Parliamentary questions
Jeremy Purvis
909 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
10 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28176 by Jim Mather on 6 November 2009, how much it expects to save following its request to the chairs of public bodies regarding a waiver of bonuses by chief executives.
Answer · Jim Mather: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28849 on 18 November 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/App…
10 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28176 by Jim Mather on 6 November 2009, how much would be saved if all chief executives of public bodies contacted waived their full bonuses.
Answer · Jim Mather: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28849 on 18 November. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Bu…
10 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28176 by Jim Mather on 6 November 2009, what response it has had from the chairs of public bodies contacted regarding a waiver of bonuses by chief executives.
Answer · John Swinney: Thirty-six chief executives are covered by the Public Sector Pay Policy for Senior Appointments 2009-10. Of these, 10 chief executives are not eligible to be considered for a bonus this pay year. Pay and bonus proposals for 2009-10 in respect of a further 12 …
10 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28176 by Jim Mather on 6 November 2009, on what date the chairs of public bodies were contacted regarding a waiver of bonuses by chief executives.
Answer · John Swinney: I wrote to the chairs of non-departmental public bodies and public corporations on 5 June 2009, asking them to invite their chief executive to consider waiving, on a voluntary basis, some or all of any bonus that might be proposed during 2009-10. The decision…
10 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-28176 by Jim Mather on 6 November 2009, what the cost was of the Hay Group job size evaluation report and from which budget this cost was taken.
Answer · Jim Mather: The cost of the Hay Group job size evaluation report and the budget allocation decision are operational matters for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked the Scottish Enterprise chief executive to write to you in this regard.</p>
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether private sector investors will be prevented from making a profit from their participation in the hubCo projects.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Profits generated by the hubCo will be shared between the public sector and the private sector to reflect their respective shareholdings in the hubCo. On individual hubCo projects, a mechanism will be put in place to ensure that unexpected or windfall profits…
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the private sector will be investing equity in the hubCo projects.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The private sector will have a 60% share holding in each hubCo and will also invest equity in any revenue-funded hub projects along with their public sector partners.</p>
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what the economic conditions were that allowed tendering for the PPP hubCo projects in the south east and north to proceed.
Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Through hub, the Scottish Futures Trust are putting in place arrangements for long-term partnerships. The model is flexible and will be able to be used for both publicly and privately financed projects. The south east and north pathfinder projects decided to …
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when the new timetable for delivery of the Borders rail project was determined by Transport Scotland.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: The timetable for delivery of the Borders railway project was determined when Scottish ministers were satisfied that market conditions were favourable to run a successful procurement, which will ensure value for money for public funds.</p>
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether construction of the Borders rail project will commence before April 2011 as stated by the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change in the chamber on 5 March 2008 (Official Report col. 6581).
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Construction of the works authorised by the Waverley Railway Act will commence in 2010, with the first of the ancillary works defined in the act. It is anticipated that a contract for the construction of the railway works defined in the act will be awarded in…
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many young carers’ assessments have been carried out in the last year, broken down by local authority area.
Answer · Shona Robison: The information is not held centrally.</p> <p >The Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, as amended by the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 (the 2002 Act), gives substantial and regular carers, whether or not the carer is a child, the right to reques…
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional hours of short breaks for carers have been delivered in the Scottish Borders as a result of its concordat with COSLA.
Answer · Shona Robison: The data for all authorities, including the Scottish Borders, will be published as soon as possible, once all the data has been gathered.</p>
5 Nov 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been made available for additional short breaks for carers in the Scottish Borders as a result of its concordat with COSLA.
Answer · Shona Robison: Details of the <i >Local Government Finance Settlement 2010-11</i> will be announced to Parliament later this month. In total, authorities were allocated £1.37 million in 2009-10 in respect of additional respite and will be allocated £2.82 million in 2010-11 …
26 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the Glasgow Airport Rail Link was not deemed suitable for construction under the non-profit distributing model.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28380 on 16 November 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Ap…
26 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment was carried out of the possibility of funding the Glasgow Airport Rail Link by alternative means, including the non-profit distributing model.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Previously, in developing the financial business case for the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) project, several contracting strategies and funding options had been considered by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), in accordance with the requirements …
23 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its news release on 22 September 2009, Greener business revolution, when it will produce the “robust Scottish employment data”.
Answer · Jim Mather: Scottish Enterprise, in conjunction with the Scottish Government, are in the process of finalising a report on the renewable energy sector in Scotland, which will include updated employment estimates. The data will be made available in due course.</p>
23 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures the number of jobs that have been saved as a direct result of its accelerated capital programme.
Answer · John Swinney: Estimates of the employment impacts of the accelerated capital programme have been produced using the Scottish Government input-output model. Details of the number of jobs supported in the Scottish economy by the programme can be found in <i >Economy Recovery…
23 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many jobs have been saved as a direct result of its accelerated capital programme and where.
Answer · John Swinney: Estimates of the employment impacts of the accelerated capital spending programme have been produced using the Scottish Government input-output model. The Budget for 2009-10 accelerates £293 million of capital spending into 2009-10, in addition to £53 million…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to questions S3W-27288, S3W-27287, S3W-26493, S3W-26492, S3W-26490, S3W-26489 and S3W-26488, which received holding replies on 11 and 29 September 2009.
Answer · John Swinney: Parliamentary questions S3W-26488, 26489, 26490, 26492, 26493, 27288 were answered on 28 October 2009 and parliamentary question S3W-27287 was answered on 8 January 2010.</p> <p >All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S3W-26790 and S3W-27285 by John Swinney on 8 and 29 September 2009 respectively, for what reason it is unable to state how much of the accelerated capital programme funding for 2009-10 has been spent.
Answer · John Swinney: Monitoring of capital spending programmes continues. We forecast that all of the accelerated capital will be spent in the course of 2009-10 as planned. As I have previously indicated, information about spending outturns will be reported in the consolidated ac…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to questions S3W-26790 and S3W-27285 by John Swinney on 8 and 29 September 2009 respectively, whether information on how much of the accelerated capital programme funding for 2009-10 has been spent is now available.
Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-26791 on 8 September 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/App…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) conferences and (b) award events it has (i) wholly and (ii) partly supported or sponsored since May 2007, broken down by (A) conference or award event and (B) cost.
Answer · John Swinney: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.</p>
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many public sector staff are in each pay grade, broken down by (a) local government, (b) core Scottish Government, (c) Scottish Government agency or (d) non-ministerial government department staff.
Answer · John Swinney: The following table provides information on the number of employees in each pay grade on 31 October 2009.</p> <p >The table is grouped into three sections: Scottish Government core, Scottish Government agencies (excluding those detailed below) and non-depart…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on wages for staff contracted to provide services to the public sector in 2008-09, broken down by contract.
Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government holds details of contracts awarded by the Scottish Procurement Directorate. These contracts do not include any element of direct employment by the Scottish Government of the staff engaged to provide the services. Issues regarding wages…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on public sector (a) pay and (b) pensions in 2008-9, broken down by sector.
Answer · John Swinney: This information will not be available until February 2010.</p>
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the size of the Forth Replacement Crossing project made it unsuitable for NPD funding.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28181 on 5 November 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: </p> <p ><a href="http://www.scottish.parlia…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason NPD funding was considered unsuitable for the Forth Replacement Crossing project.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Because of the condition of financial markets at the time of selecting the method of procurement of the Forth Replacement Crossing, the Scottish Government considered that conventional procurement provided the most appropriate way of delivering the Forth Repl…
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the Scottish Futures Trust is not managing the Forth Replacement Crossing project.
Answer · Stewart Stevenson: Responsibility for delivering this project has been assigned to Transport Scotland and thereby retained directly by the Scottish Ministers.</p> <p >Scottish Futures Trust is designed to support public bodies in the delivery of cost effective infrastructure …
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new civil service posts have been created since May 2007, broken down by (a) job title and (b) pay grade.
Answer · John Swinney: Within the Scottish Government, posts are created and removed regularly to reflect changing business needs. It is therefore not possible to provide detailed information about the titles and grades of posts which have been created since May 2007.</p> <p >It …
12 Oct 2009 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on management consultants in each of the last five years, broken down by consultants.
Answer · John Swinney: We are examining the available information and will write to the member as soon as possible. A copy will also be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 49541).</p>