Willie Rennie

5 Dec 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by John Swinney on 27 November 2012 (Official Report, c. 13912), what categories of resources will be added to local authority revenues in addition to the provisional funding allocations.

Answer · John Swinney: Any changes to the provisional funding allocations for local government for 2013-14 announced to Parliament on 27 November 2012, such as the transfer of resources from the Department of Work and Pensions for the devolved social fund programme which is subject…

3 Dec 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will publish a draft Marriage and Civil Partnership Bill for consultation before the end of 2012 and, if not, when it will publish it.

Answer · Alex Neil: The consultation on the draft Bill was published on 12 December 2012 and can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/12/9433.

26 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of what schemes will be included in the (a) cycling infrastructure, (b) ferry port infrastructure, (c) canal infrastructure, (d) Highlands and Islands Enterprise economic development, (e) Scottish Enterprise economic development, (f) VisitScotland, investm…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Further details relating to these schemes are as follows: (a) Cycling infrastructure: Investment in infrastructure that will extend safe cycling routes in different regions of Scotland and encourage active travel, tourism and commuting to school by bike. …

26 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for each of the projects referred to in its news release of 9 March 2012, Shovel ready projects, which have (a) started, and what the source of the funding was, (b) been delayed because of a lack of suitable planning permissions, (c) been included in its news release of 25 November 2012,…

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government published a list of Shovel Ready projects requiring £302 million in March 2012 in advance of the 2012 UK Budget. The Shovel Ready list was then updated in November 2012 in advance of the UK Autumn Statement with projects requiring £820…

26 Nov 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

22 Nov 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what funding it (a) gives and (b) plans to give to support welfare benefit advice services.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: We want a welfare system that reflects Scotland’s values and ensures fair and decent support for all. But the UK Government’s reforms are being introduced against a backdrop of cuts to benefits and these changes will potentially take significant amounts of mo…

19 Nov 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

5 Nov 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

26 Oct 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

1 Oct 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

24 Sep 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

10 Sep 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

7 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many civil servants and (b) what financial resources were allocated to constitution policy in (i) March 2011 and (ii) September 2011.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The Scottish Government has published annual figures for the number of full-time equivalent staff (FTE), by grade, working on constitutional policy. These can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/constitution/About/constitution-SG-staffing.

7 Sep 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many civil servants and (b) what financial resources are being allocated to support the Deputy First Minister in her role on constitution policy and preparations for the referendum.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: There are currently 15.25 full-time equivalent staff employed in the Elections and Constitution Division. The Scottish Government has published annual figures for the number of full-time equivalent staff (FTE) by grade working on constitutional policy. These …

3 Sep 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

30 Aug 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what impact human rights law and the human rights obligations in section 57 of the Scotland Act 1998 have on freedom of information rights.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: Section 57 of the Scotland Act 1998 requires members of the Scottish Government to act compatibly with the European Convention on Human Rights. They have no power to do otherwise. Whilst Article 10 of the Convention requires states to secure the effective re…

30 Aug 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which publicly-funded bodies are not covered by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and what is the annual budget of each.

Answer · Nicola Sturgeon: The information is not centrally held.

17 Jul 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the Equal Opportunities Committee's request at paragraph 635 of its 5th Report 2010 (Session 3): Inquiry into Migration and Trafficking, what discussions it has had with the UK Government and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) about extending the GLA’s statutory powers…

Answer · Richard Lochhead: Preliminary discussions have been held between the Scottish Government and the GLA. However, the matter is not straightforward. Legal traditions in Scotland are quite different from those in England and Wales. While powers of arrest are relatively widely con…

17 Jul 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many prosecutions have taken place in Scotland under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004.

Answer · Richard Lochhead: The following table shows the number of people prosecuted in Scotland where the main offence was under the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004: 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 1 2 4

18 Jun 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

11 Jun 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

25 May 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

21 May 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

2 May 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

30 Apr 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

12 Apr 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

22 Mar 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

12 Mar 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

5 Mar 2012 · First Minister's Question

To ask the First Minister what issues will be discussed at the next meeting of the Cabinet.

27 Feb 2012 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many freedom of information requests it is dealing with and how many of these have not been answered within 20 working days of receipt.

Answer · Brian Adam: As at 27 February 2012 we were dealing with 135 freedom of information requests, 22 (16%) of which have not been answered within 20 working days of receipt.