- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to assist Inverclyde Council in dealing with issues identified in the 1996-97 audit report which have not yet been successfully progressed, including the errors and differences in financial statements, the poor documentation to support accounts, the unreliability of fixed asset valuation and the unsatisfactory state of control arrangements in key areas, including banking reconciliations.
Answer
This is a matter for Inverclyde Council. We expect the council to address its difficulties and implement all recommendations that the external auditor made in the 1996-97 audit report. The external auditor will follow up these recommendations through the audit process.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 29 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive why it has not yet met with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce in order to discuss their concerns about existing and future transport infrastructure development.
Answer
I am meeting a wide range of interested parties to discuss transport issues and will be arranging a discussion with Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it agrees with the view of Strathclyde Passenger Transport that football fans in Glasgow should not travel to matches by Underground.
Answer
The operation of the Glasgow Underground is a matter for the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 09 August 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Sarah Boyack on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what it considers to be the impact on confidence in public transport in Glasgow as a result of the closing down of the Underground system for five hours on 31 July.
Answer
The operation of the Glasgow Underground is a matter for the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review recent data indicating that internet websites encouraging suicide are contributing to the high level of suicides among young people in Scotland.
Answer
I am not aware of the data referred to. There is a range of factors that contribute to suicide rates and these include the accessibility of means of suicide. The regulation of Internet services are a reserved matter under the Scotland Act 1998.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 25 August 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to clarify the law relating to suicide in Scotland by introducing legislation similar to the Suicide Act 1961 or in any other way.
Answer
Neither suicide nor attempted suicide is a criminal offence in Scotland. In the case of attempted suicide, depending on the circumstances, it may be that other separate charges arise such as breach of the peace or possession of an offensive weapon. Where a person assists in the suicide of another, such conduct could, in some circumstances, give rise to charge for a range of offences from assault, through culpable homicide to murder.There are no plans to change the law in Scotland.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what its plans are for ensuring that each Scottish local authority has adequate internal audit resources available to scrutinise the authority as a whole and whether it will encourage the establishment, where one does not currently exist, of an audit committee or similar structure to allow council members to discharge this responsibility.
Answer
The allocation of resources and committee structures are matters for local authorities themselves. We encourage all authorities to ensure that they have robust internal audit systems in place.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive why the 1997-98 audits in respect of Aberdeenshire, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Dunbartonshire, Edinburgh, Highland, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire and West Lothian councils remain outstanding beyond their due submission date of 30 June 1999 and when these audits are expected to be submitted to the Controller of Audit.
Answer
The completion of these outstanding audits is a matter for the Accounts Commission for Scotland. I have referred your question to the Controller of Audit who will write to you giving the reasons for the delays and the dates for likely completion.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jack McConnell on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what action will be taken to ensure that all Scottish local authorities implement best practice to address basic accounting and control weaknesses, including the absence of bank and other reconciliations, internal control deficiencies, weaknesses in the compilation and maintenance of asset registers and the lack of reconciliation between the assessment roll and valuation roll.
Answer
These matters are dealt with through the audit process. The audit process exists to identify weaknesses in local authorities' systems, highlight these weaknesses to local authorities and make recommendations as appropriate. The Accounts Commission for Scotland is responsible for securing the audit of local authorities in Scotland. Auditors appointed by the Commission make recommendations and ensure that these are implemented.
- Asked by: Kenneth Gibson, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 14 September 1999
-
Current Status:
Answered by Frank McAveety on 28 September 1999
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to ensure that there is an improvement in Inverclyde Council's DLO/DSO accounting arrangements and no repeat of the failure by a number of trading activities to achieve their financial objectives.
Answer
The Accounts Commission has made a number of recommendations for all DLO/DSOs across Scotland and I expect all councils to act upon them. The unaudited DLO/DSO results for 1998-99 show that Inverclyde Council has acted to reduce the number of DLO/DSOs that failed to achieve their statutory objectives from 5 in 1997-98 to 1 in 1998-99. I expect the council to make every effort to ensure no DLO/DSO fails to achieve the statutory objective in subsequent years.
