Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government strongly opposes so-called rendition flights. Scotland has always been a country that respects the rights and responsibilities of all its citizens and the rule of law. The Scottish Government has not and will not approve a policy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territory or air space to places where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face a real risk of torture.

Scottish Ministers have not met with US officials to discuss the Police Scotland investigation and do not currently plan to do so. This is an ongoing criminal investigation and therefore is a matter for independent prosecutors; it would be inappropriate for Scottish Ministers to be involved.

The Scottish Government strongly opposes so-called rendition flights. Scotland has always been a country that respects the rights and responsibilities of all its citizens and the rule of law. The Scottish Government has not and will not approve a policy of facilitating the transfer of individuals through Scottish territory or air space to places where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would face a real risk of torture.

There have been no discussions between the Ministers and the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service regarding the Police Scotland investigation into the alleged use of airports in Scotland for the purposes of rendition flights. This is an ongoing criminal investigation and therefore is a matter for independent prosecutors; it would be inappropriate for Scottish Ministers to be involved.

Wave Energy Scotland recently appointed a managing director following an open recruitment process, using online media.

The post was advertised online in the Guardian, LinkedIn, The Scotsman, IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology), S1 Jobs, The Press and Journal/Evening Express, the Highlands and Islands Enterprise website and the Wave Energy Scotland website. News articles about the recruitment process also appeared in online specialist press.

The total cost of recruitment advertising was £5,581. Wave Energy Scotland took advice from recruitment specialists to ensure that it reached the appropriate target audience whilst keeping advertising costs to a minimum.

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland are responsible for taking forward work on the harmonisation of pay and conditions for police staff which is being delivered through the joint SPA/Police Scotland ‘Staff Reward and Modernisation of Policy’ project. The Scottish Government is regularly updated on the project and are satisfied with the progress being made given the complex nature of it.

Police staff play a significant and important role in keeping Scotland safe. Whether day to day management falls to Police Scotland or the SPA, all police staff are employed by the SPA.

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland are responsible for taking forward work on the harmonisation of pay and conditions for police staff which is being delivered through the joint SPA/Police Scotland ‘Staff Reward and Modernisation of Policy’ project.

We recognise that the timescale for completing this project is a key concern of the trade unions. The timescale is challenging given the complex nature of developing a national approach to pay and conditions from the former arrangements. We expect the SPA and Police Scotland to engage with the trade unions appropriately.

Police staff play a significant and important role in keeping Scotland safe. Whether day to day management falls to Police Scotland or the SPA, all police staff are employed by the SPA.

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland are responsible for taking forward work on the harmonisation of pay and conditions for police staff which is being delivered through the joint SPA/Police Scotland ‘Staff Reward and Modernisation of Policy’ project. We understand that the SPA and Police Scotland are aiming for implementation from late 2016.

Police staff play a significant and important role in keeping Scotland safe. Whether day to day management falls to Police Scotland or the SPA, all police staff are employed by the SPA.

We are working with partners across the Developing the Young Workforce programme to determine the distribution of the £16.6 million budget for implementation in 2015-16. No decisions have been taken yet on funding for local government. We are working closely with our partners COSLA to ensure local authorities can play their part in implementation.

I will keep the member informed when this process has concluded.

£12 million was made available for early implementation of Developing the Young Workforce: Scotland’s Youth Employment Strategy in 2014-15. In December 2014 I announced that £6.5 million of this funding would be allocated to local authorities to play their part in implementation.

Following agreement of a distribution methodology with COSLA, I announced each authorities’ share of that funding on 3 March 2015. The funding allocation was included in each local authority’s weekly Revenue Support Grant payments that month. The breakdown is available on the Scottish Government website at:

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Youth-employment-funding-168f.aspx

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) and Police Scotland are responsible for taking forward work on the harmonisation of pay and conditions for police staff which is being delivered through the joint SPA/Police Scotland ‘Staff Reward and Modernisation of Policy’ project.

One of the main drivers behind the project is fairness and equality, and in line with the SPA obligations under public sector equalities legislation, issues such as these will be addressed.

Police staff play a significant and important role in keeping Scotland safe. Whether day to day management falls to Police Scotland or the SPA, all police staff are employed by the SPA.

NorthLink Ferries Ltd failed to meet the quality criteria set out in ‘Package A’ of the Invitation to Submit Final Tender, Instructions to Participants guidance document.