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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.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

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Question reference: S3W-29104

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 1 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many migrants from other EU states are serving a custodial sentence, broken down by institution.

I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

	Bulgarian	Dutch	French	German	Greek	Italian	Lithuanian	Polish	Irish	Spanish
Aberdeen					1			1
Addiewell									1
Barlinnie								2	2	1
Edinburgh				1	1			3		1
Glenochil Prison		1		1				1	1
Greenock	1
Inverness								4
Kilmarnock								1	1
Open Estate		1
Perth								3
Peterhead			1			1		3	1
Polmont							1	1
Shotts				1						1

The table gives a breakdown of convicted prisoners from other EU States currently in custody within Scottish prisons.

Question reference: S3W-29105

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many migrants from other EU states are serving a community service order, broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-29106

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 26 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it collects information regarding the nationality of prisoners; if not, whether it plans to collect such information in the future, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S3W-27901

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 23 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the number of consultation exercises in relation to its legislation since May 2007, detailing in each case the (a) length of the consultation, (b) expenditure on publicity and (c) expenditure on events and promotion.

Details of the consultation activity on Scottish Government bills can be found in the policy memorandum which is submitted with each bill. The following table details the information relating to primary legislation introduced since May 2007.

Legislation	Length of Formal Consultation	Expenditure On Publicity	Expenditure On Events And Promotion
Abolition of Bridge Tolls (Scotland) Bill	No formal consultation after May 2007	None	None
Arbitration (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	None	None
Climate Change (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	None	£1,997
Convention Rights Proceedings (Amendment)(Scotland) Bill	None	None	None
Creative Scotland Bill	No formal consultation after May 2007	None	None
Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill	Revitalising Justice “ proposals to modernise and improve the criminal justice system provides a summary of consultation activities on the majority of topics included in the bill.	£2,062	None
Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill	Regarding consultations on other topics in the bill: Sentencing: 12 weeks, Retention and use of samples etc: eight weeks, Jury Service: 13 weeks, Disclosure and witness statements: 11 weeks.	None	None
Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill	Eight week consultation on the Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment	None	None
Education (Additional Support for Learning)(Scotland) Bill	14 weeks	£448	£68,021
Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill	10 weeks	£5,750	£18,102
Glasgow Commonwealth Games Bill	12 weeks	None	None
Graduate Endowment Abolition (Scotland) Bill	Eight weeks	None	None
Health Boards (Membership and Elections) (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	None	£200
Home Owner and Debtor Protection (Scotland) Bill	The Bill measures are based on the discussion of legislative proposals by key stakeholders in both the Debt Action Forum and the Repossessions Group. A four week consultation on protection for tenants was published on 9 October.	None	None
Interpretation and Legislative Refrom Bill	12 weeks	None	£900
Judiciary and Courts (Scotland) Bill	No formal consultation after May 2007	None	None
Legal Services (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	None	None
Marine (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	£3,003	£31,060
Public Health etc (Scotland) Bill	No formal consultation after May 2007	None	None
Public Services Reform (Scotland) Bill	Deer Commission for Scotland/Scottish Natural Heritage merger: six weeks, Mental Welfare Commission proposals: eight weeks.	None	Consultative events with the creative and artistic sector on the establishment of Creative Scotland: £6,512
Schools (Consultation)(Scotland) Bill	20 weeks	£186	£2,650
Scottish Local Government (Elections) Bill	12 weeks	None	None
Sexual Offences (Scotland) Bill	12 weeks	None	None
Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill	Formal consultations on the tobacco provisions in the bill were undertaken before May 2007. Consultation on the primary medical services provisions: eight weeks.	None	None

Question reference: S3O-08505

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 19 November 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 19 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has had with the Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution regarding the costs involved in preparing for the proposed Referendum Bill.

Question reference: S3W-28532

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is in relation to the City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to freeze direct payments.

Edinburgh Council are reconsidering their decision to freeze all Direct Payments.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-28531 on 19 November 2009.

Scottish Government guidance emphasises that direct payments should be available to all eligible individuals. I hope that this situation is resolved quickly so that those wanting to access direct payments are able to do so.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Question reference: S3W-28531

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 30 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 19 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to freeze direct payments is legal.

Local authorities have a duty under the 1968 act to assess the community care needs of people and decide in the light of the assessment whether they should arrange any services and if so which services. Since June 2003, this has included a duty to offer direct payments in lieu of local authority community care services to all eligible people.

At its meeting on 19 November 2009, the City of Edinburgh Council is reconsidering its decision to freeze all direct payments.

Question reference: S3W-28450

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by Bruce Crawford on 11 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings have taken place between ministers and the Presiding Officers regarding procedures of the Scottish Parliament.

Question reference: S3W-28529

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what items of expenditure it has incurred without parliamentary authority since May 2007 and for what reasons these contingency powers were used in each case.

Question reference: S3W-28530

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 October 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 10 November 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings have taken place between the Auditor General for Scotland and ministers since May 2007 and what subjects were discussed.

The information requested is set out in the following table:

Minister	Date	Subject Discussed
First Minister	19 June 2007	Introductory meeting
Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth	19 June 2007	Introductory meeting
	2 October 2007	Programme of performance audits
	15 June 2009	General update on work of Audit Scotland
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning	31 October 2007	Role of Auditor General and Audit Scotland; Programme of Reports (reports on improving the school estate, Further Education overview and Higher Education estates); and any other issues of concern to Ms Hyslop (no specifics held)
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing	4 September 2007	Scottish Government work on free personal and nursing care Recruitment of overseas personnel in the NHS Audit Scotland''s forward work programme in Ms Sturgeon''s areas of responsibility A more general discussion on public audit in Scotland