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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-27036

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its civil servants are able to support the pursuit of independence in the same way as other Scottish Government policies.

Question reference: S3W-27098

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings took place between officials and ministers up to the end of July 2009 in discussing the preparation for and drafting of the proposed Referendum Bill; on what dates they took place, and who was present in each case.

Question reference: S3W-27034

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 6 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the topics of the 14 workstreams that make up the National Conversation; which directors lead each team, and how much of each director’s time each week is devoted to this work.

Question reference: S3W-27407

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 5 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what action has been taken by (a) it and (b) its agencies to save money on the cost of acquiring (i) office equipment, (ii) stationery, (iii) vehicles and (iv) furniture since May 2007.

Under the auspices of the Scottish Procurement Reform Programme, the Scottish Government, its Agencies and public sector organisations across Scotland have worked together to deliver or access a wide range of collaborative procurement contracts which have been specifically developed to provide best value.

Procurement Scotland, a division of the Scottish Procurement Directorate, has established national frameworks for Office Equipment and Office Supplies, removing the cost of tendering for many public sector organisations across Scotland who would otherwise have been required to run their own EU procurement processes. The multi supplier Office Equipment framework, awarded on 3 June 2009 for up to four years, has resulted in potential savings across the Scottish public sector of circa £6 million over the framework duration. The Stationery framework, awarded on the 1st September 2008 for three years (as part of a suite of office supplies frameworks), has resulted in potential savings across the Scottish public sector of circa £11 million over the framework duration.

For vehicles, the Scottish Government are currently signed up to a Pan Government Framework Agreement through Buying Solutions. Accessing this framework enables the Scottish Government to secure motor vehicles and light commercial vehicles from all or a chosen number of suppliers.

The Scottish Government and its agencies have also removed the costs of a full tendering exercise for furniture by accessing UK wide collaborative frameworks established by Buying Solutions. This resulted in savings of £744,000 in 2008-09.

Question reference: S3W-26551

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2009
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 2 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people have been killed in accidents on Scottish roads in each month since May 2007.

The following table shows the number of people who have been killed in accidents on Scottish roads in each month since May 2007.

Month	2007	2008*	2009*
January		23	19
February		16	20
March		22	20
April		16
May	28	25
June	21	16
July	25	40
August	34	15
September	16	22
October	29	26
November	22	28
December	19	22

Note: *Figures for 2008 and 2009 are provisional.

Question reference: S3W-27391

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff in the Scottish Executive and its sponsored agencies applied for early retirement in 2008-09 and what the estimated cost is of such early retirements.

The number of staff (age 50 and above) who applied for early retirement for personal reasons or through the early retirement scheme in 2008-09 within Scottish Government Main (which covers the core Directorates, some Agencies and Associated Departments) and Senior Civil Servants was 127. However, from the 127 applications for early retirement received in 2008-09, 54 applications were successful at a cost of £4,131,567.

Question reference: S3W-27309

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 1 October 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what journeys have been taken by official car by the First Minister since September 2008.

Question reference: S3W-27352

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what non-departmental public bodies have been wound up since May 2008 and what the estimated saving is in each case.

Information about public bodies which have been wound up or merged as part of the government''s on-going Simplification Programme is available at:

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

Estimated savings as a result of these changes are set out in the Simplification and Improvement Update Document published in May 2009 available at:

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

Question reference: S3W-27392

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives were undertaken by it and its agencies in 2008-09 to generate efficiency savings and what the estimated savings are.

I refer the member to the answer to his question S3W-24040 on 27 May 2009. As I said in my answer to that question, the 2008-09 Outturn Report is scheduled to be published in October and will, like previous reports, be placed in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre.

I also refer the member to the answer to his question S3W-21400 on 4 March 2009 in which I advised that the 2008-11 programme''s Efficiency Delivery Plans are also placed in the Scottish Parliament''s Information Centre (Bib. number 45688). The next update will be issued with the 2008-09 Outturn Report and will be available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/PublicServiceReform/efficientgovernment/EG08-11.

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-27396

Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 September 2009
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 30 September 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what trading operations are carried out by it and its agencies and what the profit or loss was in each such case in 2008-09.

The Scottish Government and its executive agencies may charge for certain services in accordance with the Scottish Public Financial Manual (available at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm) on the basis that this helps to avoid unnecessary public expenditure, eliminate hidden subsidies and promote competition. Charging also provides an incentive to use goods and services economically, efficiently and effectively.

The annual Budget Act sets out the categories of income or accruing resources which may be used by the Scottish Administration for the purposes approved by the Scottish Parliament. The annual accounts report against these.

The Scottish Government Consolidated accounts for 2008-09 accounts are due to be published on 29 September 2009 and will be found on the publication section of the Scottish Government website at www.scotland.gov.uk. These accounts contain the consolidated outturn statement information for the Scottish Government which includes the Scottish Government''s executive agencies.

Further detailed information on the activities of executive agencies, including in respect of any activities of a trading nature, can be found within their published agency accounts for 2008-09 which should be available, or should shortly be available, on their individual websites as follows:

Historic Scotland (www.historic-scotland.gov.uk)

Scottish Public Pensions Agency (www.sppa.gov.uk)

Scottish Housing Regulator (www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk)

Her Majesty''s Inspectorate of Education (www.hmie.gov.uk)

Social Work Inspection Agency (www.swia.gov.uk)

Student Awards Agency for Scotland (www.student-support-saas.gov.uk)

Scottish Prison Service (www.sps.gov.uk)

Scottish Court Service (www.scotcourts.gov.uk)

Accountant in Bankruptcy (www.aib.gov.uk)

Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (www.sfpa.gov.uk)

Fisheries Research Services (www.marlab.ac.uk)

Transport Scotland (www.transportscotland.gov.uk).