Parliamentary questions
Frances Curran
138 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
7 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much grant funding was allocated to Inverclyde Council in 2003-04, broken down by purpose.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Inverclyde was allocated £88.706million of Revenue Support Grant (RSG) in 2003-04. RSG is an unhypothecatedgrant and so is not broken down into grants for each service.</p>
7 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive by how much grant funding allocated to Inverclyde Council changed from 2002-03 to 2003-04.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Inverclyde Council received anincrease of £10.5 million or 8.8% in revenue grant in 2003‑04.</p>
5 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contractual annulment of liability period under the student loan scheme has been altered from that originally agreed to by the signatories in any year since the scheme has been in operation and, if so, when such an alteration was made, what the reason was for the alteration, …
Answer · Jim Wallace: There have never been any changes to the criteria for cancellation of a borrower’s liability to repay a student loan under either the mortgage style or income contingent loan schemes. I would refer the member to S2W-8050 answered on 24 May 2004. All answers t…
5 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the contractual annulment of liability period for signatories who may fail to reach the minimum payment threshold under student loan contracts has been for each year that the student loan scheme has been in operation.
Answer · Jim Wallace: Under the mortgage-style studentloan system introduced in 1990, loans are repaid over a fixed period of five orseven years and will be written off then the borrower reaches 60 years old (or 50if they received their last loan before they were 40 and the loan h…
4 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any circumstances that would permit local authorities to disregard the results of surveys and public consultations undertaken to establish where the most need is in respect of the provision of new schools.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Education (Publication andConsultation Etc)(Scotland) Regulations 1981 set out the consultation requirementson any proposal by a local authority to provide a new school. Where consultationis required on a particular proposal, section 22A of the Education …
4 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what weight is given to the results of public consultations when considering PPP bids for school rebuilding projects.
Answer · Peter Peacock: It is for local authorities todetermine their own capital investment priorities, including the content of anyPPP projects. In doing so, they will take a wide range of factors into account.</p>
4 May 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities are bound by Executive guidance when submitting PPP bids for school rebuilding projects.
Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive Education Department invited local authorities to bid for a share of fundingfor revenue support for school Public Private Partnership projects in Circular 8/2001which was issued on 26 September 2001. This set out the basis on which bids…
22 Apr 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer, with reference to the minutes of its meeting of 7 October 2003, whether it will place a copy of the Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange's review of operations in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer · Andrew Welsh: A copy of the Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange review entitled <i>The Way Forward</i>published in September 2003 is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre(Bib. number 32595). </p>
21 Apr 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to the answer to question S1W-26960 by Sir David Steel on 6 August 2002, how many of the parliament's staff have been seconded to it since May 1999, specifying (a) post held, (b) name of organisation seconded from and (c) who pays the salary of each such staff member
20 Apr 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer, further to the answer to question S1W-26960 by Sir David Steel on 6 August 2002, how many parliamentary staff are now seconded from (a) the United Kingdom civil service, (b) other public sector bodies and (c) the private sector.
Answer · Duncan McNeil: The figures requested are asfollows:</p><p>(a) UK civil service – 31, (b) other public sector bodies – 0 and (c) theprivate sector – 1.</p>
20 Apr 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer whether all minutes and documentation associated with Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange will be published, with particular reference to (a) reports of MSPs who have participated in exchange programmes and (b) copies of any agreements and memoranda of understanding signed by MSPs an…
Answer · Andrew Welsh: At this stage in itsdevelopment, the Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange maintains in a paperformat handbook its policy decisions and supporting procedures includingstandard letters of undertaking. This is available to consult. Priority inwebsite public…
20 Apr 2004 · SPCB Written Question
To ask the Presiding Officer what the current position is of Scottish Parliament and Business Exchange (SPBE); what future plans there are for SPBE, and whether the future activities of SPBE will be subject to approval by the Standards Committee.
Answer · Andrew Welsh: The Scottish Parliament andBusiness Exchange remains as a Parliament-Business partnership. Its futureplans include a launch in June of its new brochure of opportunities giving MSPsthe chance to talk with representatives of organisations offering to providepla…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on (a) public relations, (b) marketing, (c) market research and (d) opinion research by (i) Executive agencies, (ii) non-departmental public bodies, (iii) NHS boards and (iv) local authorities since the Executive's establishment.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information is not held centrallyby the Scottish Executive and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p>
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) public relations, (b) marketing, (c) market research and (d) opinion research companies have been employed by (i) Executive agencies, (ii) non-departmental public bodies, (iii) NHS boards and (iv) local authorities since the Executive's establishment; what projects each such com…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information is not held centrallyby the Scottish Executive and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p>
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on (a) public relations, (b) marketing, (c) market research and (d) opinion research since its establishment.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p>
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what (a) public relations, (b) marketing, (c) market research and (d) opinion research companies have been employed by it since its establishment; what projects each such company has worked on, and how much each such company has been paid.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The information requested isnot held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.</p>
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-16571 by Angus MacKay on 23 July 2001, what the findings were of the report on public relations and marketing companies employed by Scottish public bodies for which the Executive had direct responsibility from 11 October 1999 to 31 March 2001; whethe…
Answer · Andy Kerr: Insufficient information was received from the Scottish public bodies for the period 11 October 1999 to 31 March 2001 for a meaningful report to be published. However, the returns which were received showed that major contracts awarded to public relations and…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a full account of meetings between (a) business representatives, (b) trade unions, (c) the voluntary sector, (d) lobbyists and (e) other outside interests and (i) civil servants and (ii) ministers since May 1999, showing also the name, affiliation and client of th…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive will not be publishing full accounts of meetings which have been formallyrecorded since May 2001. This would require disproportionate resources to researchall Scottish Executive files to identify the formal records. There are alsoData P…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to record and report meetings of ministers and their deputies with (a) business representatives, (b) trade unions, (c) the voluntary sector, (d) lobbyists and (e) other outside interests, (i) in the course of their official duties and (ii) at social events.
Answer · Andy Kerr: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-7623 on 18 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to monitor, record and report (a) gifts, (b) hospitality and (c) gifts in kind from (i) business representatives, (ii) trade unions, (iii) the voluntary sector, (iv) lobbyists and (v) other outside interests.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The rules governing the acceptanceof gifts and hospitality by Scottish Executive staff are at Appendix 4 of Section A10.1 of the <i>Scottish Executive</i><i> Staff Handbook</i>, which is available on the intranet. All gifts which have a retail valueclearly un…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to record and report meetings of civil servants with (a) business representatives, (b) trade unions, (c) the voluntary sector, (d) lobbyists and (e) other outside interests, (i) in the course of their official duties and (ii) at social events.
Answer · Andy Kerr: Scottish Executive ministers and staff regularly meet a wide range of bodies.Well established arrangements are in place to ensure that key decisions and actionpoints from these meetings are recorded and that arrangements are in place to ensurethe necessary fo…
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many officials have been seconded from it since May 1999, broken down by post and department and specifying the organisation seconded to and by whom each such official's salary is paid, and what information it has on each such official's role within the organisation to which they have…
Answer · Andy Kerr: The number of officials seconded from the Scottish Executive since May 1999 is 383. The table provides the requested information broken down by host organisation only. Details of post, department, specific roles and salary arrangements cannot be made readily …
20 Apr 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many officials have been seconded to it since May 1999, broken down by post and department and specifying the organisation seconded from and by whom each such official's salary is paid.
Answer · Andy Kerr: The number of officials seconded to the Scottish Executive since May 1999 is estimated at 630. The table provides the requested information broken down by department and donor organisation only.The information about posts in each department and salary arrange…
14 Apr 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why the board of the Central College of Commerce in Glasgow has not implemented the recommendations of an industrial tribunal to reinstate the National President of the Further Education Lecturers' Association of the Educational Institute of Scotland who the tribunal found had been unfair…
Answer · Jim Wallace: Further education colleges are autonomous bodies in terms of the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992. Employment issues, and any related expenditure, are therefore matters for the colleges themselves. However, I do expect management and trade uni…
14 Apr 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive why asylum seekers who have no criminal charges or convictions against them are being held in HM Prison Greenock and who took the decision to detain them.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Under the UK Immigration Act 1971 Schedule 2 and paragraph 3(1)(d) of the 2001 Direction (Places of Detention), the UK Immigration Services may request the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to accept or retain Immigration Act detainees who are unsuitable for plac…
25 Feb 2004 · General Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce free nutritious school breakfasts, lunches and tea-time snacks for all primary school children on a similar basis to Hull City Council in order to improve children's health, nutrition and educational attainment.
Answer · Euan Robson: We have noplans to introduce a similar scheme to that in operation in Hull. Hungry<i> </i>for Success was set up as part of awhole school approach to establish nutritional standards for school meals; improve the presentationand to improve general take up and …
23 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the salary of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Fire Services for Scotland is for 2003-04 and will be for 2004-05.
Answer · Hugh Henry: The annual salary of the outgoing Chief Inspector was £100,200 and the salary of the new Chief Inspector, who took up post on 1 March 2004, is also £100,200.
23 Feb 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current salary is of Strathclyde Fire Brigade's Fire Master.
Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Scottish Executive has no role in determining the pay of any Fire Service personnel. TheNational Joint Council for PrincipalOfficers of Local Authorities’ Fire Brigades negotiates the pay of chief fireofficers and the current nationalagreement sets minimu…
7 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many carbon sink projects are currently in operation.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive doesnot keep records of the number of carbon sink projects in Scotland.</p>
7 Jan 2004 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what grants are available to companies wishing to develop forests as carbon sinks.
Answer · Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive doesnot support developments solely for their action as a carbon sink. Incentivesto plant new woodland and for replanting felled woodland are targeted to meetour priorities and programmes for forestry as outlined in the Scottish Forestr…