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: S2W-19893

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is still its position, as set out in the answer to question S2W-16503 by Mr Tom McCabe on 23 May 2005, that the entitlement card will not be linked to any national identity register or similar database.

Question reference: S2W-19892

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 18 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive how the concept of the Scottish Citizens Account Smartcard differs from that of an entitlement card.

Question reference: S2W-19907

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 October 2005
Current Status: Answered by Tom McCabe on 10 November 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed with the UK Government whether teachers, childcare workers and convicted criminals will be required to hold an identity card in Scotland before it becomes compulsory for all other Scottish citizens.

Question reference: S2W-19483

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when the open source software working group will next meet and what items will be on its agenda.

Question reference: S2W-19482

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-7549 by George Lyon on 15 September 2005, what the remit is of the open source software working group.

Question reference: S2W-19481

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Monday, 26 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by George Lyon on 24 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2O-7549 by George Lyon on 15 September 2005, who the members of the open source software working group are and how they were selected.

The members of the OpenSource Software Working Group are noted in the following table.

Name	Position	Organisation
Anne Moises (chair)	Director of IT	Scottish Executive
Jim Buist	Service Delivery Manager, e-Government Strategy	Glasgow City Council
Jim Buist	Open Source Software Group	Society of Information Technology Management
Nick Hine	Lecturer	Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee
Andy Judson	Research Assistant	Division of Applied Computing, University of Dundee
Lois MacFadyen	Head of e-Government and Take Up Team	Scottish Executive
Jonathan Moore	Head of Shared Services and Funds Team	Scottish Executive
Craig Russell	Head of Efficient Government Delivery Division	Scottish Executive
Andy Wallace	Information Services Manager	General Register Office for Scotland

The group was selected toprovide a range of viewpoints from the public and academic sectors and consideropen source software issues for the wider Scottish public sector.

The remit of the group isto:

consider the widerimplications for Scotland of the Office of Government Commerce report on thetrials of Open Source Software in Government and develop a policy statement forScotland;

examine the role which opensource and free software could play in current and future projects across the Scottish public sector e.g. in support of shared services;

determine the practicalitiesof introducing open source and free software through examining the technicaland business case for implementation and identifying case studies, and

assess the potentialefficiency savings which might be realised if the Scottish public sector wereto adopt open source and free software.

The group’s first meeting washeld on 14 October 2005. The agenda is noted below.

1. Aims of the group.

2. Composition of the group.

3. Frequency of meetings.

4. Dissemination of papers.

5. Agree Terms of Reference.

Question reference: S2W-19499

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 18 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will begin its work on its protocol with the Home Office on the removal of asylum seekers.

Question reference: S2W-19500

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 18 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects to complete work on its protocol with the Home Office on the removal of asylum seekers.

Question reference: S2W-19502

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 18 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is bound by the terms of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The United Kingdom is bound, as a matter of international law, by the terms of the Convention. The Convention has not been incorporated into Scots or English law so it does not have direct effect in domestic law. However, the Executive seeks to reflect the aims of the Convention in our policies and legislation wherever possible.

There is no international court to enforce the Convention but, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, the UK submits periodic reports to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which are the subject of formal examination. These reports include Scotland.

When the UK Government ratified the Convention, it entered a number of reservations, including one on immigration and citizenship in which it reserved the right to apply relevant domestic legislation to ensure effective immigration controls.

Question reference: S2W-19501

Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 September 2005
Current Status: Answered by Robert Brown on 18 October 2005

To ask the Scottish Executive which ministers will lead the newgotiations with the Home Office in respect of the protocol on the removal of asylum seekers.