- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what its rating is of the current performance of NHS Western Isles.
Answer
I conducted the annual review of NHS Western Isles on 12 September in Stornoway from which it was clear that the board has delivered in 2004-05 a high-standard of patient care, and has substantially improved its standards of staff and clinical governance. I expressed disappointment about the qualification of its accounts for the previous year and was personally assured by the chair of the board that the board’s financial management had already been radically improved. The board is making significant progress in service redesign to meet the needs of patients and I expect it will achieve, in the coming year, continuing improvement.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether public service obligations applied to flights from mainland Scotland to (a) Stornoway, (b) Benbecula, (c) Sumburgh and (d) Kirkwall airports will specify a reduction in ticket prices and, if so, what level that reduction will be.
Answer
The precise mechanism to deliver lower fares for Scotland’s island communities is being developed. It is being designed to ensure that communities receive substantial fare reductions. Any scheme requires European Commission approval and I shall announce details as soon as is practicable.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 11 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to introduce public service obligations on flights from mainland Scotland to (a) Stornoway, (b) Benbecula, (c) Sumburgh and (d) Kirkwall airports.
Answer
The Scottish Executive’s main aim is to ensure that I delivery of lower fares for Scotland’s island communities. The precise mechanism is currently being developed and I shall announce details as soon as is practicable.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-18125 and S2W-18859 by Mr Tom McCabe on 24 August and 26 September 2005 respectively, whether it has begun to compile information on the number of people applying for visas under the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme, both successfully and unsuccessfully; if so, whether this work is being carried out by the Scottish Executive, the Home Office or an external body and, if it is being carried out be an external body, which one.
Answer
Information on the number of people applying for leave to enter or remain in the UK under the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme is being collated by the Home Office and UKVisas.
The Home Office and UKVisas are passing details of all those who have been granted leave under the scheme to the Scottish Executive. This is to enable the Executive to contact participants at regular intervals as part of the monitoring and evaluation of the scheme.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-18125 and S2W-18859 by Mr Tom McCabe on 24 August and 26 September 2005 respectively, on what date it will publish details of application numbers, origin of applicants, origin of applications and final location of applicants to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme.
Answer
Data on numbers of successful applicants has now been passed to the Scottish Executive from the Home Office and UKVisas. This shows that there have been a total of 586 successful applications to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme since the scheme went live on 22
June 2005.
The nationality of successful applicants is set out in the following table:
| Country | Successful Applications |
| Albania | 2 |
| Angola | 1 |
| Argentina | 1 |
| Armenia | 1 |
| Bahrain | 2 |
| Bangladesh | 6 |
| Barbados | 2 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| British National (Overseas) | 2 |
| British Overseas Citizen | 2 |
| Brunei | 1 |
| Bulgaria | 2 |
| Cameroon | 4 |
| Canada | 13 |
| Chile | 1 |
| China (Peoples Republic of China) | 125 |
| Columbia | 1 |
| Croatia | 1 |
| Ecuador | 2 |
| Egypt | 2 |
| Ethiopia | 22 |
| Gambia | 1 |
| Ghana | 11 |
| Hong Kong SAR of China (Holder of Special Administrative Region Passport) | 6 |
| India | 147 |
| Japan | 8 |
| Jordan | 1 |
| Kenya | 8 |
| Korea (South) | 1 |
| Libya (Arab Republic) | 3 |
| Malawi | 1 |
| Malaysia | 30 |
| Mauritius | 4 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Mongolia | 1 |
| Morocco | 1 |
| Nepal | 7 |
| Nigeria | 44 |
| Niger | 1 |
| Pakistan | 23 |
| Philippines | 1 |
| Romania | 1 |
| Russia | 6 |
| Sierra Leone | 1 |
| Singapore | 5 |
| South Africa | 3 |
| Sri Lanka | 3 |
| Swaziland | 2 |
| Syria | 1 |
| Taiwan | 6 |
| Tanzania | 1 |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1 |
| Turkey | 1 |
| Uganda | 2 |
| United States of America | 47 |
| Venezuela | 3 |
| Vietnam | 1 |
| Yugoslavia | 1 |
| Zimbabwe | 7 |
| Total | 586 |
Further information on successful applicants, including their current location, will be gathered through a questionnaire issued by the Relocation Advisory Service. This data will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-18125 and S2W-18859 by Mr Tom McCabe on 24 August and 26 September 2005 respectively regarding the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme visas, how many individuals have successfully applied for such a visa and, of these, how many are now resident in Scotland and how many were resident (a) in Scotland and (b) overseas at the time of application, broken down by month of operation of the scheme.
Answer
The following table shows the number of successful applications since the scheme went live on 22 June, broken down by those who applied from overseas and those who applied from within the UK. This data is based on internal management Information from the Home Office and UKVisas and is provisional and subject to change.
| | June and July | August | September | October | Total |
| Applications made Overseas | 23 | 28 | 21 | 28 | 100 |
| Applications made in the UK | 77 | 101 | 120 | 188 | 486 |
Further information on successful applicants, including their current location, will be gathered through a questionnaire issued by the Relocation Advisory Service. This data will be published in due course.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S2W-18774 and S2W-18775 by Nicol Stephen on 27 September 2005, whether, in answering the questions in this manner, the Executive has determined that there is no benefit to Scotland from engagement with the Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs; if so, on what indicators it based that decision, and, if not, what benefits it has determined are available to Scotland under the agenda for growth and jobs.
Answer
The Lisbonagenda for growth and jobs is very important for Scotland. My replies toS2W-18774 and S2W-18775 of 27 September 2005 set out the clear overlap betweenthe Lisbon agenda for growth and jobs and the Executive’s economic priorities,as set out in our long-term economic strategy
The Framework for EconomicDevelopment in Scotland and the Executive’s Enterprise strategy
A Smart,Successful Scotland (SSS).
The Executive welcomes there-alignment of the Lisbon agenda towards growth and jobs and the clear overlapwith existing Executive policies and targets. With regard to engagement of Lisbon, Scotlandbenefits through participation, by the Executive offices in Brussels, inthe various regional networks relating to Lisbon which set out to foster shared learning anddisseminate best practise in terms of delivering and meeting the Lisbonobjectives. Finally, the Executive is committed to delivering jobs and growthfor Scotland and in doing so creating a more dynamic, innovativeand knowledge based economy.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive which stakeholders in Scotland it has consulted regarding its submission to the UK Government's consultation on a national reform programme for growth and jobs.
Answer
The UKgovernment, in preparation of its national reform programme (NRP), held an openstakeholder dialogue from 8 July to the 12 August 2005,inviting comments and input from all stakeholders across the United Kingdomon the proposals for structural economic reform. Responses were received fromthe private, public and voluntary sectors.
The Executive’s input to theUK NRP consultation was based around our long-termeconomic strategy The Framework for Economic Development in Scotland andthe Executive’s Enterprise strategy A Smart, Successful Scotland (SSS).We did not consult further on these documents as both had been informedpreviously through discussion with stakeholders and through regularconsultation with the Scottish Parliament and Parliamentary committees.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to join the Lisbon Regions network and what the reasons are for its position on the matter.
Answer
The Lisbon Regions Networkis a consortium of regional offices in Brussels who come together periodically to provide workshopsrelating to Lisbon. The structure of this particular Lisbon network,which we are not formally part of, means that we can participate and benefitfully from these workshops without the requirement to become a formal member.
Forexample, the network came together recently for the Committee of the RegionsOpen days in Brussels from 10 to 13 October 2005. This was the third year thatthe Committee of the Regions has run Open Days and part of the conditions ofparticipation are that regions form partnerships to present seminars onregional policy topics. The Scottish Executive lead a group of regions who havetheir offices on Rond Point Schuman in Brussels namely Tuscany, Lazio, Umbria, Marche and Malopolska. Our own contribution at thisparticular meeting was a seminar on benchmarking the ten new member states andwith Malapolska we provided a Scottish-Polish breakfast for Open Daysparticipants.
The Executive, through ouroffices in Brussels, is connected to the various European regionalnetworks that exist.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 06 October 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 7 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the response it submitted to the UK Government's consultation in respect of a national reform programme for growth and jobs has been approved by the Parliament, in light of the EU Presidency conclusions of March 2005 which committed EU member states to draw up national reform programmes geared to meeting the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy following consultation "with all stakeholders at regional and national level, including parliamentary bodies in accordance with each Member State's specific procedures".
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W 18777 on 27 September 2005. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.As noted in that answer,national reform programmes were produced at member state level. As part of thisprocess the UK Government consultedwidely with stakeholders in developing proposals for structural economicreform. This included an open stakeholder dialogue from 8 July to the 12 August 2005,inviting comments and input from all stakeholders across the United Kingdomon the proposals for structural economic reform.
The Executive’s input to theUK NRP consultation was based around our long-termeconomic strategy The Framework for Economic Development in Scotland andthe Executive’s Enterprise strategy A Smart, Successful Scotland (SSS). Wedid not consult further on these documents as both had been informed previouslythrough discussion with stakeholders and through regular consultation with the Scottish Parliament and parliamentary committees.
