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-17713

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, whether the estimate of costs in paragraph 5.15 includes the establishment and start-up costs of a new single gateway with substantive complaints handling functions.

Question reference: S2W-17712

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown of the calculations of the cost of option C, referred to in paragraph 5.15, and what consultation it had with the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman and the Law Society of Scotland before arriving at this figure.

The basis for the estimate isexplained in paragraph 5.15. As the number of staff in the Ombudsman’s office hasrecently been increased, the budget for 2005-06 is now £0.4 million.

On that basis the annual runningcosts of option C on current caseload would be in the order of £2.1 million peryear. The main variables are (a) whetherthe input to complaints handling processes currently provided by members of thelegal profession on a voluntary basis or for notional remuneration would continueto be available under option C, and if so to what extent, and (b) the extent ofeconomies of scale arising from complaints handling functions being substantiallytransferred to one body.

We shall consider costings furtherin the light of the responses made to the consultation by the legal professionalbodies and the Ombudsman.

Question reference: S2W-17711

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, how it calculated the estimate of additional resources of100,000 for the office of the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman, referred to in paragraph 5.11, and what consultation it has had with the Ombudsman on this figure.

The estimate of £0.1 millionis based on the assumption that the additional functions associated with the optionB gateway of sifting complaints, forwardingthem to the professional bodies for substantive action/investigation and monitoringprogress would require the complement of the Ombudsman’s office to be increasedby between three to five staff. We have discussed this figure with the Ombudsmanwho will carry out her own estimate for our consideration.

Question reference: S2W-17709

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive why, in its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, it makes no reference to the Working Group for Research into the Legal Services Markets in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-17708

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, with regard to its consultation paper, Reforming Complaints Handling, Building Consumer Confidence: Regulation of the Legal Profession in Scotland, what information it has on how many of the respondents to the Which? survey, referred to in footnote 3 to paragraph 1.2, were from Scotland and how many people in total replied to this survey.

Question reference: S2W-17710

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 26 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many letters it has received from members of the public on the (a) Law Society of Scotlands complaints handling function, (b) Faculty of Advocates complaints handling function and (c) Scottish Legal Services Ombudsmans complaints oversight function in each year since 1999.

The figures are as follows:

Year	Law Society of Scotland	Faculty of Advocates	Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman
*From 15 June 2000	21	1	8
2001	27	0	6
2002	22	0	0
2003	19	0	3
2004	31	0	9
To 15 July 2005	19	0	3

Note: *Data unavailable as filesfor 1999 and the first half of 2000 were routinely destroyed.

Question reference: S2W-17720

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 15 July 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a detailed breakdown of the level of funding allocated to the Scottish Institute of Sport in each of the last three financial years, giving the source of funding in each case.

Question reference: S2W-17315

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tavish Scott on 27 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish an up-to-date list of departments and agencies which it is considering for relocation, detailing the locations to which they may be moved.

The Scottish Executive has publishedan up-to-date list of departments and agencies being considered for relocation,on its website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Public-bodies/Relocation/Introduction.

Full information can be foundthere on the following significant developments.

Of the departments and agenciesunder consideration, we expect to be able to announce decisions in the next fewweeks on Registers of Scotland, sportscotland and the NHS special healthboards – Education Scotland, Health Scotland and Quality Improvement Scotland.

Other departments and agenciesunder consideration for relocation include the Scottish Further and Higher EducationFunding Council. With a lease break in 2009, a decision on location will be announcedin 2007-08. Consideration of the location of the Scottish Arts Council was deferreduntil the outcome of the cultural review, and there may also be other relocationcandidates from that sector announced following the outcome of the Culture Commission’sreview.

Other organisations under considerationfor relocation will be the Scottish Court Services HQ, in advance of a lease breakin 2009, and the Scottish Legal Services Ombudsman before a 2008 lease break. Wehave already announced the future relocation of the Transport Agency, which willlocate 200 posts in Glasgow. To add to that, earlier this month, the Minister forCommunities also announced that Communities Scotland is to relocate 100 to 110 HQposts from Edinburgh to Glasgow.

Under the Small Units Initiativestrand of the policy, which aims to bring the benefit of government jobs to fragile,rural communities, we have announced five relocations in the last year. They werethe Transcription Units within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service toDingwall and Tain; the Central Enquiry Unit to Kinlochleven; the NHS Central Registrarto Dumfries and Crofting House Grants Scheme to Tiree. There willnow be more relocations of Small Units, including the Convenor of Water CustomerConsultation Panels, and another Transcription Unit within the Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service.

The Scottish Executive has alsopublished lists on its website of locations to which these departments and agenciescould relocate. The lists have been developed in partnership with local authoritiesand local enterprise companies. This will allow relocations to be targeted at areasof most need, and make a strategic link between Relocation Policy and a range ofpublicly-funded initiatives already in place locally.

Question reference: S2W-17314

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to relocate the headquarters of the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency and, if so, to what location.

Question reference: S2W-17053

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 June 2005
Current Status: Answered by Peter Peacock on 14 June 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the development officer responsible for outdoor education at Learning and Teaching Scotland has commenced employment and, if not, when the expected commencement date is and what the reasons are for any delay.