- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 12 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to introducing legislation to prevent people under the age of 18 from gaining access to coin-operated sunbeds.
Answer
The Public Health etc. (Scotland) Act 2008 contains provisions to regulate the use, sale and hire of sunbeds including prohibiting the use of sunbeds by under 18s and prohibiting the use of unsupervised sunbed parlours. These provisions will ensure that under 18s will not have access to coin operated equipment.
The Act received Royal Assent on 16 July 2008, and it is anticipated that the sunbed provisions will come into force in November 2009.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid in performance-related pay to senior civil servants in the last two years.
Answer
Senior Civil Service pay is a reserved issue with decisions on framework taken by the UK Government. Senior civil servants (SCS) would have been eligible for both a consolidated performance pay increase and a non-consolidated performance payment. In 2007 and 2008, the additional cost of the consolidated pay increase from the previous year and the non-consolidated performance payments for SCS in the core Scottish Government was £1,488,054 and £1,655,715 respectively.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 June 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 11 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions ministers have had with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator about the charitable status of private schools and what the outcome has been.
Answer
Ministers have had no discussions with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) about the charitable status of private schools. The charitable status of private schools is a matter for OSCR, as an independent regulator.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it paid for visits by the First Minister to London in 2008-09.
Answer
The Scottish Government covers appropriate costs when visits made to London by the First Minister include Scottish Government business.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 3 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will estimate the contribution to the Scottish economy of the transfer of all UK nuclear submarines to the Clyde base.
Answer
The Scottish Government is not in possession of the data that would allow it to conduct a robust assessment of the impact on the Scottish economy of this decision. For example, in his letter to the First Minister, the Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP stated that the majority of the deep water maintenance work will be undertaken at Devonport with Portsmouth undertaking sufficient work on an occasional basis to ensure that they can address any ˜surge'' requirements and it is not clear what, if any, the employment impact for Scotland will be following the transfer of the three Trafalgar class submarines, which is not anticipated to take place before 2017.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-18018 by John Swinney on 5 December 2008, how many of the 20 staff referred to in the letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth on 20 April 2009 who left or moved on promotion worked in the First Minister's private office.
Answer
Of the 22 members of staff referred to in my letter of 20 April 2009, six members of staff were in the First Minister''s private office, who either transferred or moved on promotion.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many voluntary redundancies there have been in each of its directorates and agencies since May 2007.
Answer
There have been limited opportunities since May 2007 for Scottish Government employees to leave on a voluntary basis under the Approved Early Retirement and Flexible Early Retirement/Severance provisions offered under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme arrangements.
The following table provides, by directorate/agency, details of the number of employees who have left on early retirement or severance terms since May 2007.
| | 1 May 2007 to 31 March 2009 |
| Scottish Government Core | |
| DG Economy | 9 |
| DG Education | 14 |
| DG Environment | 33 |
| DG Finance and Corporate Services | 20 |
| DG Health | 11 |
| DG Justice and Communities | 25 |
| Other | 19 |
| Associated Departments | |
| General Register Office for Scotland | 6 |
| National Archives Scotland | 6 |
| Agencies | |
| Communities Scotland | 9 |
| Scottish Housing Regulator | 1 |
| Transport Scotland | 5 |
| Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority | 2* |
| Crown Office | 23 |
| Fisheries Research Services | 3 |
| Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency | 9 |
| Scottish Prison Service | 3 |
| Historic Scotland | 0 |
| Registers of Scotland | 0 |
| Scottish Court Service | 0 |
| Total | 198 |
Note: *Staff on assignment from the Scottish Government core.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 2 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list what experience each member of senior management of Transport Scotland has of transport in the private sector in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
Answer
All Transport Scotland senior management regularly have experience working with private sector transport operators on issues relevant to their responsibilities. In addition, the Director of Rail Delivery and the Director of Major Transport Infrastructure Projects have had previous working experience of transport in the private sector.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what meetings have taken place between any minister and any officer or executive of the Scottish International Education Trust.
Answer
No meetings have taken place.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 May 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 June 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the differences in accountability and responsibility are between agencies such as Transport Scotland and the Scottish Prison Service and the directorates of the Scottish Government in areas like finance, staffing and operational matters.
Answer
Government agencies and directorates form constituent parts of the Scottish administration. They are financed from the Scottish block and are bound by the same requirements of propriety and regularity, and the general financial and accounting principles and guidance applicable to the whole Scottish Government. Agency chief executives and directors general are designated Accountable Officers as defined by the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. Agency chief executives are appointed by ministers, and agencies and directorates are both staffed by civil servants. The key distinction of an agency is its operational independence, as agencies are established by the Scottish ministers to execute specific, often specialist, functions.
