Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-04433

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3454 by Colin Boyd QC on 12 November 2003, whether it will now consider recording the number of cases in which evidence of the Scottish Criminal Record Office is disputed and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-04603

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive when it announced that it was no longer seeking independent external checks of fingerprint evidence provided by the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO); who was involved in the decision, and what criteria were taken into account.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-16832. 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.

I took the decision todiscontinue independent verification of SCRO fingerprint evidence based on anassessment of the results of that independent verification process.

Question reference: S2W-04622

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3509 by Colin Boyd QC on 14 November 2003, what the justification is of the Lord Advocate's satisfaction with the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) Scottish Fingerprinting Service and its adoption of an appropriate quality assurance management system when, in the recent case of Mark Sinclair at the High Court in Ayr, the SCRO fingerprint evidence that was to have been presented to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service was not presented.

Question reference: S2W-04623

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 03 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Colin Boyd on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-3454 by Colin Boyd QC on 12 November 2003, whether it will now record incidents when Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO) fingerprint evidence is challenged and record, and publish, the number of cases where SCRO fingerprinting evidence has not been used by the Crown Office or Procurator Fiscal Service because of any unreliability.

Question reference: S2W-04549

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 01 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what the criteria are for the selection of fingerprint experts within the Scottish Criminal Record Office (SCRO); how many such experts there are in SCRO; what the level of staff turnover is, and how many cases of disciplinary action there have been in each of the last five years.

A trainee fingerprint officerwho successfully completes the advanced fingerprint course at the national trainingcentre, Durham may, on the recommendation of the head of bureau, be put forwardfor authorisation by Scottish ministers under section 280(5) of the CriminalProcedure (Scotland) Act 1995 as an expert witness.

There are currently 34 fingerprintexperts at the Scottish Criminal Record Office. The level of turnover for thisgroup of employees, including retirements, is below 10% per annum.

The only disciplinaryactions, which resulted in the formal disciplinary process being applied inrelation to fingerprint experts in the last five years, were in respect of workattendance-related matters.

Question reference: S2W-04765

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to objective 3, target 4 of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning chapter of its Draft Budget 2004-05, whether increasing the number of modern apprenticeships (MAs) to over 25,000 by 2006 represents a change of policy from its target of 30,000; if so, why the target has been reduced, and whether the reduction has been announced to the Parliament.

The statement in the DraftBudget 2004-05, concerning the increase in the number of MAs to 25,000 by 2006,was an outcome of the 2002 spending review and was reported in Building aBetter Scotland. This target was subsequently revised when the partnership agreementwas drawn up, to over 30,000 MAs by 2006.

The reference to the earliertarget of 25,000 was a transcription error and does not represent a change inpolicy or reduction in the partnership agreement target. We are committed to increasing the apprenticeship programme to 30,000 places by2006.

Question reference: S2W-04770

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 05 December 2003
Current Status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a detailed breakdown of the items covered under “other enterprise and lifelong learning” in each of the three financial years covered by table 6.01 on page 96 of its Draft Budget 2004-05.

Adetailed breakdown of the items covered under the heading “other enterprise andlifelong learning” in each of the three financial years covered by table 6.01on page 96 of the Scottish Executive’s Draft Budget 2004-05 is available on page 118 intable 6.09 in the same document with a description of the purpose for eachbudget heading given on pages 118 to 120.

This document can be foundon the following Scottish Executive website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/finance/db05-00.asp.

Within the detailed table6.09 on page 118 there is a miscellaneous heading. Further detail of theexpenditure under this heading is in the answers given to questions S2W-3183 on30 October 2003 and S2W-3948 on 20 November 2003. 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/webapp/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-04311

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Jim Wallace on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to Her Majesty's Government in respect of its proposals to introduce top-up fees for university students.

Question reference: S2W-04328

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made in respect of Her Majesty's Government's draft Nuclear Sites and Radioactive Substances Bill.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including the implications for devolved matters in Scotland ofits legislative programme. This contact reflects the approach, set out inDevolution Guidance Note 1 in accordance with the principles set out in the memorandum of understanding, that the administrations normally consult each other from an early stage on the development of relevant legislative proposals.

It should be noted, in connection with this question and question S2W-4368, that a single Energy Bill is proposed rather than separate Bills on Nuclear Sites and Radioactive Substances and Electricity (Trading and Transmission).

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/webapp/search_wa.

Question reference: S2W-04368

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 24 November 2003
Current Status: Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 15 December 2003

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made in respect of Her Majesty's Government's draft Electricity (Trading and Transmission) Bill.

The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues, including the implications for devolved matters in Scotland ofits legislative programme. This contact reflects the approach, set out inDevolution Guidance Note 1 in accordance with the principles set out in theMemorandum of Understanding, that the administrations normally consult eachother from an early stage on the development of relevant legislative proposals.

It should be noted, in connection with this question and question S2W-4328 answered on 15 December 2003, that a single energy bill is proposed rather than separate bills on nuclear sites and radioactive substances and electricity (trading and transmission).

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/webapp/search_wa.