Chamber and committees

It is not possible to predict what new information, including in relation to the matters listed, will be made available as a result of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Bill. Consideration of whether requested information would be disclosed will be on a case-by-case basis. The Bill will, if enacted, establish a statutory right of access to all information held by a wide range of Scottish public authorities. The right of access would be enforced by an independent Scottish Information Commissioner, who would consider appeals and have powers to order the disclosure of information. The Bill would replace the non-statutory Code of Practice on Scottish Executive Information.

Tobacco advertising is a devolved matter. The Executive is committed to achieving a ban on tobacco advertising and promotion in Scotland which is both effective and enforceable. We do not rule out Scottish legislation at some point, but consider that a UK-wide ban will enable a much more effective and comprehensive ban to be delivered. The UK Government has a manifesto commitment to legislate to effect a ban during the lifetime of the current Westminster Parliament and we have been pressing hard and consistently for this to be done as soon as possible.

The Scottish Executive could introduce legislation for compulsory identity cards for purposes within the competence of the Parliament, although we have no plans to do so.

Political activity declarations were introduced by the Commissioner for Public Appointments in 1996. The information they contain is monitored by the commissioner to ensure that all appointments are made on merit after a fair, open and transparent process. All appointments made under the terms and conditions of Commissioner's Code are subject to independent scrutiny. Independent Assessors are required to play a full and active part in the appointments process to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly. Ministers can only appoint individuals to posts on the recommendation of appointment panels whose membership must include at least one Independent Assessor. The following table details the requested information. However, the statistical data has not been collated in a way which enables it to be split into individual years. The table does, however, detail all appointments made up to 31 March 2001.As the table shows, the vast majority of appointees are not politically active. Only 137 out of a total of 1,015 (13.5%) undertook political activities in the five-year period prior to their appointment.

Period	No of New Appointments Made	Total of New Appointees Declaring Political Activity	New Appointees Affiliation to Political Parties
			CON	LAB	LD	SNP	Other
1/7/96 - 31/3/97	137	12	4	7	0	1	0
1/4/97 - 31/3/98	204	20	5	14	0	1	0
1/4/98 - 30/9/98	82	11	1	8	0	1	1
1/10/98 - 31/12/98	47	10	2	5	0	0	3
1/1/99 - 31/12/99	365	56	9	29	6	4	8
1/1/00 - 30/9/00	147	21	2	16	2	1	0
1/10/00 - 31/3/01	33	7	0	5	1	0	1
Totals	1,015	137	23	84	9	8	13

Procurement options to replace Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd are being assessed following the recent contract termination. The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has confirmed that it is therefore not yet possible to determine if additional costs will be incurred, but that everything possible will be done to minimize such costs, if they arise.

The work involved in the cladding package for the MSP block, which Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd were contracted to undertake has been re-sequenced in the building programme. The revised arrangements for this package are therefore unlikely to impact on the project completion date.

Of the five short-listed contractors invited to tender for the MSP block cladding package, only one company, other than Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd, actually submitted a tender.

Information on Executive spending is not generally attributable to specific neighbourhoods. However, the available information is as follows:Identifiable Scottish Executive spending in Craigmillar.

	1999-2000 (£ million)	2000-01 (£ million)	2001-02 (£ million) plans	2002-03 (£ million) plans
Scottish Executive Development Department
Social Inclusion Partnership Fund	1.669	1.755	1.917	1.971
New Housing Partnership Fund	3.305	8.454	11.559	-
Scottish Executive Justice Department
CCTV	0.040	-	0.096	-
Community Safety	-	0.018	-	-

The recipient organisations are as follows:City of Edinburgh Council (SIP Fund),City of Edinburgh Council & Scottish Homes (NHP 1999-2002 resources),Magdalene Youth Project (Community Safety) andThistle Foundation Estate & Craigmillar Partnership (CCTV).

Any additional costs directly attributable to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd's failure to meet contract terms, cannot be quantified for some time, but recovery will be actively pursued. The Convener of the Holyrood Progress Group has confirmed that, once identified, they will be formally notified to the appointed receiver, and it is not possible to predict the outcome of the ensuing process.

Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd was contractually obliged to submit a performance bond, but failed to do so. This transgression by the contractor led to the issue of a "notice of failure". A parent company guarantee was provided only days before the company became insolvent.