- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21579 and S2W-21580 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005, whether these indicate that the Executive’s position is that it would expect the police to take action in the circumstances referred to in the questions.
Answer
The investigation of crime isa matter for the police. The police will act if there is specific, credible informationto justify such action.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-21304 and S2W-21305 by Tavish Scott on 15 December 2005, whether it will confirm that the number of bidders for the A68 Dalkeith Bypass tender is now reduced to two and that the tenders for the third generation term contracts for management and maintenance of the Scottish trunk network for the north west and south west units let on 8 December 2005 had only two bidders each, and whether these developments might lead the Executive to reconsider these answers.
Answer
We can confirm that there arenow two bidders for the A68 Dalkeith Bypass and that there were two bidders foreach of the recently awarded trunk road maintenance contracts. The answers providedto the earlier questions are still applicable.
Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20694 by Cathy Jamieson on 28 November 2005, how the Minister for Justice reconciles her reply that the Scottish Fingerprint Service has a “consistent approach to fingerprint identification which is followed by all fingerprint officers” with her reply to question S2W-20244 on 9 November 2005 which confirms the existence of disagreements between the Aberdeen Fingerprint Bureau and the Scottish Criminal Record Office.
Answer
The fact that there is a disagreementover a single specific historical fingerprint identification does not imply an inconsistentapproach to fingerprint identification. There is no disagreement in the ScottishFingerprint Service (SFS) about the basis of fingerprint identification and allfingerprint identifications are carried out using the Assess, Compare, Evaluation and Verify (ACE-V) process, and are subject to internal quality assurance and to external independent auditunder the ISO 9001:2000 Certificate to which the SFS is accredited.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20694 by Cathy Jamieson on 28 November 2005, whether the Assess, Compare, Evaluation and Verify (ACE-V) process is fallible and what evidence it has to justify its reply.
Answer
The process of Assess, Compare,Evaluation and Verify (ACE-V) is the description of the scientific approach to fingerprintanalysis adopted by fingerprint professionals and criminal justice agencies world-wide.It is a qualitative approach rather than an arbitrary quantitative approach wherebythe likelihood of error is minimised because the quality of the mark is the basisfrom which the identification is made.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 17 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21634 by Cathy Jamieson on 16 January 2006, whether any of its departments or agencies outwith the Scottish Prison Service hold information on comparative prison staff turnover in each (a) OECD nation and (b) EU member state.
Answer
Scottish Executive departmentsand agencies outwith the Scottish Prison Service do not hold any information oncomparative prison staff turnover.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21585 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005, whether it will now discuss the allegations made by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, given the ongoing media reports that US agencies have used Scottish airports to refuel flights carrying individuals suspected of being involved in acts of terrorism to countries that practice torture.
Answer
As we have made clear on numerousoccasions, torture is a crime under Scots law and anyone who claims to have informationto suggest that a crime has been committed in Scotland should take that informationto the police.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 16 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-21577 by Cathy Jamieson on 22 December 2005, whether it has given specific consideration to the opinions expressed by Lord Steyn.
Answer
The opinions expressed by LordSteyn have been noted.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward proposals to amend the law to allow the appointment of councillors to the Chair of college boards.
Answer
The position is currentlyunder review, and an announcement on this and other measures relating to theconstitution of college boards of management is due by the spring.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 25 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how the proceeds of landfill tax are distributed within Scotland.
Answer
Landfill Tax is a reservedmatter.
At the last Spending Review,the Scottish Executive received consequentials arising from increases in theLandfill Tax. We agreed to use these resources to support initiativesbenefiting business and local authorities and have allocated the resources asfollows:
| Initiative | Purpose of initiative | 2005-06 (£ million) | 2006-07 (£ million) | 2007-08 (£ million) |
| Waste and Resources Action Programme | To develop markets for recycled products and to work on household waste prevention. | 2.8 | 5.2 | 3.5 |
| Envirowise | To provide advice to business on waste prevention | 1.5 | 1.6 | 2.3 |
| Energy Efficiency | To promote energy efficiency | 1.5 | 2.5 | 1.5 |
| Strategic Waste Fund | To support local authorities prevent waste arsing; recycle and compost waste and divert waste away from landfill | | | 9.5 |
| Local government finance settlement | See separate table below. | 2.2 | 5.7 | 1.2 |
| Local authority contaminated land | To support local authorities carry out their statutory duties in relation to contaminated land | | | 5.0 |
| Total | | 8.0 | 15.0 | 23.0 |
The resources allocated tothe core local government finance settlement were intended for the purposesoutlined as follows. These resources are not ring-fenced and local authoritiesare free to spend them as they see fit, based on local needs and priorities.
| | 2005-06 (£ million) | 2006-07 (£ million) | 2007-08 (£ million) |
| Landfill costs | 1.0 | 2.5 | |
| Flytipping officers | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.2 |
| Abandoned vehicles | | 2.0 | |
| Total | 2.2 | 5.7 | 1.2 |
In addition, the LandfillTax Credit Scheme operates in Scotland. This scheme is a reserved matter. Moreinformation can be found on the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme website
www.ltcs.org.uk.
- Asked by: Alex Neil, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 24 January 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 74 devolution issues dealt with by the Advocate-General (Official Report, House of Commons, 15 November 2005; Vol 439, c 808) were referred to her by the Executive or have involved discussions with the Executive and to what these issues related.
Answer
None were referred to the Advocate General by the Scottish Executive. Devolution issues are essentially questions which arise in court proceedings - predominantly in criminal cases - about whether legislation is within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament or whether an act is within the legal competence of a member of the Executive - the precise definition is set out in Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998. That schedule also prescribes the procedures to be followed in relation to such issues, the effect of paragraph five being that any devolution issue intimated to the Advocate General will also be intimated to the Lord Advocate. Thus, the Executive will be aware of the same devolution issues as the Advocate General. If appropriate, there may be discussion between the Executive and the Advocate General but, given the generally ad hoc and run-of-the-mill nature of those discussions, there is no central record of their number and nature.
