Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27103 on 6 October 2009. 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.

There have been no formal meetings between the President of COSLA and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth that have not also been attended by one or more others. Since 2007, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has had regular meetings with the President of COSLA and other members of COSLA, including COSLA''s political group leaders. All these meetings, which have included discussion on a range of issues, have also been attended by at least one other person, usually a COSLA officer or a Scottish Government official.

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

The cost of the recent advertisements seeking applications for membership of prison visiting committees to fill expected vacancies at the three Young Offender Institutions at Polmont, Cornton Vale and Perth was £2347.59.

Young Offender Institution visiting committee membership requires that at least one third and a minimum of two members will be women. The most recent recruitment campaign is aimed at addressing shortfalls in this area and maintaining the required level of women visiting committee members.

I refer to the member to the answer to question S3W-14246 on 16 July 2009. 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.

I refer the member to the answers to questions S3W-14245 and S3W-14246, on 16 July 2008. 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.

The search facility on the corporate website indicates the term SNP Government has been used in seven official publications and two press releases since May 2007.

Procurement Scotland was officially launched in March 2008, with the task of developing and implementing procurement strategies for national Category A commodities on behalf of all Scottish public bodies. It was established as part of the Public Procurement Reform Programme and in response to the Review of Public Sector Procurement in Scotland report, which was published in March 2006.

The establishment of Procurement Scotland as a new division in the Scottish Government Scottish Procurement Directorate began in July 2007. Therefore, information on the number of staff, budget and running costs is only available from financial year 2007-08. Details are given in the following table:

	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Number of Staff	31	38	40
Budget	£3,723,000	£2,745,000	£2,445,000
Expenditure	£2,457,111	£2,157,955	£1,079,123*

Note: *Expenditure up to end September 2009.

To date, Procurement Scotland has secured savings of £45.9 million over the current spending review period.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-14246 on 16 July 2009. 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.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-27909, on 21 October 2009. 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.

In any year there will be senior civil service posts which end and others which are created in-line with business needs, and, in some cases, the merger and demerger of posts. There is no management purpose in recording information which treats all individual posts as fixed entities and such data would be potentially misleading.