Parliamentary questions
Stewart Stevenson
2,358 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive in what publications staff vacancies in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are advertised.
Answer · Colin Boyd: Staff vacancies are advertised in the Department's Staff Notice. When external applications are sought for trainee solicitors, Depute Fiscals and precognition officers, adverts are placed in the <I>Herald</I>, <I>Scotsman</I> and<I> The Firm Law Magazine</I>.…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have a public relations policy.
Answer · Colin Boyd: In accordance with the Civil Service Code, the department has a policy of providing accurate factual information to media enquiries and to organisations and individuals who express an interest in the public services which its staff provide. The department pub…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times staff in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have been rewarded as a result of the implementation of a suggestion from a member of staff which was offered through a staff suggestion scheme since 1999.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The department does not currently operate a staff suggestion scheme.
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements are made by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to provide relief staff to cover periods when staff are on vacation, attending training courses or absent through illness.
Answer · Colin Boyd: Arrangements for relief cover are made by line management. Measures may include the transfer of staff from other offices, the temporary appointment of ad hoc (often recently retired) fiscals, and the appointment of casual staff. In addition, the Fiscal Office…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how responsibility for strategic planning and planning for change in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is allocated.
Answer · Colin Boyd: On 4 March, I announced the appointment of a Chief Executive and Crown Agent Designate who will work with senior management to take forward implementation of the recommendations on strategic planning and planning for change of the recent review of the managem…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments have been made, or are being planned, of the number of computer workstations required by staff in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Answer · Colin Boyd: Information has been sought from every Procurator Fiscal's Office and Crown Office Headquarters about the number of computer workstations (PCs) required by staff. Our policy is to provide all members of staff, who need them, with direct access to a PC on thei…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service plans to adopt any training programmes to help staff to avoid stress and manage its consequences and over what timescale any such programmes will be implemented.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is currently examining proposals from a number of external providers for the provision of stress prevention training courses to its staff in the financial year 2002-03.
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what stress prevention and management measures operate within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The department is actively pursuing the Scottish Health at Work initiative; is working with its trade unions and the Scottish Executive to develop a stress management policy, and will be commissioning tailored training courses in stress prevention and managem…
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes in the provision of welfare officers are planned in the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and over what timescale any such changes are to be made.
Answer · Colin Boyd: From 11 March 2002 the department has two full-time welfare officers. The department also has a contract for the provision of welfare services to its staff by the Employee Counselling Service.
14 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Pressure Audit, carried out for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, will be made public.
Answer · Colin Boyd: The survey was commissioned to provide systematic information about the pressure on staff in the department. The results have been made available to staff and trade unions and, in confidence, to the Justice 2 Committee in order to inform the committee's enqui…
13 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications under the Rural Stewardship Scheme have been approved in the current financial year to date.
Answer · Ross Finnie: Three hundred and eighty of the 476 eligible applications submitted under the Rural Stewardship Scheme have been approved in the current financial year to date.
13 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will specify all rules and regulations on the Rural Stewardship Scheme that are currently in force and what plans it has to amend any of these rules or regulations.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Rural Stewardship Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2001 set out the legal framework within which the Rural Stewardship Scheme is operated. <P>Additional guidance on the operation of the scheme is set out in the scheme literature, which includes the Explanato…
1 Feb 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is currently taking to progress the introduction of clear country of origin labelling on food products and what timescale it envisages for completing the introduction of such labelling.
Answer · Mary Mulligan: On matters of food safety and standards the Scottish Executive is advised by the Food Standards Agency. Currently, the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 require particulars of the place of origin or provenance of a food to be shown if failure to give such infor…
30 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what role the ideas contained in The Trachtenberg Speed System of Basic Mathematics by Jakow Trachtenberg have played in the teaching of arithmetic.
Answer · Nicol Stephen: To our knowledge, none at present. Education authorities and schools are, of course, free to use whichever specific teaching methods they consider best meet the needs of pupils.
30 Jan 2002 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of any impact on the economy in rural areas of the introduction of broadband services in the South of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands.
Answer · Andy Kerr: In rural areas, as elsewhere, the introduction of broadband can offer a fast reliable "always on" link to the internet that will streamline delivery of public services and benefit business.
29 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it plans to give to NHS boards and any other organisations in order to ensure that the prevention and treatment of asthma is accorded a priority commensurate with the number of deaths it causes each year.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The care of people with asthma is primarily a matter for NHS boards, and there are no immediate plans for further guidance. However, the Executive endorses the recommendations of the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network on self-management for people wi…
29 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what definition of "serious sex offenders" is used when sex offenders are so categorised.
Answer · Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:<P>SPS makes the assumption that all offenders who have been sentenced to a term of imprisonment are considered serious offenders. As such,…
29 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the estimated prison populations for each of the years (a) 2003, (b) 2008, (c) 2013, (d) 2018, (e) 2023 and (f) 2028 is expected to be serious sex offenders or, if such information is not available, what information it can provide on this matter, at proportionate cost, …
Answer · Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22444.
29 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated prison populations are (a) in total and (b) broken down by each category of prisoner for each of the years (i) 2003, (ii) 2008, (iii) 2013, (iv) 2018, (v) 2023 and (vi) 2028 or, if such information is not available, what information it can provide on this matter, at pro…
Answer · Jim Wallace: The available information is given in the following table, which contains the projected prison population, disaggregated by type of prisoner. The projections do not distinguish the crimes committed by prisoners.<P>Prison Population Projections, by Type of Pri…
22 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many successful prosecutions there have been against skippers for fishing offences in each of the past five years.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The numbers of successful prosecutions taken against skippers in Scottish courts for fisheries related offences over the past five years are as follows:<TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=7 WIDTH=189><TR><TD WIDTH="25%" VALIGN="TOP"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZ…
18 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many officials within its Environment and Rural Affairs Department had responsibility in relation to the bee-keeping profession in the years (a) 2001, (b) 1995 and (c) 1990.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The number of officials is as follows:<P><TABLE BORDER CELLSPACING=1 CELLPADDING=2 WIDTH=68><TR><TD WIDTH="58%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=16><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=2><P ALIGN="JUSTIFY">2001</FONT></TD><TD WIDTH="42%" VALIGN="TOP" HEIGHT=16><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=…
17 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Health and Community Care will reply to my letter of 21 November 2001 regarding the multiple sclerosis Fair Treatment campaign.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: A reply to this letter was issued on 22 January 2002.
17 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Health and Community Care will reply to my letter of 4 October 2001 regarding returners to the nursing profession.
Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: My office has advised that the records show a response to the member's letter was issued on 24 October 2001.<P>I have issued a further response to the member, updating him on the issues regarding nurses wishing to return to practice.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the broadband services referred to by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in the debate on the Scottish Executive's Priorities on 9 January 2002 (Official Report, Col.5184) will be delivered to rural areas within the Banff and Buchan parliamentary constituency and who …
Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the Member to the answer given to question S1W- 21772.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the broadband services referred to by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in the debate on the Scottish Executive's Priorities on 9 January 2002 (Official Report, Col. 5184) will be extended to other rural areas and who will initiate this extension.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Executive will determine how broadband services should be procured for the public sector in rural areas outside the initial pathfinder areas by having regard to experience in the pathfinder areas and developments in the telecoms sector.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the broadband services will be delivered to the south of Scotland and the Highlands and Islands as referred to by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in the debate on the Scottish Executive's Priorities on 9 January 2002 (Official Report, Col.5184) and who will initiat…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Executive is currently considering what body, or bodies, should lead the procurement process for broadband services for the Highlands and Islands and the South of Scotland. We wish to see services in place as soon as possible but given the nature of the p…
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how long the period of consultation after the publication of the Scottish Prison Service's Estates Review will be.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The period of consultation will be 12 weeks.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20313 by Mr Jim Wallace on 17 December 2001, whether it has set a date for the publication of the Scottish Prison Service's Estates Review.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Publication will coincide with the start of the consultation process, likely to commence in the next couple of months.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to receive the Scottish Prison Service's Estates Review and the associated financial assessment undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive has both documents and is considering them.
11 Jan 2002 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when its Cabinet next expects to discuss the Scottish Prison Service's Estates Review.
Answer · Jim Wallace: No date has yet been set.