- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 5 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail its spending commitments to the National Conversation for 2009-10.
Answer
Expenditure on the National Conversation during 2009-10 will be sufficient to ensure that the people of Scotland have the opportunity to debate the options set out in Choosing Scotland''s Future before reaching a decision in a referendum in autumn 2010.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Keith Brown on 4 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time equivalent teachers were employed as at 31 December 2008 and how this compares with 31 December (a) 2007 and (b) 2006.
Answer
Results of the September 2008 Teacher Census are due to be published later this month. They will be available in
Teachers in Scotland 2008 on the government website at the following link
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00720/. The information for previous years, again as at the September census date, are available in table 6.1 of Teachers in Scotland 2007 on the government website at the following link:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00646.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 26 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 4 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what savings it made through increased efficiency in (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08 and what the projected savings are for (i) 2008-09 and (ii) 2009-10.
Answer
The published Efficiency Outturn Reports for the 2005-08 efficiency programme contain full details of the efficiency savings made in each year. The 2006-07 report (Bib. number 44112) is available at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/09/Outturn2007.
The 2007-08 report (Bib no: 46783) can also be found on the internet at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/10/Outturn2008.
Details of the efficiency targets and planned savings for the 2008-11 programme are also published on the internet. The latest iteration (Bib. number 45688) can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/05/EDPMay2008.
Further Efficiency Delivery Plans will be published in March and September of each year. We plan to issue the next revision on 27 March 2009. Copies of all of these documents were placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre on publication.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 3 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide a substantive answer to question S3W-17245, which received a holding reply on 11 November 2008.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-17245 on 3 March 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.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 October 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 3 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how much was paid in fees to consultants by each if its directorates and agencies in 2007-08.
Answer
The Scottish Government''s financial system does not hold information centrally for agencies and it reports expenditure on the basis of the budgets approved by Parliament, i.e. on a portfolio basis, with relevant consultancy expenditure included within the spending associated with the delivery of a particular project or programme.
The Scottish Procurement Information Hub holds information relating to public sector procurement spending. The most up to date information available at present is for the year 2006-07. Comparable data for 2007-08 will be available later this year. In 2006-07 the Scottish Government spent £40.5 million and agencies spent £34.7 million with companies identified as consultants in the recent Audit Scotland study, Central Government''s Use of Consultancy Services:
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2009/nr_090115_central_gov_consultancy.pdf.
This includes management and business consultancy (which are the subject of revised internal controls) along with a range of other external services, for example staff substitution and IT services.
Information broken down by directorates and agencies could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Systems are currently being put in place to collect this information more easily in the future.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the dates, locations and agenda topics, with particular reference to local income tax, of meetings between that the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism and members of the business community, including Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald and Sir Tom Farmer, in 2009.
Answer
The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism has had a number of meetings with members of the business community in 2009 to discuss matters of mutual interest. However, local income tax has not been an agenda item for any of these meetings.
Additionally, the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism has not met with Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald or Sir Tom Farmer in 2009.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 2 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether all written contributions to the National Conversation must carry a name and postal address to be regarded as valid.
Answer
No. There are a variety of ways to contribute to the National Conversation about Scotland''s future. Contributions made via the National Conversation website are considered valid if they are posted in accordance with the moderating criteria set out in answer to question S3W-11333 on 23 April 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.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the dates, locations and agenda topics, with particular reference to local income tax, of meetings between the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth and members of the business community, including Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald and Sir Tom Farmer, in 2009.
Answer
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has had a number of meetings with members of the business community in 2009 to discuss matters of mutual interest.
However, local income tax has not been an agenda item for any of these meetings and the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth has not met with Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald or Sir Tom Farmer in 2009 to discuss local income tax.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 12 February 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 2 March 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the dates, locations and agenda topics, with particular reference to local income tax, of meetings between the First Minister and members of the business community, including Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald and Sir Tom Farmer, in 2009.
Answer
The First Minister has had a number of meetings with members of the business community in 2009 to discuss matters of mutual interest. However, Local Income Tax has not been an agenda item for any of these meetings.
Additionally, the First Minister has not met with Brian Souter, Donald Macdonald or Sir Tom Farmer in 2009.
- Asked by: George Foulkes, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Saturday, 05 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 19 February 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what official engagements were undertaken by each minister during the 2008 Christmas and New Year parliamentary recess.
Answer
The information requested is listed in the following table:
| Minister | Date | Engagement |
| First Minister | 20 December 2008 | Recording of New Year Message |
| | | Meeting with Mark Shaw |
| | | Meeting with Ian McWhirter |
| | 30 December 2008 | Interview with BBC World at One |
| | 4 January 2009 | Interview with Glen Campbell, BBC Radio Scotland |
| Minister for Parliamentary Business | Nil | |
| Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture | Nil | |
| Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth | Nil | |
| Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism | Nil | |
| Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change | Nil | |
| Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning | Nil | |
| Minister for Schools and Skills | 22 December 2008 | Interview with BBC |
| | | Interview with STV |
| Minister for Children and Early Years | Nil | |
| Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing | Nil | |
| Minister for Public Health | 22 December 2008 | Visit to Armistead Child Development Centre |
| Minister for Communities and Sport | 22 December 2008 | Launch of the Domestic Abuse Campaign |
| Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment | Nil | |
| Minister for Environment | Nil | |
| Cabinet Secretary for Justice | 22 December 2008 | Meeting with Scottish Law Commission |
| | | Meeting Prof Alan Miller |
| | 23 December 2008 | Launch of Unight Underage Campaign |
| | 29 December 2008 | Visit to Good Shepherd |
| | | Visit to Kibble Secure Unit |
| | 30 December 2008 | Interview with BBC |
| | | Visit to Central Scotland Police |
| Minister for Community Safety | Nil | |
