- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7832 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 May 2004, when it expects these points to be recorded and against which quarter.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
We expect these to be recorded at the next quarterly meeting against quarter 2 of 2004.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7832 by Cathy Jamieson on 14 May 2004, when it expects the performance points to be recorded and how they will be recorded.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:
Performance points have now beenrecorded in relation to the one case where the prisoner was found guilty of theoffence with which he was charged. The points have been allocated to the PerformanceQuarter when the event occurred i.e. to the third performance quarter ofperformance year 4.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 11 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it and the Scottish Prison Service took in preparing for the contract with Reliance Secure Task Management Ltd for the provision of prisoner escort and court custody services and in preparing the contract documentation and, in particular, what other organisations were consulted, what working groups or task forces were set up and how many members there were on each such group or task force.
Answer
I have asked Tony CameronChief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:
I refer the member to the memorandumsubmitted by SPS to the Justice 2 Committee in advance of the Committee meetingon 8 June. Paragraphs 11 to 14 set out the approach to the negotiation andaward of the contract. The memorandum is available on the Scottish Parliamentand SPS websites.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 25 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 10 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what HM Treasury guidance or guidelines it, or any of its agencies, has received in connection with commercial confidentiality; when the latest edition of such guidance or guidelines was received, and whether it will publish such guidance or guidelines.
Answer
The Executive has not receivedguidance from HM Treasury in connection with commercial confidentiality. The Executive’scurrent policy on handling commercially sensitive information is contained withinthe
Code of Practice on Access to Scottish Executive Information, which was introduced in 1999 and updated in June 2003.This code is similar to the
Cabinet Office’s Code of Practice on Access to GovernmentInformation, which came into effect in 1994 and was revised in 1997.
The code, which applies toagencies within the Scottish Executive and to functions carried out on behalf of the Scottish Executive or public bodies by contractors, is published on the Executive’s website.
From 1 January 2005, theFreedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 will apply, and this will govern the processesto be applied when dealing with commercial confidentialities. Requests to disclosesuch information will be made on a case by case basis. This act will replace thecode of practice. Westminster has legislated separately for the rest of the UK.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7796 by Mr Jim Wallace on 11 May 2004, what the growth in Scotland's GDP would have been if it had been measured in market prices.
Answer
The Scottish GDP index ismeasured in basic prices (also known as Gross Value Added) and is not availablein market prices. The main difference between these two measures is theinclusion (in the market prices measure) of taxes and subsidies on products.Due to the difficulty in apportioning taxes and subsidies below national level,growth of GDP in market prices is not currently available.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the mean average figures for each category in NHSScotland Acute Activity, Waiting Times and Waiting Lists - Quarter ending 31st December 2003.
Answer
As already stated in responsegiven to question S2W-5778 on 10 February 2004, ISD Scotland has noplans to publish arithmetic mean values for each category in NHSScotland AcuteActivity, waiting times and waiting lists. Waiting times follow a highlypositive skewed distribution and, consequently, the median is the mostappropriate measure of central tendency in these datasets.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7822 by Cathy Jamieson on 11 May 2004, how it arrived at the assumption that legal aid costs associated with any newly-formed UK Supreme Court would not be greater than the legal aid costs that would have arisen in the House of Lords and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Answer
As indicated in the answergiven to question S2W-7822 answered on 11 May 2004,the new Supreme Court will have the same jurisdiction in relation to Scotland asthe Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Appellate Committee of the Houseof Lords. Consequently, we do not anticipate an increase in the number of legalaid cases each year.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7829 by Malcolm Chisholm on 12 May 2004, whether it has evidence that PFI/PPP has had no impact on the capital costs of the NHS.
Answer
No. There is no evidence tosay whether PFI/PPP has had no impact on the capital costs of the NHS. BeforePFI/PPP is used a full economic appraisal is conducted which compares PPP/PFIwith a traditionally procured option toassess which approach provides better value for money. I would further referthe member to the answer give to S2W-7829 answered 12 May 2004 which advisesthat PFI/PPP contributes to capital investment in NHSScotland and is anadditional source of funding. All answers to written parliamentary questionsare available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can befound at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 23 April 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) available and (b) additional prison places there are at HM Prison Kilmarnock.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron,Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is asfollows:
(a) 500
(b) 96.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 21 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 8 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7810 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 May 2004, how many police officers (a) have been and (b) were expected to be redeployed at the completion of each phase of the contract.
Answer
The first phase of thecontract, when complete, is expected to lead to the planned redeployment of 105police officers. As indicated in the answer to S2W-3488 answered on 13 November 2003,the full contract would be expected to lead to the redeployment of up to 300police officers to other operational duties. As regards the numbers to beredeployed at other phases, these will be subject to decisions on a revisedimplementation programme which, as indicated in the answer to S2W-7659 answeredon 20 May 2004, the Scottish Prison Service is currently discussingwith the company.
All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.
