- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what assurances it has received from the Government of Libya that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi will be returned to custody in Scotland should he breach the terms of his release; whether these assurances have been relayed to East Renfrewshire Council and, if no such assurances have been received and relayed, what purpose is served by requiring East Renfrewshire Council to monitor Mr Al Megrahi’s movements to establish if he is observing the terms of his release licence.
Answer
Mr Megrahi has been released on licence conditions similar to those of any other prisoner released on licence on compassionate grounds. These are available on our website
www.scotland.gsi.gov.uk/lockerbie. The Scottish Government neither sought nor received such assurances. East Renfrewshire Council is not required to monitor Mr Megrahi''s movements, any more than they are for any other prisoner released on licence.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether any costs incurred by requiring East Renfrewshire Council to monitor the movements of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi in Libya will be funded directly by the Scottish Government or whether these costs will be met by council tax payers in East Renfrewshire.
Answer
East Renfrewshire Council is not responsible for monitoring the movements of Mr Megrahi in Libya. They are responsible for supervising compliance with the terms of the compassionate release licence. Any associated costs are met in the same way as costs of supervising any other prisoner released on licence, through funding allocated by the Scottish Government through Community Justice Authorities.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many prisoners granted compassionate release have been given freedom to travel abroad when the terms of the relevant release licence are monitored by a Scottish local authority.
Answer
The licences of prisoners granted early release on compassionate grounds routinely allow travel abroad subject to the approval of the individual''s supervising officer.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 8 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, in the event that East Renfrewshire Council reports that it believes that Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi has breached the terms of his release, how the Scottish Government intends to recall him to custody.
Answer
The powers of the Scottish Ministers and the Parole Board for Scotland are set out in section 17 of the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993. The processes for any recall are the same as for any other prisoner released on licence and who is now outside of Scotland, including those foreign nationals who are deported on release.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 September 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 3 September 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent discussions it has had with the farming industry regarding the introduction of electronic identification for sheep in December 2009.
Answer
This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0903-01.htm
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 July 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what it has done to facilitate the establishment of small and medium-sized business consortia to ensure the participation of this sector in public procurement contract tenders and whether it considers any such actions to have been a success.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises that the establishment of consortia and other supply chain partnerships can provide a mechanism for small, medium and social enterprises to actively compete for a range of public sector contracts. To facilitate this, the government has produced the following guidance:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/48453/0081532.pdf.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/15300/enterprising-organisation/Consortia-Guidance.
The guidance, though specifically written for social enterprise and the third sector, contains general information helpful to any business organisation interested in these business models. The Scottish Government has also commissioned research on actual and perceived barriers to consortia bidding in the business community. This will assess what further support smaller firms might need in this area and help inform future procurement strategies.
To make accessing public sector business opportunities as open as possible, cross-government events throughout Scotland are encouraging suppliers to register on the website, www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk, for a free contract email alert service; browse the website for large and small opportunities; bid for these opportunities (via consortia and supply chain partnerships where appropriate) and look up contract award information for sub-contract opportunities. To date, over 30,000 business organisations have registered on the website.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 July 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has of the economic benefits to Scotland folllowing implementation of the recommendations of John McClelland’s 2006 report, Review of Public Procurement in Scotland, also taking into account local employment and welfare benefit costs and the multiplier effect of local spending.
Answer
The Scottish Government is monitoring the proportion of contracts which go to small and medium-sized enterprises, and has asked all public bodies to do the same.
According to the recently published Audit Scotland report Improving Public Sector Purchasing, implementation of the McClelland report''s recommendations saved around £327 million in 2006-07 and 2007-08. We have no evidence to suggest that local employment, welfare benefits costs or local spending have been adversely affected. Monies saved should be available to public bodies for deployment on other priorities.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 July 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of public contracts has been awarded to (a) small and (b) medium size businesses in each year since publication of John McClelland’s 2006 report, Review of Public Procurement in Scotland, expressed in terms of value.
Answer
The Scottish Procurement information hub analyses procurement spending by Scottish public bodies including all local authorities and health boards. According to information on the hub at July 2009, spending with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) since April 2006 in terms of value is as follows:
The SME spend figures for the last three financial years as at July 2009 are as follows:
| Financial Year | Total Percentage of Spend With SMEs | Small-Sized Enterprises | Medium-Sized Enterprises |
| 2005-06: Spend from 121 organisations | 49% | 24% | 25% |
| 2006-07: Spend from 166 organisations | 49% | 23% | 26% |
| 2007-08: Spend from 77 organisations | 49% | 23% | 26% |
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 July 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to protect and ensure the participation of smaller and medium-sized businesses in public procurement contract tenders.
Answer
The government is committed to ensuring that small and medium-sized businesses have fair access to public sector contracts in Scotland. In support of this, in April I wrote to heads of procurement and chief executives throughout the Scottish public sector setting out my expectation that they take six simple steps,
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/1265/0080942.pdf, to promote access to public sector contracts for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social enterprises and third sector bodies.
In addition, companies can have free access to contract opportunities across the Scottish public sector through the Public Contracts Scotland website www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk.
- Asked by: Jackson Carlaw, MSP for West of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 06 July 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 29 July 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the effect on small businesses has been of the implementation of the recommendations of John McClelland’s 2006 report, Review of Public Procurement in Scotland.
Answer
The public sector currently spends approximately £8 billion on goods, works and services each year. Analysis of spend data from across the public sector shows that for 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 on average 49% of that spend was with small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Data collection will continue and organisations are being encouraged to actively monitor their level of spend with SMEs as part of the government''s six simple steps to ensure that SMEs continue to make a significant contribution to the delivery of public services in Scotland and to the supply of goods and works to the Scottish public sector:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/SMEs.
Last summer, the government launched Public Contracts Scotland, in response to John McClelland''s recommendation that an open market environment supported by a single public sector ˜electronic portal'' should be established. Public Contracts Scotland gives suppliers free-of-charge easy access to information on Scottish contract opportunities. Over 30,000 suppliers are now registered, 83% of which are SMEs, and roll out of the portal across the public sector is continuing, with 138 public bodies already using the portal to advertise their contract opportunities.
