- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 25 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Justice in a Scottish Government press release of 11 June 2007 that “the Scottish Government opposes illegal rendition flights” and his consultation with civil liberties groups on the matter, what progress has been made to ensure that aircraft engaged in a rendition circuit will not be able to make use of facilities at Scottish airports.
Answer
I refer the member to the Foreign Secretary’s written statement to the House of Commons on 3 July (Hansard 58WS). The Scottish Government welcomes confirmation by the US Authorities that there has been no use of Scottish airports for rendition flights since September 2001, and their confirmation that there will be no use of UK territories by such flights in future without the express permission of the UK Government. As you will see, the Foreign Secretary has confirmed that such permission would only be granted if the UK Government was satisfied that the rendition would accord with UK law and our international obligations. The Scottish Government remains firmly opposed to rendition flights and believes that they could never be in accordance with domestic or international law. Therefore, we continue to expect that there will be no use of Scottish territory for this purpose under any circumstances.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dogs have been seized under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
Information on the number of dogs seized is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 16 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many dogs have been placed on the Index of Exempted Dogs in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
The information given in the following table has been provided from the Index of Exempted Dogs, which is maintained by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Dogs in Scotland Placed on the Index of Exempted Dogs 1998-2007
| Year | Number |
| 1998 | 0 |
| 1999 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2007 | 3 |
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 19 June 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive from where private entities that operate car parks derive their authority to operate systems of fines against individuals that they deem to have improperly used their facilities.
Answer
The terms and conditions under which privately owned and run car parks operate are a matter for the owner and operator of the car park.
Privately operated car parks are not subject to the provisions of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 but they do come within the scope of the Trade Descriptions Act 1988 and the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which protect motorists from false trade descriptions about the provision of car parking and also from misleading indications of the costs of car parking.
In disputed cases, legal advice should be sought: the basis for imposing or purporting to impose any sort of charge will differ according to the specific situation under consideration.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 July 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 15 July 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has cost police forces to kennel any dogs which have been seized under section 1 of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 in each of the last 10 years.
Answer
This information is not held centrally and is a matter for individual police forces.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been paid in staff mileage expenses by each NHS board in each year since 1999.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it is having with NHS employers on reviewing the NHS staff car mileage rates to reflect continually changing fuel costs.
Answer
I can confirm that the up-rating of mileage allowances payable to staff who have to use their car for work purposes was discussed at a meeting of the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) on 29 May. STAC is a partnership organisation which exists to collectively negotiate terms and conditions issues for NHSScotland staff and is made up of representatives of trades unions and professional representative organisations and NHS employers. Meetings are facilitated by the Scottish Government.
It was agreed at STAC to await the outcome of the UK Staff Council mileage allowances sub-group tasked with taking forward a review of mileage allowances. The sub-group is scheduled to meet on the 9 and 17 of June where it is hoped that agreement can be reached over any new arrangements.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 5 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what car mileage rates have been paid to staff by each Health Board, broken down by year since 1999.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Kenny MacAskill on 3 June 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what legislation establishes the authority of the courts to restrict the identity of a child under prosecution being revealed to the media.
Answer
Section 47 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 prohibits the reporting of the name, address or school, or any particulars calculated to lead to the identification, of any accused under the age of 16 years during any proceedings against them without the court’s permission.
Section 44 of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 provides for the protection of the identity of children involved in a children’s hearing.
- Asked by: Jamie Hepburn, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how much profit has been made by rail franchise operators in each year since 1999, also showing the amounts provided in public subsidy to each operator in each year.
Answer
Scottish Ministers became responsible for the rail franchise in Scotland on 17 October 2004, and no details are held by Transport Scotland prior to that date. Since then, the net subsidy payments made to First ScotRail under the Franchise Agreement have been:
2004-05 (part year): £103 million
2005-06: £201 million
2006-07: £281 million
2007-08: £294 million.
First ScotRail provide certain profitability information to Transport Scotland under the confidentiality terms of the Franchise Agreement, a copy of which has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45544). However, due to commercial confidentiality we are not at liberty to disclose these. Profit information is disclosed within the published Annual Report and Accounts for First ScotRail Ltd and the following operating profit figures are disclosed:
2004-05 (part year): £2.7 million
2005-06: £8.7 million
2006-07: £11.4 million.
