- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has reviewed the nationality criteria for employment within the Executive at any time since 1999 and whether it has any plans to conduct such a review in the future.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30344 on 29 January 2007. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 04 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 29 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether people remaining in Scotland through the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland visa scheme are eligible for employment in the civil service.
Answer
Many people remaining in Scotland throughthe
Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme meet the eligibility requirementsfor direct employment in the Civil Service. These requirements are outlined in theCivil Service Nationality Rules, which are a reserved matter.
These rules permit, for example,the employment of Commonwealth and Irish citizens, British Protected Persons andnationals of EU member states, who are exempt from the statutory prohibition onthe employment of foreign nationals. Full details of restrictions and exemptionscan be accessed at the following website:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/careers/nationalityrules/publications/pdf/annexa.pdfPeople remaining in Scotland throughthe Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland Scheme who do not meet the eligibilityrequirements of the rules are therefore not eligible for direct employment in theCivil Service. However, those with suitable skills and qualifications may be employedin other capacities, for example through an employment agency or as a temporarycontractor or consultant.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 08 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 23 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive, under the proposed UK Statistics and Registration Services Bill, what the position of the Chief Statistician for Scotland will be in relation to (a) Scottish ministers, (b) the National Statistician and (c) the proposed statistics board and to which organisation or individual the Chief Statistician for Scotland will be responsible.
Answer
Subject to the passage of thenecessary legislative consent motion (LCM), the Statistics and Registration ServiceBill will give the Statistics Board a rolein setting and monitoring the standards of Scottish statistics.
If the LCM is passed, the chiefstatistician in the Scottish Executive will be accountable to Scottishministers as he is now.
Inaccordance with the current National Statistics Framework, the chiefstatistician is professionally accountable to the national statistician.
The bill does not set out theposition of the national statistician or the board in relation to chief statisticiansof the devolved administrations or the head of professions of UK governmentdepartments. The framework, which currently outlines roles and responsibilities,will be reviewed.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive with reference to A Smart Successful Scotland; Measuring Progress Towards a Smart Successful Scotland 2006, what numerical figures were used in compiling Chart 3: Indices of GDP per hour worked (a) for each country featured in the chart, including Scotland for both 1999 and 2004.
Answer
The underlying data for the report
Measuring Progress Towards a Smart Successful Scotland 2006 were publishedon the Scottish Executive website alongside the main report on 19 December and areavailable via the following link
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/12/19161336/data.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 19 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps could be taken to overcome any inherent structural differences between the Scottish and UK economies.
Answer
Structural differences betweeneconomies are normal and our aim is not simply to match the UK structure.
The Executive’s economic developmentstrategy, the Framework for Economic Development in Scotland (FEDS), focuses onthe key drivers for economic development that can enable Scottish business to competemore effectively in both domestic and international markets. It emphasises the principaldrivers of the economy upon which we must focus, these being:
basic education and skills;
research and development andinnovation;
entrepreneurial dynamism;
the electronic and physical infrastructure,and
managing public sector resourcesmore effectively.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 January 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 18 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what the available quota in the Southern Isles milk quota ring fence area has been in litres in each year since 1999 and, of this, how much has been unused by producers.
Answer
Information on milk quota utilisationis collected by the Rural Payments Agency. Details of the net quota held and unusedquota by producers in the Southern Isles ring fence area since 2003-04 is set outin the following table. Figures are not available for previous years as milk purchaserswere not required to supply the RPA with this information.
| Quota Year | Net Quota Held by Producers (Million Litres) | Net Unused Quota (Million Litres) |
| 2003-04 | 53,750,581 | 2,169,168 |
| 2004-05 | 60,020,230 | 8,121,076 |
| 2005-06 | 54,308,949 | 1,295,359 |
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how much less revenue would have accrued through business rates had the uniform rate with the rest of the Unite Kingdom been adhered to since 1999.
Answer
As there is no uniform businessrate across the United Kingdom, it is not possible to provide the information requested.Rateable values are determined separately for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as are poundage rates. The position is further complicated for Northern Ireland where businesses pay a national rate and a local rate.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 18 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 16 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has precluded the possibility of setting business rates at rates lower than those in the rest of the United Kingdom.
Answer
The average rates bill per subjectin Scotland is already significantly lower than the average rates bill per subjectin England, and that has been the position since devolution. The estimates for 2006-07are £9,284 and £10,601 respectively. As I announced to Parliament on 13 December 2006, weare cutting the poundage rate for Scotland in 2007‑08 to the same level as in England. Ournumber one priority is to grow the Scottish economy and this latest cut will givebusinesses in Scotland a further competitive boost.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 13 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 9 January 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people aged (a) from 16 to 24 and (b) 25 and over are currently participating in the modern apprenticeship scheme and how many places will be available on modern apprenticeship schemes in 2007.
Answer
In Scotland at the start of Decemberthere were (a) 28,100 people aged 16-24 doing a modern apprenticeship (MA) and (b)5,860 aged 25 or above.
The MA programme continues tobe demand-led so unfortunately we have no way of telling how many new starts therewill be in 2007. However, the enterprise networks will continue to ensure that thereare at least 30,000 MAs in training as set out within the Partnership Agreement.
- Asked by: Jim Mather, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 December 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 22 December 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) total and (b) individual capital value is of public sector PFI/PPP projects currently being paid for, also broken down by NHS board, local authority or other body that authorised such projects.
Answer
The information requested isavailable from the Scottish Executive Financial Partnerships Unit’s website at:
www.scotland.gov.uk/ppp.An estimate of the totalcapital value of PPP projects that are either operational or have reachedfinancial close is available from the facts and figures report, and an estimateof the individual capital value of PPP projects that are either operational orhave reached financial close is available from the done deals report.
