Chamber and committees

It is the responsibilityof a Tribunal to determine whether the Disability Discrimination Act has been breachedand not for Scottish ministers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-29353 on 8 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

If an applicant believes theywere wrongfully refused entry to the police service on medical grounds then theycan write to the Force Medical Advisor seeking a review.

The Regulations andDeterminations set out in police circular 8-2003 are made by Scottish Ministersunder powers granted in the Police (Scotland) Act 1967.

As was made clear in myprevious answer, issues relating to recruitment to the police service is amatter for individual chief constables. The guidance contained in policecirculars is provided to chief constables to assist in their operationaldecision-making. It is for chief constables alone to determine whichindividuals are, or are not, suitable for appointment to the police service.

Often acts will require to becommenced in stages (for particular provisions or particular purposes) for policyor practical reasons. Decisions about such matters are the responsibility of theminister in charge of the act and so the information requested is not held centrally.Acts of the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Statutory Instruments, including CommencementOrders, are published on the HMSO website. Is it in Force? 2006, which ispublished by LexisNexis, Butterworths, provides details of provisions in acts of the Scottish Parliament which have been brought into force. If the member wouldlike information about any specific act or any specific provision or provisionsin an act, the relevant portfolio minister will be happy to provide that information.

The Scottish Executive,along with other UK administrations, has seen and commented on theEuropean Commission’s proposals for aEuropean Indicator of Language Competence.

However, we believe that furtherdevelopment work is needed at an EU level to define the organisational and resourceimplications of this work. An expert group, comprising representatives from allmember states, is being established by the Commission to look at how the indicatorshould be developed. The Executive is awaiting the conclusions of this groupbefore undertaking any work in this area.

None. The forum report waspublished by the Scottish Parliament in October and the views of the youngpeople will be reflected in the Building a Bridge report that the Scottish Executive will publish later this year.

The External Liaison Unitreport on the “Our Voice in Europe” Youth Forum was sent to officials at the EuropeanCommission Representation offices in London and Edinburgh on 22 September 2006. It was also sent to the Scottish Executive who will reference the report in their “Building a Bridge”submission to the Commission later this year. The Clerking and ReportingDirectorate contribution to the “Building a Bridge” submission was sent to the Executive on 2 October 2006.

The Executive’s report The Rightto Buy in Scotland – Pulling Together the Evidence contains our most recentanalysis of Right to Buy sales and resales. Copies of the report were sent to allMSPs on 28 September 2006. The report is available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 40721), or on the Executive’s website at:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/26114727/0.