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-26667

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26487 by Allan Wilson on 8 June 2006, who has been commissioned with undertaking the Evaluation of the Skills for Business Network and when the evaluation will be completed

Question reference: S2W-26730

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26016 by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006, whether section 52 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 is the only legislation governing the grounds for referral to the Principal Reporter and, if not, what other legislation exists.

Question reference: S2W-26736

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how many children in each local authority area have been taken into care in each year since 1995 and, of these, how many were diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder.

The numbers of children who startedto be looked after in each year since 1999-2000 are shown in the following table.Information for previous years, and information about how many children startingto be looked after were diagnosed with an autistic spectrum disorder, are not heldcentrally. However, information about the number of children looked after as at31 March each year since 2000 with autism is presented at a national level in Children’sSocial Work Statistics 2004-05 (Bib. number 38157). This information is not providedat local authority level because much of the data would need to be suppressed toprotect confidentiality.

Local Authority Area	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Aberdeen City	247	199	194	235	193	303
Aberdeenshire	227	118	116	114	160	163
Angus	54	52	73	70	79	79
Argyll and Bute	143	131	138	110	85	80
Clackmannanshire	30	37	59	54	64	72
Dumfries and Galloway	135	137	183	161	126	134
Dundee City	206	163	176	172	209	222
East Ayrshire	120	141	126	143	124	85
East Dunbartonshire	62	42	29	43	41	33
East Lothian	64	120	110	88	83	63
East Renfrewshire	56	16	25	14	44	18
Edinburgh, City of	352	449	404	427	349	367
Eilean Siar	16	16	16	20	19	35
Falkirk	88	85	75	98	77	109
Fife	181	221	183	214	207	275
Glasgow City	861	922	717	671	680	593
Highland	187	144	140	144	125	161
Inverclyde	17	35	57	178	125	107
Midlothian	129	88	73	69	81	82
Moray	46	32	226	174	109	142
North Ayrshire	192	208	155	108	141	151
North Lanarkshire	289	290	250	258	212	125
Orkney Isles	17	15	10	7	17	11
Perth and Kinross	97	88	68	57	63	49
Renfrewshire	119	176	264	264	242	160
Scottish Borders	105	88	81	93	88	78
Shetland	12	9	6	9	8	9
South Ayrshire	76	89	131	76	130	107
South Lanarkshire	236	275	214	171	139	189
Stirling	89	68	67	71	63	51
West Dunbartonshire	135	118	127	115	125	132
West Lothian	184	122	185	85	357	148
Scotland	4,771	4,694	4,678	4,513	4,564	4,333

Question reference: S2W-26727

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26016 by Lewis Macdonald on 30 May 2006, whether this answer indicates that it and its agencies, such as the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration, have no records or knowledge of children being taken into care as a result of a referral on the grounds of Munchausen syndrome by proxy in either or both parents.

Question reference: S2W-26465

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 01 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-24680 by Cathy Jamieson on 20 April 2006, whether it received all its communications in relation to “extraordinary rendition” subsequent to 21 November 2005.

Question reference: S2W-26677

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26417 by Ross Finnie on 8 June 2006, whether this answer indicates that no specific environmental justice fund for Greengairs will now be established.

Question reference: S2W-26703

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26488 by Allan Wilson on 8 June 2006, whether it has made representations to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills or to the Sector Skills Development Agency for more sector skills councils to be located in Scotland.

Question reference: S2W-26678

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Ross Finnie on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-26417 by Ross Finnie on 8 June 2006, how much funding has been committed to Greengairs from the Environmental Justice Fund.

Question reference: S2W-26729

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2006
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 20 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the review of cases of referrals of parents accused of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, or fabricating or inducing illness in their children, undertaken by the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration in 2004 has been published and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.

Question reference: S2W-25858

Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 11 May 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 June 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what contact has been made with Mr John MacLeod in respect of the two fingerprint reports he submitted to the Executive since its settlement with Shirley McKie and since the Minister for Justice announced that the reports would not be released into the public domain or made available to the ongoing Parliamentary inquiry; who instigated that contact; what the nature was of that contact; what persons made that contact and on whose behalf; what information was exchanged during that contact, and whether Mr MacLeod was at any stage warned either verbally, by letter or in any other way that, should he release the reports, divulge their contents or give evidence about them, he would be sued or otherwise have official or unofficial action taken against him.

Communications betweensolicitors and expert witnesses are confidential. However, I made clear in myletter of 22 May 2006 to the Convener of the Justice 1 Committee that the Executive had not imposed any new constraints on Mr MacLeod and was seekingmerely to maintain the standard approach to confidentiality that is implicit atthe outset in all work of this type. A copy of that letter is available at:http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/justice1/papers-06/j1p06-19.pdf.