Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-24681

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 24 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 10 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-22475 by Patricia Ferguson on 26 January 2006, whether it sought clarification as to who might have been responsible for this reported comment and, if so, what information it has on who was responsible for it.

The Scottish Executive did notseek clarification as to who was responsible for the comment “Does this make usmore inclined to forget about Hampden Park and consider other options? Sure it does, of course itdoes”, as reported in The Scotsman on 12 November 2005.

As my answer to S2W-22475 indicated,the Scottish Executive has sought and received assurance that Hampden will be anOlympic venue as originally laid out in the bid document.

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.

Question reference: S2W-23883

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 06 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 7 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how the construction of the new A8000 to M9 link road will be funded.

Question reference: S2W-24271

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-20247, S2W-23158 and S2W-23156 by Cathy Jamieson on 9 November 2005, 17 February and 10 March 2006 respectively, how these answers indicate (a) whether the dispute on the identification of certain fingerprints between the Aberdeen Fingerprint Bureau and the Scottish Criminal Record Office has been resolved, (b) who has responsibility for deciding how and when this dispute will be resolved in the event that it has not been resolved thus far and (c) what criteria will be used for the dispute resolution in the event that it has not been resolved thus far.

The disagreement concerns anidentification in a case that has been concluded. There is no evidence thatthere is any disagreement within the Scottish Fingerprint Service (SFS) aboutany other case. The previous answers to which the question refers set out themeasures put in place since the disputed identification demonstrate thesignificant progress that has been made to transform the SFS in the last nineyears.

Question reference: S2W-24471

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-23748, S2W-23831, S2W-23835 and S2W-23994 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2006 where it states that it “is not aware of any credible and reliable information to support the allegations that Scottish airports are being used” for the purpose of transferring “individuals through Scottish territory or airspace where there are substantial grounds to believe they would face a real risk of torture” by US agencies, whether this indicates that it does not believe that this is happening presently, or has happened in the past.

Question reference: S2W-24472

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-23748, S2W-23831, S2W-23835 and S2W-23994 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 March 2006 where it states that it “is not aware of any credible and reliable information to support the allegations that Scottish airports are being used” for the purpose of transferring “individuals through Scottish territory or airspace where there are substantial grounds to believe they would face a real risk of torture” by US agencies, whether this means that it discounts the evidence presented by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that there have been instances of such transfers as being either credible or reliable.

Question reference: S2W-24769

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23744 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 March 2006, what was meant by her, “I understand why people are concerned”.

Question reference: S2W-24647

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 March 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 4 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23996 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 March 2006, whether, in addition to advising anyone with “credible and reliable information regarding alleged criminal activity” that such information should be passed to the police, it has itself passed on to police any allegations brought to its attention regarding the possibility that US agencies have used Scottish airports as refuelling stops for flights engaged in the process of “extraordinary rendition”.

Question reference: S2W-23601

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 27 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases there have been where fingerprint evidence prepared or presented by the Scottish Criminal Record Office has been withheld or withdrawn in each of the last 10 years.

Question reference: S2W-23626

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 3 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Lord Advocate or Minister for Justice had discussed or exchanged correspondence on the Shirley McKie case with the Convener of the Justice 1 Committee prior to that committee’s meeting on 22 February 2006 and, if so, what the subject matter was of these contacts.

Question reference: S2W-23441

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 February 2006
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 3 April 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to investigate the reports in the press that Federal Bureau of Investigation officials requested that David Grieve not give evidence in defence of Shirley McKie at the trial in which she was acquitted of having committed perjury in 1999 and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

There is no basis for me orany other Scottish Minister to instruct an investigation into these reports. The comments in the press attributed to Mr Grievesuggest that he believed there to be a link between the Shirley McKie andLockerbie prosecutions. There is no such link. SCRO were not involved in thefingerprint evidence in the Lockerbie case. Accordingly no investigation intothis matter is required.