Chamber and committees

Our assessment is that this European Commission proposal would place substantial cost burdens on industry and drivers, including owners of vintage and classic cars. We would advocate a more balanced approach.

The Scottish Government is using a number of methods to raise the public’s awareness of screening programmes (for bowel, breast and cervical) and the early signs and symptoms of cancer to encourage people to seek help earlier. The early detection of cancers is crucial because the earlier cancer is diagnosed the better the chance of a positive outcome for the patient. As part of the Scottish Government’s focus to improve cancer outcomes, the Detect Cancer Early Programme was launched in February 2012, backed by £30 million of investment.

The programme will also work with GPs to promote earlier referral or investigation of patients who may show a suspicion of cancer. This initiative is expected to raise awareness of all cancers amongst the public and health practitioners, which will lead to earlier cancer diagnosis, and crucially, save more lives every year. During 2008 to 2011 the Scottish Government provided £17,750 in health grant to Ovarian Cancer Action, to develop awareness materials to inform and highlight ovarian cancer symptoms to women and health professionals. In February 2010, 1017 GP practices in Scotland received an updated ovarian cancer symptom awareness pack.

<>The latest official statistics published by NHS Information Services Division (ISD) for Quarter 2 (April - June) of 2012, show that the median waiting time to treatment for patients with ovarian cancer included in the 62 day cancer access standard, is 45 days. The median waiting time for patients included in the 31 day cancer access standard is 27 days. Official Statistics relating to cancer waiting times can be found on the NHS ISD website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Publications/

The Scottish Government has allocated grant-in-aid support to Scottish Canals of £10 million per year during the current Spending Review Period. The grant to Scottish Canals supports the maintenance of Scotland’s canals and their contribution to economic regeneration. Decisions on the allocation of funds to support maintenance of the canals are an operational matter for Scottish Canals. Spending on maintenance of the network is a priority for Scottish Canals who take a risk-based approach in using the funding available to maintain the network. They concentrate on those assets in the poorest condition and that have the highest consequence of failure e.g. in terms of safety or the impact on the wider network.

This information is not collected centrally.

We do not hold the information requested. As a matter reserved to the UK Government, the UK Border Agency are responsible for the handling of visa applications.

The EU short selling regulation was introduced to increase transparency and reduce risks to financial stability and market confidence. The regulation allows a National Competent Authority to choose temporarily to suspend restrictions on purchasing credit default swaps under certain circumstances. Under the regulation covered sovereign credit default swaps may still legitimately be taken out to hedge exposures to certain assets or liabilities.

The regulation of financial markets is currently reserved to the UK. I have received no representations on this matter, nor has the Scottish Government made any to the UK Government or to the European Commission. Were representations to be made to me I would consider them carefully.

The primary aim of official economic statistics in Scotland is to provide an accurate up-to-date, comprehensive and meaningful picture of the economy and society to support the formulation and monitoring of economic and social policies by government and others. Transparency therefore in the way the statistics are produced, communicated and used to inform policy is vital.

Most of the economic statistics produced and published by the Scottish Government are National Statistics. This is the name for official statistics which have been, or are scheduled to be, assessed for compliance with the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Scottish Government statisticians – who are members of the Government Statistical Service, the professional community spread across UK government departments and devolved administrations – are in regular contact with the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and the UK Statistics Authority to ensure that statistics produced by the Scottish Government comply with this Code of Practice.

This also ensures that international best practise is accounted for as the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics is aligned with the European Statistical System.

Scottish Ministers also meet regularly with their counterparts in the other administrations to discuss economic matters through forums such as the Joint Ministerial Committee, the British Irish Council, and the Finance Ministers Quadrilateral.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government. The enforced return of migrants and the assisted return of non-EEA nationals are reserved matters for the UK Government.

Scottish Government has no such formal bi-lateral partnership agreements. Scotland does however actively participate in a number of European Territorial Cooperation Innovation and Environment Regions of Europe Sharing Solutions (INTERREG) Programmes which give Scottish stakeholders the opportunity to share knowledge and experience with other Member States. INTERREG Programmes are geographically defined: those relevant to Scotland are Northern Periphery, North Sea, Atlantic Area, North West Europe and Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVA) Cross-Border (West of Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of Ireland). Eligibility to participate is on a Member State regional area basis and these differ between each programme. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data 2009 (latest available) is available on a Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 2) and NUTS 3 regional basis in line with the eligible areas defined for each individual INTERREG Programme. The GDP data requested has been prepared on this basis and made available in Scottish Parliaments Reference Centre (SPICe) – Bib number 54485.