- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 1 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional support it intends to provide to local authorities for local regeneration and how this compares with the existing local regeneration budgets of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Answer
Although there islikely to be some future re-alignment in the budgets of the enterprise networksand local authorities to take account of the reforms, no changes will be made inthis current financial year, and so it is not possible at this time to provide thecomparison requested until after the Spending Review 07 outcomes are agreed andthe level of future funding is known.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 1 November 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what direction it has given to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency with regard to the EU’s mutual recognition system for medicines used in EU waters and its application to the aquaculture industry.
Answer
The regulation ofveterinary medicines within the UK is a reserved matterand the responsibility of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. The Scottish Governmenthas therefore not given direction to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency(SEPA) on mutual recognition.
The role of SEPA withregard to veterinary medicines for fish is to consider their environmental impact.SEPA minimises this by issuing discharge consents to Scottish aquaculture businesseswhich restrict usage to that which can be assimilated without significant detrimentto the locality.
The Scottish Governmenthas a close working relationship with SEPA. Discussions take place during whichSEPA explains its views and their underpinning science.
Where there is a needfor a veterinary medicine which has a full marketing authorisation in anothermember state the Scottish Government encourages the company concerned to apply tothe Veterinary Medicines Directorate for mutual recognition.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 31 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, what plans it has to develop policies for supporting and encouraging the use of local dialects in Scotland, including in Shetland.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-5124 on 31 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 31 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, whether it has any policies for supporting and encouraging the use of local dialects in Scotland, including in Shetland, and, if so, what these policies are.
Answer
I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-5124 on 31 October 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 04 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 31 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, whether it has any plans to consult dialect interest groups and other bodies on the development of policies to support and encourage the use of local dialects and, if so, when the consultation will take place, what form it will take and which groups and bodies will be consulted.
Answer
The Scottish Governmentis committed to promoting and encouraging the use of Scots in all its regional formsin education, broadcasting and the arts. As stated in the answer to question S3W-4117on 26 September 2007, we have no plans for a formal consultationon the use of dialects in Scotland but would always welcome the views of groupsand individuals on this subject.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3939 by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007, how many solicitors’ practices received payments from the Scottish Legal Aid Board in excess of £50,000 per annum in each of the last five years, broken down into firms offering (a) only civil legal aid work, (b) only criminal legal aid work and (c) both civil and criminal legal aid work.
Answer
The following tableprovides information on the number of firms receiving payment of over £50,000 fromthe Scottish Legal Aid Board in respect of fees (for solicitors or solicitor advocates,and including VAT where applicable) in each of the financial years shown.
Firms receiving paymentin respect of:
| | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| Civil legal assistance only | 2 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| Criminal legal assistance only | 11 | 24 | 27 | 37 | 51 |
| Both civil and criminal legal assistance | 453 | 459 | 439 | 436 | 397 |
| Total (any form of legal assistance) | 466 | 487 | 471 | 477 | 455 |
Note: Income in relationto children’s legal aid is combined with that from criminal legal aid for the purposesof this table.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3940 by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007, what action the Scottish Legal Aid Board will take if its survey of the particular types of work which registered providers of civil legal assistance undertake identifies areas where there are few solicitors offering legal aid services, either in general or in particular types of cases.
Answer
Solicitors in privatepractice are free to choose whether or not to provide a legal aid service and, ifso, to what extent. Solicitors cannot be compelled to provide particular servicesin particular places for particular clients. It is, therefore, possible that someclients may experience difficulty in finding a solicitor able and willing to takeon their case, particularly where there are few solicitors providing a civil legalaid service in general.
The Scottish LegalAid Board is currently finalising a review of civil legal aid fees, requested bythe government, and the outcome of this work will shortly be available for ministers’consideration. The board is also taking a number of steps to simplify the administrationof the civil legal assistance system (further details of these steps are providedin the answer to question S3W-3938 on 14 September 2007). Both of these strands of work are designed to encouragesolicitors to continue to provide civil legal assistance.
If evidence emergesof difficulties being faced by potential clients in particular areas of the countryor in particular areas of law, the board will report this to the Scottish Governmentwith recommendations on how best to address the matter, including, where appropriate,further use of employed solicitors. In response to such evidence, ministers recentlyauthorised the board to employ two solicitors to provide a casework service acrossthe Highlands and Islands for clients who are unable to find a solicitor in private practice. Theboard is currently recruiting and the service will be operational early in the NewYear. The service will be based in Inverness and cover a wide geographic area thathas been highlighted as being at risk of under supply.
All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3940 by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007, when the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s survey of the particular types of work which registered providers of civil legal assistance undertake will be completed and how the results will be made available to potential applicants for legal aid seeking to identify the solicitors most likely to be able to take on their case.
Answer
The Scottish LegalAid Board will be seeking information from all firms registered to provide legalassistance throughout November 2007. The information collected will be used to supportboth the board’s telephone helpline service and its interactive online solicitorfinder tool.
The board operatesa national telephone helpline (0845 122 8686) that allows members of the publicto find out more about legal aid, including whether they qualify and where to finda legal aid solicitor. The helpline is open seven days a week 7am to 11pm. Potential applicants can also use the board’s onlineinteractive solicitor finder tool to search for a solicitor by postcode and geographicalarea. Currently the information supporting both services is limited to the contactdetails of the solicitor firm and whether they are registered to provide criminaland/or civil legal assistance.
The survey resultswill enable the board to provide potential legal aid applicants with more detailedinformation such as the types of cases which firms handle under legal aid and theirfuture intentions of providing legally aided advice, as well as ensuring that contactdetails are up to date. The new information has been designed to help members of the public make a quicker and more informed choice about where they might accesslegal aid services.
The board expectsthat the enhanced information will be available to potential applicants in earlyJanuary 2008.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 12 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 30 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is for the structure of police boards, with particular reference to the Northern Joint Police Board and Highland Constabulary.
Answer
The structure ofall police boards is set out in Amalgamation Scheme Orders. The Order forNorthern Joint Police Board came into force on 1 April 1996 and amalgamated the local government areas of Highland, Western Isles, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands into the combinedpolice area of Northern Constabulary.
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 October 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 October 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to introduce primary legislation to establish its new skills agency and, if so, when it expects to do so.
Answer
It is not theintention of Scottish ministers in the first instance to introduce primarylegislation to establish the new skills body. Ministers will consider whetherprimary legislation is required in the future.
