Parliamentary questions

George Foulkes

1,927 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings there have been in the last six months between Scottish ministers and representatives of private schools; what subjects were discussed, and what the outcome has been.

Answer · Keith Brown: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17817 on 26 November 2008, which provided the information to that date. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at: …

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the relative responsibilities are for workforce planning in teaching of (a) Scottish ministers, (b) the General Teaching Council and (c) local authorities.

Answer · Keith Brown: Scottish ministers are responsible for providing annual guidance to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to assist the council in setting intakes to initial teacher education (ITE). Information from the Scottish Government''s annual teacher workforce planning e…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has had with COSLA about reducing class sizes and increasing teacher numbers and when the outcome will be evident.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I meet on a bi-monthly basis with COSLA to discuss matters arising from the concordat and progress towards meeting the commitments contained in it.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent teachers were employed as at 31 December 2008 and how this compares with 31 December (a) 2007 and (b) 2006.

Answer · Keith Brown: Results of the September 2008 Teacher Census are due to be published later this month. They will be available in Teachers in Scotland 2008 on the government website at the following link <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00720/">h…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has had with the (a) General Teaching Council and (b) Educational Institute of Scotland and other teachers’ unions about workforce planning in the teaching profession and what the outcome has been.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I have regular discussions with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) and other teachers'' unions on a wide range of issues including issues around workforce planning in the teaching profession. …

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many and what percentage of probationary teachers who completed their probationary year in 2008 have not secured a full-time teaching post.

Answer · Keith Brown: The information requested is not held centrally. Results from the survey carried out by the General Teaching Council for Scotland on 2007-08 post probationary teachers shows that by October 2008, 79% of respondents were teaching in Scotland on a variety of co…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have been held between Scottish ministers and representatives of the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Group since November 2008; who was involved, and what the outcome was in each case.

Answer · Jim Mather: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the former finance director of Transport Scotland is currently employed by the Scottish Executive or any of its agencies.

Answer · John Swinney: The former Director of Finance and Corporate Services at Transport Scotland is not a current employee of the Scottish Government or any of its agencies.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure was involved in the preparatory work for its local income tax proposal.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20891 on 6 March 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/Apps2/B…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many car parking spaces are available to its staff at each of its main centres of employment and, in each case, whether this number has increased or decreased since May 2007.

Answer · John Swinney: The number of car parking spaces available to staff at each of our main buildings and the changes since May 2007 are as follows. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <tr > <td width=144 valign=top > Building </td> …

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what requests have been received from universities, individually or collectively, for further financial assistance in 2008-09 and what responses have been given.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Government has not received any requests from universities for further financial assistance in 2008-09. Universities would submit any such requests to the Scottish Funding Council.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the expenditure and income of the Scottish Futures Trust has been since its inception.

Answer · John Swinney: These figures will be available after the conclusion of this financial year on 31 March when the Scottish Futures Trust will publish an annual report of its activities together with its audited annual accounts.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what projects have been agreed funding by vehicles set up by or under the auspices of the Scottish Futures Trust.

Answer · John Swinney: As we made clear in the Business Case, Taking forward the Scottish Futures Trust (<a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19155435/0">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/19155435/0</a>), published in May 2008, the Scottish…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what new (a) schools and (b) health facilities have had official openings since May 2007; who undertook each opening ceremony, and which MSPs and MPs were invited in each case.

Answer · Keith Brown: Information relating to official openings of schools by other than Scottish ministers is not held centrally. Details of such openings by Scottish ministers are set out in the following table, although information regarding invitations to MSPs and MPs is not h…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what compensation or other payments junior Scottish ministers are entitled to on resigning their posts.

Answer · John Swinney: In accordance with Article 6 of The Scotland Act 1998 (Transitory and Transitional Provisions) (Grants to Members and Officeholders) Order Statutory Instrument (SI) 1999/1081, junior ministers in the Scottish Government are entitled to a severance grant of o…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes have been made to the management of Transport Scotland since the appointment of its new chief executive and what the financial implications are of any such changes.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: No permanent changes have yet been made.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what savings it made through increased efficiency in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 and what the projected savings are for (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10.

Answer · John Swinney: The published Efficiency Outturn Reports for the 2005-08 efficiency programme contain full details of the efficiency savings made in each year. The 2006-07 report (Bib. number 44112) is available at: <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what land and property assets it has (a) acquired and (b) disposed of since May 2007.

Answer · John Swinney: The land and property assets (a) acquired and (b) disposed of by the Scottish Government core estate since May 2007 are as follows: (a) Land and buildings acquired: none. (b) Land and buildings disposed of: 167 crofting pr…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations have been (a) closed and (b) disposed of since May 2007.

Answer · John Swinney: Details of changes in the public bodies landscape can be found in the Scottish Government''s Simplification Programme Tracker at: <a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/Simplification-Tracker">http://www.scotland.gov.uk/T…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what interests have been declared by its senior officials in relation to shares held or other potential conflicts of interest.

Answer · John Swinney: Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998, interests declared by individual senior officials are considered to be personal data which we are unable to publish.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what contacts there have been between Scottish ministers and officers of the Tosca Fund.

Answer · John Swinney: There has been no contact between any Scottish minister and officers of Toscafund.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any outside commercial and financial interests declared by each member of the Scottish Futures Trust board.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21394 on 9 March 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/Apps2/B…

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list any commercial interests declared by each member of the Scottish Futures Trust board.

Answer · John Swinney: The information requested is not held centrally. However, the Scottish Government would encourage all devolved public bodies in Scotland to maintain a publicly available register of board members'' interests.

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any member of the Council of Economic Advisers has declared interests in (a) the Royal Bank of Scotland, (b) HBOS, (c) Lloyds TSB, (d) HSBC or (e) the Clydesdale Bank or its parent company.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to answer to question S3W-19401 on 21 January 2009; question S3W-17089 on 5 November 2008, and question S3W-16527 on 7 October 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the …

26 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what interests in any aspects of banking have been declared by each member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Answer · John Swinney: I refer the member to answers to question S3W-19401 on 21 January 2009; question S3W-17089 on 5 November 2008, and question S3W-16527 on 7 October 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search fac…

25 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with Islamic funding sources in relation to (a) the Scottish Futures Trust or (b) other Scottish Executive spending; which sources have been involved, and when it will be in a position to indicate what use is expected to be made of such sources.

Answer · Jim Mather: No discussions have taken place with Islamic funding sources in relation to the Scottish Futures Trust or other Scottish Executive spending and there are therefore no plans to make use of such sources at this time.

24 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the participants in the meetings that the First Minister will have during his visit to Qatar.

Answer · Michael Russell: The timing and content of any ministerial visit to Qatar remains under consideration.

23 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the second supplementary to question S3F-1446 by Alex Salmond on 12 February 2009 (Official Report c. 15021), whether it will list the 46 SNP manifesto commitments that have been achieved.

Answer · Bruce Crawford: The information requested is given in the document entitled SNP headline manifesto commitments met or exceeded, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 47825).

12 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19562 by Maureen Watt on 29 January 2009, whether it will provide details of the procurement route for each of the 152 schools.

Answer · Keith Brown: Of the 152 schools, 92 were procured under public private partnerships (PPP) or non-profit distributing (NPD) arrangements and 60 under other arrangements. Precise details of procurement routes for local authority school projects are not held centrally.

12 Feb 2009 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what level-playing-field support for school building programmes local authorities have received from it since May 2007, broken down by local authority.

Answer · Keith Brown: Level playing field support (LPFS) for those authorities with LPFS schools projects, stemming from arrangements set in train in 1998, is included within the block grant element of the annual local government finance settlement. The amount paid annually to eac…