Chamber and committees

Morton Fraser and Harper MacLeod are the firms of solicitors who currently provide legal services for debt recovery under the Legal Services Framework Agreement. This framework agreement is available for use by the Scottish Government and its agencies. In the last financial year the fees paid to each firm, exclusive of VAT, are: Morton Fraser: £212,437; and Harper MacLeod: £2,258. We do not hold a central record of the cash retrieved in the last year for Morton Fraser. Harper MacLeod have recovered £13,086.04 in the last financial year.

Following a public consultation in 2008 the design of the NHSScotland national uniform was determined in partnership with NHSScotland boards, professional bodies, trade unions, staff focus groups and the Scottish Government. All boards are required to comply with the National Uniform Policy issued in December 2010 when providing staff with their appropriate national uniform. The National Uniform Policy is available at:

http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/mels/CEL2010_42.pdf.

The purpose of the NHSScotland national uniform is not intended to distinguish between nurse and nurse practitioners. The aim of the uniform policy is to provide clarity for patients and the public between registered nurses and clinical support staff.

The administration of Regional Selective Assistance is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked Scottish Enterprise to directly respond to you on this question.

The administration of Regional Selective Assistance is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked Scottish Enterprise to directly respond to you on this question.

Statistics held at 31 March 2014, show that there were 13,166 debt payment programmes under the Debt Arrangement Scheme, the total debt included is £241.3 million with a median debt of £13,076.

The administration of Regional Selective Assistance is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise. I have asked Scottish Enterprise to directly respond to you on this question.

Scottish Enterprise (SE) aligns its investment policies to the Government Economic Strategy and to the guidance provided through its strategic guidance letter, which is issued on an annual basis.

The national performance framework highlights three key components of sustainable economic growth i.e. solidarity, cohesion and sustainability, which also informs SE’s approach.

The main Principal Civil Service Pension Schemes of which, most Scottish Government employees are members, are unfunded. There are no investments as you would find in a normal pension scheme.

The only exception to this is the partnership stakeholder pension which is a funded scheme currently provided by either Scottish Widows or Standard Life, however, the Scottish Government has no influence over which providers are used to run the stakeholder pensions or where funds are invested.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-20644 on 2 May 2014. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx