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: S1W-04384

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 12 new permanent Sheriffs appointed in December 1999 had been recommended for appointment by Sheriffs Principal; whether candidates more experienced for these posts than those appointed were considered and rejected and, if so, why.

Nine of those appointed were included in the list of those recommended by the Sheriffs Principal. Two of the others were serving members of the procurator fiscal service and one was Senior Counsel with considerable High Court experience who had also served as a temporary Sheriff. There were 187 applications from qualified individuals so many experienced candidates were unsuccessful. The Lord President was consulted, as required by Statute, and was content with the nominations made.

Question reference: S1W-04386

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the target time period between plea and trial for summary trials in the Sheriff Court is approximately 12 weeks.

Question reference: S1W-04381

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-2537 by Mr Jim Wallace on 29 November 1999, whether its current policy, pending the issue of a consultation paper on the arrangements for recommending appointment of Judges and Sheriffs, is that the Lord Advocate, as head of the prosecutions service and a member of the Scottish Executive, will continue to play a key role in the appointment of Judges and Sheriffs.

Question reference: S1W-04387

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time period was between plea and trial in each of Linlithgow, Stirling, Falkirk, Dundee, Hamilton, Lanark, Dunfermline and Haddington Sheriff Courts (a) before the judgement and (b) since the judgement in the Starrs and Chalmers case.

The following table shows the average waiting periods between plea and trial in October 1999 (preceding the judgement in the Starrs and Chalmers case) and December 1999 for the Sheriff Courts at Linlithgow, Stirling, Falkirk, Dundee, Hamilton, Lanark, Dunfermline and Haddington.

Waiting Periods

Court	Oct-99	Dec-99
Linlithgow	19	20
Stirling	11	26
Falkirk	15	17
Dundee	18	17
Hamilton	10	11
Lanark	8	10
Dunfermline	15	16
Haddington	11	11

Question reference: S1W-04388

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the instructions of Sheriffs Principal to Sheriffs to cancel leave, attendance at conferences or courses and writing days will now be withdrawn.

The Scottish Executive did not issue any instructions on these matters. Any steps taken by individual Sheriffs Principal were in accordance with their statutory duty to secure the speedy and efficient disposal of business in their Sheriffdoms. I have already acknowledged the professionalism shown by the Judiciary in responding to the extra demands on them arising from the suspension of temporary Sheriffs and temporary Judges.

Question reference: S1W-04280

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 29 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases in (a) sheriffs courts; (b) the Court of Session and (c) the High Court of Justiciary have been adjourned as a result of the decision to suspend all temporary Sheriffs and Judges.

For the months of November and December 1999, the number of cases in the sheriff court due to be heard before a temporary Sheriff which required to be adjourned is set out below:

Sheriff and Jury trials	Nil
Summary Criminal trials	13 of 6,245 cases calling for trial
Ordinary Civil proofs and debates	73 of 965 cases set down
Summary Cause/Small Claims hearings	48 of 533 cases set down

During this period a further 196 summary criminal and 33 civil cases were adjourned for lack of time. It is not possible to say how many of these cases may have proceeded had temporary shrieval assistance been available.Adjustments to the programme in the Court of Session after 11 November 1999 have resulted in six cases set down for proof being reallocated to later dates. No cases in the High Court of Justiciary have been adjourned as a result of the suspension of the use of temporary Judges.

Question reference: S1O-01193

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 February 2000
Current Status: Answered by Susan Deacon on 24 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is towards NHS Trust deficits.

Question reference: S1W-02332

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 November 1999
Current Status: Answered by Sarah Boyack on 18 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is required to authorise PFI/PPP funding arrangements for upgrading the A701, and if so, whether Midlothian Council has applied for such authorisation, whether it has approved any application, and whether any proposals by Midlothian Council to upgrade the A701 have direct or indirect financial implications for the budget of the Scottish Executive and any future financial allocations made to Midlothian Council for transport projects.

Midlothian Council originally applied to the Scottish Office for the development of the A701 proposals as a PFI project and £2.5m additional capital consent was awarded from the previous Government's Transport Challenge Fund to help them develop such a specification.Subsequently the Level Playing Field Support earmarked for the A701 project, £2.016 million per annum, was transferred in agreement with the Council to help fund Midlothian's Dalkeith Schools project as part of a Public Private Partnership. The overall funding package for the A701 project is therefore now a matter for the Council but the Transport Challenge Fund award of £2.5 million continues to be advanced to the Council on the agreed phased arrangements. No additional funds will be allocated to the Council for the project.

Question reference: S1W-03999

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 27 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 10 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive whether extra funding in respect of DNA will be made available comparable to the additional funding in England.

Question reference: S1W-03935

Asked by: Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 January 2000
Current Status: Answered by Henry McLeish on 8 February 2000

To ask the Scottish Executive what legal advice it has had as to whether the Cubie recommendations do or do not breach EU law and whether there is a possibility of the recommendations being legally challengeable.

The Scottish Executive has considered the legal implications of the Cubie recommendations. It has concluded that, were these recommendations to be implemented, there would be a serious risk of the UK being held to be in breach of EU law, insofar as these recommendations extended to Scottish domiciled students attending institutions in other parts of the UK. The Executive's own proposals which have just been announced are accordingly restricted to Scottish and EU students attending institutions in Scotland.