- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed alcohol licensing fees at meetings with the Federation of Small Businesses or the Scottish Grocers’ Federation.
Answer
The Scottish Government has an ongoing dialogue and constructive relationship with the Scottish Grocers'' Federation. Fees have been discussed as part of discussions on various licensing matters. No meetings have taken place with the Federation of Small Business on licensing fees although the FSB did submit a response to our consultation on the issue.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 29 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in respect of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association’s submission to the consultation on licensing fees related to the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 that the fee structure should be reviewed in 2010.
Answer
The Scottish Government plans to ask the Accounts Commission to review the operation of the fee system introduced by the Licensing (Fees) (Scotland) Regulations 2007 after the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 comes fully into force in September 2009.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 February 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 25 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that temporary bed and breakfast accommodation in the event of homelessness is a sufficiently safe option for those who have previously worked with convicted criminals in a professional context and would have significant concerns about their own personal safety in such circumstances.
Answer
The Homeless Persons (Unsuitable Accommodation) (Scotland) Order (2004) prohibits the routine use of unsuitable temporary accommodation for homeless households with children or pregnant women. The order does not explicitly prevent the use of bed and breakfast accommodation, rather it requires that such accommodation meet the standards set out in the order.
More generally with regard to all homeless households, the policy is that the use of bed and breakfast accommodation should be minimised. The Code of Guidance on homelessness states that local authorities should only use bed and breakfast to provide temporary accommodation as a last resort.
It is for local authorities to decide how to discharge their duty to provide temporary accommodation for homeless households, subject to the requirements in the legislation and the fact that local authorities must have regard to the Code of Guidance. If a household is not content with the accommodation provided then they have the right to appeal to the local authority.
The government is not aware of any such circumstances as set out in this question.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the divorce laws of Poland provide a positive example for the Scottish legal system.
Answer
We have not examinedthe divorce laws of Poland in any detail. We research and study the legalsystems of other countries where we feel that their systems and practices can informand develop policy here, mindful that care is needed in importing features of othersystems which may not be directly applicable to Scotland.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many divorces in Scotland in the last five years have involved Polish nationals where legal aid funding has been awarded to (a) the female partner exclusively, (b) the male partner exclusively and (c) both partners.
Answer
Information relatingto legal aid awards is collected centrally by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. It doesnot, however, hold definitive information on the nationality of individuals whoare awarded legal aid. The board has advised that a search of its database produceda total of 16 applications relating to divorce action where the applicant’s placeof birth is listed as “Poland”. This cannot be taken as definitive sincethe applicant may have specified a town or city rather than the country in the application.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many divorces in Scotland over the last five years have involved Polish nationals.
Answer
The information requestedis not held centrally.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much local authorities spent on the 2003 (a) Scottish Parliament and (b) local government elections.
Answer
Information is not held centrallyon the cost to local authorities of the 2003 Scottish Parliament and local governmentelections. However, information published in Scottish Local Government Statistics2003-04 shows that local authorities spent £4.2 million in that year on conductingelections and £7.2 million on the registration of electors. Full details of thepublication are at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/02/20724/52956.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much local authorities spent on the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local government elections and whether it will provide a breakdown of the expenditure, including any fees paid to DRS Data & Research Services plc.
Answer
Information is not held centrallyon the cost to local authorities of the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local governmentelections. Information is provided by local authorities on the overall annual costsof holding elections and for the registration of electors and this information ispublished annually in Scottish Local Government Statistics. Scottish Local GovernmentStatistics 2006-07 is due to be published in February.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local government elections and whether it will provide a breakdown of the expenditure, including any fees paid to DRS Data & Research Services plc.
Answer
The Scotland Office is responsiblefor meeting costs associated with the Scottish Parliament elections. The main expenditureassociated with running local government elections is normally met by local authoritiesfrom within their own budgets. For the 2007 elections the Scottish Government fundedthe following specific elements.
Funding to local authorities associated with the introduction of electronic counting | £3.56 million |
Research on format of local government ballot paper | £22,795 |
Electronic counting software verification | £12,955 |
Printing and web conversion costs of code of practice for observers at local authority elections | £268 |
Estimated costs of printing and web conversion of legislation dealing with the local authority elections and local government boundary review | £7,200 |
VoteScotland campaign - run jointly with the Electoral Commission | £1.25 million |
Payments to DRS Data & Research Services | £1.26 million |
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 22 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of how much it spent on the 2003 (a) Scottish Parliament and (b) local government elections.
Answer
The main expenditure on the Scottish Parliament elections was by the Scotland Office and on the local elections by localauthorities. Detailed information on those costs is not held centrally. The ScottishGovernment spent just over £384,200 in total in 2003 in connection with the Scottish Parliament and local government elections. Of this, £371,600 was spent on a publicitycampaign for both elections (carried out jointly with the Electoral Commission)with the balance spent on opinion research and research on media coverage specificto local authority elections.