- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made in establishing a fully researched mediation service for the NHS; when the working group planning the implementation of this service will report, and when it expects the service to be fully operational.
Answer
The report published in 2003by the expert group on financial and other support, chaired by Lord Ross, endorsed the recommendation made by the RoyalSociety of Edinburgh in their report
Encouraging Resolution - Mediatingpatient/health service disputes in Scotland, that the Scottish Executive should, in conjunction withNHSScotland’s Central Legal Office, undertake a fully researched mediationproject mirroring that being undertaken by the National Health ServiceLitigation Authority in England.
Aworking group with representatives from the Executive’s Health and Justice departments,Central Legal Office, a NHS medical director, an academic from the Universityof Edinburgh and the Medical and Dental Defence Union in Scotland has been setup to take this recommendation forward.
Thegroup is currently working on the specification of a research project expectedto run for three years and therefore anticipates reporting on the outcome ofthat project sometime in 2007.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 8 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to introduce the Disabled Student Allowance for all disabled postgraduate students other than students funded by research councils.
Answer
The Disabled Students'Allowance is currently available to all full-time postgraduate students inreceipt of an award from the Students’ Award Agency for Scotlandunder the Postgraduate Student Allowance Scheme.
We have considered theadditional needs of students with disabilities as part of the funding for learnersreview and continue to liaise closely with key stakeholders on this issue. Anyextension of support would have to be considered as part of the current spendingreview process.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Elish Angiolini on 2 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the fatal accident inquiry will commence into the circumstances surrounding the death of Stewart Williams while serving as a prisoner at Bowhouse Prison in Kilmarnock.
Answer
The death of StewartWilliams on 30 January 2004 is being investigated by the Procurator Fiscal at Kilmarnock.In terms of section 1(1)(a)(ii) of the Fatal Accidents and Sudden DeathsInquiry Act 1976 a fatal accident inquiry is mandatory. Investigation of thecause of death is still at an early stage and it is therefore not possible toset a date for the inquiry. Intimation will be sent to all interested partiesat the relevant time in the usual way.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the future of Bowhouse Prison in Kilmarnock.
Answer
HMP Kilmarnock will continueto be an important part of the prison estate during the remainder of the 25year contract period.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 February 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 19 February 2004
To ask the Presiding Officer what procedures were followed with regard to the appointment of a legal firm of advisers to the Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner; how many companies were invited to tender for the appointment and of those how many were based (a) in and (b) outside of Edinburgh; what criteria was used for the selection of the successful company; whether any guidelines or rules have been agreed in respect of the avoidance of any conflicts of interest between the firm and the Commissioner; what the value of the contract awarded is, and what performance indicators will be applied to the contract.
Answer
The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002 provides that the Commissioner may appoint advisers to assistin the carrying out of his functions, subject to the approval of the SPCB. TheSPCB approved the appointment of Anderson Strathern WS, as legal advisers.
The appointment followed acompetitive tendering exercise. Six firms with offices in Edinburghdeemed large enough to offer a range of services were invited to tender. Threefirms were then invited to make presentations with their bid being judgedagainst the following criteria: advice on interpretation of The Scottish Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Act 2002, Code of Conduct, use of statutory powers;advice when the Commissioner is involved in a legal process, on compliance withother statutes; advice on investigating breaches which could involve criminaloffences and possible future advice on employment issues should theCommissioner employ staff.
Anderson Strathern WS andthe Commissioner have agreed that any conflict of interest will be dealt underthe Law Society of Scotland’s Practice Rules on conflict and potential conflictof interest; the Solicitors Scotland (Conflict of Interest) Practice Rules 1986and the Code of Conduct for Scottish Solicitors as amended.
Work is undertaken at anhourly rate and must be met from the Commissioner's budget. As the volume ofwork is uncertain no value has been placed on the contract.
Performance indicatorsapplied to the contract were set out in the tender document and provide minimumstandards of service which include responding to requests for advice within 14days or within the timescale requested and if that is not possible, within atimescale agreed with the Commissioner; telephone messages being returned thesame day and correspondence and emails being answered within three workingdays. Performance is reviewed at quarterly meetings with the Commissioner andthe lead person in Anderson Strathern with responsibility for the contract.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 11 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to update The Way Forward: Framework for Economic Development in Scotland and, if so, who will undertake this work and when it will be published.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S2W-5814 on 9 February 2004.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/search_wa.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 28 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 10 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish a full evaluation of the Higher Still reforms.
Answer
An Evaluation of theHigher Still Reforms – a study ofstakeholder perceptions of the impact of the Higher Still reform programme –was published in the Scottish Executive’s
Insight series of research documents on 10 December 2003.
The full supporting researchreport is available electronically from the Scottish Executive’s Researchand Economic Unit. Copies of the publication are also available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number. 30219).
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 10 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5621 by Lewis Macdonald on 28 January 2004, how many 16 and 17-year-olds have registered with Careers Scotland and, of these, how many have not had guarantee of a suitable offer of training met, expressed also as a percentage of 16 and 17-year-olds who have registered, broken down by local authority area.
Answer
This is a matter forScottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. The information requested isnot held centrally.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what information is being made available to the United States Government and its agencies on individual criminal records in respect of applications for visa from people in Scotland wishing to travel to the United States of America.
Answer
The Scottish Criminal RecordOffice holds the records of persons convicted by Scottish courts. It has notmade any information directly available to US authorities in connection with visaapplications.
Individuals are, however,able to obtain criminal record information about themselves under the DataProtection Act 1998. An individual may also apply for a criminal convictioncertificate under the Police Act 1997. In neither case does the individual haveto state the purpose for which the information is required. Information fromthese sources may be being made available to US authorities by individual visaapplicants.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 5 February 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4938 by Mr Jim Wallace on 20 January 2004, whether any evaluation has been carried out on the impact of inward investment during the years referred to, by either Scottish Enterprise or the Executive and, if so, whether it will place a copy of any such evaluation in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Answer
A study on the impact of asample of inward investors commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and carried outby the University of Strathclyde was completed in 2000 covering the years 1998 to2000. The study contains detailed case studies of 30 inward investors and assuch is of a commercially sensitive nature. Therefore it is not appropriate toplace a copy in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
