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The Executive/STUC staffing protocolhas been implemented as part of the PPP process. I am not aware that any employeehas transferred since the introduction of the protocol.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

As the Crown Office and ProcuratorFiscal Service does not record cases by the locus of the offence, the informationrequested is not available.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

Establishment	Cost (£ million)	Number of Cells
HM Prison Edinburgh	18	224
HM Young Offenders Institute Polmont	17	211

 

Matters relating to the regulationof international trade, including responsibility for GATS negotiations, are reservedto the UK Government. The Scottish Executive has ensured that the UK Government’s representationsto the European Union on GATS reflect the Executive’s commitment to retain Scotland’spublic water services in the public sector, and the UK Government has confirmed that it has no intentionof pressing for water services to be included in future GATS commitments. Nothingin the GATS process affects the Scottish Executive’s right to determine policy onhow water services are provided in Scotland.  The forthcoming Water Services Bill will not affectScottish Water's status as a public corporation.

The regulation of internationaltrade is a reserved matter. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with theDepartment of Trade and Industry and other Government departments on a range oftrade issues, including those relating to the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS).

The Scottish Executive is liaising with the DTI on the progress of the GATS negotiations, and maintainsan ongoing assessment of any potential impact of GATS on its responsibilities. Thiswill continue to inform our discussions with DTI, in order to ensure that Scottishinterests are considered.

The Executive remains fully committedto retaining water supply in the public sector. The Water Services Bill will prohibitthird parties from using the public water and sewerage networks, ensuring that ScottishWater remains the sole physical supplier of water and sewerage services to all premisesconnected to the public networks. This prohibition, together with the prohibitionon retail competition to domestic customers and provisions to license retail competitionfor non-domestic customers will reinforce our commitment to retain Scottish Waterin the public sector.

Matters relating to the regulationof international trade, including responsibility for GATS negotiations, are reservedto the UK Government. The Scottish Executive has ensured that the UK Government’s representationsto the European Union on GATS reflect the Executive’s commitment to retain Scotland’s publicwater services in the public sector.

The Executive remains committedto retaining Scottish Water as a publicly owned corporation. Scottish Water's statuswill not be affected by the forthcoming Water Services Bill.

Although the Abolition of FeudalTenure etc. (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent in 2000 it will not take effectuntil 28 November 2004. Local authorities will have until November to preservecertain special types of right and even after that they will still be able to preservetheir rights over housing estates where they retain some properties. After the feudalsystem is abolished, local authorities will have to modify their practice when sellingland to take account of the types of title conditions which will be permitted infuture. The process by which authorities may preserve rights over housing estateswas simplified following consultation with authorities when the legislation wasbeing considered.

The Executive wrote to the Chief Executives and principal legal officers of all Scottish local authorities on 7 May 2003, outliningthe main areas of reform and suggesting actions which councils might wish to consider.The Executive will be producing further general guidance on its programme of propertylaw reform later in 2004.

No funds have been made available.It is difficult to predict the administrative costs to local authorities arisingfrom the abolition of the feudal system, but it is expected that these can be metfrom existing resources. As with any other individual or corporate body, it is amatter of choice for the local authority as to what, if any, action it wishes totake. The legislation does not require any action generating unavoidable costs forcouncils.

It is unlikely that local authoritieswill have incurred much expense to date, as the feudal system will not actuallybe abolished until 28 November 2004. It is currently possible for authorities to registernotices in the property registers in order to save certain types of feudal rightand authorities have been advised of the best way to ensure that they will retaina say in relation to housing complexes where they still own some of the properties.It is not anticipated that authorities will wish to use a large number of notices,and so the registration costs should not prove to be significant.