a member of the JMC or…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Joint Ministerial Committees and Sub-Committees have been convened since July 1999, where each meeting took place, which minister attended, and what was discussed.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: There have been two plenary meetings and 11 functional meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee since July 1999. Further information about these meetings is contained in the following table:<P><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=604><TR><TD WID…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what official visits it has received from (a) Her Majesty's Government, (b) The Northern Ireland Assembly and (c) The National Assembly for Wales since July 1999.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Scottish ministers meet ministers in the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on a regular basis. No central record is kept of such meetings.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what official visits have been made by ministers to (a) Her Majesty's Government, (b) the Northern Ireland Assembly and (c) the National Assembly for Wales since July 1999.

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: Scottish ministers meet ministers in the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on a regular basis. No central record is kept of such meetings.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much the external relations budget was, and how many civil servants were engaged in matters relating to external relations, in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jim Wallace: A very wide range of posts in the Executive involve responsibility for some aspect of external relations work. It is not possible therefore to quantify the number of civil servants engaged in matters relating to external relations at any given time, nor to id…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times ministers have been requested to take the lead on behalf of the United Kingdom at meetings of the Council of Ministers since July 1999.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Discussions on the composition of UK delegations to meetings of the Council of Ministers are normally conducted on a confidential basis. For a list of council meetings at which a Scottish minister led for the UK, I refer the member to the answer given to ques…

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers have visited Brussels in connection with European Union business since July 1999 and how long the visits were.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The information requested is given in the following table:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=595><TR><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>Date of visit</FONT></TD><TD WIDTH="14%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P>End …

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many times its ministers have requested to speak at meetings of the Council of Ministers and how many times permission was granted since July 1999.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Discussions on the roles of members of the UK delegation to a meeting of the Council of Ministers are normally conducted on a confidential basis.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings it has held with UKRep since July 1999.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Executive is in regular contact with the staff of UKRep. Information quantifying the number of meetings, visits or other contacts could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

29 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff it has seconded to (a) the European Union and (b) Her Majesty's Government, indicating the institution and department respectively in each case both (i) in this year and (ii) in each of the last three years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested can be found in the following tables. Movements between the Scottish Executive and Departments of Her Majesty's Government are loans and not secondments.<P>Secondments to the European Union:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 W…

22 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients who required an intensive care bed have been transferred between hospitals in order to be accommodated in such a bed in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) health board and (b) NHS trust.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number of patients admitted to intensive care beds on transfer from another hospital obtained from national general acute in-patient/day case discharge data is shown in the following table. It is not possible from this data source to identi…

22 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many intensive care beds there were in 2001, broken down by (a) health board and (b) NHS trust.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The latest figures for the average number of intensive care beds in the period April to November 2001, as collated by the Scottish Intensive Care Society, shows the following:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=359><TR><TD WIDTH="66%" VALIGN="TOP"…

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government about transferring Department of Trade and Industry Oil and Gas Directorate jobs to Aberdeen in order to facilitate the work of Local Enterprise Companies in respect of jobs in the oil and gas sector.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive has made no representations to Her Majesty's Government about transferring further jobs in the Oil and Gas Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) from London to Aberdeen. We are, however, in regular contact with the D…

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to support the establishment of a Scottish energy institute in Aberdeen bringing together academic, public and private sector players.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: An outline proposal for a Scottish intermediary research institute in the energy field is being developed by Scottish Enterprise, and will be submitted to ministers in due course. Decisions on this proposal will be taken after full and proper consideration.

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to designate Aberdeen as a centre of excellence for energy.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Aberdeen is already widely recognised throughout Europe as a centre of excellence for energy: it is a leading location for oil and gas companies and its academic institutions have a well deserved reputation in the energy field. That will be a good foundation …

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to assist companies originating from Scotland in benefiting from new opportunities in renewable energy.

Answer · Ross Finnie: We will continue to work with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to demonstrate to Scottish companies the opportunities now arising as a result of new renewable energy schemes being planned in Scotland, and refurbishment of existing ones…

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to move Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department energy section jobs to Aberdeen.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Energy Division of the Enterprise and Lifelong Department relocated from Edinburgh to Glasgow in November 2000. There are no plans to relocate the division to Aberdeen.

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote research and development in the energy industry in partnership with the industry and the higher and further education sectors.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: A proposal for an Energy Intermediary Research Institute is being developed by Scottish Enterprise. In addition, the Scottish Energy Environment Foundation already promotes commercialisation of energy research and development.

21 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to promote training and skills development in the energy industry.

Answer · Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive continues to work through the pilot oil and gas working group to identify skills and training needs across the energy industry, to ensure relevant delivery against these needs and to promote an industry-wide co-ordinated approach to edu…

17 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of junior doctor training posts complied with the average 56-hour weekly duty limit in each year since 1991, broken down by (a) NHS and health board and (b) NHS trust.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: Comprehensive information on compliance with junior doctor hour's limits is not available prior to 1999 and does not reflect the current configuration of NHS Scotland (NHSS) Trusts or the current New Deal contract for junior doctors. The New Contract for juni…

16 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the level of direct grants from the Scottish Office to the voluntary sector was in 1998-99.

Answer · Iain Gray: The level of direct grants from the Scottish Office to the voluntary sector in 1998-1999 was around £23 million.

15 Jan 2002 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it plans to take in response to the comments as reported on the BBC News Website by George Lyon MSP on 5 January 2002 in connection with the negotiations between the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs and the European Union on levels of agricultural support and the e…

Answer · Ross Finnie: It is not our practice to comment on individual opinions expressed by MSPs. Ministers and officials from all four UK Agriculture Departments are already engaged in discussions which will shape the UK negotiating position for the forthcoming mid-term review of…