- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 23 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will hold discussions with the UK Government with a view to enabling concessionary bus travel passes to be accepted throughout the whole of the United Kingdom.
Answer
No discussions are planned at present.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 22 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to encourage the parents of pupils in private schools to choose to send their children to their local state school.
Answer
The Scottish Government and local government are working together to ensure that Scotland has an excellent education system. Through Curriculum for Excellence, this government is seeking to encourage and embed local educational excellence in all of our schools. It is a matter for parents to decide whether they wish their children to be educated in the private sector.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 22 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what examination it has undertaken of the propriety of it subsidising post offices in Scotland.
Answer
Post offices are reserved under Schedule 5 (Section C11) of the Scotland Act 1998. The Government''s position on this issue was set out in my letter dated 29 January 2008 to the Petitions Committee of the Scottish Parliament at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/petitions/petitionsubmissions/sub-08/08-PE1102D.pdf.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Maureen Watt on 22 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the impact of pupils attending private schools in Edinburgh on the provision of public education in the city.
Answer
No such specific estimate has been made. The City of Edinburgh Council''s fulfilment of its statutory duties to provide public education reflects the fact that those of the 10,000 pupils who attend independent schools in Edinburgh and who live locally do not require to be accommodated in local authority schools.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 April 2008
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-10605 which received a holding answer on 14 March 2008.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prison places there (a) were on 3 May 2007 and (b) are currently, broken down by gender.
Answer
I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The following table shows the design capacity of the SPS for male and female prisoner places in May 2007 and April 2008.
| Month/Year | Gender | Design Capacity |
| 4 May 2007 | Male | 6,168 |
| | Female | 375 |
| 11 April 2008 | Male | 6,251 |
| | Female | 375 |
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 21 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the practical outcomes have been of the Futures Project since its establishment.
Answer
The Futures Project has realised its intended outcomes. The outputs (data and analysis) and approaches from this kind of long-term thinking continue to influence policy-making, including for example the 2007 budget, and we continue to build the working relationship between the Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament Futures Forum to develop a greater understanding of the challenges and opportunities that will face Scotland in the future.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 21 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to introduce legislation to enable inquiries into deaths of Scottish service personnel overseas to be held in Scotland.
Answer
Discussions are still continuing with Whitehall departments in efforts to find a solution to this problem. A letter emphasising the need to make progress with this issue was sent to the Secretary of State for Defence on 25 March.
The chief complication is that the subject-matter of inquiries into military deaths is reserved. The Scottish Parliament at present cannot legislate only for military deaths because that would cut across the defence reservation in the Scotland Act 1998.
Ministers are acutely aware of the sensitivity of this subject and will continue to explore with the UK Government how the investigations and inquiries into the deaths of Scottish-based service personnel can be dealt with in a way which minimises the additional distress for bereaved families caused by them having to travel to the south of England for inquest hearings.
There are, however, difficult legal and policy issues which have to be resolved and which will take time to work through. They are likely to require changes in the law on both sides of the border.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 April 2008
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Current Status:
Awaiting answer
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-10606 which received a holding answer on 14 March 2008.
Answer
Awaiting answer
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 April 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 17 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation has been paid to hill farmers since May 2007.
Answer
Since May 2007, £57.28 million has been paid under the Less Favoured Areas Support Scheme 2007.
