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-04066

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 20 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether its intended council tax freeze in 2008-09 will also apply to water and sewerage charges.

Water chargelevels are set by an independent process of economic regulation led by theWater Industry Commission for Scotland. The commission sets limits on thecharges that Scottish Water will apply during any given period at lowestreasonable overall cost. These must be sufficient to deliver ministers’ strategicobjectives for the water industry in Scotland. A benefitof this regulatory framework is that water charge levels are set to rise byless by than inflation until 2010.

Question reference: S3W-04063

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has the legal power to require every local authority to freeze council tax at 2007-08 levels.

There are existinglegislative powers to enable Scottish ministers to propose a reduction in counciltax levels in certain circumstances but I believe that a council tax freeze at 2007-08levels can best be achieved through negotiation and agreement with local government.I am currently in constructive discussions with local government to determine howbest a council tax freeze can be achieved in 2008-09.

Question reference: S3W-04064

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has the legal power to stop a local authority from increasing council tax in its area from its 2007-08 level.

Question reference: S3W-04065

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Thursday, 06 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive who is responsible for setting the level of council tax in each local authority area.

Question reference: S3W-03938

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes have been made in 2007 to the administration of the Scottish legal aid scheme and what further changes are envisaged.

A number of improvementshave been made to the Scottish legal aid scheme to deliver government policy oras part of the Scottish Legal Aid Board’s (SLAB) programme of continuous improvement.

A new simplified system of Civil Advice and Assistancewas introduced from 1 May 2007. The previous minimum fee was replaced bya diagnostic interview which allows solicitors to determine whether the subjectmatter is one of the distinct categories of cases covered by Advice and Assistance.The list of distinct categories was agreed with the Law Society of Scotland.

SLAB is currently piloting an online application facilityfor civil legal aid with a number of firms. It intends to develop the system furtherover the next six months and extend it to other types of legal assistance. Thiswill be done in tandem with other improvements to computer systems which shouldhelp reduce processing times and unnecessary bureaucracy.

In October 2006 SLAB launched a major project within theboard to consider and develop ways of simplifying the Civil Legal Aid System. Sincethen it has introduced several changes to the application form, removing the requirementto answer several questions and provide statements in certain types of simplifieddivorce proceedings. SLAB has also amended the information leaflets and revisedthe Civil Legal Aid handbook and has piloted a scheme enabling financial eligibilityto be assessed by telephone with the applicant directly.

Any disputes between the board and a solicitor orcounsel about the amount of fees or outlays in cases before the Judicial Committeeof the Privy Council can now be referred to the registrar of the JCPC for taxation.Any party subsequently dissatisfied with the taxation now has the right to lodgea petition to the JCPC.

Regulations introduced in February 2007 amended the blockfee structure for civil legal aid, addressing several issues and increased the feespayable in a range of cases. We are currently undertaking an exercise to evaluatemore generally the effect of the block fee structure and proposals, developed bySLAB in conjunction with the profession, will be considered by ministers by theend of the year.

SLAB has also been liaising with the Law Society on theintroduction of a system of Quality Assurance for Criminal Practitioners. The ReviewCriteria have been agreed and a pilot review exercise is expected to begin soon.

During the remainder of the financial year 2007-08 SLABwill introduce new, simpler forms for civil legal aid; work towards the possibleintroduction of “model applications” intended to cut down on the work involved inputting together an application; introduce template style sanction applications,pilot a supplier support system to share administrative data on individual firmswith the firms to help them identify training needs or changes to their work practiceswhich could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their civil legal assistance.SLAB will also be evaluating its procedures for stage reporting and special urgencywork and consider possible improvements to its financial assessment methodology.

In February 2007,the Law Society of Scotland undertook as consultation on reforms to legal aid forsolemn criminal cases. SLAB and the Scottish Government are considering amendmentsto solemn legal aid in the light of that consultation. SLAB will issue shortly aconsultation on reform to summary criminal legal assistance, to reflect the proposedchanges to the summary justice system contained in the “system model” publishedin September 2007. SLAB and the Scottish Government are developing new legal aidarrangements for criminal appeals.

Question reference: S3W-03940

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring is undertaken to measure the availability of solicitors’ practices undertaking legal aid work under the Scottish legal aid scheme in each local authority area.

Regular analysis isundertaken by the Scottish Legal Aid Board of the number of firms which submit applicationsfor civil legal aid and advice and assistance. This analysis provides a reasonablydetailed picture of patterns of provision at local authority level or by travelto work area where that is more appropriate. Where analysis suggests a particularlysignificant change in a specific area, the board can undertake more detailed examinationof the patterns of work dealt with by individual firms in the area.

The board also monitors correspondence or telephone enquiriesreceived where they suggest that there may be difficulties with provision in a particulararea.

In addition to itscurrent analysis, the board will also be undertaking a survey of the particulartypes of work which registered providers of civil legal assistance undertake. Thiswill help potential applicants to identify solicitors most likely to be able totake on their case. It will also help the board to identify areas where there arefew solicitors offering legal aid services, either in general or in particular typesof case.

Question reference: S3W-03939

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 03 September 2007
Current Status: Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 14 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive how many solicitors’ practices currently undertake legal aid work under the Scottish legal aid scheme and how many undertook such work in each of the last five years, broken down into firms offering (a) only civil legal aid work, (b) only criminal legal aid work and (c) both civil and criminal legal aid work.

The information onthe number of solicitors’ practices who undertake legal aid work is collected centrallyby the Scottish Legal Aid Board.

The following tableprovides information on the number of firms receiving payment from the ScottishLegal Aid Board in each of the financial years shown.

Firms Receiving Payment in Respect of:	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Civil legal assistance	951	918	876	829	778
Criminal legal assistance	796	794	757	733	723
Civil legal assistance only	213	196	191	181	165
Criminal legal assistance only	58	72	72	85	110
Both civil and criminal legal assistance	738	722	685	648	613
Total (any form of legal assistance)	1,009	990	948	914	888

Question reference: S3W-03671

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to apply some form of road equivalent tariff fare to passengers and vehicles travelling on all ferry services to and between islands and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Question reference: S3W-03669

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the application of road equivalent tariff fares will provide islands served by longer ferry routes with a real benefit and that it will not widen any competitive disadvantage that such islands face in comparison with islands served by shorter routes.

The Scottish Governmentrecognises the vital importance of supporting Scotland’s island communities. We understand the genuine concerns from all of ourremote and fragile communities about the affordability of ferry travel and the impactthat has on island economies. The needs of islanders are our priority. We want tosee a Road Equivalent Tariff scheme developed that will bring real benefits forislanders. Focussing the pilot on the Western Isles will allow us to take informeddecisions on the potential roll-out of the scheme and of the associated costs andbenefits.

Question reference: S3W-03670

Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 27 August 2007
Current Status: Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 13 September 2007

To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment was made of the likely range of vehicle and passenger road equivalent tariff (RET) rates per mile prior to the appointment of consultants to undertake the study into the benefits of RET, which allowed ministers to predict that RET would provide islanders with cheaper fares, and whether that prediction applies to all ferry services to and between islands.

Our expectation isthat fares based on Road Equivalent Tariff would be significantly lower than presentfares charged across the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles routes. However, there is no previous experience of RoadEquivalent Tariff in the UK and some advice is required on how the concept wouldtranslate into the precise fares charged on individual routes. This is an area thatour consultants have been asked to consider in preparation for the pilot exercise.