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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: S3W-13838

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any assessment has been made of the First Minister's carbon footprint.

Question reference: S3W-13845

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to allowing parliamentary committees to scrutinise candidates for major appointments to public bodies.

The Scottish Government is committed to improving, enhancing and simplifying both the process and the policy on making public appointments to public bodies. In doing so, we will work closely with all key stakeholders including the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland (OCPAS). At present, pre-appointment hearings are not being actively considered. The UK Government have taken steps in this direction and we will continue to monitor developments.

Question reference: S3W-13855

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has given to local authorities and NHS boards regarding the release of specialised staff to help in relief and development work overseas.

Guidance was issued to NHS boards in HDL (2006) 8 Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) and NHSScotland Partnership. This pilot project ran from April 2006 to February 2006 to March 2008 and was aimed at encouraging NHSScotland healthcare professionals to volunteer overseas.

The Health Directorate has since written to health boards encouraging them to continue to support staff wishing to take leave for development work overseas beyond the pilot period and in line with this HDL.

The Scottish Government has not issued any such guidance to local authorities.

Question reference: S3W-13856

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive which of its staff have been released to work overseas on relief and development programmes since May 2007.

The Scottish Government operates formal career break and special leave policies to enable staff to take time away from the organisation. As an employer, the Scottish Government is very supportive of staff who apply to take a break from employment to undertake work overseas on relief and development programmes. However, we do not hold centrally information about the reasons why individual members of staff are released from work.

The Scottish Government also support staff seeking secondment opportunities, which are in line with the Interchange Policy, to organisations delivering relief and development programmes. However, there are no recent examples of staff being seconded to such programmes.

Question reference: S3W-13841

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what appointments to public bodies have been made so far in 2008 and which of those appointees have declared political activity

The following table provides the information requested in relation to the 80 appointments and re-appointments made by Scottish ministers to public bodies regulated by the Commissioner for Public Bodies in Scotland since 1 January 2008.

Public Body	Name of Appointee	Declared Political Activity
Executive NDPBs
Bòrd na Gidhlig	Alexandra Jones Prof Kenneth MacKinnon Murdo MacLennan Christina Allon	None None None None
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh	Angela McNaught	None
Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland	Elspeth Reid	None
Scottish Criminal Cases Review Committee	Graham Bell	None
Scottish Environment Protection Agency	Prof David Sigsworth Bob Downes Julie Sturrocks	None None Yes Labour
Skills Development Scotland	Anne Douglas Prof William Stevely CBE Dr Janet Lowe CBE Evelyn McCann Prof Alan McGregor Cay Stratton	None None None None None None
Scottish Children’s Reporters Association	Andrew Miller Margaret Wells	Yes SNP None
Scottish Natural Heritage	Michelle Francist Prof Phillip Thomas	None None
Advisory NDPBs
Building Standards Advisory Committee	Stephen Garvin Bimal Kumar Ian Paterson Mervin Toshner Bryan Woodley Kevin Burnett Scott Restrick Len Murray Nick Montgomery Malcolm MacLeod Gordon Souter Lori McElroy	None None None None None None None None None None None None
Scottish Industrial Development Advisory Board	Dr Robert Crawford	Yes SNP
Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards	Prof Hilary Capell Robert Jeffrey Prof James McDonald Ken Paterson Dr Charles Winstanley Sandra Douglas	None None None None None None
NHS Bodies
Ayrshire and Arran Health Board	Prof William Stevely Martin Cheyne Kirsty Derwent David Price	None Yes Con None None
Forth Valley Health Board	Dr Karen Facey	None
Grampian Health Board	Elizabeth McDade	None
Greater Glasgow & Clyde Health Board	Gerald McLaughlin Jessica Murray Amanda Paul Elinor Smith John Bannon Rahni Dhir	None None None None None None
Highland Health Board	Pamela Courcha Vivien Shelley	Yes SNP None
Lanarkshire Health Board	Terry Currie Nelna Mahal	None None
Lothian Health Board	David Belfall Lesley Jamie Stephen Renwick	None None None
National Waiting Times Centre Board	Jeane Freeman	Yes Labour
NHS Quality Improvement Scotland	James Jackson	None
Tayside Health Board	John Angus Elizabeth Forsyth Murray Petrie Betty Ward	None None None Yes Labour
Mental Welfare Commission	Carol Dobson Colin Welsh Douglas White Linda Graham Ms Dale Meller	None Yes SNP None None Yes SSP
Public Corporations
Highlands and Islands Enterprise	Craig Spence Steven Thomson Prof Mary Bownes Prof Lorne Crerar James Royan	None None None None None
Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd	Michael Cantlay	None
David MacBrayne Ltd	Norman Quirk Dr Robert Sinclair	None None
Scottish Water	Alistair Buchanan Donald Emslie David Gray	None None None
Total Number	80	9

This information is published on the Scottish Government’s website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/public-bodies/directory.

Question reference: S3W-13843

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police stations have been closed and how many new ones opened since May 2007, broken down by Police Board.

Question reference: S3W-13049

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 15 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what action is being taken to ensure that the governance of private educational institutions is in accordance with democratic principles.

Scotland has a wide range of education institutions which are either wholly private or which operate with a substantial degree of autonomy and independence.

The Scottish Government has no locus over the governance arrangements of wholly private institutions such as independent schools and private training companies.

Educational institutions which operate with substantial autonomy and independence include colleges of further education and universities. The governance arrangements of incorporated colleges are set out in the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992. In line with the recommendation of the recent Review of Scotland’s Colleges, the Scottish Government has initiated a review of schedule 2 to the 1992 act which will examine the constitution and proceedings of the boards of management of incorporated colleges.

The basis of the governance arrangements which apply to universities varies between institutions.

There are also four publicly-funded colleges which are not incorporated under statute and where the Scottish Government has no locus over governance arrangements. Of these, two fall within the respective responsibility of Orkney Islands Council and Shetland Islands Council. The remaining two colleges are independent charitable trusts over which the Scottish Government again has no locus.

The governing bodies of all publicly-funded colleges and universities are expected to abide by The Good Governance Standard for Public Services in discharging their duties.

Question reference: S3W-13669

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the rate of home help provision was per 100,000 people over the age of 65 in each local authority area in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08.

The following table provides information on the number of people over aged 65 who receive care at home and the rate per 100,000 for each local authority in 2006 and 2007. Care at home includes both personal and non-personal care services. Over the past decade the total number of people receiving home care services has reduced significantly – from around 80,000 in 1998 to 71,000 in 2007.

	2006		2007
	Number of People 65+ Receiving Home Care	Rate Per 100,000	Number of People 65+ Receiving Home Care	Rate Per 100,000
Aberdeen City	2,488	7,722	2,541	7,871
Aberdeenshire	1,826	4,959	1,929	5,289
Angus	1,701	8,129	1,711	8,247
Argyll and Bute	832	4,552	712	3,913
Clackmannanshire	572	7,552	572	7,706
Dumfries and Galloway	1,742	5,610	1,857	6,080
Dundee City	1,594	6,260	1,826	7,129
East Ayrshire	1,413	7,050	1,481	7,401
East Dunbartonshire	1,007	5,417	1,025	5,540
East Lothian	1,107	6,718	1,125	6,835
East Renfrewshire	834	5,465	884	5,798
Edinburgh, City of	4,346	6,344	3,984	5,825
Eilean Siar	571	10,635	563	10,407
Falkirk	1,865	7,874	1,805	7,643
Fife	5,680	9,468	5,570	9,308
Glasgow City	7,461	8,899	7,194	8,517
Highland	2,246	5,900	1,927	5,066
Inverclyde	982	7,050	1,086	7,704
Midlothian	973	7,682	869	6,875
Moray	1,086	7,037	1,114	7,298
North Ayrshire	1,172	4,930	1,219	5,160
North Lanarkshire	3,385	7,174	3,380	7,164
Orkney Islands	410	11,338	302	8,431
Perth and Kinross	1,100	4,056	1,078	3,992
Renfrewshire	1,504	5,492	1,529	5,606
Scottish Borders	1,279	5,908	1,156	5,437
Shetland Islands	470	13,905	429	12,614
South Ayrshire	1,352	5,992	1,431	6,363
South Lanarkshire	2,655	5,361	2,933	5,962
Stirling	709	4,948	673	4,713
West Dunbartonshire	1,661	11,483	1,652	11,312
West Lothian	1,164	5,580	1,144	5,501
Scotland Total	57,187	6,808	56,701	6,766

Source: Home Care Annual Return 2006 and 2007, Scottish Government.

Question reference: S3W-13662

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the consequences of an independent Scotland, within the EU, withdrawing from the Common Fisheries Policy.

Question reference: S3W-13809

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of people (a) coming into and (b) leaving prison since May 2007 were drug dependent, broken down by prison.