David Whitton

21 Nov 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) grocery, (b) butcher, (c) baker, (d) fishmonger, (e) newsagent, (f) confectionery and (g) tobacco retail outlets there were in the most recent period for which information is available and how many such wholesalers there were.

Answer · Jim Mather: The number of retail outlets in Scotland as at March 2008 was as follows (separate figures are not available for newsagents and confectionery):</p> <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 > <thead> <tr > <td width=49 nowrap valign=top > <p al…

31 Oct 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many different tax codes it anticipates that a company based in Glasgow or Edinburgh will have to deal with under a locally-set local income tax.

Answer · John Swinney: In the consultation paper <i >A Fairer Local Tax for Scotland, </i>the Scottish Government proposed a nationally-set rate for local income tax. When we publish the responses to this consultation paper later this year we shall outline how we plan to take forwa…

31 Oct 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of submissions to its consultation on local income tax opposed the proposals.

Answer · John Swinney: Members of the public and organisations submitted a range of views in their responses to the Scottish Government''s consultation on local income tax. Where respondents have given their permission, we shall publish these responses and an analysis of these resp…

31 Oct 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned research into the impact of its proposed local income tax on encouraging talent to locate in Scotland.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government provided its view of this aspect of its local income tax proposals in section 3 (paragraph 35) of <i >A Fairer Local Tax for Scotland</i>:</p> <p >People decide where to live for a variety of reasons, and we believe that the fairer a…

31 Oct 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has commissioned research into the impact of its proposed local income tax on encouraging firms to locate in Scotland.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government raised the issue of the economic impact of a local income tax in its consultation paper, <i >A Fairer Local Tax for Scotland</i>. The report on the consultation responses will include an analysis of such responses. Based on this and ot…

31 Oct 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how water and sewerage charges will be set and collected under its local income tax plans.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to the abolition of council tax and the introduction of a local income tax. Once a full analysis of the consultation responses is complete, we shall outline our plans on how we intend to progress our proposals, including h…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on how many occasions the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner sought formal or informal external legal advice in relation to complaints involving Wendy Alexander MSP over the last year and what the costs were of such advice.

Answer · Mike Pringle: The SPCB does not hold this information. It is a matter for the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to determine when he needs legal advice and the nature of that advice.</p>

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether, when it undertook to meet the legal costs of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner, it understood that some of that legal advice would involve cases against individual members and whether consideration was given to also extending or supporting legal…

Answer · Mike Pringle: Under the provisions of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, the commissioner may, with the consent of the SPCB, appoint advisers to assist him in the exercise of his functions. Any such costs are met out of the commissioner''s approv…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how members can have faith in advice tendered by parliamentary officials, as stated by the Presiding Officer on 22 August 2008 in his letter to Jackie Baillie MSP, if the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body is simultaneously funding senior counsels’ opinions disputing…

Answer · Mike Pringle: The SPCB intends to review matters arising from a recent complaint made against a member. It understands that the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee will similarly review matters that fall within its interests.</p>

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether, when it agreed to the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s request to meet “significant one-off costs such as meeting the cost of a legal challenge”, it understood that it was agreeing to fund the costs of external senior counsels’ opinions reviewing…

Answer · Mike Pringle: The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002 provides that the SPCB shall pay any expenses incurred by the commissioner in the exercise of his functions. Part of this funding can be to meet the cost of legal advice. All legal advice taken by t…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether prior to 2007-08 it covered any legal expenditure incurred by the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner in respect of complaints against individual members or incurred by the Commissioner challenging advice provided by parliamentary officials.

Answer · Mike Pringle: All expenditure incurred on legal advice in respect of the functions of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has been met by the commissioner from his budget.</p> <p >It is a matter for the commissioner to determine the nature of the advice he…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, with reference to the statement in the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s annual report for 2006-07 that “significant one-off costs such as meeting the cost of a legal challenge will now be met from a central contingency fund in the Scottish Parliamentary …

Answer · Mike Pringle: The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is expected to meet the costs for legal advice in undertaking his functions from his own budget.</p> <p >The officeholders'' central contingency fund was established by the SPCB to remove the need for each…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, with reference to the statement in the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s annual report for 2006-07 that “significant one-off costs such as meeting the cost of a legal challenge will now be met from a central contingency fund in the Scottish Parliamentary …

Answer · Mike Pringle: Under Schedule 1 paragraph 5 of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, the SPCB has a statutory duty to fund the Standards Commissioner. The SPCB has a similar duty to fund other officeholders such as the Scottish Public Services Ombuds…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when it decided to meet in full the legal costs of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner.

Answer · Mike Pringle: Under Schedule 1, paragraph 3 of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, the commissioner may, with the approval of the SPCB, appoint any person to provide services by assisting or advising the commissioner in carrying out the commissione…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the legal costs of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner have been (a) in each year since appointment and (b) for the first three months of 2008-09; how these costs have been met, and what proportion of the Commissioner’s total costs relate to legal adv…

Answer · Mike Pringle: The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner''s legal costs are met from his budget and are as set out in the table below including what the proportion is of these costs against his overall budget. The SPCB is not in a position to apportion these costs…

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total costs, including legal costs, were of investigations by the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into complaints against Wendy Alexander MSP from October 2007 to August 2008, broken down by complaint and including complaints that did not proceed …

Answer · Mike Pringle: The SPCB does not hold information in relation to the costs of investigations.</p>

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the total costs were of investigations by the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner into complaints against Wendy Alexander MSP from October 2007 to August 2008.

Answer · Mike Pringle: : The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner meets the cost of investigations, from his budget. Between October 2007 and August 2008, the commissioner spent £35,669 on legal advice. The SPCB is not in a position to apportion these costs to individual …

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the costs to it were of the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s investigation into the complaint lodged by Iain Fraser on 12 December 2007 against Wendy Alexander MSP and whether it will provide a breakdown of these costs, including the costs of any ass…

Answer · Mike Pringle: The SPCB does not hold information in relation to the costs of investigations. With reference to legal costs, the SPCB is not in a position to apportion these costs to individual complaints.</p>

17 Sep 2008 · SPCB Written Question

To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body when the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner’s annual report for 2007-08 is expected to be laid before the Parliament.

Answer · Mike Pringle: The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner laid his annual report for 2007-08 on 1 October 2008.</p>

22 Aug 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken by the Justice Directorate to investigate the high levels of staff absence through injury and stress at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Care Commission is responsible for the regulation of care services which includes staffing levels. The board of managers of St Mary''s Kenmure are working with the Care Commission to ensure that the staffing complement and the deployment of staff is stren…

22 Aug 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken against the board of St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, for failing to ensure Care Commission guidelines on staffing levels are maintained at all times.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The Care Commission is responsible for the regulation of care services. It has statutory powers which can be deployed where necessary to deal with services that do not meet requirements. In this case, the Care Commission has worked with the senior staff and t…

22 Aug 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken by the Justice Directorate to ensure that staffing levels at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, follow Care Commission guidelines.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The staffing levels at St Mary''s Kenmure are agreed between the Care Commission and the board of managers of St Mary''s Kenmure and are monitored as part of inspections. The Care Commission has statutory powers which can be deployed where necessary to deal w…

22 Aug 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what action was taken to implement the recommendations contained in the report into the events at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, on 29 and 30 March 2008.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: The report of the inspection undertaken by the Care Commission prior to the reopening of St Mary''s Kenmure contains information on the range of measures taken to address issues raised by the events of 29 and 30 March 2008. This report is available on the Car…

22 Aug 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it received the internal report into the events at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, on 29 and 30 March 2008.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: A summary of the internal inquiry report was provided to the Scottish Government at the end of July 2008.</p>

3 Apr 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff of St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, have been off work through illness or injury in each of the last 12 months.

Answer · Adam Ingram: This is an operational matter for St Mary''s Kenmure Secure Unit. The Scottish Government does not collect this information.</p>

1 Apr 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the cost of damage and repairs to the fabric of St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, due to vandalism caused by inmates in the last year.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This is an operational matter for St Mary''s Kenmure secure unit. Scottish Government does not collect this information.</p>

1 Apr 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many incidents there have been at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, in the past year in which (a) restraint was used, (b) damage to property was caused and (c) the police was called to assist.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: These are matters for St Mary''s Kenmure secure unit and, where restraint is concerned, the Care Commission. The Scottish Government does not collect this information.</p>

1 Apr 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many inmates have escaped from St Mary's Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, since it opened.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: Security in relation to children resident in secure care is a matter for secure units and those who place children and young people in their care. This includes local authorities, who place young people on remand or through the Children''s Hearings system and…

1 Apr 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff have been injured in incidents involving inmates at St Mary’s Kenmure, Bishopbriggs, in the last year.

Answer · Fergus Ewing: This is an operational matter for St Mary''s Kenmure secure unit. The Scottish Government does not collect this information.</p>

20 Mar 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Children and Early Years last visited a family contact centre in Glasgow.

Answer · Adam Ingram: I have not yet had the opportunity to visit a child contact centre in Glasgow. My office is in discussion with Relationships Scotland to arrange a visit to one of the 30 local services which provides child contact facilities.</p>