- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-23939 and S2W-28199 by Malcolm Chisholm and Johann Lamont on 16 March and 15 September 2006 respectively, when Communities Scotland’s guidance to clarify the process and nature of second stage transfer (SST) of housing stock will be issued and when it expects to receive and make public the findings of the Ministerial Progress Group on SST and the joint team of officials examining the complex financial issues raised by SST.
Answer
The Joint Team’s report on SecondStage Transfers is being finalised and will be made available soon. The draft guidanceon Second Stage Transfers has been available since 25 August 2006. The regulatoris currently analysing responses to the consultation on the draft guidance, whichended on 20 October. The guidance will be issued shortly, once these responses andthe findings of the Joint Team have been taken into account.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 02 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 14 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its policy, or that of the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, to assess students who have gained a Higher National Diploma and subsequently choose to enter higher education at first year level as repeating a first year of study.
Answer
It is the current policy of the Scottish Executive that students who have gained a Higher National Diploma (HND)and subsequently choose to enter higher education at first year level areassessed as repeating a first year of study.
This policy is intended to encourageinstitutions to accept HND students into second or subsequent years and as aresult to improve articulation.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 14 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28965 by Peter Peacock on 31 October 2006, whether the statement that information is not held centrally in the form requested indicates that the Executive does hold information on expenditure on school buses and, if so, to what such information pertains.
Answer
The information held centrallyon school transport relates to gross expenditure on all forms of school transport,and cannot be disaggregated to identify expenditure on dedicated school buses.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimates are of the costs associated with the second stage transfer (SST) of Glasgow Housing Association’s housing stock and whether it has earmarked any monies for SST and, if so, how much, from which budgets and for which financial years.
Answer
The Joint Team on financialissues, which includes officials from Glasgow Housing Association, CommunitiesScotland, Glasgow City Council and the purchasers, is currently considering thecosts associated with second stage transfers of Glasgow Housing Associationstock. The work of the joint team will be finalised soon and will be madeavailable in due course.
Communities Scotland hasearmarked £1,045,000 for seed corn funding to support local housingorganisations in taking forward their second stage transfer proposals. Thisfunding has been available over the course of the 2004-05 to 2006-07 financialyears.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, what the total expenditure has been on the e-magazine, Scotland-Now.
Answer
I refer the member to answerto question S2W-28691 on 9 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure it has incurred implementing the recommendations of its diaspora strategy, launched in October 2005.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28694 on 9 November 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how many individual subscriptions there have been to the e-magazine, Scotland-Now.
Answer
The Scottish Executiveengages with the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interestsfor the long-term benefit of our economy and society.
Scotland-Now showcases modern Scotland as a great place to liveand work, visit, study and invest.We communicate regularly withthe diaspora, alumni and people with an affinity towards Scotland electronicallythrough regular updates. The latest edition of
Scotland-Now (
www.scotland-now.com) the e-magazine whichis specifically aimed at the Diaspora audience, issued on 27 September 2006.The Executive works with keypartner organisations such as Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, AncestralScotland.com,and the British Council amongst others to promote and distribute Scotland-Now through their websites andnetworks.
Other promotional activities to increase awareness of Scotland-Now have included the distribution of postcards promoting Scotland-Now at ministerial and other appropriate events in the UK and overseas. Recent examples of events where this has been done arethe Globalscot Conference and the Celebrate Scotland event that the First Ministerhosted in San Francisco, USA on 18 October.
The World Pipe Band Championships, the British Columbia Highland Games,Vancouver, Canada and theMelbourne International Arts Festival, Australia havealso received some sponsorship from the Executive. The aim of the sponsorship hasbeen three-fold; to publicise Scotland-Now, to strengthen existing diaspora relationshipsand to promote Scotland’s International Image.
The weblink to each edition ofScotland-Now is issuedto over 70,000 individuals. Two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three subscribersregister direct and, additionally, subscribers to partner organisations, including the globalscotnetwork, Talent Scotland, AncestralScotland, VisitScotland, Scottish Networks International (SNI), various Alumni associations,and Rampant Scotland, also receive updateson an individual basis.
The total expenditure to dateon Scotland-Now is £22,625.25.This represents a cost of approximately 0.33p for every individual who receivesthe weblink.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of its diaspora strategy, launched in October 2005.
Answer
The First Minister launched thediaspora strategy in October 2005 during his visit to Canada.
The diaspora strategy aims toencourage the active participation of ancestral Scots and other groups with an affinityto Scotland in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn, work, do businessand invest. This is a long-term project; through sustained engagement at a numberof different levels, the strategy will build on and strengthen the existing relationshipsbetween Scotland and the international diaspora for the overall economicand social benefit of Scotland.
Level one of the strategy, thepublication of an e-magazine has been implemented. In March 2006, the first editionof the quarterly e-magazine
Scotland-Now (
www.scotland-now.com) was published. Thee-magazine is specifically aimed at the diasporaaudience.Level two of the strategy, engagementwith diaspora groups and other affinity groups is on-going. The Executive is in the process of mapping Scottish associationsand diaspora groups overseas to effectively target them with information on modernScotland.
Targeted engagement has takenplace with individuals and diaspora groups in North America and Australia andScottish organisations in London. The total recordedexpenditure to date on Scotland-Now and the initial engagement with North America, Australiaand Scottish organisations in London is £55,459. Scots diaspora attended Celebrate Scotland events hosted by the First Minister in Melbourne lastyear, and in San Francisco on 18 October this year. Full costs are not yet available for those events.
In addition ministers and officials undertake various other engagementsand ad hoc contact with a variety of organisations as part of their normal duties.For example, I took the opportunity to meet with several diaspora organisations(such as the St Andrews Societies of Washington and New York) when I visited the US for Tartan Week (April 2005 and2006 respectively).
We will continue to work withkey partners such as Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, and AncestralScotland amongstothers, to share information and, where appropriate, undertake joint country-specificactivities. The approach for each country will be adapted to suit local needs.
The long-term engagement withthe diaspora will support the Executive’s work on Scotland’s InternationalImage, Fresh Talent and country plans.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how the e-magazine, Scotland-Now, has been publicised.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28691 on 9 November 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 October 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by John Beckett on 8 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what previous involvement the Solicitor General has had in (a) the Shirley McKie fingerprint case and (b) the Lockerbie trial.
Answer
I have had no involvement inthe prosecution of Shirley McKie or the civil action by Shirley McKie against the Scottish ministers.
I was Junior Defence Counselfor Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi at the Lockerbie trial (2000-01) and appealagainst conviction (2002).
