- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, if it is successful in its bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, whether Scotland, as the host nation, can nominate sports for inclusion in the Games and, if so, whether it will nominate rugby union for inclusion and locate the competition in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
The information requested on the Commonwealth Games Sports Programme can be found at the following URL as at 26 January 2006
http://www.thecgf.com/faq/faq12.asp Men’s rugby 7’s is one of the compulsory sports in the Commonwealth Games Sports Programme.
The Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council have received advice from the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland indicating that the prospects for Scotland’s bid to be successful are maximised if the events venues are as close together as possible and if the use of these facilities is maximised where possible.
Therefore it is likely that, should Scotland be successful in its bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the majority of sporting events would be based within or close to Glasgow and this includes the rugby 7’s event. All of the bid partners are committed to ensuring the games, if awarded to Glasgow, involve and benefit the whole of Scotland. Benefits will accrue not just from the particular location of an event but also from the siting of training camps and holding camps.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a conflict of interest between the Lord Advocate’s role as a member of the Executive and his legal capacity as Scotland’s senior law officer with responsibility for legal advice to the Executive, in view of the Executive’s position as owner and sole shareholder of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and the allegations that rendition flights may have landed at Wick and Inverness airports.
Answer
No. There is no conflict of interest. Law Officers have always been members of either the UK Government or, following devolution by virtue of s44 of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Executive. Where consulted they give impartial and professional advice.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what duty the Lord Advocate has, in his capacity as a member of the Executive, to investigate allegations that rendition flights may have landed at Wick and Inverness airports, given the Executive’s position as owner and sole shareholder of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.
Answer
The investigation and prosecution of crime is a matter for the police, the Procurator Fiscal and the Lord Advocate. Section 48 of the Scotland Act provides that any decision of the Lord Advocate in his capacity as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths shall continue to be taken by him independently of any other person.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any breaches of its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and, if so, what these were.
Answer
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is primarily enforced by the Scottish Information Commissioner. The commissioner’s decisions detail where, in the opinion of the commissioner, an authority has failed to comply, and the respect in which the authority has failed to comply, with the general entitlement of access to information, and the steps which the authority must take to comply. Decisions, including those concerning the Executive, are published on the commissioner’s website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/appealsdecisions/decisions/index.php.
Records indicate that the Executive has not met the statutory 20-day response time in about 20% of cases.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many exemptions under section 18 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 it has applied to freedom of information requests in each of the last 12 months.
Answer
Records show that a notice under section 18 of the act has been issued on two occasions, one in May and one in November.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 3 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what duties it has in respect of flights through airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.
Answer
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL), as the licensed operator of its 10 airports, is responsible for meeting UK Civil Aviation Authority and Department for Transport regulatory, and all statutory, requirements relating to its duties as the licensee of these airports. HIAL is also accountable via its Board of Directors to the Scottish ministers for the operation and management of its business.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 3 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Borders Council in respect of the council’s plans to remove the flexibility staffing allowance for secondary schools which is expected to result in the loss of 11 full-time teaching posts.
Answer
None. The staffing of individual schools is a matter for local education authorities as employers and consequently the Scottish Executive has not engaged in discussions with Scottish Borders Council about this issue. However, officials wrote to all local authorities on 19 December 2005 notifying them of the funding that will be available for additional teachers in 2006-07 and 2007-08, as well as clarifying that expenditure on teachers’ salaries was exempt from the efficiency savings identified in the 2004 Spending Review.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many times Scottish police forces have provided advice to the Metropolitan Police on how to respond to requests for information in England and Wales under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether the Metropolitan Police is providing Scottish police forces with specific advice on how to respond to requests for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
We have no information pertaining to advice that may have been circulated by the Metropolitan Police Service to Scottish police forces. Police forces may co-operate when dealing with freedom of information requests in the interests of efficiency and consistency. This is an operational matter.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 2 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has taken legal advice in respect of allegations that airports operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd may have provided facilities to rendition flights.
Answer
In the absence of credible and reliable information, the Scottish Executive has no reason to take legal advice on these allegations.
