- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10941 by Cathy Jamieson on 13 October 2004, whether it will publish the Scottish Prison Service’s analysis that led to its conclusion regarding the public interest test.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The SPS cannot publish the analysis relating to withheld information without risking the damage to the public interest which non-disclosure is intended to prevent. Publication of commercially confidential information, for example, could reduce competition in any future prison-related tender. This would increase prices, reduce value for money for the taxpayer and would not be in the public interest. The SPS has, however, provided the analysis (and other material) to the Information Commissioner at his request as part of his investigation into the decision to withhold certain parts of the contract with Reliance from the published version.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, whether the overheads of the police and the Scottish Prison Service will be reduced by these amounts as a result of the Reliance contract.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
The contract enables SPS and its partner agencies to redeploy resources, including by redeploying officers and the associated overheads to front-line duties.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10909 by Mr Tom McCabe on 12 October 2004, what role it plays over the appointment of directors of Partnerships UK that is appropriate to its shareholding.
Answer
The Scottish Executive and HM Treasury are B ordinary shareholders and as such have the right to appoint two directors. HM Treasury’s shareholding represents 44.56% and Scottish ministers 4.44%.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, what the breakdown of staff costs was between police forces.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
Information on police costs was provided by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) as an all-Scotland figure. The ACPOS based this on the results of activity analyses carried out by each of the eight Scottish police forces and overseen by ACPOS.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to S2W-10952 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, whether there will now be a reduction in the monies paid to Kilmarnock Prison Services Ltd and, if so, by how much.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
Yes there will be a reduction. The amount will be assessed once the escorts contract has been fully rolled out next year.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, why the annual value for the public sector comparator is different from the figure which would be arrived at if the “net present value over seven years” was divided by seven.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
Expressing the public sector comparator as a net present value converts costs over several years into a single value in today’s money. This allows costs and benefits over different time periods to be compared and takes account of the fact that £1 now is worth more to SPS than £1 in seven years’ time. This method is described and recommended in the Treasury’s “Green Book” guidance, which was followed for the escorts contract. The Green Book also explains in more detail why the net present value over a number of years is usually different from the sum of annual costs.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 21 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 17 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-11075 by Cathy Jamieson on 19 October 2004, why the risk adjustment for the development of the new service was included in the Public Sector Comparator rather than in the costing for the contracting-out of the service.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
A risk adjustment was made to the Public Sector Comparator to the extent that risk would be no longer borne by the public sector under the new contract. This was necessary to ensure a like-for-like comparison and is in line with the Treasury’s “Green Book” guidance.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10413), how many of its staff are defined as “new internal sources of expertise and guidance on the interpretation and application of European Union procurement rules” broken down by (a) gender and (b) ethnic origin and what professional qualifications are held by such officers, broken down by (i) grade and (ii) pay scale.
Answer
Three members of the Executive’s Scottish Procurement Directorate staff are now responsible for advising on the interpretation and application of European Union procurement rules. Each of them (C2, B3 and B2, all male) have extensive experience in public sector procurement and are full members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, the Institute incorporated by Royal Charter that is recognised by the private and public sector as the leading UK institute for procurement professionals.
Ethnicity is classed as sensitive personal data under the Data Protection Act, and we give a guarantee to staff that only a small, identified number of human resources staff will have access to this data. Therefore, to preserve confidentiality, it is Scottish Executive policy not to publish figures relating to ethnicity in defined circumstances.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to the comments by the Minister for Finance and Public Services in the debate on the Holyrood Inquiry Report on 22 September 2004 (Official Report col. 10412), how many staff are employed by its centre of expertise for programme policy and project delivery broken down by (a) gender and (b) ethnic origin and what proportion of such staff have a relevant professional qualification as recognised by the Executive, broken down by (i) grade and (ii) pay scale.
Answer
Two members of the Executive’s Scottish Procurement Directorate staff are responsible for its centre of expertise for programme, policy and project delivery. Both of them (a C1 grade and a B3 grade, one male, one female) have extensive experience in project management.
Ethnicity is classed as sensitive personal data under the Data Protection Act, and we give a guarantee to staff that only a small, identified number of human resources staff will have access to this data. Therefore, to preserve confidentiality, it is Scottish Executive policy not to publish figures relating to ethnicity in defined circumstances.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 15 October 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 November 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff are employed by the Scottish procurement directorate, broken down also by (a) gender and (b) ethnic origin and what proportion of such staff have a professional qualification in procurement, broken down by (i) grade and (ii) pay scale.
Answer
The Scottish Procurement Directorate (SPD) comprises of five branches; Policy,Procurement Operations, Building Division, eProcurement Scotland and EASEbuy Implementation.
The Directorate has to achieve Value for Money in the procurement of goods and services and savings for the financial year have to exceed the direct running costs of the Procurement Operations team within that same timescale.
The breakdown of SPD staff is as follows:
| Grade | Male | Female |
| SCS | 2 | 0 |
| Band C | 7 | 1 |
| Band B | 24 | 19 |
| Band A | 2 | 7 |
| Total | 35 | 27 |
Twenty-six staff (93%) who are classified as working in the procurement function area of the SPD are either full members of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), or partially qualified. The CIPS is an Institute incorporated by Royal Charter and is recognised by both the private and public sectors as the leading UK and international professional Institute for procurement professionals.
Ethnicity is classed as sensitive personal data under the Data Protection Act, and we give a guarantee to staff that only a small, identified number of human resources staff will have access to this data. Therefore, to preserve confidentiality, it is Scottish Executive policy not to publish figures relating to ethnicity in defined circumstances.
