Questions and answers

Question reference: S2W-28589

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any ministers or deputy ministers have written to the Home Office regarding the impact of immigration and asylum legislation and Home Office practice on their responsibilities under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995.

Question reference: S2W-28539

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it takes to protect the cultural heritage in relation to indigenous crafts.

The Scottish Arts Council andthe National Museums of Scotland (NMS), both non-departmental public bodiessponsored by the Scottish Executive, are currently preparing an exhibition of contemporaryScottish crafts, Cutting Edge, which will run from February to June in 2007.The exhibition will be taken on tour to Kilmarnock, Aberdeen and,hopefully, Glasgow.

Previous exhibitions and toursinclude the Celebrating Scotland’s Crafts exhibition at the NMS in June 2000which subsequently toured Scotland and the USA in 2002-03.

The NMS have an internationalcollection of craft items, which includes many Scottish crafts and has been involvedin showcasing Scottish crafts at both the Smithsonian Institute and during TartanWeek.

Scotland’s indigenous crafts are also well represented in collectionsin non-national museums throughout Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-28549

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to encourage the Scottish diaspora in Australia to contribute to reducing the skills shortage in Scotland.

The Scottish Executive engageswith the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefitof our economy and society. We aim to encouragethe diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a greatcountry to visit, live, learn, work, do business and invest.

During the First Minister’s visitto Melbourne, Australia in March 2006, he hosted one diaspora event and launchedthe quarterly diaspora E magazine, Scotland-Now.

We will encourage Australians,through marketing and promotional activities, to find out about living and workingin Scotland by going to www.scotlandistheplace.com and contactingthe Relocation Advisory Service if they have specific enquiries. We also use casestudies of Australians who are already in Scotland - for study or work purposes - to help us showcase whatScotland has to offer.

Question reference: S2W-28544

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how it ensures that part-time staff in the public sector receive appropriate training for their continuing professional development.

Part-time workers are protectedagainst discrimination by the Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment)Regulations 2000. Under the regulations part-time workers are entitled to receivethe same access to training and development opportunities as full-time employees.

It is for individual employersto ensure that staff receive appropriate training. As an employer, the ScottishExecutive delivers learning opportunities on the principle of equal opportunity,recognising the variety of working patterns we operate and using the full rangeof learning opportunities available to us.

Question reference: S2W-28541

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it takes to encourage the maintenance and future sustainability of indigenous crafts.

The Scottish Arts Council (SAC)supports many traditional craft makers and organisations. Indigenous craft makersare also supported through wider crafts initiatives such as the web promotion toolwww.craftscotland.org. This web resource, initiated by SAC as part of its CreativeIndustries strategy, provides makers with a means to promote their work nationallyand internationally.

A conference for indigenous craftmakers in 1996 revealed a rich diversity of crafts nationwide. In September 2005,the SAC hosted the Living Traditions Indigenous Crafts Conference at Birnham,Perthshire. The purpose of this conference was to review developments in the sectorand consider future needs.

Question reference: S2W-28548

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to encourage the Scottish diaspora in Australia to return to Scotland to live and to help reverse the population decline.

The Scottish Executive engageswith the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefitof our economy and society. We aim to encouragethe diaspora’s active participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a greatcountry to visit, live, learn, work, do business and invest.

During the First Minister’s visitto Melbourne, Australia in March 2006, he hosted one diaspora event and launchedthe quarterly diaspora E magazine, Scotland-Now.

The First Minister’s visit markedthe beginning of a long-term engagement with the Australian Diaspora to showcasewhat 21st century Scotland has to offer and to encourage some of these bright, talentedpeople to come here to live and work.

Question reference: S2W-28550

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken, and intends to take, to encourage the Scottish diaspora in Australia to invest in the Scottish economy.

The Scottish Executive engageswith the Scottish Diaspora to further Scotland’s interests for the long-term benefit of our economyand society. We aim to encourage the diaspora’sactive participation and engagement in promoting Scotland as a great country tovisit, live, learn, work, do business and invest.

During the First Minister’s visitto Melbourne, Australia in March 2006, he hosted one diaspora event and launchedthe quarterly diaspora E magazine, Scotland-Now.

Scottish DevelopmentInternational (SDI) is already highly active in the Australian market, with a presencewhich covers all the Australian states and which supports both the trade and inwardinvestment agendas in a way that is knowledge driven and highly integrated. the Executive works closely with SDI, where appropriate, to further Scottish interestsincluding encouraging inward investment.

Question reference: S2W-28554

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 21 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 5 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what benefits have accrued to Scotland from the sister state agreement signed with the Australian state of Victoria and what benefits it expects will accrue.

The Scottish Executive and theState of Victoria are currently developing an action plan for co-operation over a numberof initiatives in areas such as health and life sciences. There has already beenvaluable co-operation over Glasgow’s 2014 Commonwealth Games bid.

The Executive believes that Scotland willbenefit from the exchange of experience and expertise that the agreement provides for. It isan integral part of the agreement that an assessment of the benefits to both partieswill carried out.

Question reference: S2W-28521

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support migrant workers working in Scotland on contracts of less than one year in opening accounts with Scottish banks.

The Scottish Executive offersa range of support to migrant workers in Scotland. This includes workers’ information guides in Polishand English, which reflects the fact that over 65% of workers from the new accessionstates are Polish. The guide is available online, at www.szkocja.eu and www.scotlandistheplace.com or in hard copy,from various public, private and voluntary sector sources, including banks. It containsinformation about opening bank accounts as well as a range of other informationabout living and working in Scotland. We are currently looking at also producing this guidein other languages. We recognise that someindividuals have experienced difficulty in opening bank accounts and this is anissue which has been raised with the Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers (whichrepresents all four Scottish clearing banks) on a number of occasions, most recentlyin July of this year. Scottish banks all have policies on this issue and have openedmany thousands of bank accounts for migrant workers over recent years. Any individualexperiencing a problem should be encouraged to use the selected bank’s complaintsor enquiries process.

Question reference: S2W-28519

Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 4 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support refugees and migrants who wish to start new businesses but are unable to access start-up funding from banks and other lending institutions.

Responsibility for assistingindividuals wishing to start a new business rests with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands andIslands Enterprise. In the Scottish Enterprise area, Business Gateway can provideaccess to information and advice, including on aspects relating to funding.

In the Highlands andIslands area, access to business support is through Highlands andIslands Enterprise’s network of nine Local Enterprise Companies (LECs).

Chamber and committees