- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information by deleting the word "could" from paragraph (a) of the section headed "Effective management and operations of the public service" and replacing it with the word "would" or other wording which will not allow information to be kept secret where there is only a possibility that improper gain or advantage or prejudice will result and whether it will make a statement explaining its choice of wording.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1537.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will delete the words "risk or" from the second paragraph in part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, if it will not, whether it will state its justification for information being kept secret where there is only a risk of harm or prejudice.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1537.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a definition of the "confidential communications" referred to in the section headed "Communications with the Royal Household" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, in particular, whether communications regarding costs are included or excluded from this definition and, if included, what its justification is for this definition.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1533.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has communicated any general guidance on the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information to the public bodies listed in Schedule 1 of the Code or other affected bodies; if so, whether it will place a copy of this guidance in the information centre and, if not, why not.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1533.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will amend Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information by deleting the words "including those" from the section headed "Public employment, public appointments and honours" and whether it will make a statement explaining its choice of wording.
Answer
The Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information is based closely on the UK Government's Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. The Code was introduced in this form to ensure that openness arrangements were in place from 1 July 1999. As the Code represents an interim measure pending legislation on freedom of information (the proposals for which will be the subject of wide consultation), no amendments to the Code are currently being considered. We will however be monitoring the operation of the Code and will present a report to Parliament next year.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will delete the word "unwarranted" from the section headed "Third party's commercial confidence" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, if not, whether it will provide examples of the type of disclosures which it would regard as (a) warranted and (b) unwarranted.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1537.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will delete the word "unwarranted" from the section headed "Privacy of an individual" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, if not, whether it will provide examples of the type of disclosures which it would regard as (a) warranted and (b) unwarranted.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to S1W-1537.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-189 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 6 July, how many grants of #500 have been granted under the new Warm Deal in each constituency in Scotland in financial year 1999-2000.
Answer
Between 1 July and 31 August, 1,329 Warm Deal grants were made across Scotland. Of these grants, 106 were for the maximum £500. A constituency breakdown is not available.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it can decide to publish the draft concordats regardless of whether their non-disclosure could be justified under Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and whether it will publish any legal or other opinion or advice it has received relevant to this decision.
Answer
No. The drafts were received in confidence from the UK Government and are to be agreed between the UK Government and the devolved administrations. All of the concordats will be published when they are agreed.
- Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will define in detail the terms "harm and prejudice" as used in the first and second paragraphs of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and whether it will confirm that the definitions exclude possible harm and possible prejudice.
Answer
For reasons of practicality and continuity and to ensure that openness arrangements were in place from 1 July 1999, the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information is based closely on the UK Government's Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Consideration of applications for information takes into account guidance on interpretation of the UK Code issued by the Cabinet Office. A copy of this guidance will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.Work is in hand to review and amend this guidance to ensure that appropriate references to the Scottish Executive Code are included. Amended guidance will in due course be provided to all public authorities which operate the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information.
