- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30638 by Cathy Jamieson on 29 October 2002, whether the costs of establishing and operating the Children's Hearings website are inclusive of VAT.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Iain Gray on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30636 by Iain Gray on 6 November 2002, whether the costs of establishing and operating the Funding for Learners website are inclusive of VAT.
Answer
The costs are inclusive of VAT.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 06 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-30631 by Cathy Jamieson on 6 November 2002, whether the costs of establishing and operating the National Debate on Education website are inclusive of VAT.
Answer
Yes.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 08 November 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by David Steel on 19 November 2002
To ask the Presiding Officer what the unit cost per PC will be of purchasing Microsoft Office XP for use by general users of parliamentary PCs and whether any other industry standard packages compatible at file level with Microsoft Office, such as StarOffice, were considered as an alternative.
Answer
Microsoft products used in the parliamentary estate are purchased under an agreement negotiated in March 2002 by the Office of Government Commerce on behalf of the UK public sector, including the devolved administrations. Through consolidating the purchasing power of the UK public sector this agreement has secured the most competitive prices for Microsoft products available to the organisations within its scope. The confidentiality provisions of this agreement do, however, prevent the publication of those prices.When developing the current Technology Refresh strategy, several office automation suites were considered, all of which offered basic compatibility. The Microsoft Office suite best met the technical and business needs of the Parliament.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many male, long-term sex offenders were in custody on average in each of the last five years.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:The available information is given in the following table:Male Prisoners in Custody on 30 June with a Sentence of Four Years and Over Whose Main Crime was a Crime of Indecency
| As at | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 |
| Number of prisoners | 250 | 275 | 303 | 309 | 301 |
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 24 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 19 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people were convicted of speeding in each of the last four years, broken down by speed limit exceeded and showing the average fine incurred by people exceeding each speed limit.
Answer
The available information is published at tables 8 and 9 in the statistical bulletin Motor Vehicle Offences in Scotland for the years 1997-2000 (Bib. numbers 19450, 4848, 10421 and 17819 in the Parliament's Reference Centre). The available statistics relate to the offence categories of "speeding in restricted areas", where the speed limit involved is generally 30 mph, and "other speeding offences".
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it cost to establish its "National Grid for Learning (Scotland)" website and what the annual operating costs are of the site.
Answer
The National Grid for Learning (Scotland) web services are funded by the Scottish Executive and managed by Learning and Teaching Scotland. The web services were launched in February 2000 and the cost in financial year 1999-2000 was £245,000. The budgeted running cost for 2002-03 is £850,000.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 18 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies, other than the research for the Foolsspeed campaign, it has commissioned from Strathclyde University's Centre for Social Marketing.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has commissioned one completed study, other than the research for the Foolsspeed campaign, from the Centre for Social Marketing at Strathclyde University. This was to provide advice on dissemination to the Effective Interventions Unit in the Substance Misuse Division, Health Department. The contract was from January to May 2002 at a cost of £8,770.The Centre for Social Marketing are part of a joint team (with Glasgow University and the National Centre for Social Research) which was this month awarded a contract by the Scottish Executive (total cost £161,600) to evaluate the Lloyds TSB Partnership Drugs Initiative. The final research report is due to be completed in February 2005.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Mary Mulligan on 18 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to increase the training provided to general practitioners and community psychiatrists regarding the diagnosis and treatment of anorexia nervosa.
Answer
The Scottish Executive Health Department held an event in October, to discuss how to improve implementation of the Framework for Mental Health Services in Scotland. At this, proposals to provide better support and training for primary care teams in the diagnosis and treatment of all mental health problems, including eating disorders, were considered.As a result, it has been proposed that mental health becomes a pilot group for workforce development. This pilot will involve working with key stakeholders at local, regional and national levels to determine the gap between the skills required and the existing skills set in the mental health workforce which will include those working for partner agencies.At present, general practitioners are expected to look after their own personal learning needs to better provide the health needs of their patients and to seek training accordingly. Guidance and assistance is available to GPs from NHS Education for Scotland via the Postgraduate Directors of General Practice Education.Additional training for community psychiatrists in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems, including eating disorders is currently delivered through Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes, which are organised and approved by the medical Royal Colleges. Guidance and assistance is available to hospital doctors from NHS Education for Scotland via the postgraduate deans and tutors.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 23 October 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Simpson on 18 November 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what studies, other than the evaluation of the Know the Score campaign, it has commissioned from Lambda Research and Consultancy Ltd.
Answer
In addition to the evaluation of the 2001 Know the Score activities, Lambda Research and Consultancy has undertaken studies covering:(a) business-related bankruptcies in Scotland;(b) policy making in civil justice;(c) dealing with sex offenders in Scotland;(d) social inclusion partnership and Pathfinder projects involving public access to the internet;(e) the experiences and aspirations of rural and retained firefighters, and(f) the creation of a rural community gateway website.The Crown Office has also commissioned Lambda Research and Consultancy to undertake an evaluation of the Pilot Victim Liaison Service in Grampian and Hamilton, and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has commissioned the company to undertake a study into Family Liaison Officers.
