- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many freedom of information requests were made to the Parliament by (a) members of the public, (b) MSPs, (c) parliamentary researchers and (d) journalists in each year since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
| Requests from Members of the Public | Requests from MSPs | Requests from Parliamentary Researchers | Requests from Journalists |
2005 | | | | |
January | 22 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
February | 17 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
March | 18 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
April | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
May | 10 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
June | 10 | 0 | 2 | 17 |
July | 7 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
August | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
September | 7 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
October | 12 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
November | 13 | 0 | 1 | 12 |
December | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Total | 140 | 11 | 7 | 132 |
2006 | | | | |
January | 3 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
February | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
March | 10 | 0 | 3 | 29 |
April | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
May | 14 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
June | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
July | 5 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
August | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
September | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
October | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
November | 12 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
December | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 |
Total | 91 | 6 | 8 | 107 |
2007 | | | | |
January | 10 | 0 | 1 | 23 |
February | 15 | 0 | 0 | 71 |
March | 6 | 4 | 3 | 114 |
April | 7 | 4 | 0 | 19 |
May | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
June | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
July | 11 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
August | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
September | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 |
October | 8 | 0 | 0 | 11 |
November | 3 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
December | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Total | 78 | 13 | 6 | 337 |
January | 3 | 0 | | 4 |
February | 12 | 1 | 1 | 53 |
March | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
Total | 16 | 1 | 2 | 62 |
Grand Total | 325 | 31 | 23 | 638 |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost has been of processing freedom of information requests to the Parliament in each month since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
The enclosed table sets out the cost of replying to freedom of information requests based on the time recorded by Freedom of Information Action Officers and Decision Takers who have prepared replies to FOI requests up until 6 March 2008. The time recorded does not include input by staff in SPICe (The Information Centre), the Directorate of Legal Services or the Media Relations Office because input in these areas is overarching and not necessarily specific to individual requests. The cost has been calculated at £35.39 per hour, the current hourly rate of a grade 5 member of staff.
Year | Month | Total (£) |
2005 | 1 | 14,242 |
| 2 | 10,033 |
| 3 | 4,569 |
| 4 | 3,617 |
| 5 | 3,979 |
| 6 | 13,246 |
| 7 | 11,530 |
| 8 | 4,192 |
| 9 | 3,302 |
| 10 | 10,291 |
| 11 | 7,660 |
| 12 | 2,219 |
2005 Total | | 88,880 |
2006 | 1 | 2,714 |
| 2 | 5,124 |
| 3 | 13,514 |
| 4 | 2,571 |
| 5 | 8,977 |
| 6 | 2,155 |
| 7 | 3,976 |
| 8 | 1,991 |
| 9 | 3,744 |
| 10 | 1,977 |
| 11 | 6,358 |
| 12 | 3,319 |
2006 Total | | 56,420 |
2007 | 1 | 3,929 |
| 2 | 8,005 |
| 3 | 4,645 |
| 4 | 4,749 |
| 5 | 2,715 |
| 6 | 2,216 |
| 7 | 4,358 |
| 8 | 1,690 |
| 9 | 1,501 |
| 10 | 1,483 |
| 11 | 1,280 |
| 12 | 416 |
2007 Total | | 36,986 |
2008 | 1 | 655 |
| 2 | 1,232 |
| 3 | 9 |
2008 Total | | 1,895 |
Grand Total | | 184,181 |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what the cost has been of processing freedom of information requests made to the Parliament by (a) members of the public, (b) MSPs, (c) parliamentary researchers and (d) journalists in each month since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Answer
The enclosed tables set out the cost of processing freedom of information requests for the specified categories of requesters based on the time recorded by Freedom of Information Action Officers and Decision Takers who have prepared replies to FOI requests up until 6 March 2008. The time recorded does not include input by staff in SPICe (The Information Centre), the Directorate of Legal Services and the Media Relations Office because expertise in these areas is overarching and not necessarily specific to individual requests. The cost has been calculated at £35.39 per hour, the current hourly rate of a grade 5 member of staff.
2005 | Requests by Members of the Public (£) | Requests by MSPs | Requests by Parliamentary Researchers | Requests by Journalists |
January | 1,481 | 0 | 0 | 10,328 |
February | 336 | 150 | 0 | 4,675 |
March | 941 | 1,593 | 0 | 531 |
April | 1,010 | 0 | 725 | 1,324 |
May | 510 | 62 | 0 | 1,478 |
June | 2,777 | 0 | 823 | 9,632 |
July | 1,796 | 306 | 18 | 9,373 |
August | 73 | 71 | 396 | 3,551 |
September | 2,179 | 0 | 0 | 1,123 |
October | 1,577 | 0 | 0 | 8,679 |
November | 437 | 0 | 18 | 6,781 |
December | 888 | 0 | 0 | 1,331 |
Total | 14,005 | 2,183 | 1,980 | 58,822 |
2006 | | | | |
January | 184 | 0 | 0 | 2,353 |
February | 1,074 | 71 | 0 | 2,663 |
March | 2,552 | 0 | 593 | 7,458 |
April | 754 | 0 | 0 | 1,340 |
May | 5,452 | 0 | 0 | 3,304 |
June | 1,046 | 0 | 0 | 717 |
July | 2,207 | 0 | 0 | 1,770 |
August | 1,067 | 00 | 0 | 796 |
September | 600 | 1,476 | 1,239 | 191 |
October | 110 | 0 | 0 | 727 |
November | 2,821 | 340 | 115 | 3,082 |
December | 2,374 | 0 | 106 | 549 |
Total | 20,239 | 1,886 | 2,053 | 24,950 |
2007 | | | | |
January | 876 | 0 | 71 | 2,858 |
February | 2,601 | 0 | 00 | 5,404 |
March | 379 | 138 | 65 | 3,948 |
April | 889 | 248 | 0 | 2,986 |
May | 156 | 0 | 0 | 2,535 |
June | 230 | 1,299 | 0 | 687 |
July | 1,109 | 239 | 328 | 2,638 |
August | 177 | 0 | 0 | 1,194 |
September | 672 | 53 | 0 | 775 |
October | 274 | 0 | 0 | 1,059 |
November | 18 | 53 | 0 | 1,200 |
December | 257 | 0 | 0 | 159 |
Total | 7,639 | 2,030 | 464 | 25,444 |
2008 | | | | |
January | 319 | 0 | 88 | 53 |
February | 487 | 35 | 0 | 710 |
March | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Total | 805 | 0 | 88 | 772 |
Grand Total | 42,688 | 6,134 | 4,585 | 109,988 |
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
-
Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body on which occasions it has had to employ additional staff to deal with freedom of information requests to the Parliament since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and what total costs arose from such action.
Answer
On one occasion on receipt of 39 FOI Requests submitted within a period of 17 working days. The cost incurred to date has been £1,053.18.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether the cost of processing freedom of information requests to the Parliament has risen in the last year.
Answer
The total recorded cost of processing freedom of information based on the time recorded by FOI Decision Takers and Action Officers who have answered requests indicates that despite an increase in the number of requests received from journalists during 2007 (outnumbering requests received from members of the public for the first time) the cost of processing has not risen in the last year.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Tricia Marwick on 18 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many freedom of information requests have been made to the Parliament by journalists since the enactment of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, broken down by (a) newspaper and (b) cost of processing.
Answer
The supply of a breakdown of information to the level of detail requested would incur a disproportionate cost. However, we can identify that during 2006, 2007 and in 2008 to date, two journalists from two different newspapers have submitted the highest number of freedom of information requests.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which minister would have determined any appeal by the developers of Aviemore resort hotels against a decision by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to reject the master plan and any related planning applications
Answer
Where an application for planning permission has been made to the planning authority and has been refused, approved with conditions, or the authority has failed to make a decision on the application within the set period, the applicant may appeal to Scottish ministers. Appeals are handled by inquiry reporters in the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Appeals.
In most cases the inquiry reporter will prepare and issue the decision letter on behalf of Scottish ministers. In a small number of cases, however, the reporter will not issue the decision but will send a report with a recommendation to Scottish ministers. The decision on the appeal would be taken by the Planning Minister, Stewart Stevenson. If the Planning Minister were debarred from the decision-making process, e.g. by having a constituency interest or by having publicly expressed a view about the case, then another minister would make the decision on his behalf.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the reasons were for the First Minister circulating a briefing note commissioned by the Minister for Community Safety, and prepared by building consultants on behalf of the developer of Aviemore resort hotels, to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, the Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change and the Minister for Environment.
Answer
The briefing note was forwarded by the First Minister''s private office to the ministers and a number of officials for background information following the approaches made by MSPs to the First Minister and others.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why a briefing note, commissioned by the Minister for Community Safety and prepared by building consultants on behalf of the developer of Aviemore resort hotels, was sent to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency by the Scottish Government and who issued the instructions to do so.
Answer
The briefing note was forwarded by Scottish Government officials to SEPA for background information and comment following the approaches made by MSPs to the First Minister and others.
- Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 March 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 16 April 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive who in the First Minister’s private office decided not to bring to the First Minister’s attention correspondence from Mr Donald Macdonald and an enclosure of correspondence between HBOS and Highland Council intimating the prospective closure of the Macdonald hotel company and the complete resort operation received from the First Minister’s constituency office manager and expressing the critical nature of his planning application and inviting the First Minister to visit an exhibition of the proposed development at the SNP conference; how that decision was reached, and when.
Answer
The decision was taken by the Assistant Private Secretary with responsibility for correspondence on the basis of established protocol upon receipt of the correspondence to the First Minister''s private office.