Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-14915

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Allan Wilson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on how many exhibitions have been organised in Scotland by Work Permits UK (WPUK) in the last year in order to promote the work of WPUK to Scottish businesses and employers.

Work Permits UK (WPUK) promoted legal employment routes in Scotland in the last year by inviting Scottish employers and immigration advisors to their annual conference in Islington in November 2004. WPUK met with Scottish Executive staff in September 2004 and they co-ordinated work across Immigration Nationality Directorate (IND) to assist in the production of an Employer’s Toolkit (factsheets on all routes to migration including work-related) for use on the Scottish Executive website and at Relocation Advisory Service.

WPUK also send a copy of the “Scotland – Fresh Talent” leaflet to all successful applicants to the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.

In addition, the publicity information published on the WPUK website is all fully accessible to Scottish employers, as are the printed leaflets.

WPUK attended a “Fresh Talent” exhibition in 2003 involving an invited audience from CBI. Since then WPUK have also been trying a more targeted approach of meeting with individual employers on request in an effort to promote understanding.

Question reference: S2W-15035

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers from forces outwith Scotland will be deployed during the G8 summit, who will be in overall control of these officers at a local and operational level, whether a Scottish officer will be in command of individual units or be attached to such units for liaison and advisory purposes and what advice or instructions will be given to these officers on the police service and its links with the community it serves.

It is too early to be precise about the number of officers from forces outwith Scotland who will be deployed in Scotland during the G8 summit. That will depend on operational decisions to be taken in due course by the Scottish Police Service. Those officers, for example, who are deployed in this way around Gleneagles will be directly under the command of the Chief Constable of Tayside Police and will receive, through him, advice and instructions appropriate to the specific circumstances of their deployment.

Question reference: S2W-14817

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 28 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 14 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-10724 by Mr Andy Kerr on 29 September 2004, whether it will have a direct negotiating role at the G8 summit.

Question reference: S2W-14739

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 25 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Hugh Henry on 11 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what the existing rules and regulations are in respect of notifying victims of crime of the release of prisoners from custody and whether there are any plans to amend these rules and regulations.

Section 16 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, which commenced on 1 November 2004, determines the conditions under which victims of crime are given an opportunity to be notified when a prisoner is released, dies in custody, is transferred outwith Scotland, becomes eligible for early release or is unlawfully at large. These conditions require that the offender who perpetrated the offence against the victim must have been sentenced to four or more years imprisonment or detention and must have been convicted of a prescribed offence.

The Victim Notification (Prescribed Offences) (Scotland) Order 2004 (SSI 2004/411), which came into force on 1 November 2004, prescribes the offences for which a victim will be entitled to receive information relating to the person who perpetrated the offence against them.

Ministers may, by order, change the conditions set out in section 16 of the 2003 Act by amending the period of time to which an offender must have been sentenced, by adding to the information that victims can receive or by altering the list of prescribed offences.

The legislation governing the release of information to victims has been in effect since 1 November 2004. Its effect on victims is subject to evaluation. Once that evaluation is complete, Ministers will consider what changes, if any, are required to the conditions set out in section 16 of the 2003 Act.

Question reference: S2W-14145

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6333 by Mr Frank McAveety on 15 March 2004, when it expects the legal complications surrounding the transfer of funds from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund to the Scottish Football Partnership to be resolved.

Question reference: S2W-14142

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it has allocated from the Scottish Consolidated Fund for investment in youth football in each year since 1999.

All Executive funding for youth football in Scotland funded from the ScottishConsolidated fund is administered by sportscotland and awarded to organisations against specific programmes and initiatives or through the application-based programme Sportsmatch.

Youth football would have benefited from the awards made from the Scottish Consolidated Fund set out in the following table. However, it is not possible to quantify the precise amount of the award which has benefited youth football. In addition to these, a contribution was made in 2002-03 towards the costs of the review of youth football carried out by independent consultants.

Year	Annual Development Grant Aid	Sportsmatch
SFA	SWFA	No. of awards	£
1999-2000	48,000	18,000	27	44,202
2000-01	48,000	18,000	29	44,832
2001-02	48,000	18,000	54	117,967.47
2002-03	100,000	18,000	22	72,800
2003-04	100,000	28,500*	27	80,243.85

Note: *18 month award.

Question reference: S2W-14144

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-13631 by Patricia Ferguson on 31 January 2005, whether any part of the £31.1 million 10-year action plan for youth football will be funded from the Scottish Consolidated Fund.

Question reference: S2W-14143

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 04 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 11 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what level of funding it plans to allocate from the Scottish Consolidated Fund for investment in youth football for each of the next nine years.

Question reference: S2O-05693

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 March 2005
Current Status: Answered by Patricia Ferguson on 10 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what further action it is taking to support the installation of new generation artificial football pitches in Scotland.

The Executive welcomes and issupportive of proposals which will deliver modern facilities capable of supportingan increase in sports participation. A number of artificial pitches are being developedthrough the New Opportunities for Physical Education and Sports (NOPES) Lotteryprogramme and funding is also available to support their development through sportscotland’sBuilding for Sport programme.

Question reference: S2W-14427

Asked by: Kenny MacAskill, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 11 February 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 March 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has on whether there will be any flexibility within the new points system for economic immigrants entering Britain, as announced in the Home Office document, Controlling our borders: Making migration work for Britain, to allow any extra points to be awarded to potential economic immigrants with skills that are particularly needed in Scotland.