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: S2W-22111

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 16 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many head teachers are from a black or minority ethnic background, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of head teachers.

Question reference: S2W-21742

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal onus is placed on public officials to act if they are aware of suspects being transported through Scotland for interrogation using methods such as “water boarding”.

Question reference: S2W-21741

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the use of “water boarding”, a procedure whereby a suspect’s head is reportedly held under water until they are on the point of drowning, would constitute an act of torture under Scots law.

Such a procedure would constitute an assault under the common law of Scotland. Whether this procedure would constitute the crime of torture would depend upon the status of the person committing the offence. Torture is a criminal offence in Scotland in terms of section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Under this section, the offence of torture occurs where the offence is committed by a public official or a person acting in an official capacity.

Question reference: S2W-21743

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the use of electrocution during interrogation would constitute an act of torture under Scots law.

Question reference: S2W-21744

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal onus is placed on public officials to act if they are aware of electrocution being involved in the transportation through Scotland of suspects for interrogation.

Question reference: S2W-22049

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many female directors there have been in each local authority in each year since 1999, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of local authority directors in the same timescale.

Question reference: S2W-22048

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 13 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many female local authority chief executives there have been in each year since 1999, expressed also as a percentage of the total number of local authority chief executives in the same timescale and broken down by local authority area.

Question reference: S2W-21622

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many decontamination tents are available to public bodies, including local authorities, in the event of a major contamination incident, broken down by local authority area.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has eight mobile decontamination units manned by specialist teams that would deploy to an incident. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have six mass decontamination units; an additional two units will be operational early in 2006.

It is not possible to provide information on a local authority basis as all decontamination equipment held by the emergency services is mobile and any response to a decontamination incident would be Scotland wide. Dependent on the incident resources could also be called upon from England and Wales on a mutual aid basis.

Question reference: S2W-21624

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people per hour can be processed through decontamination tents by emergency services and local authority personnel in the event of a major contamination incident, broken down by local authority area.

Responsibility for the decontamination of casualties rests with NHSScotland. However, this is devolved to the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) who, subject to operational requirements, may devolve operational responsibility for provision of mass decontamination to the Fire and Rescue Service (FRS).

The number of casualties who can be processed through SAS facilities is dependent on the nature of the casualty. Up to 200 ambulant people per hour can be processed through FRS decontamination units.

It is not possible to provide information on a local authority basis as all decontamination equipment held by the emergency services is mobile and any response to a decontamination incident would be Scotland wide. Resources could also be called upon from England and Wales.

Question reference: S2W-22055

Asked by: Sandra White, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 09 January 2006
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 12 January 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives it has had in each year since 2000 to eradicate gender stereotyping in schools.

The Executive is committed to addressing gender inequalities and stereotyping in Scottish schools. As well as the initiatives listed, we continue to monitor relevant gender data in publications such as Destinations of Leavers from Scottish Schools (2003-04) (Bib. number 34816) and SQA Attainment and School Leaver Qualifications in Scotland (2003-04) (Bib. number 36264).

Year	Initiative
2000	The Executive funded publication of An Equal Opportunities Guide for Parents (Bib. number 38570) which highlighted the issue of gender stereotyping and stressed the importance of changing traditional attitudes to gender roles and curriculum areas.
2001	Publication of Executive Research on Gender and Pupil Performance (Interchange 70; Bib. number 16412) which referred to changing gender stereotypes and attitudes.
2003	A major international conference was held in March 2003. It focussed on science education in schools in order to help breakdown some of the gender stereotyping which is prevalent.
2004	The report of the Physical Education (PE) Review Group noted there had been a drop in PE participation of teenage girls. This gender pattern is confirmed in other UK wide research. This is an area which is also being considered within the on-going curriculum review.
2005	The final report of research on Strategies Used to Address Gender Inequalities in Scottish Schools (the follow-up to Interchange 70 in 2001) is imminent. Issues around vocational education paths and stereotyping will be in it.