Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government is not convinced that the considerable expense in terms of funding and organisational change needed to install a single non-emergency number would be justified by the possible benefits. Our view is that the most appropriate way forward is through police forces and local authorities collaborating to develop solutions that work best to meet public demands and expectations. This is already bearing fruit in a number of areas such as Grampian, where Grampian Police and Aberdeenshire Council have a formal contract that covers out-of-hours calls and callouts for services including environmental health and housing repairs.

The Scottish Government is working with the UK Government, Scottish local authorities and, through the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, Scottish charities to secure and retain all the assets that Scottish depositors had placed in Icelandic banks in good faith.

We are in regular contact with the UK Government, including the Secretary of State for Scotland and HM Treasury to ensure that everything possible is being done by the UK Government to recover these assets.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Permanent Secretary''s remuneration is set by the UK Government on the recommendation of the Permanent Secretaries'' Remuneration Committee, which comprises members of the independent Senior Salaries Review Board (SSRB), the Head of the Home Civil Service and the Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury, as set out in paragraph 31 of the Scottish Government Consolidated Accounts which were published on 30 September 2008 at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/29130020/21.

In common with the remainder of the Senior Civil Service, the resources available for annual non-consolidated performance bonuses available for Permanent Secretaries are significantly greater than those available for increases in consolidated pay, in line with the recommendations of the SSRB.

Paragraph 38 of the Consolidated Accounts for 2007-08 sets out the salary and benefits in kind of the Permanent Secretary and comparable information is available in the Consolidated Accounts for previous years.

Information is currently being collated and answers to questions S3W-16307 and S3W-15878 will follow in due course.

Civil Service pension arrangements involve employer contributions to the pensions of all directly employed staff. These vary between 17.1% and 25.5% of salary. For the Permanent Secretary and the six Directors General the percentages of individual salary represented by employer''s contributions range between 18.7% and 25.5%, at an average cost of £2,796 per month.

The Official Secrets Act 1989 applies to the Scottish ministers. There is no requirement for ministers to sign declarations of adherence to the act.

The Scottish Government has committed up to £434,000 to support St Andrew''s Day activity all across Scotland, including sponsorship of public events in Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness, Glasgow, Stirling, St Andrews and Blairgowrie, as well as delivering the St Andrew''s Day celebrations in Edinburgh. The member will be aware that on 31 October 2008 I launched an ambitious programme of events planned in cities and towns across the country with the flagship event, the St Andrew''s DO, taking place right in the heart of Edinburgh. Full details of St Andrew''s Day activities taking place at home and overseas are at www.scotland.org.

The Scottish Government has a process in place that aims to answer written parliamentary questions within 10 counting days (20 days during recess).

Fixed-term employment contracts, normally for no more than four years, are used from time to time for appointments to the Senior Civil Service in line with business needs. They allow for people to be recruited to posts that are expected to last for a defined period and/or where there is a specialised business need.