- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 April 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 27 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to fund ABA therapy education for children with autism.
Answer
The main Scottish Executivesupport for local authority net revenue expenditure on additional supportneeds, including autistic spectrum disorders, is provided through RevenueSupport grant. This is an unhypothecated grant and expenditure on individualareas, such as particular interventions, is a matter for each authority takinginto account local needs and priorities. For information on the latestallocations of grant to individual local authorities, I refer the member to the Scottish Executive’s Finance Circular 8/2005 which can be viewed at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/17999/11203.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22728 by Cathy Jamieson on 8 February 2006, whether this answer indicates that the Scottish Prison Service is unable to determine the amount of taxpayers’ money saved by placing prisoners in open prisons rather than regular prisons.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The SPS considers, for the reasonsset out in the answer to question S2W-22728, on 8 February 2006, that it is selfevident that costs in open prisons are lower than those in closed establishments.
Reasons for these differencesinclude the lower standards of security required including lower levels of staffsupervision. Greater access to the community by prisoners also requires less duplicationof facilities and services which in the case of open establishments, can be accessedin the community. We could determine the exact difference in cost but to do so wouldbe at disproportionate cost and would represent poor value for money.
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, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the identification of Shirley McKie’s fingerprint in 1997 has been disputed within the Scottish Criminal Record Office from the outset.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23968 on 13 April 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility forwhich 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, 07 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the then Minister for Justice received a letter dated 7 August 2001 from a former employee of the Scottish Criminal Record Office in which he states that “after commencing duty at the SCRO Bureau I was shocked and appalled at the level of malpractice” and whether a copy of this letter was also received by the Lord Advocate; what action the (a) Minister for Justice and (b) Lord Advocate took to address this and other statements in the letter, and what the outcome was of any action taken.
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-23612 on 20 April 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound 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: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23924 by Tavish Scott on 16 March 2006, whether the change in name of this potential new railway station from Castlecary to Allandale indicates a change in preferred location for the station and, if so, what the preferred location is now.
Answer
The name of the proposedstation at Castlecary was changed to Allandale at the suggestion of the railindustry because there is already a Castlecary station on the national networkin Somerset. The proposed site continues to be the formerCastlecary brickworks.
Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was aware of the current Solicitor General’s party political affiliation when she was appointed to the post and, if so, what account was taken of it.
Answer
The Scotland Act 1998 provides at Section 48(1) for the appointment of theLord Advocate and the Solicitor General, with the approval ofParliament. I refer to the motion of the First Minister for the appointment for thecurrent Solicitor General (col 4217-4219, 28 November 2001).
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it to be in the public interest that a definitive view should be established in respect of the legality of the process of “extraordinary rendition” in both Scots law and international law.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has madeclear in previous answers that it has not approved and will not approve apolicy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territoryor airspace to places where there are substantial grounds to believe they wouldface a real risk of torture. Anyallegations of criminal acts made to the police will be considered on their ownfacts and circumstances. If the police refer a case to the Procurator Fiscaland criminal proceedings are brought, it will be for the courts to determinewhether an offence has been committed in each individual case.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 24 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23924 by Tavish Scott on 16 March 2006, what benefits it considers may be derived by an Allandale railway station with park and ride facilities.
Answer
The Allandale Park andRide site was proposed in the Central Scotland Transport Corridor Study toprovide some alternative for road traffic using the A80/M80 corridor into Glasgow, andwas part of a package of measures aimed at limiting the need for additionalroad capacity.
The present study hasevaluated that option in greater detail, and also considered more recent ideasto develop an additional or alternative park and ride site at Bannockburn.
Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for moreinformation if required.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 21 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23877 by Tavish Scott on 16 March 2006, whether it will now consider commissioning an assessment of the annual cost to the Scottish economy caused by traffic delays as a result of the collection of tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges.
Answer
Ministers are committed totaking forward a wider examination of the economic, social and environmentalimpact and cost of retaining or removing tolls from the Tay and Forthbridges, on Fife and Dundee. The proposals for this will be reported on as soonas possible.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 April 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23937 by Allan Wilson on 20 March 2006, what benefits it considers arise from exploration and utilisation of sources of oil in the Atlantic Ocean.
Answer
Exploration and developmentactivities in the North Sea are an important contributor to Scotland’seconomy, with the oil and gas sector supporting some 90,000 Scottish jobs andgenerating some £10 billion of associated expenditure across the UK as awhole.
Exploration and utilisationof oil and gas resources in the Atlantic waters West of Shetland could beexpected to require a range of skills and services similar to those offered byfirms currently supporting such activity in the North Sea. Against thatbackground it would appear reasonable to anticipate that in the longer term,considerable economic benefits could flow to Scotland, from exploitation of the hydrocarbon reserves lying beneath these more distant waters.
