- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 14 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many High Court cases in (a) Scotland and (b) each court have been postponed on the day of commencement due to technicalities or other reasons and what the estimated cost was resulting from such postponements in each case, in each of the past three years and in the current year.
Answer
Postponement of cases in the High Court is a statutory procedure which takes place before the start of a trial and no statistics of such postponements are collected.However, the table which follows sets out the number of indictments registered in the High Court over the last three years, the number of cases which had a plea of guilty tendered before evidence was commenced, the number of cases which proceeded to have evidence led, and the balance of cases which did not proceed either prior to, or on the day of trial, for a variety of reasons. These reasons may include cases not proceeding due to witness unavailability, not called in court or deserted by the Crown, or cases where a warrant is issued for the accused among other things.No information on the costs of postponements is collected.
| | High Court |
1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 |
Indictments Registered | 1,154 | 1,478 | 1,343 |
Guilty plea tendered | 601 | 738 | 616 |
Evidence-led trials | 412 | 407 | 462 |
Balance of cases | 141 | 333 | 265 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 13 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the operating costs of its Brussels office have been in each of the last four years and in the current year to date.
Answer
Since establishing the Scottish Executive EU Office on 1 July 1999, its operating costs have been:
July 1999 - March 2000 | £322,000 |
April 2000 - March 2001 | £450,000 |
April 2001 - December 2001 | £306,000 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what official visits have been made by ministers to (a) Her Majesty's Government, (b) the Northern Ireland Assembly and (c) the National Assembly for Wales since July 1999.
Answer
Scottish ministers meet ministers in the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on a regular basis. No central record is kept of such meetings.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 12 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff it has seconded to (a) the European Union and (b) Her Majesty's Government, indicating the institution and department respectively in each case both (i) in this year and (ii) in each of the last three years.
Answer
The information requested can be found in the following tables. Movements between the Scottish Executive and Departments of Her Majesty's Government are loans and not secondments.Secondments to the European Union:
European Commission Directorate-General: | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
Agriculture | 1 | 2 | 1 | |
Competition | | | | 1 |
Education and Culture | | 1 | | |
Employment and Social Affairs | 1 | 1 | | |
Energy and Transport | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Enterprise | 1 | 1 | | |
Environment | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Fisheries | 1 | 2 | | 1 |
Health and Consumer Protection | 1 | 1 | | |
Justice and Home Affairs | | | 1 | 1 |
Legal Service | | 1 | | |
Regional Policy | 1 | | 1 | 1 |
Secretariat General/Parliamentary Affairs | | 1 | | |
Trade | | | 1 | 1 |
Kinnock Cabinet | 1 | | | |
Totals | 11 | 13 | 10 | 8 |
Loans to Departments of Her Majesty's Government:
| | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
Cabinet Office | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
Department of Trade and Industry | | | 1 | 1 |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 1 | | | |
Food Standards Agency London | | | 1 | 1 |
Foreign and Commonwealth Office | 3 | 3 | 8 | 6 |
Forestry Commission | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
HM Treasury | 2 | 3 | 6 | 5 |
Home Office | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
Office of Fair Trading | | 1 | 1 | 1 |
OFSTED | 1 | 1 | | |
Prime Minister's Office, Downing Street | | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Totals | 20 | 22 | 28 | 24 |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any minister participating in a Joint Ministerial Committee has not agreed to the convening of such a meeting since July 1999.
Answer
Meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), in the appropriate functional form, are held at the request of one or more of the participating administrations. We are not aware of any occasion since July 1999 where a minister who is a member of the JMC or any of its functional groups, has not agreed to the convening of such a meeting.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what official visits it has received from (a) Her Majesty's Government, (b) The Northern Ireland Assembly and (c) The National Assembly for Wales since July 1999.
Answer
Scottish ministers meet ministers in the UK Government and the other devolved administrations on a regular basis. No central record is kept of such meetings.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 12 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Joint Ministerial Committees and Sub-Committees have been convened since July 1999, where each meeting took place, which minister attended, and what was discussed.
Answer
There have been two plenary meetings and 11 functional meetings of the Joint Ministerial Committee since July 1999. Further information about these meetings is contained in the following table:
Subject | Date | Venue | Scottish Minister |
Plenary | 1 September 2000 | Edinburgh | First Minister and Deputy First Minister |
Plenary | 30 October 2001 | Cardiff | First Minister and Deputy First Minister |
Europe | 1 March 2001 | London | Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs and Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs |
Europe | 8 November 2001 | London | No Scottish minister was able to participate |
Health | 7 April 2000 | Cardiff | First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
Health | 5 June 2000 | London | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
Health | 16 June 2000 | Glasgow | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Health and Community Care |
Health | 26 October 2000 | Belfast | Minister for Health and Community Care |
Health | 22 October 2001 | London | Minister for Health and Community Care |
Knowledge Economy | 11 February 2000 | Edinburgh | First Minister and Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning |
Knowledge Economy | 26 May 2000 | Edinburgh | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning |
Poverty | 9 December 1999 | London | Minister for Children and Education and Deputy Minister for Communities |
Poverty | 26 May 2000 | Edinburgh | Deputy First Minister and Minister for Communities |
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 11 February 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits the Parliament has received from UKRep since July 1999 and how many members of UKRep were present during each visit.
Answer
The Parliament has received two visits from members of the United Kingdom Permanent Representation to the European Union. On both occasions the visit was by the serving Permanent Representative. Sir Stephen Wall visited on 8 June 2000 and Sir Nigel Sheinwald visited on 29 March 2001.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 11 February 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer how many visits have been made to the Parliament by (a) overseas governments and (b) parliamentary delegations from overseas since July 1999 and whether any such visit included a meeting with a minister.
Answer
Since July 1999, 20 visits have been made to the Parliament by overseas governments and 95 visits have been made by overseas parliamentarians or delegations of parliamentarians. These figures do not include visits involving only officials nor visits from representatives of other United Kingdom institutions.A number of visits to the Parliament have included a meeting with a minister. On some occasions the Parliament arranges a meeting or hospitality involving ministers together with members from across the parties. In the case of some visits to the Parliament there is a specific request for a meeting with a minister. Parliamentary staff liaise with Executive officials over arrangements to ensure a co-ordinated programme. Parliamentary staff also facilitate requests for meetings between visitors and representatives of non-Executive parties. In many cases visitors make their own separate arrangements for meetings directly with the Executive or with party offices, outwith the Parliament visit programme.
- Asked by: Richard Lochhead, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 21 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 8 February 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government about transferring Department of Trade and Industry Oil and Gas Directorate jobs to Aberdeen in order to facilitate the work of Local Enterprise Companies in respect of jobs in the oil and gas sector.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has made no representations to Her Majesty's Government about transferring further jobs in the Oil and Gas Directorate of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) from London to Aberdeen. We are, however, in regular contact with the DTI's Oil and Gas Directorate in both Aberdeen and London on a wide range of matters including PILOT, skills issues and diversification opportunities, and we work with DTI staff in both locations to maximise the benefits of the oil and gas industry to the Scottish economy.
