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-22752

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 19 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive on how many occasions Tony Gauci was brought to Scotland by (a) the police or (b) the Crown Office.

Question reference: S1W-22753

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-18301 by Mr Jim Wallace on 4 October 2001, how many offences there were in the Central Scotland Police force area involving the possession of knives in 2001 and how many homicides there were in the area involving the use of knives in (i) 2000 and (ii) 2001.

Question reference: S1W-22751

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 19 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive on what dates any visits to Scotland were made by Tony Gauci and what the cost was of facilitating any such visits.

Question reference: S1W-22750

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 February 2002
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 19 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any sightseeing trips around Scotland were organised during Tony Gauci's visits; to what locations any such trips were made, and what the cost was of each such trip.

Question reference: S1W-21900

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 8 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish a report on the progress made with each of the 58 recommendations contained within the Summary of the Review of the Investigation of Road Deaths in Scotland by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Quality and Practice Review Unit.

Question reference: S1W-21901

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 January 2002
Current Status: Answered by Elish Angiolini on 8 February 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the outstanding 22 recommendations referred to in the Summary of the Review of the Investigation of Road Deaths in Scotland by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Quality and Practice Review Unit.

Question reference: S1W-21348

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 20 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 17 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what response it intends to make to the report funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Paths to Justice Scotland.

Paths to Justice Scotland raises a number of important issues both in terms of how people try to resolve their legal problems and their perceptions of the legal system. I intend to bear the report findings in mind, in addition to the Microcosm study The Public Perspective on accessing Legal Advice and Information recently carried out by the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit, as we continue to look at developing a community legal service for Scotland and for civil justice more generally.

Question reference: S1W-21181

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average cost per hour of retrieving information under the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information has been in respect of each body named in Schedule 1 of the code in (a) 1999-2000, (b) 2000-01 and (c) 2001-02 to date.

The information requested is not available.All requests for information received by the Executive and other public authorities covered by the Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information must be considered under the terms of this code (whether or not the code is cited). For monitoring purposes, requests for information are recorded as "formal" requests under the code if the applicant specifically mentions the code, or where the information is refused or where a charge is to be made. Under the code, charges may be made - on the basis of actual staff costs to search for and retrieve information and, where appropriate, photocopy it - if the cost to the public authority of providing the requested information is above £100. During the period 1 July 1999 to 31 December 2000, 27 requests for information (of many thousands) were recorded as having incurred charges. Details of formal code requests for the calendar year 2001 will be available early this year.

Question reference: S1W-21187

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the contract for the provision of general practitioner services subject to the deletion of matters that are commercially confidential.

General practitioners (GPs) do not hold individual contracts. GPs who wish to provide General Medical Services (GMS) under the national GMS contract must gain admission to the medical list. While practising a GP must comply with the terms of service set out in The National Health Service (General Medical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 1995. Payments to GPs are as allowable under the "Statement of Fees and Allowances payable to General Medical Practitioners in Scotland". Both documents are available on line on the Scottish Health on the Web (SHOW) website.Personal Medical Services (PMS) schemes allow for different contractual arrangements than those possible under GMS. There has to be a contractual change from the national GMS contract to a local PMS contract. The same services which are provided under GMS have to be provided under PMS including 24-hour cover to a registered population. An outline PMS contract is available on the SHOW website.

Question reference: S1W-21186

Asked by: Michael Matheson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to it of ensuring contract compliance at HM Prison Kilmarnock has been in (a) 1996-97, (b) 1997-98, (c) 1998-99, (d) 1999-2000, (e) 2000-01 and (f) 2001-02 to date in (i) cash terms and (ii) real terms at current prices.

I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The Controller and his staff are responsible for certain statutory functions as well as for contract monitoring. It is not possible to separately identify the costs associated with ensuring contract compliance. The cost of the Controller's function at HMP Kilmarnock has been:

at Current Prices	Cash Terms (£000)	Real Terms (£000)
1997-98	Nil	Nil
1998-99	Nil	Nil
1999-2000	£140	£146
2000-01	£132	£135
2001 to date	£103	£103