- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 13 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20862 by Cathy Jamieson on 12 December 2005, what the difference is between registered mental health nurses and “nursing staff with mental nursing skills and qualifications”.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
Nursing staff may have mental health nursing skills and qualifications but not have undergone the registration process as defined by the Nursing Midwifery Council (formerly the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting).
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17566 by Patricia Ferguson on 18 July 2005, what the reasons are for its position that the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games “could feasibly only be staged in London” rather than anywhere else in the United Kingdom.
Answer
Previously both Birmingham and Manchester have produced bids to stage the Olympic Games. The feedback received by the UK government from the International Olympic Committee after the failure of those bids was that the IOC would only consider a bid from London. This was due to London’s status as a world city, the infrastructure that was already in place and its transport and travel links.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, if it believes that a successful bid by Glasgow to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games will have a UK-wide benefit, it considers that it would be equitable for Her Majesty’s Government to either create a Commonwealth Games lottery or make the newly-created Olympics Games lottery a joint Olympic-Commonwealth Games lottery.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-18526 on 5 September 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wwa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17794 by Patricia Ferguson on 3 August 2005, how it was in a position to support London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games without undertaking an independent and detailed assessment of the costs and benefits to Scotland of the Games beforehand.
Answer
The Scottish Executive was proud to support London’s bid to bring the Olympics to the UK in 2012.
The benefits to a nation from hosting the Olympic Games are well established. It can lead to increased participation in sport, better health and increased national confidence.
The Scottish Executive is committed to working with LOCOG and other UK government departments to maximise the potential benefits to Scotland from the Games.
Scotland is well placed to assess the costs and benefits of the London Olympics through membership of the Nations and regions group, London 2012. A Scottish steering group for London 2012 will meet for the first time in January 2006.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-17566 and S2W-17792 by Patricia Ferguson on 18 July and 5 August 2005, how it can justify its position of believing that Scotland will benefit from London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games, given that the report of the impact study into the Games, undertaken by PricewaterhouseCoopers, indicates that whilst London’s economy can expect to gain some £5.9 billion, there will be a displacement effect on the rest of the UK economy which will be some £2.8 billion worse off than if the Games were held elsewhere.
Answer
The findings of the Price Waterhouse Cooper report are based on what will happen if no action is taken. The UK and Scottish Governments are committed to ensuring that the benefits of London 2012 are spread across the UK. The main route for this is through the Nations and Regions Group where Julia Bracewell, chair of sportscotland, is the Scottish representative. It will be through Nations and Regions that we will work to ensure that Scotland can maximise the benefits that could accrue from the London 2012 Olympics. The Scottish steering group for London 2012, whose aim is to ensure the maximum benefits for Scotland, is meeting for the first time in January 2006.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 16 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures the quality of its answers to written questions received from MSPs.
Answer
The Scottish Ministerial Code sets out clearly the responsibilities on ministers to Parliament and to the wider public. In line with the code, responsibility for the content of answers to written questions from MSPs rests with the minister issuing each reply.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, if Glasgow is successful in securing the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it considers that there will be a similar benefit to all of the United Kingdom that Her Majesty’s Government considers that there will be by virtue of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is committed to working with UK government departments to ensure continued support for Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games 2014 bid. The Commonwealth Games is not as large an event as the Olympics. Whilst it is difficult to quantify the benefits to the UK at this stage it is possible that the UK will accrue similar benefits on a smaller scale.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17794 by Patricia Ferguson on 3 August 2005, whether it has ruled out undertaking an independent and detailed assessment of the costs and benefits to Scotland of the 2012 Olympic Games being hosted in London.
Answer
There are no plans to undertake such an assessment at this time.
Scotland is well placed to assess the costs and benefits of the London Olympics through membership of the Nations and Regions group, London 2012. The Scottish steering group for London 2012 will meet for the first time in January 2006 and will work to maximise the benefits to Scotland of London 2012.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17563 by Patricia Ferguson on 18 July 2005, whether it will be making estimates at any stage as to how much additional growth the Scottish economy will accrue as a direct result of London hosting the 2012 Olympic Games.
Answer
All efforts to maximise the economic, social and cultural benefits of the 2012 Olympic Games to Scotland will be co-ordinated through the Scottish Steering Group for London 2012 which will meet for the first time in January 2006. It will be part of the remit of that group to monitor the potential beneficial effects on the Scottish economy.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 12 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 12 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20860 by Cathy Jamieson on 29 November 2005, whether the Scottish Prison Service aims to meet or exceed performance targets set by ministers.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The Scottish Prison Service aims to deliver Key Performance Indicators set by ministers and reported to Parliament. Figures contained in previous years’ SPS annual reports and the Decade of Achievement paper published by SPS in 2003 indicate that the agency has been successful in surpassing most of its targets over the last 10 years.
Our performance results for 2005-06 will be published in the SPS annual report.
