- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether an officer, as referred to in section 5 (9) of the Solway Firth Regulated Fishery (Scotland) Order 2006 as authorised by the Solway Shellfish Management Association, may include officers from the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and how such authority is conferred on these officers in terms of the Order.
Answer
The reference to an “officer” in section 5(9) of the proposed Solway Firth Regulated Fishery (Scotland) Order 2006 is to an officer of the Solway Shellfish Management Association and not to officers from the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency or Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary.
On the basis, however, that a number of different offences might be committed in association with illegal fishing, the Solway regulated fishery would be enforced on a multi-agency basis. This would include other organisations such as Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the Health and Safety Executive, carrying out their respective roles and exercising their existing statutory and common-law powers in conjunction with actions by the Solway Shellfish Management Association.
The Scottish Executive is currently seeking to augment the provisions for the enforcement of Regulating Orders using the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill. Options include enabling the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency to apply its powers within a regulated fishery and to confer upon the grantees of Regulating Orders those relevant powers of the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. These options remain subject to the bill’s passage through Parliament.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to scrutinise the issuing of licences to dredge, fish for or take cockles under the Solway Firth Regulated Fishery (Scotland) Order 2006.
Answer
Section 4(5) of the Sea Fisheries (Shellfish) Act 1967 (the 1967 Act) requires that where the grantee of a Regulating Order does not propose to issue a licence to all applicants then it must notify the Scottish ministers of its intention. In such circumstances the Scottish ministers may give directions to the grantee including in relation to the number of licences I to be issued and the persons to whom licences should be issued.
Under Section 4(6) of the 1967 Act, if the grantee withholds licences without complying with Section 4(5) then the grantee shall be taken not to be properly carrying into effect the restrictions imposed by the Order. In terms of section 5(1) of the 1967 Act, where the Scottish ministers are not satisfied that the grantee is properly carrying into effect the restrictions imposed by the Order, they may remove the grantee’s rights under the Order.
Under Section 5(2) of the 1967 Act the appropriate minister may ask an inspector or other person to make inquiries or an examination in relation to a Regulating Order fishery including the licensing arrangements.
In the case of the Solway Regulating Order the licensing arrangements were one of the issues covered by the inquiry into the then proposed regulated fishery last autumn. The inspector’s only recommendation on licensing criteria related to vessel licensing and was conveyed to the SSMA. It will feature in a further assessment of vessel licensing, in which the Scottish Executive will have an involvement, once the coming short spring opening of the fishery has run its course.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Solway Shellfish Management Association is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 in respect to its authority to issue licences on behalf of Scottish ministers to dredge, fish for or take cockles within the Solway Firth regulated fishery.
Answer
The Solway Shellfish Management Association is not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 10 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what consideration it has given to the request from the Scottish Legal Aid Board to enable it to extend the number of instalments for payment of an applicant’s assessed contribution beyond 20.
Answer
The recent consultationpaper on Advice for All:
Publicly Funded Legal Assistance in Scotland – The WayForward specifically raised the question of whether, in cases where personsin receipt of civil legal aid are required to make a contribution towards thecost of their case, the Scottish Legal Aid Board should be able to collectcontributions over a longer period of time than applies at present. Theresponses received supported an extension.
We are now giving further considerationto this proposal (on which we have received recent correspondence from the Scottish Legal Aid Board).
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how family contact centres, as provided for in the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, will be funded.
Answer
The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 makes no provision for family contact centres. A number of contact centres run by voluntary sector organisations operate to facilitate contact between children and non-resident parents or other close family members, and are funded by a range of local bodies, including local authorities.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to make local authorities aware of the changes arising from the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 which will affect family support services and their funding.
Answer
The Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 makes no changes to the funding of family support services. I announced during the Stage 3 debate on the Bill on 15 December 2005 that a further £300,000 would be made available in 2006-07 for capacity building, infrastructure development and joint working between local family mediation and relationship counselling services. The aim is to put local services in a stronger position to contribute effectively to the wider agenda on integrated services for children and families that local authorities drive forward in their areas.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 20 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 3 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how the £600,000 included in the revenue support grant to local authorities for family mediation services will be allocated to each local authority.
Answer
No decisions have yet been reached on the distribution of the resources which we plan to channel through local authorities as from April 2007. Discussions continue with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. Our aim in transferring grant support to local level is to enable sustainable and effective services meeting the needs of families in transition, and to align family relationship support services more closely with other important services to children and families provided or secured by local government.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 1 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities have modernised their school estates using public private partnerships in each of the last five years and how many schools each authority has rebuilt or refurbished.
Answer
Ten local authorities entered into school public private partnership (PPP) projects following Scottish Office offers of financial support in 1998. The number of schools involved is set out in the table. Work on the schools was completed over the period 2000 to 2005.
Twenty nine local authorities are currently taking forward school PPP projects following Executive offers of financial support made in 2002 and 2003. These projects are at different stages of procurement and construction, and building work is expected to span the rest of this decade. A few schools have been completed under this programme, with the bulk expected to come on stream in the years 2006 to 2009.
School PPP projects offered Scottish Office Financial Support in 1998
| Local Authority | Number of New and Refurbished Schools |
| Aberdeenshire | 3 |
| East Renfrewshire | 2 |
| Edinburgh | 17 |
| Falkirk | 5 |
| Fife | 3 |
| Glasgow | 30 |
| Highland | 4 |
| Midlothian | 3 |
| Stirling | 1 |
| West Lothian | 6 |
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 1 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons are for the delay in progressing Dumfries and Galloway Council's PPP application for the improvement of its schools estate.
Answer
The Scottish Executive made an offer of financial support in June 2002 to Dumfries and Galloway Council for a schools PPP project. The council took a decision in May 2005 to rescope their project, following which the Executive confirmed that its offer of financial support remained in place. I understand that the council advertised their rescoped project in January in order to establish market interest.
- Asked by: Elaine Murray, MSP for Dumfries, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 February 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been, or will be, made available to each NHS board from 2005-06 to 2007-08 to improve sexual health and to tackle sexual health problems.
Answer
The Executive is making available an additional £15 million over the next three years to help implement the national sexual health strategy Respect and Responsibility. Most of the extra resources, £4.5 million per year will be spent on front line services. The funding for each NHS board has been calculated using the Arbuthnott formula. NHS board allocations for 2005-06 are set out in the following table. The boards have been informed that they will also receive the same allocation of resources in 2006-07 and 2007-08.
| NHS Board | Allocation 2005-06 (£) |
| Argyll and Clyde | 388,512 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 351,118 |
| Borders | 102,216 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 147,235 |
| Fife | 303,257 |
| Forth Valley | 237,349 |
| Grampian | 407,454 |
| Greater Glasgow | 827,452 |
| Highland | 210,811 |
| Lanarkshire | 482,890 |
| Lothian | 606,067 |
| Orkney | 19,247 |
| Shetland | 20,433 |
| Tayside | 360,691 |
| Western Isles | 35,268 |
| Total | 4,500,000 |
These are extra resources over and above what NHS boards currently spend to fund sexual health services in their area. In the current financial year 2005-06, the Executive has allocated £9 million to NHS boards for action to prevent the spread of blood borne viruses, including HIV/AIDS. The funds allocated for this purpose will rise to £9.3 million in 2006-07 and £9.5 million in 2007-08.
