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-29243

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that Glasgow Housing Association has exhausted all possible options to deliver second stage transfer of housing stock in the form originally promised by the Executive.

Question reference: S2W-29238

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-23939 and S2W-28199 by Malcolm Chisholm and Johann Lamont on 16 March and 15 September 2006 respectively, when Communities Scotland’s guidance to clarify the process and nature of second stage transfer (SST) of housing stock will be issued and when it expects to receive and make public the findings of the Ministerial Progress Group on SST and the joint team of officials examining the complex financial issues raised by SST.

The Joint Team’s report on SecondStage Transfers is being finalised and will be made available soon. The draft guidanceon Second Stage Transfers has been available since 25 August 2006. The regulatoris currently analysing responses to the consultation on the draft guidance, whichended on 20 October. The guidance will be issued shortly, once these responses andthe findings of the Joint Team have been taken into account.

Question reference: S2W-29244

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 14 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Communities is confident that he has been kept fully appraised by Executive and Communities Scotland officials of the financial implications and complexities of delivering Glasgow’s second stage transfer of housing stock in the form originally promised by the Executive.

Question reference: S2W-29363

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 30 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 13 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimates are of the costs associated with the second stage transfer (SST) of Glasgow Housing Association’s housing stock and whether it has earmarked any monies for SST and, if so, how much, from which budgets and for which financial years.

The Joint Team on financialissues, which includes officials from Glasgow Housing Association, CommunitiesScotland, Glasgow City Council and the purchasers, is currently considering thecosts associated with second stage transfers of Glasgow Housing Associationstock. The work of the joint team will be finalised soon and will be madeavailable in due course.

Communities Scotland hasearmarked £1,045,000 for seed corn funding to support local housingorganisations in taking forward their second stage transfer proposals. Thisfunding has been available over the course of the 2004-05 to 2006-07 financialyears.

Question reference: S2W-28694

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of its diaspora strategy, launched in October 2005.

The First Minister launched thediaspora strategy in October 2005 during his visit to Canada.

The diaspora strategy aims toencourage the active participation of ancestral Scots and other groups with an affinityto Scotland in promoting Scotland as a great country to visit, live, learn, work, do businessand invest. This is a long-term project; through sustained engagement at a numberof different levels, the strategy will build on and strengthen the existing relationshipsbetween Scotland and the international diaspora for the overall economicand social benefit of Scotland.

Level one of the strategy, thepublication of an e-magazine has been implemented. In March 2006, the first editionof the quarterly e-magazine Scotland-Now (www.scotland-now.com) was published. Thee-magazine is specifically aimed at the diasporaaudience.

Level two of the strategy, engagementwith diaspora groups and other affinity groups is on-going. The Executive is in the process of mapping Scottish associationsand diaspora groups overseas to effectively target them with information on modernScotland.

Targeted engagement has takenplace with individuals and diaspora groups in North America and Australia andScottish organisations in London. The total recordedexpenditure to date on Scotland-Now and the initial engagement with North America, Australiaand Scottish organisations in London is £55,459. Scots diaspora attended Celebrate Scotland events hosted by the First Minister in Melbourne lastyear, and in San Francisco on 18 October this year. Full costs are not yet available for those events.

In addition ministers and officials undertake various other engagementsand ad hoc contact with a variety of organisations as part of their normal duties.For example, I took the opportunity to meet with several diaspora organisations(such as the St Andrews Societies of Washington and New York) when I visited the US for Tartan Week (April 2005 and2006 respectively).

We will continue to work withkey partners such as Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, and AncestralScotland amongstothers, to share information and, where appropriate, undertake joint country-specificactivities. The approach for each country will be adapted to suit local needs.

The long-term engagement withthe diaspora will support the Executive’s work on Scotland’s InternationalImage, Fresh Talent and country plans.

Question reference: S2W-28692

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how the e-magazine, Scotland-Now, has been publicised.

Question reference: S2W-28693

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, what the total expenditure has been on the e-magazine, Scotland-Now.

Question reference: S2W-28695

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how much expenditure it has incurred implementing the recommendations of its diaspora strategy, launched in October 2005.

Question reference: S2W-28691

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 9 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28165 by Mr Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006, how many individual subscriptions there have been to the e-magazine, Scotland-Now.

The Scottish Executiveengages with the Scottish diaspora to further Scotland’s interestsfor the long-term benefit of our economy and society. Scotland-Now showcases modern Scotland as a great place to liveand work, visit, study and invest.We communicate regularly withthe diaspora, alumni and people with an affinity towards Scotland electronicallythrough regular updates. The latest edition of Scotland-Now (www.scotland-now.com) the e-magazine whichis specifically aimed at the Diaspora audience, issued on 27 September 2006.

The Executive works with keypartner organisations such as Scottish Enterprise, VisitScotland, AncestralScotland.com,and the British Council amongst others to promote and distribute Scotland-Now through their websites andnetworks.

Other promotional activities to increase awareness of Scotland-Now have included the distribution of postcards promoting Scotland-Now at ministerial and other appropriate events in the UK and overseas. Recent examples of events where this has been done arethe Globalscot Conference and the Celebrate Scotland event that the First Ministerhosted in San Francisco, USA on 18 October.

The World Pipe Band Championships, the British Columbia Highland Games,Vancouver, Canada and theMelbourne International Arts Festival, Australia havealso received some sponsorship from the Executive. The aim of the sponsorship hasbeen three-fold; to publicise Scotland-Now, to strengthen existing diaspora relationshipsand to promote Scotland’s International Image.

The weblink to each edition ofScotland-Now is issuedto over 70,000 individuals. Two thousand, seven hundred and eighty-three subscribersregister direct and, additionally, subscribers to partner organisations, including the globalscotnetwork, Talent Scotland, AncestralScotland, VisitScotland, Scottish Networks International (SNI), various Alumni associations,and Rampant Scotland, also receive updateson an individual basis.

The total expenditure to dateon Scotland-Now is £22,625.25.This represents a cost of approximately 0.33p for every individual who receivesthe weblink.

Question reference: S2W-29031

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Current Status: Answered by John Beckett on 8 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what previous involvement the Solicitor General has had in (a) the Shirley McKie fingerprint case and (b) the Lockerbie trial.