Chamber and committees

Local authorities review and assess air quality in their area against objectives for a number of pollutants contained in the Air Quality Strategy. Where this shows the objectives are being exceeded, or are likely to be exceeded, the local authority has to declare an Air Quality Management Area and establish an action plan to deal with the problem. The circumstances leading to a need to declare vary, but experience to date has shown that traffic emissions are the main source of local air quality hotspots.

The influence of motor transport on air quality in any particular place depends on local circumstances and it is not possible to generalise concerning the relative contribution of different types of roads. Each local authority in Scotland is required to review and assess air quality in its area based on monitoring and modelling. Through this process, it is possible to identify where local circumstances, traffic related or otherwise, contribute to an air quality problem and act to address these.

The recommendations of the Internationally Qualified Nurse (IQN) Working Group will be put to me for approval within the next few weeks and an announcement will be made later this month. The recommendations will outline a national model and infrastructure to support the Overseas Nurses Programme and enable locally domiciled IQNs to be matched to vacancy posts.

NHS Education Scotland (NES) will be responsible for acting as agents for the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and for the scrutiny, approval and on-going monitoring of the Overseas Nurses Programme. Currently the University of Stirling and the University of Paisley have been approved to run the Overseas Nurses Programme and other higher education institutions (HEI) awaiting approval are Glasgow Caledonian University and NHS Lothian, who have yet to agree their HEI partner.

The Scottish Executive hasno functions in relation to any requirements of the Chicago Convention on InternationalCivil Aviation.

This is a matter for thepolice. Whether or not to undertake an investigation is an operational decisionfor the Chief Constable of the relevant police force.

Torture is a crime underScots law as required by our international obligations. The investigation ofalleged crimes is a matter for the police.

I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21579 on 22 December 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/wa.search.

Article 1 of the UN Convention Against Torture states that; “torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions”.

The enactment of section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 incorporated the offence of torture into UK law. Section 134 replicates Article 1 of the Convention and provides that a public official or person acting in an official capacity, whatever his nationality, commits the offence of torture if in the United Kingdom or elsewhere he intentionally inflicts severe pain or suffering on another in the performance or purported performance of his official duties. The offence is committed regardless of the nationality of the official, the country in which the torture takes place, whether the suffering is physical or mental, and whether it is caused by an act or an omission. It is punishable by a maximum period of life imprisonment.

Conduct as described in Article 1 may also constitute the common law crime of assault, which is also punishable by a maximum period of life imprisonment.

There have been a number ofroutine discussions primarily in relation to the answering of parliamentaryquestions and other enquiries on this matter.