- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 10 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many elderly people in the Highland Council area have been unable to receive free NHS dental treatment in the past 12 months because of a lack of dental surgeons.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. We are aware that there are access problems to NHS dentistry in Highland and will be meeting the Primary Care Trust to discuss the situation.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to amend the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976 so that licensed premises and the licensee are covered by separate three-year licences.
Answer
We have put in place an independent committee, led by Sheriff Principal Nicholson, to carry out a fundamental review of Scotland's liquor licensing law and practice. The committee has received submissions on this issue. The committee is expected to report early in 2003 and we await its recommendations.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 9 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure that those who wish to pursue a career in teaching by way of the Postgraduate Certificate of Education and who are leaving a career in the private or public sector are not deterred from doing so by reason of the level of starting salary.
Answer
There have been significant improvements in pay, conditions and opportunities for teachers arising from the Agreement on a Teaching Profession for the 21st Century, in addition to the positive benefits of joining a re-invigorated profession.Negotiations on a range of issues relating to pay and conditions are continuing through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). A proposal from the SNCT Working Group on Conditions of Service that all probationers would start on the probationer point on the pay scale (£16,644 as from August 2002, rising to £18,000 from August 2003) will be considered at the next meeting of the SNCT on 31 January.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 26 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 8 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has obtained in relation to the distribution of the Scottish Bus Group employee pension funds; whether these funds are liable to public general taxation and, if so, under what income and corporation taxes statutes or other statutory provisions; whether ex gratia payments made to former members of the fund are liable to tax and, if so, whether this applies in respect of payments in excess of #30,000 and, if so, at what rate.
Answer
It would be inappropriate for the Executive to provide information which would harm the frankness and candour of discussion and advice, including between the Scottish Executive and legal advisers.I can confirm that UK tax law applies on the wind-up of occupational pensions schemes, including the Scottish Transport Group pension schemes. The Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 applies. For tax purposes, beneficiaries will be responsible for reporting the receipt of the ex-gratia payments to the Inland Revenue in the normal manner. The tax payable on payments made to beneficiaries will depend on the personal tax circumstances of individuals.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 8 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications have been made to date for free central heating installation in the Highland Council area under its central heating installation programme; how many of these applications have been processed; how many installations have been carried out, and how many have been refused on grounds of cost.
Answer
There have been 255 applications from the relevant postcode area. 170 of these are eligible and are to receive their package of measures shortly. Another 46 applications are to be assessed. No applications for the Central Heating Programme are rejected on grounds of cost.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 7 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has yet completed compiling a full list of eligible beneficiaries under the Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes; if so on what date this list was completed and, if not, what action is being taken in order to complete it.
Answer
No. Following approval by the Finance Committee of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish ministers have issued indemnities to the trustees which enable them to proceed to wind up the pension schemes. Until the schemes are wound up, the trustees have a responsibility to keep confidential records about scheme members. The Executive is working closely with the trustees and is discussing whether it is possible for the trustees to make details of scheme members available to the Executive ahead of the formal wind-up of the pension schemes, in the light of the indemnities they have now obtained, and ministers' expressed intention to make ex-gratia payments to scheme members.In addition, the Executive has prepared and distributed a pro-forma to interested parties which enables potential beneficiaries to register their interest with the Executive.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 29 October 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 7 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers in relation to ensuring that those wishing to pursue the Post Graduate Certificate of Education (PGCE Primary) and who are leaving other careers in industry or the public sector are not deterred from doing so by virtue of the initial entitlement to pay.
Answer
The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) is not a free-standing organisation, but is a forum through which the Scottish Executive, COSLA and the teacher organisations can reach collaborative decisions. There have been significant improvements in pay, conditions and opportunities for teachers arising from the Agreement on a Teaching Profession for the 21st Century.Negotiations on a range of issues relating to pay and conditions are continuing through the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT). Proposals from the SNCT Working Group on Conditions of Service relating to probationers will be considered at the next meeting of the SNCT on 31 January.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 August 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in terms of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information, public interest in the issues relating to the Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes and the winding up thereof outweighs any harm involved in disclosure of information and, if so, whether it will make public (a) all correspondence, records of verbal communication and other documents and communications between (i) the Executive and the trustees or their agents of the relevant pension schemes, (ii) the Executive and the Scotland Office and (iii) the Executive and Her Majesty's Government and (b) all advice which it has received in connection with the Scottish Transport Group Pension Schemes, the winding up thereof and the disposal of and entitlement to surplus funds therefrom.
Answer
No. It would not be appropriate for the Executive to disclose information which would harm the frankness and candour of discussion and advice, including between the Scottish Executive and UK Government and between the Executive and the Scottish Transport Group and the Trustees of the Scottish Transport Group pensions schemes.The Scottish Executive recognises the level of public interest regarding this matter. In this respect the Scottish Executive is therefore maintaining a website (www.scotland.gov.uk/transport/stgpf) with information on the matter of the ex-gratia payments and will update this when there are substantial developments to report. In addition, once the criteria for distributing ex-gratia payments have been finalised, details will be published in national newspapers.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 November 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 3 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether those provisions of its contract with BEAR Scotland Ltd which govern the position in the event of the company's failure to perform its obligations have been made public and are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-18588 and S1W-18616 on the 11 October 2001 by the former Minister for Transport and Planning. As much of the contract as may be considered not to contain sensitive commercial information has been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2001
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 27 December 2001
To ask the Presiding Officer which business address in the United Kingdom Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd used in their dealings in connection with the MSP building cladding contract and whether they used, indicated that they used or possessed any business address in Edinburgh.
Answer
The initial business address provided for Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd was "29th Floor, 1 Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London EH14 5DY". The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has further confirmed that the company informed the Scottish Parliament on 9 May 2001, that its address had changed to "34 Queen Anne Street, London W1M 9LB". No indication of any business address in Edinburgh was given by Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd, other than in connection with the site accommodation at Holyrood.
