- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what monitoring is in place with regard to the operation of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.
Answer
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman was established under The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman Act 2002. Paragraph 2(2) of schedule 1 of this act provides that the ombudsman, in the exercise of her functions is not subject to the direction or control of any member of Parliament, any member of the Scottish Executive or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.
Separate provision does, however, require the ombudsman to lay an annual report before Parliament and the Parliament may give directions as to the form and content of an annual report. Copies of the annual report are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The ombudsman must also keep accounts and prepare annual accounts for each financial year in accordance with such directions as Scottish ministers may give.
In terms of the Act, the SPCB has to pay any expenses incurred by the ombudsman in the exercise of her functions. As part of this process, the SPCB invites the ombudsman on an annual basis to prepare a budget submission which is scrutinised by the SPCB and which scrutiny may include discussions between the SPCB and the Ombudsman prior to the bid being reported to the Finance Committee as part of the SPCB’s overall budget submission.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by John Scott on 13 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the operating cost of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman has been in each year since the office’s inception.
Answer
The operating costs of the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman since the office’s inception on 23 October 2002 are as follows:
| | 2002-03 (part year) | 2003-04 | 2004-05 |
| Operating costs | £163,000* | £2,779,228* | £2,169,000 |
Note: *These figures include costs associated with the setting up of the new office.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Scottish Borders Council in respect of the council’s plan to remove an £85,000 minibus subsidy and whether this will impact on school pupils’ extra-curricular sporting and learning activities.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to encouraging more out of school hours opportunities for all pupils across a wide range of activities.
We have had no discussions with Scottish Borders Council on the role of minibuses in school activities as it is for each local authority to decide on the detailed allocation of the resources they have at their disposal.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21090 by Tavish Scott on 20 December 2005, whether it has instructed the management of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd to investigate reports of two alleged CIA-operated flights into Wick and five such flights into Inverness since September 2001 and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has requested and received information from Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) about the procedures that are in place for handling and recording information regarding international flights to and from its airports. We are satisfied that HIAL is fulfilling its legal and regulatory obligations as a licensed airport operator in respect of international flights.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21090 by Tavish Scott on 20 December 2005 and noting that Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd has no statutory duty to record or publish passenger or crew details of chartered or private flights, whether, in its capacity as sole shareholder or otherwise, it has concerns regarding two alleged CIA-operated flights which landed at Wick and five at Inverness since September 2001.
Answer
Neither the Scottish Executive nor Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd has any information which supports allegations that Wick or Inverness Airports have been used by CIA-operated flights.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21090 by Tavish Scott on 20 December 2005, what approaches Scottish Ministers or officials have made to the management of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd asking it to check whether it holds any information or related documents suggesting that US Government officials or their proxies have operated flights through Wick and Inverness airports since September 2001.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has requested information from Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) regarding any flights operated on behalf of the US Government and its agencies. HIAL has no evidence that such flights have operated to or from its airports.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, if it is successful in its bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, whether Scotland, as the host nation, can nominate sports for inclusion in the Games and, if so, whether it will nominate rugby union for inclusion and locate the competition in the Scottish Borders.
Answer
The information requested on the Commonwealth Games Sports Programme can be found at the following URL as at 26 January 2006
http://www.thecgf.com/faq/faq12.asp Men’s rugby 7’s is one of the compulsory sports in the Commonwealth Games Sports Programme.
The Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council have received advice from the Commonwealth Games Council for Scotland indicating that the prospects for Scotland’s bid to be successful are maximised if the events venues are as close together as possible and if the use of these facilities is maximised where possible.
Therefore it is likely that, should Scotland be successful in its bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the majority of sporting events would be based within or close to Glasgow and this includes the rugby 7’s event. All of the bid partners are committed to ensuring the games, if awarded to Glasgow, involve and benefit the whole of Scotland. Benefits will accrue not just from the particular location of an event but also from the siting of training camps and holding camps.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what duty the Lord Advocate has, in his capacity as a member of the Executive, to investigate allegations that rendition flights may have landed at Wick and Inverness airports, given the Executive’s position as owner and sole shareholder of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd.
Answer
The investigation and prosecution of crime is a matter for the police, the Procurator Fiscal and the Lord Advocate. Section 48 of the Scotland Act provides that any decision of the Lord Advocate in his capacity as head of the systems of criminal prosecution and investigation of deaths shall continue to be taken by him independently of any other person.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 7 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is a conflict of interest between the Lord Advocate’s role as a member of the Executive and his legal capacity as Scotland’s senior law officer with responsibility for legal advice to the Executive, in view of the Executive’s position as owner and sole shareholder of Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd and the allegations that rendition flights may have landed at Wick and Inverness airports.
Answer
No. There is no conflict of interest. Law Officers have always been members of either the UK Government or, following devolution by virtue of s44 of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Executive. Where consulted they give impartial and professional advice.
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 6 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any breaches of its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and, if so, what these were.
Answer
The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 is primarily enforced by the Scottish Information Commissioner. The commissioner’s decisions detail where, in the opinion of the commissioner, an authority has failed to comply, and the respect in which the authority has failed to comply, with the general entitlement of access to information, and the steps which the authority must take to comply. Decisions, including those concerning the Executive, are published on the commissioner’s website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/appealsdecisions/decisions/index.php.
Records indicate that the Executive has not met the statutory 20-day response time in about 20% of cases.
