- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what organisations have received funding under the £70 million lending facility offered by the European Investment Bank and the Housing Finance Corporation and how much each has received.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-29860, on 11 January 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 15 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 15 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what organisations applied unsuccessfully for funding under the £70 million lending facility offered by the European Investment Bank and the Housing Finance Corporation.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold this information. Decisions about whether or not to apply to borrow money, and whether to lend money, are matters for the boards and committees that govern individual housing associations and lenders.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil service staff initiated grievance procedures against their employer in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09.
Answer
The Scottish Government does not hold statistics centrally on grievances raised by staff.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had discussions regarding the introduction of a living wage of £7 per hour for all civil service staff.
Answer
As part of their 2008 pay claim relating to staff below senior civil service level, in the core Directorates and Agencies which make up the Scottish Government main pay bargaining unit, the recognised trade unions sought a common minimum pay rate of £8 per hour. Although the Public and Commercial Services union subsequently withdrew from pay discussions, the other two unions “ Prospect and the FDA “ agreed to a three-year pay award from 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2011. In line with the Scottish Government''s public sector pay policy, the pay award took positive steps to deal with low pay and, in particular, to ensure the minimum rate of pay for the lowest paid staff was comfortably above the national minimum wage. The current lowest rate of pay in Scottish Government main is £6.53 per hour (compared to the national minimum wage rate of £5.80) and this will increase to £7.23 per hour on 1 August 2010. We believe that these rates of pay strike a balance between providing value for money for the taxpayer and recruiting, retaining and motivating the lowest paid staff.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of its staff have been paid a settlement following disciplinary action in (a) 2005-06, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2007-08 and (d) 2008-09, broken down by directorate.
Answer
No settlement payments have been made to staff by the Scottish Government following disciplinary action.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is for dealing with grievance procedures across the civil service.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many employees of the Scottish Prison Service are on secondment and to what organisations they are seconded.
Answer
I have asked Willie Pretswell, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:
The Scottish Prison Service have five employees on secondment who are on secondment to the Scottish Government, Prison Officers Association, Her Majesty''s Chief Inspector of Prisons and Faith in Community (Scotland).
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 11 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had, or plans to have, discussions with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers on the issue of executive pay in local government.
Answer
Executive pay in local government is properly a matter for local authorities themselves. They know the resources available to them overall and must make the management choices.
The Scottish Government meets regularly with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers. Discussions cover a range of issues, including where appropriate public sector pay and other policy issues.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 6 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to relocate any of its directorates and agencies to the North Lanarkshire local authority area.
Answer
Decisions about the relocation of Scottish Government functions will be considered in terms of ensuring the best use of the existing government estate, providing best value for money for the Scottish Government as a whole and maintaining or improving the operational effectiveness of the function in question.
At present there are no plans to relocate any Scottish Government directorates or agencies to North Lanarkshire.
- Asked by: John Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 December 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Alex Neil on 6 January 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-25643 by Alex Neil on 5 August 2009, who the members are of the working group on housing investment reform.
Answer
Details of the membership of both investment reform working groups, along with the minutes and papers discussed at the meetings, are available from the Scottish Government''s website
www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/investment/affordable.
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