Chamber and committees

A Scottish criminal court has jurisdiction, at common law, over aircraft within or flying over Scotland. Section 92 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 also makes provision for the application of the criminal law to aircraft. In terms of that legislation, where an act or omission takes place on board a British-controlled aircraft, which is in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom and that act or omission would constitute an offence if it took place in the UK, or in a part of the UK, that shall constitute an offence under the law in force in the UK or in part of the UK.

This provision also applies to non British-controlled aircraft if the next landing of the aircraft is in the United Kingdom and the act or omission would also constitute an offence if it had taken place in the country in which the aircraft is registered.

The control of flights in and out of Scotland is a reserved matter. The Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation entitles foreign civil aircraft to make technical stops, for example for refuelling, without requiring the permission of the state it stops in.

If the police have a specific basis to believe that an offence is being committed against the person of an individual on board an aircraft and which endangers the safety of that person they may board the craft and investigate the circumstances in the same way as they may enter any premises in order to prevent an offence of violence continuing.

No. There are no public authorities or bodies for which the Scottish Executive is responsible which are required to maintain records in respect of aircraft in transit through Scottish airports.

A Scottish criminal court has jurisdiction, at common law, over aircraft within or flying over Scotland. Section 92 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982 also makes provision for the application of the criminal law to aircraft. In terms of that legislation, where an act or omission takes place on board a British-controlled aircraft, which is in flight elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom and that act or omission would constitute an offence if it took place in the UK, or in a part of the UK, that shall constitute an offence under the law in force in the UK or in part of the UK.

This provision also applies to non British-controlled aircraft if the next landing of the aircraft is in the United Kingdom and the act or omission would also constitute an offence if it had taken place in the country in which the aircraft is registered.

Torture, an attempt to commit torture, or conspiracy to commit torture are crimes punishable under Scots law at common law or under section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 by imprisonment for a maximum period of life imprisonment. Where evidence exists to support allegations that such crimes have been committed within Scottish jurisdiction, or that torture has been committed elsewhere by or at the instigation of a public official, the police will be responsible for conducting appropriate investigations and reporting such cases to the Procurator Fiscal.

The UK incorporated the UN Convention against Torture into UK law by the enactment of section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988. The Lord Advocate has not issued any guidance to the police on the investigation of torture.

If the police have evidence that such crimes are being committed by persons physically present in Scotland they will be responsible for conducting an investigation. It would then be for the Procurator Fiscal to decide whether or not to bring proceedings.

Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) works with the US Air Force regarding the use of facilities at Campbeltown for military training purposes. The company has, however, received no representations from the US Government or agencies regarding the use of its facilities for transit purposes.

The Scottish Executive is aware of the allegations that have been made in the media in recent months regarding rendition flights. However, neither the Executive nor any public authority or body for which it has responsibility has received any other information to show that planes carrying persons being deported or involuntarily transferred to a foreign country have passed through Scotland.

My officials have reviewed the cases of sheep producers, in similar circumstances to Mr Jenkins. This covers producers who were in the Organic Aid Scheme who asked us to review their Single Farm Payment Scheme (SFPS) entitlement estimate because of de-stocking of sheep. We have written to all those concerned and recalculated their SFP in their favour.

National tariff charging is being introduced to NHSScotland on a phased basis from 2005-06 to cross boundary activity, i.e. activity carried out by a host board on behalf of patients who reside in other NHS board areas in Scotland. It is intended that the introduction of tariffs will create an incentive to increase efficiency by encouraging benchmarking between hospitals and boards and to improve the accuracy of financial data by ensuring better recording of both cost and activity data. (For 2005-06 tariffs will apply to cardiac surgery and orthopaedics).

The overall financial impact of introducing tariffs to the selected activity will be nil across NHSScotland although at individual board level there will be a mixture of positive and negative financial impacts, depending on the level of activity against the selected procedures. The estimated financial impact of introducing tariffs will be relatively low compared to the total resources of NHS boards (i.e. less than 1% across NHSScotland) but boards with a negative financial impact may seek to have the application of the tariff reduced if it believes that has a disproportionate impact on their overall budget. Such requests will only be considered in exceptional circumstances.

Detailed guidance was issued to individual boards on 1 November outlining the implementation arrangements for the current financial year. Where boards intend to seek to have the application of the tariff reduced, they must have the full agreement of regional health partners and host boards before submitting a request to the Executive.

The Scottish Executive is committed to using plain English wherever possible. In consultation with the Scottish Law Commission, the Office of the Scottish Parliamentary Counsel has prepared a booklet on the use of plain language in legislation which we plan to publish shortly.

(a) The levels of indicative funding for General Medical Services (GMS) in 2003-04 were (i) £2.7 million for NHS Orkney and (ii) £477.8 million for NHS Scotland. The funding was indicative because it included the estimated amounts required to cover non discretionary expenditure under the former GMS contract, which was fully funded by the Scottish Executive.

(b) The levels of actual funding for Primary Medical Services in 2004-05 were (i) £3.8 million for NHS Orkney and (ii) £559.2 million for NHS Scotland. This included additional funding of £32 million transferred from HM Treasury to meet increased employer’s superannuation contributions.

In 2004-05, following the introduction of the new contract for Primary Medical Services, NHS boards are required to deliver primary medical services through a range of contractual options within the actual funding that they are allocated.