- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on (a) estimated expenditure on council tax benefit for 2007-08 and (b) by which route the payment of this amount was made.
Answer
The estimated amount of council tax benefit subsidy for 2007-08 for Scotland was £353 million. This figure is a provisional estimate as the final figure is not yet available. The council tax benefit subsidies are paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to councils, based on the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Subsidy claim forms that are submitted by councils to DWP.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when ministers last approved the award of contracts for new (a) schools and (b) hospitals and for which projects.
Answer
The schools and health projects which have reached contract signature using PPP/NPD structures since May 2007 are provided in the following tables:
Schools Projects where Contract Signature has Been Approved Since May 2007
| Project | Date |
| Falkirk Schools NPD | May 2007 |
| East Dunbartonshire Schools PPP | August 2007 |
| West Lothian Schools PPP2 | August 2007 |
| Perth and Kinross Schools PPP | October 2007 |
| Aberdeen City Schools NPD | December 2007 |
| Dumfries and Galloway Schools PPP | January 2008 |
| West Dunbartonshire Schools PPP | January 2008 |
| Inverclyde Schools PPP | October 2008 |
Health Projects where contract Signature has Been Approved Since May 2007
| Project | Date |
| NHS Forth Valley - Forth Valley Acute Hospital Project PPP | May 2007 |
| NHS Forth Valley - Clackmannanshire Community Health Services Project PPP | July 2007 |
| The State Hospital | October 2007 |
| NHS Fife - St Andrews Community Hospital and Resource Centre PPP | November 2007 |
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the number of drink-related offences was in the last year for (a) 10 to 20-year-olds, (b) 21 to 30-year-olds, (c) 31 to 40-year-olds, (d) 41 to 50-year-olds, (e) 51 to 60-year-olds and (f) those over 60-years old.
Answer
Information on the number of drink-related offences in Scotland broken down by age is not held centrally. The following table, however, gives the total number of drink-related offences recorded by the police in 2007-08, broken down by crime/offence group.
| Description of Crime/Offence | Recorded Crimes and Offences |
| Non-Sexual Crimes of Violence: | |
| Causing death by careless driving when under influence of drink or drugs | 1 |
| Miscellaneous Offences: | |
| Drunkenness | 6,702 |
| Offences by Licensed Persons | 713 |
| Other Offences Against Liquor Licensing Laws | 1,017 |
| Consumption of alcohol in designated places, byelaws prohibited | 26,184 |
| Drunk when riding a bicycle | 55 |
| Motor Vehicle Offences: | |
| Drunk driving | 10,697 |
| Total | 45,369 |
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what work is undertaken for it, its agencies and bodies for which its is responsible by private security companies.
Answer
There is no outsourced physical guarding at the Scottish Government''s premises as this service is provided in-house. However, the Scottish Government has a contract for security guarding services at certain Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service''s sites in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Private security companies are also occasionally used to provide specialist security advice and/or services in relation to IT security, information security and physical security.
The Scottish Government does not centrally collate information on agencies, non-departmental public bodies and associated bodies'' contracts for this type of service.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what schools are under construction in Edinburgh and the Lothians; when (a) expenditure was approved and (b) construction began on each, and when each is expected to be completed.
Answer
The details of precisely when individual school investment projects were approved by councils and when construction started and is expected to finish, are matters for the relevant local authorities.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken to reduce the number of police officers on suspension in the last six months.
Answer
The suspension of police officers under the Police (Conduct) (Scotland) Regulations 1996 is an operational matter for the chief constable of the relevant police force.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether members of the First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisors are required to complete a declaration of financial and business interests; where any such declarations are published, and whether such declarations will be required in the future.
Answer
Members of the Council of Economic Advisers are not required to complete a declaration of financial and business interests and there are currently no plans to require such declarations in the future.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 5 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to prevent private security companies from obtaining information about citizens without their knowledge or approval.
Answer
Private security companies are bound by the Data Protection Act 1998. This act gives individuals rights over their personal information and makes it generally unlawful for anyone to collect, hold or process information about people without those persons'' having implicit or explicit knowledge of the fact and, in most cases, without the implicit or explicit consent of those persons. The enforcing body, and general privacy watchdog, in the UK is the Information Commissioner''s Office. The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the ICO and particularly with his representative in Edinburgh, the Assistant Commissioner for Scotland.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which firms of solicitors and which advocates have provided legal advice to Scottish ministers in 2007-08 and what has been the cost in each case.
Answer
The undernoted firms provided legal advice to the Scottish ministers between April 2007 and March 2008. The total cost of that advice was £1,899,411.18. This figure includes fees charged by firms whose total fees during that period amounted to less than £1,000 (not listed), as well as VAT and outlays.
The undernoted advocates provided legal advice to the Scottish ministers during the same period. The cost of that advice was £952,481.09, including VAT.
Law Firms
DLA Piper
Harper MacLeod
Currie Gilmour
Pagan Osbourne
Simpson & Marwick
Ledingham Chalmers
MacLay Murray & Spens
Balfour & Manson
Brodies
Dundas & Wilson
Morton Fraser
Anderson Strathern
Pinsent Masons
Shepherd & Wedderburn
Advocates
Paul Cullen QC
A Dewar QC
I Duguid QC
R Keen QC
C Campbell QC (the Hon. Lord Malcolm)
G Moynihan QC
R Martin QC
S Woolman QC (the Hon Lord Woolman)
G Bell QC
R Anderson QC
J Wolffe QC
C MacNeill QC
L Murphy QC
J Mure
R Crawford
A Hardman
G Hawkes
B Heaney
A Poole
D Ross
D Sheldon
S Smith
K Springham
D Thomson
J Cherry
A Duncan
I Ennis
K McBrearty
E MacKenzie
M O''Carroll
A Summers
A Devlin
A McSporran
P McCormack
A Webster.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 4 November 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive on which occasions since May 2007 Scottish police forces have pursued suspects or carried out investigations beyond their areas of operation and under what authority such action was taken.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
