- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 28 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Lord Advocate's oral evidence to the Justice 1 Committee on 12 September 2006 (Official Report, c. 3688), whether the Lord Advocate can now confirm how and when he first became involved in the Shirley McKie case.
Answer
As I told the Justice 1 Committeeon 12 September 2006, I became involved in the Shirley McKie case when thematter was reported to me in relation to the allegation of perjury against her.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 28 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Lord Advocate’s oral evidence to the Justice 1 Committee on 12 September 2006 (Official Report, c. 3688), which ministers and officials (a) were provided with a copy of the MacKay report into the Scottish Criminal Record Office’s handling of the Shirley McKie and (b) had acess to it.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-23304 on 21 March 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliaments website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 28 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the Lord Advocate’s oral evidence to the Justice 1 Committee on 12 September 2006, whether the Lord Advocate will provide further explanation of what he meant when he told the Justice 1 Committee that the advocate depute “also formed a view on the basis of the information that he had about Mr Wertheim and took the right decision to continue the case” (Official Report, c. 3709) and whether the Lord Advocate will now publish the information to which he was referring.
Answer
As I made clear when I gave evidenceto the Justice 1 Committee on 12 September 2006, when the Advocate Depute becameaware of the evidence to be led by the defence from Mr Wertheim and Mr Grieve, hecarefully assessed this, along with the evidence available from the ScottishCriminal Record Office experts. He took the decision to proceed with the trial,and I believe that he made the right decision at that time.
I do not intend to provide anyfurther comment or information in relation to this matter – the assessment of theevidence which required to be carried out at that time was a matter for the professionalassessment of the Advocate Depute, in whom I have great confidence.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 25 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the maximum (a) in-patient and (b) out-patient waiting time was in each (i) NHS board area and (ii) hospital in each year since 1997.
Answer
I refer the member to the questionS2W-22085 answered on 20 January 2006 which provided information on out-patient andin-patient and day case waiting times for each quarter since 31 December 1997 to30 September 2005 by NHS Board.
Information on waiting timesfor a first out-patient consultation and in-patient and day cases treatment foreach quarter since 31 December 2005 to 30 June 2006 by NHS board and informationon waiting times by NHS hospital for in-patient and day case treatment on 30 June1997 to 2006, will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib.number 40469) as it runs to 23 pages. Out-patient waiting time information is notavailable by NHS hospital, as the out-patient Waiting List is only collected atNHS board level.
All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliaments website, the search facility for whichcan be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has established the one-stop advisory service for the Fresh Talent initiative announced in its news release of 24 September 2003.
Answer
Yes. The Relocation AdvisoryService has been operational since October 2004. To date over 11,500 people fromover 150 countries have received advice from the service.
The service is free and can beaccessed in a number of ways:
Use the online form at
www.scotlandistheplace.comEmail the team at [email protected]By telephone +44 141 248 2808
Or in writing to Relocation AdvisoryService, Scottish Executive, Third Floor, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow G2 6AT.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how it attempts to encourage expatriate Scots to return.
Answer
We welcome all talented andhard working people who want to live and work in Scotland and contribute togrowing Scotland’s economy. The New Scots report, published inFebruary 2004, recognised that we would need to target our efforts and theScots diaspora was identified as one group who have a strong emotional andcultural link with Scotland, and expatriate Scots are an important part of thisgroup.
To help take this workforward, the First Minister launched the diaspora Strategy in October 2005, andin March 2006 the first edition of the quarterly e-magazine Scotland-Now waspublished. The e-magazine connects Scots and those with an affinity to Scotlandwith modern Scotland. Showcasing Scotland as a great place to live and work, visit, study andinvest.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how it measures the success of the www.scotlandistheplace.com website.
Answer
The scotlandistheplace.com websitewas set up as part of the Relocation Advisory Service to offer a comprehensiveand interactive advice service to those interested in living and working in Scotland.The success of
www.scotlandistheplace.comis assessed by tracking the number of visits to the web site and the number of enquiriesthat are made to the Relocation Advisory Service via the e mail links on
www.scotlandistheplace.com.The Relocation Advisory Service is a three year pilot project and a review of phase2 is currently underway. The phase 2evaluation of the Relocation Advisory Service includes a survey of customersand qualitative research with customers, some of whom will have had cause touse the website. There will also be a specific survey of website users.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 August 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many empty buildings have been wholly or partially exempted from business rates in each of the last two years and how much additional business rate revenue would have been raised if these buildings had been fully occupied.
Answer
We do not collect or holdcentrally data relating to the number of empty buildings in Scotland.However, an estimate of the total amount of non-domestic rates not collecteddue to properties being unoccupied or partly occupied is available fromScottish Executive non-domestic rates returns. The total amount estimated for2004-05, as reported in the final audited return, is £116,955,932. Theprovisional (not yet audited) figure for 2005-06 is £130,667,734.
These figures however areonly indicative of the potential additional revenue that could be collected, asthe rateable values of these unoccupied properties could be subject torevaluation following occupation, or a range of other forms of relief,depending on the status of the business.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 15 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list the members of, and advisers to, the group examining Glasgow Housing Association’s second stage stock transfer.
Answer
The members of the Joint Teamon financial issues are officials from: Communities Scotland, Glasgow Housing Association,Glasgow City Council and potential purchasers.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 05 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Johann Lamont on 15 September 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish its comments on the costs to Glasgow Housing Association of its second stage stock transfer as contained in the Auditor General for Scotland’s report, Council housing transfers, published in March 2006.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has noplans to publish any of the material provided to Audit Scotland as partof its investigation into council housing transfers. This is because the ScottishExecutive made available a broad range of information to Audit Scotland, includingaccess to relevant files, to aid its understanding of all aspects of the communityownership policy and process, including the Glasgow transfer and the secondstage transfers. This material, together with information from other sources, wouldhave informed the conclusions and recommendations contained in the Councilhousing transfers report of March 2006.
