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: S3W-09679

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 5 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that those civil servants who make decisions regarding the Disqualified from Working with Children List and those who will work for the Central Barring Unit have the requisite knowledge, skills and experience to ensure that correct judgments about risk are made.

Decisions about listing on the Disqualified from Working with Children List (DWCL) are taken on behalf of Scottish ministers by a panel of civil servants. Each panel comprises a chair who is a senior civil servant with responsibility for the development of policy relating to children and young people; a member of the Social Work Inspectorate Agency (SWIA) experienced in monitoring the provision of social work services or responsible for advising ministers on child protection matters, and a member of HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) experienced in monitoring the provision of education services or responsible for advising ministers on matters relating to education. As well as training specifically related to DWCL, all panel members have the necessary experience in child protection practice and/or policy to make listing decisions about future risk and unsuitability to work with children.

As in any situation, efficient and effective decision-making depends on good quality information. The recently issued Supplementary Information and Guidance on DWCL makes this clear and provides further guidance to organisations on making referrals.

Consideration is still being given to the staffing of the Central Barring Unit (CBU) and what skills, experience and knowledge will be required of caseworkers and those who will take listing decisions particularly since the CBU will be taking decisions about unsuitability to work with adults and/or children.

Question reference: S3W-09677

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Friday, 08 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Adam Ingram on 5 March 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of those referred to the Disqualified from Working with Children List have been listed.

Question reference: S3W-09970

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 27 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to respond to the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform’s consultation on its appropriate assessment of the 24th Oil and Gas Licensing Round Block 17/3 (Inner Moray Firth) in relation to European wildlife sites in the surrounding area.

The regulation of oil and gas exploration is a function reserved to the Secretary of State.

Scottish Natural Heritage, as the appropriate nature conservation body under the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Conservation of Habitats) Regulations 2001 (as amended), is considering the draft appropriate assessment and will respond before the completion of the consultation process on 14 March 2008.

I await Scottish Natural Heritage''s advice and will decide at that time whether the Scottish Government will respond to the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform consultation.

Question reference: S3W-09971

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 18 February 2008
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 26 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what procedures are in place to resolve concerns over appropriate asessments by competent authorities that cannot be directed by Scottish Ministers under Regulation 48A of the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 as amended.

The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 (as amended) require competent authorities to consult and have regard to any representations made by the appropriate nature conservation body for the purposes of appropriate assessment. Scottish Natural Heritage is the appropriate nature conservation body for European sites in Scotland.

Regulation 48A applies to any such matters which are within Scottish ministers'' devolved competence. It would be for the UK Government to respond to any such concerns relating to matters which are within reserved competence.

Question reference: S3W-09233

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of contracts awarded by NHS Scotland to voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations in each year since 2003, broken down by (a) NHS board, (b) VCS organisation and (c) contract type.

While NHS Scotland does not specifically collect details on what contracts it awards to voluntary sector organisations, NHS boards do provide information on how much they pay to voluntary bodies for providing health care services; however they do not provide details as to the split between voluntary and community sector organisations or expenditure by contract type.

The amount paid to voluntary bodies broken down by NHS board since 2003 is:

Board	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Board	£000	£000	£000	£000
Argyll and Clyde	129	154	145	n/a
Ayrshire and Arran	30	28	30	31
Borders	13	34	36	191
Dumfries and Galloway	121	122	134	209
Fife	826	914	1,123	1,236
Forth Valley	429	571	646	1,228
Grampian	696	791	743	710
Greater Glasgow	1,844	1,993	2,074	2,253
Highland	1,151	1,859	1,012	1,103
Lanarkshire	387	379	347	465
Lothian	597	850	966	971
Orkney	45	40	50	42
Shetland	-	-	-	-
Tayside	233	153	194	246
Western Isles	133	135	137	147
	6,634	8,023	7,637	8,832

Question reference: S3W-09232

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost was of contracts awarded by NHS Scotland to voluntary sector organisations in each year since 2003.

NHS Scotland does not specifically collect details on what contracts it awards to voluntary sector organisations, however the amount paid by NHS Scotland to voluntary bodies for providing health care services since 2003 has been:

Year	£000
2003-04	6,634
2004-05	8,023
2005-06	7,637
2006-07	8,832

Question reference: S3W-09235

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of contracts awarded by NHS Scotland to voluntary sector organisations would have been in each year since 2003 if these contracts were awarded on the basis of full cost recovery.

Question reference: S3W-09236

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the value is of services provided by voluntary and community sector organisations to NHS Scotland.

Question reference: S3W-09237

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to NHS Scotland would be if it needed to run the services currently being run by voluntary and community sector organisations.

Question reference: S3W-09234

Asked by: Robin Harper, MSP for Lothians, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Current Status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 19 February 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value was of services provided by voluntary sector organisations to NHS Scotland in each year since 2003.