- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 July 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether it is aware that the website referred to remains up and running.
Answer
The Scottish Executive is aware that the website referred to remains up and running.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 28 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 26 July 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-17390 by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005, whether any person can take individual legal action for defamation if they consider that their reputation may be damaged by a website such as that of Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers.
Answer
Any individual can bring a defamationaction to protect his or her reputation.
Under the Defamation Act 1996a person has a defence in defamation proceedings if: they can show they are notthe author, editor or commercial publisher of the statement complained of; theytook reasonable care in relation to its publication, and did not know and had noreason to believe that what they did caused or contributed to the publication ofa defamatory statement. This is intended to cover printers, distributors, on-lineservice providers and live broadcasters.
Individuals who considerthat a statement made about them is defamatory and may damage their reputation shouldseek their own legal advice.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals regulates the effectiveness and activities of traffic commissioners in Scotland on issues involving heavy goods vehicles and, if not, which government body does.
Answer
Matters concerning the regulation of the Traffic Commissioners for the Scottish Traffic Area in relation to road freight are reserved.
The role of the Council on Tribunals and its Scottish Committee is to keep under review and to report on the constitution and working of tribunals, including matters such as the rules of procedure under which tribunals operate.
I understand that any person seeking redress against a Commissioner’s decision may appeal to the Transport Tribunal or the courts.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 30 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals regulates the effectiveness and activities of traffic commissioners on issues involving public service passenger buses and taxis.
Answer
The role of the Council on Tribunals and its Scottish Committee is to keep under review and to report on the constitution and working of tribunals, including matters such as the rules of procedure under which tribunals operate. The Traffic Commissioner for the Scottish Traffic Area is categorised as one of the tribunals supervised by the Scottish Committee.
I understand that any person seeking redress against a Commissioner’s decision may appeal to the Transport Tribunal or the courts.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 16 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 27 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether its Justice Department regulates the Scottish Committee of the Council on Tribunals.
Answer
The committee's statutory role,and that of its parent body the Council on Tribunals, is to advise and report tothe Lord Chancellor and the Scottish ministers on the constitution and working oftribunals, and to report on such particular matters with respect to tribunals, orwith respect to administrative procedures involving a statutory inquiry, as maybe referred to them. The Scottish Committeeof the Council on Tribunals is a sub-committee of the council, for which the Departmentfor Constitutional Affairs has responsibility. Both the committee and council areindependent bodies, established under the Tribunals and Inquiries Act 1992.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 17 June 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 24 June 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Court Service has been involved in any attempt to have the website of the organisation, Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers, closed down and, if so, what costs it has incurred.
Answer
The existence of this organisation’s website became known to the Scottish Court Service through a leaflet being distributed to members of the public. As the contents of the website appeared to include material that was potentially defamatory, officials felt it appropriate to draw this possibility to the attention of the site’s internet service provider.
No demands were made of the internet service provider. The decision to terminate the service was made by the service provider.
The cost incurred was approximately £50 of staff time.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Rhona Brankin on 19 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil cases have been brought against psychiatric services in the NHS in each of the last five years for (a) wrongful detention, (b) misdiagnoses and (c) wrong treatment.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 05 May 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-16183 by Ross Finnie on 3 May 2005, whether it will direct the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to remove or suspend Fermanagh Waste Recycling from the Scottish register of waste carriers.
Answer
No. It would not normally be appropriate for the Scottish Executive to direct the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to individual cases, and the Executive is confident that the Agency is able to carry out its responsibility for maintaining the GB Register of Waste Carriers in respect of Scotland properly and in the light of any information received.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many applications there have been for legal aid in each of the last five years by people taking civil action against psychiatric services in the NHS and what the percentage success rate was for such applications.
Answer
The Scottish Legal Aid Board does not hold records specifically identifying cases relating to civil actions against NHS psychiatric services.
Information is however available on awards of legal aid for appeals under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984. Figures for the past 5 years are shown in the following table:
| Year | Applications Received | Applications Granted Civil Legal Aid |
| 2000-2001 | 3 | 2 |
| 2001-2002 | 5 | 6 |
| 2002-2003 | 3 | 0 |
| 2003-2004 | 0 | 1 |
| 2004-2005 | 2 | 2 |
Applications granted do not necessarily correlate with applications received in the same year, since some applications may be received in one year with the decision taken in the next year. As a result, a success rate shown as a percentage would not be meaningful.
- Asked by: Phil Gallie, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 07 April 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Hugh Henry on 5 May 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the highest award made by the Scottish Legal Aid Board was in the last five years to a person taking legal action against psychiatric services in the NHS.
Answer
The Scottish Legal Aid Board does not hold records specifically identifying cases relating to legal actions against NHS psychiatric services. Information is however available on awards of legal aid for appeals under the Mental Health (Scotland) Act 1984. The highest case cost in respect of such an appeal in the last 5 years was for £54,233.55 inclusive of VAT.
