- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the issuing of a public interest immunity certificate is discussed with the party or parties whose actions or works are to be the subject of the certificate.
Answer
This would depend on the circumstancesof the case. It is not uncommon in cases in which an issue of public interest immunityarises for there to be discussions between the parties or their legal representativesas to the importance or relevance of the document or information in question andwhether there is any scope for agreeing relevant facts without disclosing sensitiveor confidential information.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate to place a public interest immunity certificate on information that is already wholly in the public domain.
Answer
This would depend on the factsof the case and the circumstances in which the information had come to be in thepublic domain. For example, the public interest might weigh in favour of a claimbeing asserted where the information had been obtained in breach of a duty of confidentialityor in breach of the principles in the Data Protection Act 1998, particularlywhere the public interest in non disclosure of the type of information in questionwas a strong one.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate to place a public interest immunity certificate on information that is already partially in the public domain.
Answer
This would depend on the factsof the case and the circumstances in which the information had come to be in thepublic domain. For example, the public interest might weigh in favour of a claimbeing asserted where the information had been obtained in breach of a duty of confidentialityor in breach of the principles in the Data Protection Act 1998, particularlywhere the public interest in non-disclosure of the type of information in questionwas a strong one.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many public interest immunity certificates have been issued in each year since 1999.
Answer
No public interest immunity certificateswere issued in the years 1999 to 2003. Five certificates were issued in 2004 andtwo certificates have been issued in 2006.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many public interest immunity certificates have been considered but not issued in each year since 1999.
Answer
Three public interest immunitycertificates were signed but not deployed in 2005 and one certificate has been signedbut not deployed this year. There is no central record of cases in which a questionof public interest immunity has arisen for consideration but where, for whateverreason, a certificate has not been signed.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Colin Boyd on 22 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what procedure must be followed before a public interest immunity certificate can be issued.
Answer
There are no prescribed procedureswhich have to be followed before a public interest immunity certificate is issued.A public interest immunity certificate must be signed by a minister.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20263 by Mr Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005, how many successful applications to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme there has been since 22 June 2005, broken down by nationality of successful applicant.
Answer
Between the launch of the schemeon 22 June 2005 and the end of February 2006 a total of 1497 people havesuccessfully applied to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme.The breakdown by nationality is in the following table:
| Albania | 3 |
| Angola | 1 |
| Argentina | 1 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Bahrain | 1 |
| Bangladesh | 15 |
| Barbados | 2 |
| Belarus | 1 |
| Bolivia | 1 |
| Brazil | 2 |
| British National (Overseas) | 5 |
| British Overseas Citizen | 2 |
| Brunei | 2 |
| Bulgaria | 2 |
| Cameroon | 8 |
| Canada | 10 |
| Chile | 3 |
| China | 480 |
| Columbia | 1 |
| Croatia | 1 |
| Ecuador | 1 |
| Egypt | 3 |
| Ethiopia | 2 |
| Fiji | 1 |
| Gambia | 2 |
| Georgia | 2 |
| Ghana | 34 |
| Hong Kong | 6 |
| Hong Kong (holder of special admin region passport | 2 |
| India | 425 |
| Indonesia | 2 |
| Japan | 10 |
| Jordan | 2 |
| Kenya | 11 |
| Korea | 1 |
| Korea (South) | 5 |
| Kryrgyzstan | 1 |
| Lebanon | 1 |
| Libya | 1 |
| Malawi | 4 |
| Malaysia | 47 |
| Maldives | 47 |
| Mauritius | 4 |
| Mexico | 1 |
| Mongolia | 2 |
| Morocco | 1 |
| Namibia | 1 |
| Nepal | 11 |
| Nicaragua | 1 |
| Nigeria | 141 |
| Pakistan | 57 |
| Palestine | 1 |
| Panama | 1 |
| Philippines | 1 |
| Romania | 3 |
| Russia | 7 |
| Rwanda | 1 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 |
| Sierra Leone | 2 |
| Singapore | 6 |
| South Africa | 4 |
| Sri Lanka | 10 |
| Sudan | 5 |
| Swaziland | 2 |
| Syria | 2 |
| Taiwan | 14 |
| Tanzania | 4 |
| Thailand | 1 |
| Turkey | 2 |
| Uganda | 4 |
| Ukraine | 1 |
| United States | 72 |
| Uzbekistan | 3 |
| Venezuela | 4 |
| Vietnam | 1 |
| Zambia | 2 |
| Zimbabwe | 14 |
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 March 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 20 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20263 by Mr Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005, when it expects to publish the data collected through the questionnaire issued to all successful applicants to the Fresh Talent: Working in Scotland scheme by the Relocation Advisory Service.
Answer
We intend to publish the informationcollected from these questionnaires on a regular basis. I expect to be able to publishthe first of these reports in the coming months.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 16 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure the efficient operation of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.
Answer
The Health Departmentsponsors and funds the Tribunal. The Department works with the Mental HealthTribunal Administration (an Executive Agency) to ensure the efficient andeffective delivery of tribunals.
TheTribunal will produce its first annual report (covering the initial six monthsof operation) in June 2006 and has already produced a statistical report of itsfirst quarter which will be published on its website. The information from thefirst six months of operation will be used to identify key performance targetsagainst which the quality and efficiency of the Tribunal Service will bemeasured. These will include response times, number of hearings required todetermine cases and the cost per hearing. Based on these measures, targets willbe set for 2006-07 and performance against these regularly reported to ministers.
Additionally, the tribunal willwork with the Health Department in itscommissioned study into the operation of the tribunal, the tasks whichdifferent professional groups complete as part of the process and the time contributionsmade. The study will report in autumn 2006.
- Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 February 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 14 March 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what additional resources will be available to local authorities to make up for time spent by mental health officers before the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland.
Answer
Together with the record resources available to local authorities additional allocations have been made to help deliver the provisions of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 as follows:
| | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 |
| (£ Million) Revenue | 1.2 | 12.5 | 13.0 |
| (£ Million) Capital | - | 2.0 | 2.0 |
It is for each local authority in consultation with their partners, to determine how best to use the resources available to them, including consideration of support for mental health officers.
We have commissioned a study into the operation of the tribunal, the tasks which different groups complete as part of the process and the time contributions made. The study will report in autumn 2006.
