Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

Find out more about parliamentary questions

Filter your results Hide all filters

Displaying 1617 questions Show Answers

Order by |

Question reference: S3W-30788

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 29 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding has been provided to Scottish Development International in each year since its creation.

The funding provided to Scottish Development International since its creation in 2001 is provided in the following table:

Year	Scottish Enterprise Grant-in-Aid	Scottish Government Direct Running Costs	Scottish Government Support for Business Gateway International Trade Managers	Totals
2001-02	£11,414,380			£11,414,380
2002-03	£10,962,667		£700,000	£11,662,667
2003-04	£11,699,275		£700,000	£12,399,275
2004-05	£9,442,026	£1,549,000	£700,000	£11,691,026
2005-06	£9,313,590	£1,592,150	£700,000	£11,605,740
2006-07	£9,859,599	£1,632,157	£700,000	£12,191,756
2007-08	£11,132,413	£1,596,379	£723,000	£13,451,792
2008-09	£20,749,516	£1,680,000	£723,000	£23,152,516
2009-10	£22,663,000	£1,700,000	£725,000	£25,088,000
Total	£117,236,466	£9,749,686	£5,671,000	£132,657,152

Notes:

The Scottish Government Direct Running Costs figures for 2001-02 until 2003-04 are not available. We would expect these figures to be in line with subsequent years.

There was no Scottish Government support for Business Gateway International Trade Managers in 2001-02.

The figure for Scottish Enterprise Grant-in-Aid allocation in 2009-10 was increased from £21.7 million to take account of currency fluctuations in SDI''s overseas offices.

Question reference: S3W-30792

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what companies attended the recent Scottish Development International trade mission to Israel and what the cost of the mission was.

Question reference: S3W-30793

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what Scottish Development International’s standard procedures are for the setting up and delivery of trade missions.

Question reference: S3W-30790

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of (a) the structure, broken down by (i) directorate or department and (ii) senior staff, and (b) remuneration levels for (i) senior staff and (ii) board members of Scottish Development International.

Scottish Development International is headed by its interim CEO, David Smith and consists of the following directorates: Scotland Europa; Group Services; Trade and Investment Scotland; Trade and Investment Americas; Trade and Investment Europe, Middle East and Africa; Trade and Investment Asia/Pacific and Sales, Marketing and Development.

SDI''s senior staff is at director and senior director level for Scottish Enterprise employees and C2 level for Scottish Government employees. The salary band for a director is £41,230 - £53,260 and the salary band for a senior director is £50,550 - £61,550. The C2 salary band is £48,544 - £62,493. The salary band for the CEO is £62,390 - £101,410. We are unable to provide any more detail due to data protection restrictions.

SDI is overseen by a management board consisting of the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise, Lena Wilson, whose salary to 31 March 2009 was £176,000; the Director General Economy and Chief Economic Adviser at the Scottish Government, Andrew Goudie, whose salary is £135,000 - 140,000 and the Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, whose salary in 2009 was £100,858.

Question reference: S3W-30794

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement Scottish Development International has in Thistle Healthcare Ltd’s proposed visit to Israel in February 2010.

Question reference: S3W-30789

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 15 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 26 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason Scottish Development International’s annual accounts do not appear to be in the public domain.

Question reference: S3W-30389

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 January 2010
Current Status: Answered by Jim Mather on 14 January 2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take in response to concerns raised over the proposed trade mission to Israel by Scottish Development International.

The Scottish Government supports a number of trade missions to the Middle East, for example last October when SDI visited the United Arab Emirates.

The trade mission to Israel is taking place as part of Scottish Development International''s planned programme of overseas trade missions. The mission focuses on developing links to assist Scottish companies to secure new investment and jobs into Scotland by developing overseas markets. The mission is being organised in partnership with UK Trade and Investment.

The government''s position on the situation in Gaza is very clear, and the then Minister for External Affairs, Michael Russell announced a funding package of £427,996 of emergency humanitarian assistance last year to support Scottish-based charities operating in the area.

The funding assisted the Scottish-based organisations to provide essential aid such as food, hygiene and safe drinking water to malnourished children and families.

Question reference: S3W-29698

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the implications are for the detention of asylum seeking children of the UK Government’s removal of its reservation concerning the provisions in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child relating to immigration control.

The Scottish Government is totally opposed to the detention of children of asylum seekers in Dungavel or elsewhere and fully supports the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Asylum is reserved to the UK Government and it would be for them to inform you of any implications regarding the removal of the reservation to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its current practice to detain children in Dungavel and elsewhere.

Question reference: S3W-29700

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 14 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans are being made to continue to fund and develop programmes that take a progressive approach to failed asylum seekers as an alternative to detention.

The Scottish Government is totally opposed to the detention of children of asylum seekers in Dungavel or elsewhere.

We are currently supporting the Family Returns Project in Glasgow for three years. The project will run as an alternative to detention pilot for families with children. We are also co-funding an evaluation of the pilot which will be used to stimulate further discussion around potential future role out.

Question reference: S3W-29699

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 03 December 2009
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 11 December 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations will be made to the Home Office regarding its policy of directing staff not to deal with MSPs on the issue of asylum seekers.

The Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution met with Phil Woolas, Minister of State for Borders and Immigration on 9 November and raised the Home Office policy of directing staff not to correspond with MSPs in individual asylum cases. It was agreed at this meeting that the UK Government would write to the Scottish Parliamentary Authorities to clarify their position on this matter.