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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-01535

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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.

Question reference: S1W-01534

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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.

Question reference: S1W-01541

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a definition of the words "personal information" as used in the section headed "Privacy of an individual" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and whether it will provide examples of what type of information about a person would not be regarded as "personal information".

Question reference: S1W-01542

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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.

Question reference: S1W-01563

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
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.

Question reference: S1W-01379

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 03 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by John Home Robertson on 29 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has considered article 16 section 1A of the Draft Regulations for Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance and, if so, whether this would permit the payment of compensation to scallop farmers in the period from 2000 to 2006.

It has not been the policy of successive governments to compensate for losses incurred due to disease or other natural phenomena in the fisheries sector. However, the Scottish Executive is currently consulting on the terms of EU structural assistance in the fisheries sector for the future. The availability of funds will be limited, but the option of compensation for scallop farmers could be considered in the course of this consultation.

Question reference: S1W-01251

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 August 1999
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.

Question reference: S1W-01536

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list who it regards as members of the Royal Household for the purposes of the section headed "Communications with the Royal Household" in Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information and, if not, why not.

Question reference: S1W-01539

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information allows the Scottish public sufficient access to information about its actions and decisions and, if not, what further proposals it intends to make in this regard.

For reasons of practicality and continuity and to ensure that openness arrangements were in place from 1 July, 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 is underpinned by a strong and explicit presumption of openness. As an interim measure pending the introduction of a statutory regime, the Code is considered to provide a satisfactory openness regime.

Question reference: S1W-01543

Asked by: Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information applies to public authorities which deal with devolved and other matters, as listed in Annex E of "The Scotland Act: A Guide".

The Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information applies to those Scottish public bodies within the jurisdiction of the Scottish Commissioner as listed in Schedule 1 to the Code. Cross Border Public Authorities, as listed in Annex E of "The Scotland Act: A Guide" are not subject to the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information. This arrangement reflects the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament with regard to freedom of information.