- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many divorces in Scotland in the last five years have involved Polish nationals where legal aid funding has been awarded to (a) the female partner exclusively, (b) the male partner exclusively and (c) both partners.
Answer
Information relatingto legal aid awards is collected centrally by the Scottish Legal Aid Board. It doesnot, however, hold definitive information on the nationality of individuals whoare awarded legal aid. The board has advised that a search of its database produceda total of 16 applications relating to divorce action where the applicant’s placeof birth is listed as “Poland”. This cannot be taken as definitive sincethe applicant may have specified a town or city rather than the country in the application.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 4 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that the divorce laws of Poland provide a positive example for the Scottish legal system.
Answer
We have not examinedthe divorce laws of Poland in any detail. We research and study the legalsystems of other countries where we feel that their systems and practices can informand develop policy here, mindful that care is needed in importing features of othersystems which may not be directly applicable to Scotland.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 31 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many divorces in Scotland over the last five years have involved Polish nationals.
Answer
The information requestedis not held centrally.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much local authorities spent on the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local government elections and whether it will provide a breakdown of the expenditure, including any fees paid to DRS Data & Research Services plc.
Answer
Information is not held centrallyon the cost to local authorities of the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local governmentelections. Information is provided by local authorities on the overall annual costsof holding elections and for the registration of electors and this information ispublished annually in Scottish Local Government Statistics. Scottish Local GovernmentStatistics 2006-07 is due to be published in February.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how much local authorities spent on the 2003 (a) Scottish Parliament and (b) local government elections.
Answer
Information is not held centrallyon the cost to local authorities of the 2003 Scottish Parliament and local governmentelections. However, information published in Scottish Local Government Statistics2003-04 shows that local authorities spent £4.2 million in that year on conductingelections and £7.2 million on the registration of electors. Full details of thepublication are at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/02/20724/52956.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 28 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it spent on the 2007 Scottish Parliament and local government elections and whether it will provide a breakdown of the expenditure, including any fees paid to DRS Data & Research Services plc.
Answer
The Scotland Office is responsiblefor meeting costs associated with the Scottish Parliament elections. The main expenditureassociated with running local government elections is normally met by local authoritiesfrom within their own budgets. For the 2007 elections the Scottish Government fundedthe following specific elements.
| Funding to local authorities associated with the introduction of electronic counting | £3.56 million |
| Research on format of local government ballot paper | £22,795 |
| Electronic counting software verification | £12,955 |
| Printing and web conversion costs of code of practice for observers at local authority elections | £268 |
| Estimated costs of printing and web conversion of legislation dealing with the local authority elections and local government boundary review | £7,200 |
| VoteScotland campaign - run jointly with the Electoral Commission | £1.25 million |
| Payments to DRS Data & Research Services | £1.26 million |
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 11 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Bruce Crawford on 22 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of how much it spent on the 2003 (a) Scottish Parliament and (b) local government elections.
Answer
The main expenditure on the Scottish Parliament elections was by the Scotland Office and on the local elections by localauthorities. Detailed information on those costs is not held centrally. The ScottishGovernment spent just over £384,200 in total in 2003 in connection with the Scottish Parliament and local government elections. Of this, £371,600 was spent on a publicitycampaign for both elections (carried out jointly with the Electoral Commission)with the balance spent on opinion research and research on media coverage specificto local authority elections.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Linda Fabiani on 13 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on Historic Scotland’s response to the application for planning permission for the Beauly to Denny power line, given that it did not register an objection despite the line having implications for the visual landscape of the Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle.
Answer
Scottishministers have appointed reporters from the Scottish Government Directorate of Planningand Environmental Appeals to conduct a public local inquiry into the proposed Beaulyto Denny transmission line. Their role is to hear and consider all the evidencepresented to the inquiry, including both oral and written evidence, and to reportback to ministers who will ultimately be responsible for determining the application.Historic Scotland’s written evidence to the inquiry will be considered as part ofthat process. It would be inappropriate for the Scottish Government to offer commenton any evidence which is subject to this inquiry process.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 04 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Shona Robison on 13 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what health-related support structures are routinely available to fathers in cases of family breakdown.
Answer
Health and socialcare support should be available to all family members. Responses will be determined by individual needs andwill address physical and mental wellbeing.
The national BreathingSpace telephone advice line and Samaritans provide confidential support and adviceto people experiencing low mood, depression or anxiety. Breathing Space, which includesa particular male needs focus, can refer callers to appropriate sources of supportin their own locality.
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Ochil, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 12 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many small businesses in the Clackmannanshire local authority area will benefit from the proposed cut in business rates.
Answer
Information on smallbusinesses in the form requested is not held centrally. However, information onthe number and rateable value of non-domestic properties which may be eligible forrelief under the Small Business Bonus scheme is available for the local authorityarea concerned on the Scottish Assessors Portal (
www.saa.gov.uk). This information is shown asfollows: | Number of Properties | Rateable Value of Property |
| Up to £8,000 | £8,001-£10,000 | £10,001-£15,000 | Total up to £15,000 |
| Clackmannanshire | 977 | 77 | 125 | 1,179 |
Notes:
(i) The rateable valueranges shown in the table correspond to those on page 12 of the Scottish BudgetSpending Review 2007.
(ii) The table showsthe number of non-domestic properties, excluding zero rated properties, with rateablevalues of up to £15,000 in the Clackmannanshire local authority area.
(iii) The number ofeligible businesses will be lower than the number of non-domestic properties ineach area, because some businesses have more than one property. This may affecteligibility for relief under the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which will dependon:
the combined rateablevalue of all properties in Scotland which a business owns, leases or is otherwiseentitled to occupy;
whether the propertyis eligible for one of the existing rates relief schemes, and
the level of otherpublic sector assistance received by the business.
