Patrick Harvie

9 Jun 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to encourage schools to allow it to manage StarOffice licences on their behalf.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The recently signed agreement with SUN will allow schools access to the Star Office software under a national licence agreement. Information has already beenpassed to local authorities and further publicity has been planned throughLearning and Teaching Scotla…

14 Apr 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will evaluate the use of intermediaries to facilitate evidence giving by vulnerable witnesses.

Answer · Hugh Henry: We will carryout a detailed assessment of the evaluation of the piloting of intermediariesin England and Wales and compare it with those carried out on other schemes usedelsewhere in the world.</p>

14 Apr 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure a full and varied response to its consultation on rights of appeal in planning.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: We areconsulting widely. The initial distribution of the consultation paper sentcopies to a wide range of interested organisations and individuals. Theconsultation has been well publicised and we are continuing to provide copiesof the paper to anyone who requ…

4 Feb 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to ensure that the interests of objectors in the planning system are taken account of in its preparations for consulting on rights of appeal in planning.

Answer · Margaret Curran: We receiveregular correspondence on the issue and views previously expressed to the Executive have been taken into account as work on the forthcoming consultationhas progressed.</p><p>We set up astakeholder group to assist us in identifying the issues to be c…

14 Jan 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the jobs created, or relocated, as a result of the M74 extension will be taken by currently unemployed residents in the Glasgow area.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Twenty-five thousand<b> </b>jobsare expected to be created following completion of the M74. It is not possibleto say how these jobs will be filled but the local authorities and localenterprise companies are taking steps to ensure that local residents areequip…

7 Jan 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the current annual cost of flood damage, caused by climate change, is to property and business.

Answer · Allan Wilson: It is not possible to say if any single instance of flooding is attributableto climate change directly, and we do not collect separate data on any marginalincrease in annual flood damage cost it may cause.</p><p>The Executive is about to publish updated resea…

1 Dec 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made towards achieving its target that no one should have to sleep rough.

Answer · Margaret Curran: The Scottish Executive has made great strides towards ending the need to sleep rough. The rough sleepingcount for May and October 2003 showed a significant drop in the extent of roughsleeping during that period. Five local authorities had a small shortfall in…

10 Sep 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in respect of the erection of agricultural buildings that are inappropriate for a local area and exempt from planning consent requirements.

Answer · Mary Mulligan: Permitted development rights(PDRs) grant planning permission across Scotland for various classes of minor development. Where PDRsapply to the erection of agricultural buildings, there is a restriction on thesize of the building and a prior approval procedure …

7 Aug 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the use of proprietary and non-proprietary document formats where such documents are to be made publicly available and what guidance it issues to public bodies on this matter.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive’s use of proprietary and non-proprietary software conforms to the UK Government’s policy which is described in <i>Open Source Software – Use Within UK Government</i>, which was published by the Office of the e-Envoy in July2002. The Sco…

7 Aug 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the principles of open source are included in the teaching of IT and programming and, if so, how these principles are included.

Answer · Peter Peacock: School pupils studying National Qualification courses in computing or in information systems will learn about the various sources for software. At Higher level and above the teaching of software development and programming places considerable emphasis on modu…

7 Aug 2003 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Presiding Officer how much the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) has spent on Microsoft software licences for the Parliament's IT systems.

Answer · John Scott: The SPCB has spent approximately£449,000 on current Microsoft Software Licences. This includes licences for desktopsoftware such as Microsoft Office and XP, as well as server operating systems, databasesand email systems.</p>

7 Aug 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has spent on Microsoft software licenses in each of the last three financial years.

Answer · Andy Kerr: The Scottish Executive has in place two licensing agreementswith Microsoft which provide significant levels of discount on published list pricesfor Microsoft software.</p><p> We havea Select Agreement which offers participating organisations volume discount o…

7 Aug 2003 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the role of open source software in public sector IT procurement and what guidance it issues to public bodies on this matter.

Answer · Andy Kerr: Guidance on the use of opensource software by UK public bodies, including the devolved administrations, isset out in a policy statement, “Open Source Software, Use Within UKGovernment”, published by the Office of the e-Envoy on 15 July 2002. In supportof this…

11 Jun 2003 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take following the publication of the Scottish European Pollutant Register by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The industrial sites included in the pollution emissions register recently published by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) are already tightly regulated by SEPA. All sites are regulated under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regu…