- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will now publish a revised version of its estimates of government expenditure and revenues in Scotland for the period covered by its revisions of gross domestic product and gross value added figures.
Answer
There is no need to considera revised version of Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland (GERS) becausethe GDP figures produced by the Scottish Executive are not used to produce the estimatesin GERS. I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-6394 on 29 April 2004 for more information. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what changes are required to the statistical information contained in Government Expenditure and Revenues in Scotland 2001-02 as a result of the revision in February 2004 of previous estimates for Scottish gross domestic product and gross value added and, in particular, what changes required to be made to the information contained in tables 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1, 8.2, 9.5, 9.7 and 9.8, what the revised figures are for section 4 under “Aggregate Expenditure in Scotland”, and what changes require to be made to the information contained in figure 9.2, the Appendix A sections on “non-identifiable expenditure”, “central government and public corporation debt interest” and “other items, including nation account adjustments” and Appendix C.
Answer
The quarterly GDP index thatwas revised in February 2004 was not used in any of the calculations in GovernmentExpenditure and Revenues in Scotland (GERS) 2001-02. The estimates of GVA (GDP atbasic prices) used in GERS are the annual estimates of the cash value of GVA producedby the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of regional accounts. Thereforeno changes are required to GERS in the light of the revised Scottish GDP index.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 April 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S2W-6394 and S2W-6395 lodged on 24 February 2004 and S2W-6625 lodged on 1 March 2004.
Answer
I apologise for the delay inanswering. These questions were answered today.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 01 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 23 April 2004
To ask the Presiding Officer what codes of conduct there are for Scottish parliamentary commissioners.
Answer
Thereare no codes of conduct in place for commissioners appointed or nominated bythe Parliament. The SPCB will shortly be examining proposals put forward by thecommissioners for a voluntary code of conduct.
Forthose individuals nominated by the Parliament and appointed by Her Majesty TheQueen, the legislation establishing the posts provides that in the exercise oftheir functions they are not subject to the direction or control of any memberof the Parliament, any member of the Scottish Executive or the Parliamentarycorporation.
The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is currently the only such post appointed by the SPCB with theagreement of Parliament. The commissioner must comply with any directions givenby the Parliament in relation to the carrying out of his functions. Inparticular, the legislation provides for such directions as to the procedure tobe followed when making an investigation into a complaint.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6607 by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 March 2004, how often recommendations made to it by the Scottish Medical Practices Committee have been (a) rejected or (b) referred back for further consideration, in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish MedicalPractices Committee makes no recommendations to the Scottish Executive when a vacancy for a general practitioner is due to be filled. In termsof the National Health Service (General Medical Services)(Scotland)Regulations 1995 it is for the Committee to direct the NHS board as to whethera vacancy should be filled and there is no provision for a board to reject orrefer back the Committee’s direction.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 30 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6608 by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 March 2004, whether it plans to introduce regulations or proposals to allow consideration to be given to objections by patients to any applicant for a general practice vacancy as part of the (a) interview process and (b) consequent decision making process for awarding a contract.
Answer
We would expect NHS boardsto take account of patients’ views concerning any impact on service provision whendeciding to fill a general practice vacancy, and this is enshrined in our “PatientFocus and Public Involvement” framework. However it would be inappropriate forpatient objections to any individual applicant to be allowed to influence theprocess whereby applicants are interviewed and selected to fill generalpractice vacancies. In the case of services from general practitioners, underthe new contract patients will retain the right to transfer to another practiceif they so wish.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 10 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 18 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the completion rate is for people enrolling on the modern apprenticeship programme.
Answer
Of thosewho completed or otherwise left the programme between March 2003 and December2003, 52% achieved a modern apprenticeship.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it takes measures to ensure that staff involved in drafting legislation are not members of organisations with an interest in the legislation and, in particular, whether it would ensure that staff involved in the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Bill are not members of any such organisations, such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
Answer
The Civil Service Coderequires civil servants, regardless of their personal interests, to giveimpartial and honest advice to ministers. Policy decisions, including thecontent of legislative proposals such as the Nature Conservation (Scotland)Bill, are ultimately a matter for ministers, rather than civil servants, and ministersare accountable to Parliament for the decisions they make.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 02 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many offences under the Data Protection Act 1998 have been processed through the courts since 2001.
Answer
The available statistics showthat one person was convicted in 2002 in a Scottish court where the mainoffence was under the Data Protection Act 1998. Statistics for 2003 are not yetavailable.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 01 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 15 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) process and procedure are and (b) timescale is for appeals against recommendations by interviewing committees for applications to fill vacancies in single GP practices.
Answer
The National Health Service(General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995 provide that any doctorwho is not selected by a NHS board to fill a general practice vacancy mayappeal to the Scottish Ministers on a point of law. Such appeals may bedetermined summarily or an advocate or solicitor may be appointed by ministersto hear the case and report to them before their decision is reached. If anyappeal is allowed by ministers the matter will be remitted to the board whichwill be given such directions as they consider desirable to ensure the properdetermination of the application. Other than the period of 21 days for themaking of an appeal the regulations do not set out any timescale for suchappeals or any stage of them.
