- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Human Tissue (Scotland) Act 2006 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) costs have been to date since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The act came into forcein September 2006. Actual costings are not therefore available yet.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Lewis Macdonald on 20 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandumwhich sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other coststo which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimates of the timescalesover which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indication of the marginsof uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separatelysuch costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish administration, (b) local authoritiesand (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely availableon the Scottish Parliament’s website.
Byway of comparable information on actual initial set up and annual costs for theyear 2005-06 in the same categories as the Financial Memoranda is as follows.
| Actual (Million) |
| Executive | Local Authorities | Other |
| Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual |
| £2.600 | £5.250 | £4.000 | £13.000 | £1 | £0.700 |
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Erskine Bridge Tolls Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. No costs have been incurredas a result of the act.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Robert Brown on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the School Education (Amendment) (Scotland) 2002 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. The Executive is not awareof any costs having been incurred as a result of the act.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Scottish Local Authorities (Tendering) Act 2001 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Standing Orders of the Scottish Parliament require all bills on introduction to be accompanied by a Financial Memorandumwhich sets out the best estimates of the administrative, compliance and other coststo which the provisions of the bill would give rise, best estimates of the timescalesover which such costs would be expected to arise, and an indication of the marginsof uncertainty in such estimates. The Financial Memorandum must distinguish separatelysuch costs as would fall upon (a) the Scottish Administration, (b) local authoritiesand (c) other bodies, individuals and businesses. These memoranda are freely availableon the Scottish Parliament’s website.
By way of comparableinformation on actual initial set up and annual costs after the Scottish Local Authorities(Tendering) Act 2001 came into force, the annual cost for the year 2005-06 in thesame categories as the Financial Memorandum is as follows:
| Financial Memoranda | Actual |
| Executive | Local Authorities | Other | Executive | Local Authorities | Other |
| Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual | Set Up | Annual |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
The Scottish Local Authorities(Tendering) Act 2001 merely removes a time limit on the period during which theprovisions about competition in the Local Government Act 1988 may be modified inrelation to local authorities.
The Financial Memorandum indicatesthat the bill involves no costs to the Scottish Administration, local authorities,other bodies, individuals and businesses.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 03 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by George Lyon on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) initial set up and (b) annual costs to (i) the Executive, (ii) local authorities, (iii) other public sector organisations or bodies and (iv) other individuals, organisations and bodies of the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000 were projected to be in the Financial Memorandum to the Bill and what the actual (1) initial set up costs were and (2) annual costs have been in each year since the Act came into force, in each category.
Answer
The Financial Memorandum to thebill is available on the Scottish Parliament’s website. No costs or savings arosedirectly from the act. However, following its passage, an Order in Council was approvedwhich provided for additional questions in the 2001 Census about religion. It isestimated that this led to increased expenditure by the Scottish Administrationof around £50,000, which fell wholly within 2000-01.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance on spending that might be seen to be promoting the political interests of a pressure group or similar body it has issued to accountable officers.
Answer
Guidance for Accountable Officersis contained in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Memorandumfrom the Principal Accountable Officer to Accountable Officers. The memorandumforms part of the accountability section of the manual which is publishedon the internet.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance on spending that might be seen to be promoting the political interests of a particular political party or group of parties it has issued to accountable officers.
Answer
Guidance for Accountable Officersis contained in the Scottish Public Finance Manual and the Memorandumfrom the Principal Accountable Officer to Accountable Officers. The memorandumforms part of the accountability section of the manual which is published on theinternet.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many new efficiency programmes it has (a) identified and (b) implemented since November 2005.
Answer
We have only one efficiencyprogramme in Scotland, and we are now in the second year of that three yearprogramme. As part of the Efficient Government initiative we have identified 71projects, so far, with the total value for these efficiency projects standingat £1,271 million.
Details of all efficiency projectsand the efficiency gains achieved to-date are
available in the EfficiencyTechnical Notes and the Efficiency Outturn Report for 2005-06 and both publishedand available on the Scottish Executive website.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/03/31095821/0.http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/09/efficientgovernment.
- Asked by: Derek Brownlee, MSP for South of Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 07 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 17 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its programmes did not perform well in each year since 2004-05; what these programmes were, and what the total spend was for each such programme.
Answer
All programmes are open toaudit by Audit Scotland and scrutiny by the Committees of this Parliament,where issues about performance can be explored fully.
Draft Budget 2007-08:Final Report on Spending Review 2002 Targets, published on 8 September 2006, reports on progress against the targets set as partof the 2002 Spending Review. It noted that a number of targets had not beenmet.
